A/N: Hey guys, I know I´ve not been updating this for a while. Life is busy :D Anyway, I haven´t abandoned this fic. So there will be a new chapter today and hopefully it won´t be long until the next. I´m also not sure if there are still some people out there who are reading this... so if you are there, give me a sign :D
Warnings for this chapter: Depiction of punishment, enclosement, fear of suffocating.
If these kind of things are not your cup of beer, please turn around now. Don´t say that I didn´t warn you.
Breathless
You take the breath right out of me...
In a second Elena felt herself being propelled upwards from the bed and whirled around. Damon was holding her from behind, his arm encircling her torso and holding her in place. Sad to say that Elena was already kind of acquainted with being handled so roughly. Now, she didn´t feel particularly surprised by being tossed around like a life-size doll.
Damon´s face pressed against hers from the side. "When I let you go, will you remain standing there or do we have to go through this whole "you running and me catching you thing" again?"
Elena balled her hands to fists. "I´m not going to run," she pressed out, having decided that the earlier she faced the situation the faster it would be over. Any hope she had had to get out of this situation unharmed had vanished already. She didn´t look at Damon but she could imagine the satisfied smirk that was surely on his face. Elena could feel the grip of his hands loosening before he finally let her go completely. It felt good not be touched by him. Her brown eyes followed Damon through the room, while anxiety was slowly spreading through her body. The more she thought about what this "punishment" might entail, the more afraid she became.
When Damon had reached her bed again, he halted and leaned down, looking for something. Elena had no clue what he was doing but the scary smile that appeared on his face when he pulled out the storage box from under her bed still let her shiver. It was a big box, big enough that a person could fit in. Elena gulped. "Perfect", she heard Damon mutter, before he discarded of the bed linen she had stored there.
When Damon was ready with clearing it out his eyes went to Elena again. "Come here," he said and for once Elena obeyed without much drama. She had fought today, as strong as she could… now all fight seemed to have left her. She just felt empty. When she had reached him, Damon pointed at the storage box. "In there," he ordered.
Elena scanned the space in the box. It wasn´t huge but she would be able to lie down without much problem. The bottom looked rather hard but there were worse things, weren´t there? This couldn´t be it anyway, Elena thought. There probably was some catch, something she couldn´t see yet. This thought somehow gave her a pause. Elena bit on her bottom lip, undecided. Her eyes wandered to Damon. Maybe he had seen the questions there because he chuckled lightly. "You put me in the basement cell, now we´ll see how much you like it to be locked in. Lay down, now. I´m not going to repeat myself."
With another look at Damon, Elena slowly stepped in and lowered herself. Her heart was beating faster than normal, and she still tried to reassure herself that this wasn´t going to be that bad. She had never had much problem with tight spaces. Maybe she could even sleep a bit. She would show him that something like this didn´t frighten her. Elena shot her best defying look at Damon before laying down. She fit in quiet comfortably, just as she had thought, even though she wasn´t able to move that much in each direction.
Damon chuckled by seeing the view she shot him. "Well Elena," he said, while slowly pushing the box back under the bed. "I guess I´ll see you tomorrow. Sleep tight."
The last thing Elena saw before darkness engulfed her was the evil glint in Damon´s eyes. She gulped while she looked up at the wood of her bed above her. With her right hand she lightly touched it. It was closer to her than she had thought. She heard Damon move in her room. He seemed to have reached her door now. Elena could hear a click and then the light in her room was switched off. Immediately, complete darkness engulfed her. She couldn´t hear Damon anymore, as well. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Elena took a deep breath. She could only hope that this punishment was as easy as she had originally thought. _
Elena took a deep, calming breath. Then another. Her back hurt, but when she tried to roll over to her side, her shoulder brushed against the solid surface above her, making the position even more uncomfortable. Feeling trapped, she rolled back with a deep sigh.
She couldn´t be sure how long she had already laid there, even though it couldn´t be that long. 30 minutes, maybe, she mused. Maybe even less. Each minute seemed to stretch out in the darkness. Even now, Elena could already tell that this night would be one of the most uncomfortable ones that she´d ever had. Initially, she had planned to just go to sleep and ignore the circumstances. She was sure that the best way of defiance was to simply stay unimpressed by his efforts to punish her. In the last month she had seen a lot of gruesome things, and one uncomfortable night was not something that could vex her.
