Hey! Thanks so much for the reviews guys! Melstrife and Queenofthenight82, thanks for the encouragement! It means a lot! A bunch happens in this chapter. A BUNCH. Lots of things. Enjoy! (enjoy might be the wrong word because this isn't a particularly happy chapter by any means...)

Chapter 10

Ty. Ty was- he was- who? Someone had been at the door. Who was it? I tried to reach up to brush my bangs out of my face. My arms wouldn't move. I tried to lift my head up to see why and I almost blacked out from the pain. My head slammed against the metal frame of the cot when I fell backwards. I laid there, semi-conscious, and eventually succumbed to the taunting darkness at the edges of my vision.

When I awoke again, I sat up as far as I could, slowly. My head throbbed and I felt weak. I remembered what had happened and why my head hurt. I looked at my arms. They were tied down in two places: my wrists, and my forearms. My ankles had been tied down, too. It was so tight; it was at the point where I could hardly move because of the pain. I wriggled my arm and watched as blood seeped out from underneath the tie. That was when I noticed the blood on the bottom of my jeans. Nathan must have been furious when he caught me. Why else would I be left like this? I looked around slowly. And groaned. I was in the same room as before. What was going to happen to me? Why was all of this crap happening now?

My stomach growled and I winced with the pain of my hollow belly. How long had it been since I had last eaten? I had no idea how long I had been unconscious. I didn't even know what day it was. When I had tried to escape, I hadn't even noticed if the window blinds were open and if any light had been shining through or if there were any windows at all. It wouldn't have helped much anyways. I laid back, considering there wasn't anything else I could do, but carefully this time. I didn't want to knock myself unconscious again. I must have dozed off, because when my eyes opened again, Nathan was sitting in the chair. Watching me. "Why are you doing this?" I asked. He was silent for a moment, and then he said, "Do you know what it's like to watch your best friend get everything you ever wanted?" He shifted in the chair. "I only wanted you to love me, Emily. Like I love you. That's not too much to ask, is it?" I was about to speak when my stomach made an embarrassingly loud noise that sounded like a dying whale.

"Hungry?" Nathan asked. I nodded. He leaned forward and reached over at me. I flinched. He paused, gently stroked the side of my face and got up. "I'll be back." I wouldn't look at him. I heard him walk around a bit and then heard him slam the door as he left the apartment. I lay back and let a few tears escape to wet the hair at my temples. I had to make myself stop, otherwise I risked losing all control. And that was something I couldn't afford. I had to get out. I eased myself back up and looked around for something I could maybe use to get free. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. I closed my eyes in defeat. I was stuck here. With a crazy lunatic that seemed to think captivity was the way to make me love him as a person.

I shifted my arms in an attempt to get in a slightly more comfortable position than I was in. I winced at the movement, then felt something snap. I looked down at my arm in disbelief. The tie had broken from around my left wrist. I felt the underside of the cot frame amd nearly cried with relief. The cot had been broken at some point and repaired, but not well. There was a rough protuberance that had managed to saw through the tie. I tried to slide my arm down to try and cut through the remaining zip tie. I got a few inches but had to stop because of the pain. My forearm was bleeding freely now, along with a couple of places on my wrist. With every twist of my left arm, more blood oozed out from under the tie. I started to feel light headed. It coated my arm and the cot and I felt my skin slide a little bit over the metal. It hurt like crazy but it was progress of a sort. I paused. Was it really worth this pain to try and get away when I probably wouldn't be able to make it out the front door?

I had to try. I tugged at my arm again and managed to slide it down to the spot. Tears streamed down my face as I pulled my arm back and forth. I let out a soft cry. I couldn't do this, it hurt too much, I wasn't going to be able to do this, I couldn't- can't- can't! With a final yell, I sawed through the tie. While trying not to black out, I screamed without making a sound. I cried at the ceiling, tears streaming down my face. Had it been worth it? My arm was a bloody mess, chafed from the zip ties and rubbing it against the metal. I still had to free my other arm and my ankles. I took a breath and made myself think. How could I get out of here? There was a way. There had to be.

