Chapter 6

Despite her attempts to stay awake, tiredness took hold of Alyx until her eyelids could no longer stand the heavy weight of sleep upon them.

"No, gotta stay awake, someone might come…" she said with effort. She shook her head in the hope of relieving the fatigue that swamped her but it did not help, her eyelids began closing and she yawned as her body slid down the wall to the cold ground, her aching limbs and open wounds now feeling numb against the her sleepiness, "Maybe… Just five minutes" she promised herself, thinking how it was impossible for her to stay awake forever anyway, lack of sleep could cause a lot of disturbances in the mind; she knew that.

Her sleep was not empty: many dreams entered her mind through the darkness and she sucked her thumb in her troubled slumber, as she had done as a child when she'd heard her parents argue.

Gradually though as her mind drifted deeper and deeper, the dreams began to change. Alyx felt nice, warm and comfortable, away from the pain her body was in. Her dream made her feel warm and tingly and then before her in her dream was a tall, dark stranger, and even though it was clichéd she knew she was smiling in her sleep.

She could not see his face but she felt his kisses on her cheek, his hands as they touched her in places she liked, he massaged her breasts, kissed her shoulder, he slid his hand over her more intimate areas as his lips moved down her body, he licked her breasts, bit them softly. Or was it harder than she'd expected? It didn't matter, he was moving down again to where his hand was pleasuring her… Something cold touched her hip, something wasn't right… She could feel him, she could feel his tongue moving over her, inside her, circling her most sensitive parts… No, something's not right, it's too real… It felt too nice though, she didn't want it to stop, didn't want to open her eyes as he held her hips tightly, she felt warmth, burning, spreading from her groin, she felt her hips rising, she felt his fingers digging into her flesh… No, not fingers… Nails… The sensation of cold metal pushed against her lower body. Alyx bit her lip in the dream and in reality, she began to reach down and felt the dark matted hair of her lover, she gasped as he bit her now, hard, but still the heat in her body rose, she reached further and gripped the rusty metal, gasping, screaming in pleasure as her orgasm tore through her as she woke and looked down in astonishment.

Her fingers were entangled in a mess of long, black hair and cold steel above her groin.

"Fucking Hell!" Alyx screamed out before she let out a bloodcurdling cry, she pushed herself back with her legs as she kicked him off her, a successfully aimed kick brought her boot crashing upon Ryan's cage, hardly damaging but the best she could do in the circumstances.

Ryan looked up at her, he was smiling despite the blow to his head from her impressive boots, he licked his lips slowly as if savouring a pleasant taste.

She continued to squirm away from him, from his teeth which had bitten her, from his tongue that had pleasured her… Oh God… He knows…

She felt sick, vile and dirty, never before had she felt so… dirty… and she would've vomited if she'd not had an empty stomach, "Fuck you, you pervert!" Was all she could think to yell at him but Ryan only laughed at her; she had betrayed herself to him, shown him that despite the agony and torture he put her through, she was still just a little slut and she wanted him.

She had tasted delicious and he licked his fingers for she still lingered upon them. He liked this, he knew what he'd done to her, he'd pleasured her to a point of no return and this gave him a sense of pride. Then he realised what this must mean… It must mean that she wants me.

Yes, it could only be that…

And her reasons for fighting?

She knows I like that…

Her screams are so real, her struggle so desperate but inside that scared little girl is a woman who craves for him.

Ryan was already aroused from playing with his little girl, but this new realisation excites him further. Ryan advances. Alyx retreats, but Ryan smiles at his little whore as he grabs her legs. This time she will feel welcoming around him, she will receive him easily… What a nice little whore he's found, a little slut who he believes loves him and yearns to have the feeling of him inside of her…

She dared not sleep after what he'd done, dared not close her eyes in case he did it to her again. He could fuck her all he wanted but she was damned if she was going to let him pleasure her again. In many ways the fact that he had done that to her seemed like the biggest violation of all. It wasn't even like he was gentle, loving or delicate. For Christ's sake he'd bitten her there and still she'd been turned on enough to hold his face in her groin as she came.

She was not a virgin but she'd never reached orgasm with any of her lovers be they male or female before and now this would be the memory of her first, given to her by a perverted ghost who wore a cage on his head to stop him from biting people.

So she sat in the corner in a foetal position, her arms wrapped around her legs. She kept telling herself not to cry. Don't cry and don't sleep... That's a choice she knew would be right.

She began thinking about her life and the choices she'd made. It had been her decision to leave home, away from the past, to new horizons. It had been her decision to go to college. It had been her decision to share her flat with fellow students. She had chosen Kelly as a roommate, she'd seemed pretty cool at first but that soon wore off. It had been her decision... to follow Kelly here, to enter the building, to go back for Kelly's bag... Curiosity had led her here and bad decisions. There would be no more bad decisions.