Anyway, sleep hasn´t come so easily after all. Elena had been plagued by fears of what Damon might do to her if she didn´t manage to get out of this situation. Her cheek throbbed painfully, reminding her of the violence he seemed to be able off. The silence and darkness that surrounded her hadn´t helped as well. The last sound she had heard was Damon pulling something before her bed and when she had tried to move the storage box to get out again, she had realized that it couldn´t be moved at all. She was trapped. Somehow the realization that she totally depended on Damon to get out of here again hadn´t really helped to quench this feeling of nausea that had slowly started to spread through her belly. After that there hadn´t been a single sound. Elena wasn´t sure what Damon was doing. He wasn´t lying on her bed, she thought, otherwise she would have noticed him going on there. But what else could he be doing? There was no noise to give him away.
Besides the circumstances Elena, had managed to stay as calm as possible. She´d tried to close her eyes, tried not to think about the fact, that she was imprisoned in an extremely tight place, that she couldn´t even sit up if she wanted to and that she couldn´t get out. It had worked for some time but became more and more difficult with every second.
It is hot, Elena thought, conscious that she still wore the dress with several layers from the party. For the first time, she realized how tight it was. It made it difficult for her to breathe. After a moment, Elena decided to try and pull it off. She was wearing a top under the dress, but still she would be quite exposed without it. Elena didn´t like the thought of Damon seeing her without it, but in the end, it was simply too hot. She would never be able to sleep like this. Maybe she could even use it as some kind of pillow. Not optimal, but better than nothing. Carefully, Elena shifted on her side again and reached for her back, where she managed to open the zipper at the back of her dress with some difficulty. She pulled her arms out of the straps. Now she only had to push it down her legs. She tried, only to realize that this was near impossible. She couldn´t even raise her head and when she tried to lift her ass to pull it over her hips, her knees hit against the surface off her bed. Angry, Elena doubled her efforts, switching back and force until finally she was able to totally discard of it.
For a second, she lay there, panting. That had been much more exhausting than she had originally thought, and her breath was going fast already. It seemed to be even warmer now and it was difficult to get enough oxygen. Was she only imagining it or was it really becoming harder to breath? Was she slowly using up all the oxygen? Weren´t there some slits and spaces were new one could come in? Still breathing strongly and unable to stop it, Elena´s hands fumbled around, searching for something but coming up only with a few places where she thought new oxygen could come in. But surely Damon wouldn´t put her somewhere, she could suffocate? No, he wanted her alive… and still it felt harder and harder to breath. The bad feeling inside of Elena´s stomach intensified.
Maybe he didn´t know, she thought. He seemed to have improvised with this punishment, so maybe he had just assumed that there would be enough air? Elena tried to calm herself. She knew, she was slowly starting to panic, but each new breath which didn´t seem to satisfy her need for air as much as normally, send a new wave of fear through her. Minutes ticked by and it became harder and harder to ignore. Almost instinctively, Elena tried again to move the box a bit, maybe just enough that a gap would appear, and air could come in but it didn´t budge at all. And her fear increased.
Ok, calm down, calm down Elena, she told herself. Maybe I should just tell, Damon. He doesn´t want to kill me and if he doesn´t know… yes, I should just tell him.
"Damon?" she asked tentatively. She waited for a second but all that greeted her was silence. Was he even there or had he simply left? Elena refused to believe that. No, she thought. He wouldn´t do that. He just wouldn´t! "Damon?", Elena asked again, this time much louder than before. Still nothing. What if he had really left without knowing that there wasn´t enough air? What if he wouldn´t come back in time? Would she suffocate here like this? No, this couldn´t be the end. Not like this… Not like this!
Tears started to appear in her eyes and Elena banged her hands against the wall above her in panic. In this moment, there was nothing she wanted more than getting out of here, taking some fresh air. Anything but this. "Damon, let me out of here!" She screamed desperately. "Please, I can´t breathe. Please!" But all the answer she ever got was this damned silence which seemed to stretch forever.
I´m alone, she realized with a sinking feeling in her stomach. No one is going to rescue me. I´m on my own. And there is not enough air. I will suffocate. Again, Elena tried desperately to get out, or to at least move this damned box just a little bit. She wiggled, kicked, but noting helped. Finally, she lay there, exhausted, trying desperately to breath but not getting enough air at all. She felt lightheaded. Her head hurt. Tears were streaming down her face freely. Every breath seemed to be a torture. This is the end, Elena thought. I will not survive this night.