I was still for a solid minute when I thought of it. I stretched my hand out, reaching for the ties that had fallen to the floor. The first one had fallen too far under the cot to reach. The second one, though, that was just barely in range of my fingertips. I edged it closer and finally got it near enough to pick up. I slowly maneuvered the ties on my other arm around so that the bit that connected one end to the other was facing the ceiling. I stuck one end of the broken tie into the locking mechanism, trying to get it to release. When it did, I moved on to the one on my wrist, and then on to my ankles. It took a lot longer than I would have liked, and I knew I was running out of time before Nathan would return from wherever he went. I swung my legs over the side of the cot and stood up. I dropped to my knees as all the blood rushed from my head and left me dizzy and seeing spots. I waited for the blood to circulate as regularly as it could with my bleeding and now throbbing arms and ankles. I wiped my tears away with my better arm, held back the rest of the ones that wanted to fall, got up and went to the door. I stared at it. The door frame was new, so was the rest of the door. When had Nathan fixed it? Just how long had I been out? I shook off these thoughts, I didn't have enough time. I carefully peered out into the rest of the apartment. I couldn't see anyone, so I tried to bolt for the door, but my ankles hurt too much to run. I had limped my way to the door when I realized the key was gone. He had taken it with him. I turned away, frustration and anger starting to replace everything else. I had had my phone when I was taken, so it had to be here somewhere. I rubbed my neck, gingerly. It had been sore ever since I woke up. As I walked around, searching, I had to stop because of the incredible exhaustion that washed over me. "That can't be good." I murmured. I limped around kitchen, searching through drawers. Still nothing. I opened the only other door in the main room. It led into Nathan's room. The blinds were open, clothes were everywhere, the bed was unmade and Nathan's backpack was slung across it. It was very similar to Jason's room, actually. I slowly turned around, taking it all in. This didn't look like the room of a crazy stalker. It looked normal. There had been one thing bugging me from the first time I woke up. Where were his parents? Why was he alone? I limped to the desk near the window. A journal lay open on it. I picked it up and skimmed a few pages. An emotion I hadn't expected brought a lump to my throat. Pity.

Nathan had suffered from abuse from both of his parents as a child and was emancipated from them a few years ago. He wrote about the freedom he got to taste for the first time when the judge declared him emancipated. He was going to drop high school and get his GED when someone changed his mind. Me. Apparently, I had told him that he was capable enough to complete high school and work a full time job. I had told him I believed he could do it. He wrote that that was something no one had ever told him before. The next sentence broke my heart.

I think I found someone who could love me.

I paused in my reading. I remembered. I had no idea about the situation, but I knew that he was considering dropping out. I had offered to help. I set his journal back on the desk and turned around. I forgot all semblance of pity when I realized I was looking at something that made my heart drop. The doorway was surrounded by pictures. Of me. From Facebook, Instagram, school archive photos from shows we had done in the past, some I didn't even recognize. Most of them were candid. I wasn't looking toward the camera in most of them. Many were from school, in the hallway or me going into the theater. Some of the others, though, were of me at my dorm room, my home. And they were recent. I recognized an outfit that I had worn a week ago. I held my hand up to my mouth, suddenly nauseous. I bent over, sucking in air, hands on my knees. I wasn't going to get out of here. I struggled to get my breathing under control. When I felt like I could stand without keeling over, I made myself rummage around through his dresser and nightstand to try and find my phone.