With unsteady hands and blurry eyesight she made herself a joint, in the hope that it would calm her nerves. Her hands shook so much, she was cold, bloodied and now she was starting to feel particularly hungry. The thirst had gotten to her already and the taste of blood was stale in her, so she had done the only thing she could, she had drunk from a puddle under a leaking pipe; it didn't matter what kind of pipe it was or where the water had come from, to Alyx right now, it tasted nectar sweet.

She rocked back and forth now, inhaling and exhaling the smoke; it wasn't fair, she hadn't wanted to come here... but then again, everything happens for a reason she supposed, God has a plan for us all. This couldn't be the end; those lustful, dead eyes could not possibly be the last thing she'd ever see.

She reached for her pocket and pulled out her phone. It was 6'o'clock, twenty hours so far... and still no signal... She trawled through the contacts list, looking at the names of the people she knew. So many memories, so many people she'd hoped she would be able to say goodbye to when the end came. Darren's name appeared on the screen and Alyx's hand trembled as she quickly skipped to the next entry.

All too soon a familiar name flashed up. Alyx stared in silence at the three letters for what could've been several minutes.

Could she bring herself to do it? Even if she had the chance?

Their relationship had been a turbulent one even at the best of times, and since Alyx had left college a year ago they had only spoken to each other once and that was on this person's birthday… They had either not remembered or not cared to return the favour to Alyx only a month ago.

She inhaled deeply on the joint before taking the next step, she pushed the button for options and scrolled down to delete, her thumb only hesitated for a moment before she confirmed the decision. Despite the pain it caused her to smile she still managed it as the entry was lost.

"You don't deserve anything, not even my goodbyes," she said out loud to no one.

So engrossed was she in this moment of closure that she did not notice that she was not alone in the room.

Ryan had watched her from a safe distance for about an hour now, edging closer only when he felt sure that she wouldn't notice, he chewed the cold skin on his fingers out of habit and he wondered what the strange contraption was that she held. It produced a square of light that illuminated the girl's face. Another cautious step closer brought him within an arms length of her. He stayed there, kneeling on his haunches, gnawing at the dull skin left on his fingers; if he'd still been alive they would've bled by now.

Ryan was well aware of his predicament; despite the insanity he still retained a lot of his former self, his intellect, his cunning among other things, so he was not unknowing of his demise. He'd found that being a ghost had its advantages; he could disappear into nothing if he so desired, just as he'd wished he could do in life when his obsessions and madness had driven him to his darkest moments.

He was not scared of the young woman before him, but he was wary. He preferred being in control for when he wasn't it felt too much like being locked in that horrid, cramped cell again, bound up in his jacket, having the straps tightened when he 'acted up'… His fear of people had not left him in death, but he had more confidence now that he had no physical form to be restrained, and this little girl even with her strange ability to touch him was not strong enough to stop him.

He peered over her shoulder and watched as her fingers seemed to manipulate the strange device she held, he saw her trawl through the list of names, she certainly knew a lot of people he assumed, then she stopped. He knew what she had done when she confirmed her deletion and he smiled as Alyx erased the name 'MUM' from her phone.

So, my pretty new toy has mummy issues, he deduced from what she said afterwards. He wondered what exactly these issues were. He had noticed the scarred flesh on her arms, most on them tiny white lines appearing on her right arm from the shoulder to the wrist. Ryan had seen self harming in the past, he himself had even succumbed to the desire to tear his skin away. He could tell her scars were the result of self inflicted injury by the angles and how the majority adorned only one arm, telling him that she was left handed. Were they the result of your mother? He purred softly as he took hold of a strand of her long black hair and began twirling it around his fingers; it was good to know that she had something in common with him, even if it was just having a bitch mother.

Women were a menace with their sly ways, mothers especially so he had theorised, even this little one with her cries for help and endless struggling, she was sly too for he knew that deep down she wanted him and enjoyed the rough treatment he gave her.

He teased the hair away from her neck without her noticing, Don't worry sweetheart, I can make all the pain go away... he quickly leaned forward to lick her throat before he disappeared from view.

Alyx spun round and grasped her neck, gasping as she'd felt a tongue against it. Looking into the darkness though confused her for there was no one there.

"Oh God, please don't tell me I'm losing my mind, that's the last thing I need," She was sure that no one was there but she had definitely felt something. Slowly she moved her hand from her neck, noticing how her fingers slid effortlessly off the skin. She shone the light from her mobile onto them and they glistened in saliva.

She panicked and rubbed her hand on her skirt then rubbed her neck furiously trying to rid her skin of his touch.

"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you," she whispered over and over again into the darkness.

There's got to be a way out of here, she thought, I won't die in this place!

"You won't beat me!" She yelled at him although she couldn't see him, "Do you hear me, Ryan? You won't beat me!"