She didn´t die, though. It took Elena a long time to calm down enough to realize that she could still breath and that it was much easier when she was just keeping still. However, it was hot inside here, and she still felt lightheaded. Trapped. Caged. While, at the beginning, she had thought the tight space would be no problem for her, she now felt as if the walls were trapping her in. This wall right above her head was pressing down on her. She would have given everything to be able to sit up, to move, but every time she shifted just a little bit, there was a wall. And still…still, she had not heard a single sound from Damon. She feared he had really left, that she was alone. What if he would not return? What if something happened to him? And even if not, how long would he plan on keeping her there? A few hours? Days? Surely, he couldn´t, wouldn´t, right? Right? How long could she even survive without water? Without food? Would he get some pleasure in knowing how much she was suffering? But surely Stefan would notice after some time. At least when she didn´t appear to school tomorrow, he would notice. How long would it be until he would come? It could not be later than 12 o´clock right now, so 10 more hours? 15?
While having this thought, Elena closed her eyes in desperation. 15 hours. 15 more hours of this torture. Of this air that was never enough to satisfy her. Then she suddenly remembered that Damon had her handy, and her panic intensified. He could simply write Stefan that she felt ill and would not come to school today. Knowing Stefan, he would respect that and even respect when she said she needed some time for her own. He would not come. She was on her own.
This thought brought a new wave of panic over her.
When Damon finally let her out again, Elena was a whimpering mess. She didn´t even had enough strength to feel embarrassed by her tears, by the way she must certainly look. She wasn´t sure that she had ever felt as exhausted before.
Her back hurt and her face hurt worse. She had been in there for hours and hours. It had at least been two more times that she´d thought she´d suffocate. With each second that passed, the walls had been closing in in her more and more, making her feel as if she was buried alive. Elena couldn´t remember ever having felt as terrible as in the last hours. She would have given everything to not – to never – be put back there again.
Damon observed her for a moment, smirking slightly. If he felt sorry for her, he didn´t let it show. In one graceful movement, he was leaning down and swooping her up in his arms as if she didn´t weight anything. His hands carefully patted the hair out of her face and Elena felt how a new wave of tears hit her. She hated how weak he made her feel.
"I…I couldn´t breathe," she sobbed, not able to hold the words in. "I thought I´d suffocate, I thought you´d let me die."
Damon was looking at her. His eyes seemed deep blue. Unreadable. His grip around her tightened, pressing her body against his. Carefully, he patted her tears away with his thump. Elena could feel his warm breath tingle the skin on her face. "It´s okay, it´s okay," he soothed her, his voice soft. His cheek touched hers, his warmth wrapping her in. "I would never let you die, Elena. I promise you that."
Elena shook her head, tears stinging in her eyes. "You weren´t there. I couldn´t breathe."
"It was just the panic, Elena. There was always enough air. Whatever you felt, it was all in your head."
Elena looked at him with big eyes. Was he telling the truth? Had she just imagined it? Well, she didn´t suffocate, that much she had to admit. But still it had been terrible. It had been so dark, so quiet and she couldn´t move, couldn´t breathe. She shuddered.
She felt how Damon carefully laid her down on the bed, his voice still calm, still soothing. "I know it was difficult, but it´s over now, Elena." He smiled at her. "You did good as well. Bore your punishment like good girl."
Elena nodded, while she tried to hold in her tears. She desperately needed some sleep and even more desperately she needed time to think things through, to come up with a new plan, new hope. Right now, she felt only empty. She felt cold. A shiver went through her body.
Damon seemed to have noticed, too. Elena watched as he lay down beside her and covered them with the blanket. In the next moment, he pulled her closer to him. "What are you doing?", Elena protested weakly.
"There are still two hours left till you have to get up for school and you are exhausted. Don´t you want to at least sleep a bit?"
She did. "Can´t I sleep alone?"
Damon smiled and she felt him pull her closer to him. His arms encircled her and her head rested on his strong chest. "No." he whispered in her hair. "Go to sleep now, Elena."
Deep down Elena knew that she needed to protest more, but somehow the words just wouldn´t leave her mouth. Her eyes felt heavy, and Damon was so warm, her bed so soft. Before she really knew what happened, Elena had already fallen asleep.
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