I opened the first drawer. Nothing but t-shirts. The second, shorts and the like, and so on and so forth until I had checked all the dresser drawers. I prayed I could find my phone in the nightstand and realized that he had probably dumped it, if he was smart. (I watch a lot of crime shows, okay?) I opened the bottom drawer. Empty. The middle one had a bunch of knickknacks and stuff that probably hadn't seen the light of day in years. The top drawer. "Please." I whispered. It creaked as I eased it open and sifted through all of the junk. Nothing. No phone. I knelt down, numbness threatening to overtake me, and dizziness making me lightheaded. I forced myself to stand up, to keep looking until I had exhausted all possible places my phone could be, or until Nathan came back, in which I would have to come to terms that I would probably have to defend myself by whatever means possible. I stumbled over my own foot and fell onto his bed. And I saw it. My phone had been hidden under one of the two pillows at the head of the mattress. I grabbed it and tried to turn it on. I could call Jason. He knew where Nathan lived and could call the police. It slowly powered up. Had it always taken this long? It finally showed the home screen and I tried to type in the password to unlock it, but my fingers weren't doing what I wanted. Something was wrong with me, and it wasn't just because I was hungry. I slowly tapped out the numbers that unlocked my phone. I staggered back into the main room, hope returning as I managed to get to the missed calls screen. I heard keys rattle and the locks turn as I pressed Jason's name. I stood there, stupidly, in the middle of the room with my phone pressed to my ear. It kept ringing. Nathan walked in the door carrying McDonald's. He dropped the bag and stared at me. My phone was still ringing.

"How did you get out?" He caught sight of my phone and fright replaced surprise. He stepped towards me and grabbed my wrist. I gasped in pain as he tightened his hold on my broken skin. I was forced to my knees as Nathan tore my phone from my grip. I heard Jason pick up. "Emily? Where are you-?" I cut him off yelling weakly, "Jason, it's-," and Nathan cut off the call. He slammed my phone onto the floor where he stomped on it with his foot. "Emily, why would you do that?" Nathan's grip on my wrist tightened and I sobbed. I looked up at him and was terrified by what I saw in his eyes. I weakly pulled at his hand encircling my wrist. "Let go- hurts-," I gasped. "Please." He blinked and something cleared. He looked at his hand holding my arm and let me go as if I burned him. "Oh my g-, Emily. What did you do?" I collapsed on the floor, cradling my arm. It burned. When Nathan pulled me up, he grasped my forearms and sent me whimpering with pain that made me even more lightheaded than I already was. It was ungodly painful and ten times worse than when I had maneuvered it out from under the zip-tie. I stood there, trying to breathe as waves of pain hit me over and over again. He caught me as I fell against him. I was wheezing now; I could hear myself. It was a weird sound that didn't seem like it should be coming from my mouth.

Alarmed, he let go of me and I made one last attempt to escape. I stepped toward the door, but I didn't make it two steps. My last hint of hope died when Nathan just took my other arm gently and restrained me. I had known it was pointless, trying to escape again, but I had to try. The fact that my freedom was gone and that my arm was damaged with what felt like would be beyond repair, finally sent the rest of my tears pouring down my face. I was surprised that they hadn't been falling again before now.

I looked up at Nathan and pleaded with him, "Please. Let me go." He looked conflicted, which I'm sure would have sent some gratification through me had I not been bent over my arm in agony. "I-I can't. You would tell someone. But, Em, I don't even care about that. I don't want to let you go. I need you." My eyes grew leaden with what was starting to become a familiar heaviness as the pain and nausea took over and released me into unconsciousness.

There were eyes watching me. They glowed. And then I was alone. My arms were curiously absent of pain and I wasn't sure if I was dreaming or if I was awake. The eyes appeared again accompanied by a voice, deep and soothing, chanting something I couldn't quite hear. It stopped and for a second there was silence, and then, "It will be okay, Emily, my love. I won't let him keep you." The chant continued and light began swirling around me, sending bright sparks of yellow light out into the darkness. Color began to flash as I woke up and I heard a whisper as my surroundings began to make sense. "I am coming for you."

I tensed up as awareness returned to me in full. I'd had a weird dream, but I couldn't remember what it was about. There were lights, a voice, but that's all I could recall. I gazed up at the ceiling, despair setting in as I remembered what had caused my return to the darkness. I was stuck in the same small, dusty, old room that I had been in for who knows how long. I sat up, relieved to find I had some range of motion, but instantly regretted it when my head began to pound. I guessed I was dehydrated, but I was still exhausted, too, for all the out time I seemed to be getting lately.

The dust in the room was thick in the air and I felt a tremendous sneeze tickle my nose. I reached up out of habit and rubbed my nose with my left hand. It took me a moment before I realized what I had done. I looked down and saw the bloody bandages that wrapped a couple of places on my arms. But there was no pain. I carefully peeled back the edges from my hand and was met by clean skin. I unraveled the bindings from my wrists and forearms and gaped in awe. My skin was completely whole and unbroken. I traced my arm with a fingertip, expecting some pain, but felt only the tickle of skin against skin. I had been healed. I turned my arm, still unbelieving. There was something strange on my left wrist. I couldn't quite make out what it was the first time I tried to look at it. I rotated my arm to try and get a better angle and I realized what it was. A tiny rose in full bloom had been tattooed or branded in the hollow of my wrist. It looked like it had always been there. It was white, which made it hard to see unless the light caught it right. Was this Nathan's idea of a sick joke? The roses on my car, now this? I attempted to stand, appalled by how weak I was, all thoughts of the rose leaving my mind. Why did I stand up again? The door. I reached for the doorknob and found it unlocked, but before I could leave I was hit by the urgent need to use the restroom.

I stumbled along the wall to the bathroom door and flipped on the light. I tugged my shirt over my nose to try and filter some of the dust and did what my body had been denied for who knows how long. How I even lasted as long as I had, I had no idea. I turned on the faucet and rinsed my hands. Then I stuck my face under the running water and let the cool liquid run across my tongue and down my throat. I drank deeply, feeling somewhat better, but my head still ached, as did my neck, and I was still so, so tired. My stomach clenched and I whirled around and threw up everything I had just drank into the toilet. I fell against the wall and struggled to twist the doorknob. I needed to hurry. But why? What was I doing here? "Emily!" I heard, and then I was slammed into the wall. "Emily." Arms were around me, holding me in place. "Nathan." I murmured. I could barely keep my eyes open. "I thought you had gotten away, and I-," he stopped. I managed to get my eyes to focus enough to see the alarm on his face as he registered my state of being. "Are you okay? Emily?" His lips were moving, but there was no sound. "I forgive you." I whispered, and pitched forward into a silence so dark and complete, I knew there was no getting out.

I didn't mean for this to happen. It wasn't supposed to go this way. I didn't even mean to hit her that first time. I thought she was okay. Yeah, she was out for too long, but, I couldn't do this to her. I wouldn't. I love her. She hasn't eaten or drunk anything in days. You finally get her and now you're killing her. You never could hold on to anything you loved. You always drove it away. It's what you do. "No." Not this time. I would let her go because it was the right thing to do. It was the only thing to do.

I couldn't live in a world where she wasn't in it.

Even if that means simply knowing she's alive.

It would have to be enough.

I scooped her up in my arms. Were girls supposed to feel this light? I stood there for a moment and realized how sick she really was. The dark circles under her eyes made how thin her face was even more prominent. She was pale, and the bruise on her temple seemed to glare at me. And her arms, I couldn't think about them right now. Not about how when I was bandaging them, they started to heal by themselves. It was too weird.

I opened the door of the little room and carried her out and down the stairs of my building. Her breath was so shallow. I unlocked my car and carefully strapped her into the passenger seat. I allowed myself one last look at her face. She was beautiful. So beautiful. I kissed her, carefully. For the second and what I knew would be the last time. Her lips were so cold. Then I got into the driver's seat and sped toward the hospital.

Lots of things, see? Next update soon! I'm going to give up on giving exact dates, because I work on chapters and get them done way before my deadline. So. Update soon! Bye! :)