Huh... little red flags may go up in your head as you read, but stick with it. Things will get better. This chapter has the most stuff going on in it, so yeah, and I also think it's the longest, too... Interesting. Enjoy.
Kudos to amiga numero tres, my friend Dani, for her help on this chappy!
Disclaimer: Me no own PotO, kk?
Erik woke up groggily late in the morning. He groaned and stretched, groaning as his back cracked once. Feeling a little better, he decided to brave going into Alyssa's room (which, of course, was actually his).
Since he still remembered how close their faces had come before, Erik thought of another method to wake her up. Holding a pillow firmly in hand, he took aim briefly and threw the cushion at her from across the room.
"Oh shit!" Alyssa shouted as she sat up. She looked around wildly, and Erik stepped into her line of sight, a smirk clearly playing across his face. "What the freakin' hell was that for?" Alyssa asked.
"You wouldn't wake up any other way," Erik replied, his face now deviod of expression. "Now get up. Breakfast is ready."
Alyssa laid down again, but her stomach gave an unpleasant lurch and she was forced to get up. She followed Erik and sat down at the table, now pausing before she started eating. She was ready to be silent for the rest of the day, and only wished she could have stopped herself from shouting out earlier.
"So, mademoiselle, are you planning on saying nothing again today?" Erik inquired. Alyssa merely gave him a meaningful glance, and he nodded and returned to his plate.
Once they were both finished, Erik cleared the table and he came back to find Alyssa sitting in the same armchair she had been in the day before. He nodded to her once, then turned deftly and sat at his organ.
The day was so similar to the one before that Erik found himself wonderirng if it wasn't the same day, and he had only been daydreaming about falling asleep. A rather unusual daydream, as unusual as the whole predicament was, but he couldn't help but wonder.
Alyssa made not a sound, but sat sideways with her legs over the right arm of the chair. She looked for all the world like she was simply an emotionless statue, but thoughts were swirling around inside her head.
So tonight I guess I'll carry out my plan. He looks so... comfortable, but I'll wipe that damn grin off his face. He'll wish he'd never kidnapped me... Oh god, I'll make him pay. I can't wait. I'll make him say he's sorry.
After a while, Erik began to lose interest in playing the organ. His fingers were feeling better, but now there was a sense of boredom playing about his mind. An evil idea came into his mind, one that would amuse him, so he turned and faced Alyssa.
"Mademoiselle," he murmured, "I really do pity you. It must be so difficult for a girl like you to stay silent for so long. I also imagine that knowing your silence has no affect on me whatsoever is also very frustrating, non?" There was a devilish smile threatening to appear on his lips, but he held it back.
It was a moment like a fork in the road. Alyssa could have chosen to either bottle up the ferocious anger that bubbled up in her gut, or she could have taken her rage out on Erik. She chose the second one.
"God dammit!" she yelled, standing and facing him. "Don't you dare use that damn tone with me, you bastard! I'll kill you!"
"You realize that if you angered me enough, I could most likely kill you before you could so much as touch me." Erik had chosen this entertainment well. He was biting back a laugh with every syllable he spoke. No matter how much Alyssa threatened him, they both knew that he held the power, and seeing how this affected the teenager was extremely amusing to him. He was disappointed when Alyssa bit back a smart remark and straightened up, pulling the strap of her nightgown that had fallen again back onto her shoulder.
"Death is just another way of escaping you," she muttered darkly. Erik imediately came up with another reply that would set her off again.
"Oh, what an amazing escape, mademoiselle. Let me guess: It's the best you could think of, correct? And you don't care because you feel daring at the moment? Or is it because you are, as you say, a teenager?"
Suddenly Alyssa couldn't control her rage anymore. She rushed at Erik, bringing back her fist to hit him as though she would stop at nothing until he was dead. An exceedingly childish thing to do, but Alyssa's rage, frusteration, and desperation blinded her to all else. Erik expertly dodged every blow she sent at him, except one.
All of the strength that Alyssa possessed had gone into that one, too. Her fist collided with the side of Erik's skull, causing him to lose his balance and knocking the amused look off his face.
Alyssa brought her hand back to hit him again, but Erik evaded her attack and grabbed her wrist in what was terrifyingly close to a bone-crushing grip. With a few clever twists, Erik had soon pulled her body to the ground. His knees were on either side of her abdomen, and he loomed over her, staring dangerously into her eyes.
Had it been almost anyone else in the world, they would have been long since dead. But with Alyssa, Erik felt something different. It was as though, deep inside himself, deepin the depths ofhis soul, he somehow sensed that she was his only hope.
But only hope for what? he wondered. Nothing came to mind, but that only enticed him, made him want to know more...
After a while, Erik realized that he was still hovering over Alyssa. He struggled to get the dark and menacing gleam back into his eyes.
"I told you before, mademoiselle, that if you did not behave, I would have to tie you to a chair. Do I have to do that, or are you going to behave?"
Normally Alyssa would have said something along the lines of "Bite me!", but this time she knew she couldn't. Not if she wanted to carry out her plan to escape that night.
"I... I'll behave," she mumbled pathetically, doing her best not to look at him. Erik's features took on a more satisfied air, and he stood and pulled Alyssa to her feet, perhaps more roughly then he intended.
"Now go to bed, mademoiselle," he ordered, his voice sharp and like an icy, metal whip to Alyssa's ears. She flinched once at the sound. "I don't want to see you any sooner than tomorrow morning. Do you understand?"
Alyssa nodded, looking every bit the scolded child, and she turned and began to walk back to Erik's room. She made it a point to look as defeated as possible, so that it would come as a bigger surprise when she put her escape plan into action.
Late that night, her eyes staring into the darkness of the ceiling, Alyssa finally decided that it was time. She had been lying awake in bed for hours, waiting for the right time to spring, like a lioness patientlycounting the seconds untilthe oppurtunity to pounce.
Many of the candles in the main room were still lit, but Erik was seemingly fast asleep on the chaise lounge. Alyssa couldn't tell, because his back was to her, but she decided to risk it. She reached out and grasped a small candlabra that was sitting on his desk without a candle in it. Slowly she turned it upside down so that the thick base was facing up.
Even then, it took Alyssa a few more seconds of mental preperation before she could take the last steps toward Erik. She wondered once if she was doing the right thing.
Of course I am. I can't escape unless one of us dies. Taking a deep breath that came as a slight whimper, Alyssa raised the candlabra over her head and readied to bring it down upon Erik's skull.
Fortunately, though, her whimper had been enough to rouse Erik. He was so accustomed to being alone at night that even the quietest of sounds could wake him up.
He opened his eyes silently, and was shocked to see a very strange thing. On the wall beside him, he could see the shadow of what looked like a person holding a club. And that shadow seemed to belong to someone standing right beside him.
Erik rolled over a split second before the candlabra slammed into the chaise lounge, right where his head had been. his eyes widened, and Alysa gave a small cry when she realized that he as awake. She raised the weapon in her hands and started to blindly swing it from side to side. She hit Erik several times, but her fear kept her from thinking properly, and she didn't strike him that hard.
Oblivious to the physical pain that Alyssa had caused him, Erik stood up as soon as he could and wrapped his fingers deftly around the candlabra. He wrenched it out of Alyssa's grasp and threw it to the floor, ignoring the loud sound it made.
Before Alyssa knew what was happening, her back was firmly pressed against the wall and Erik was holding her forearms in a vice-like grip. His eyes had a fire in them that she hadn't seen before, and she barely mastered the instinctive shudder that was about to shake through her.
"Mademoiselle," Erik growled, "I could kill you right now, and I wouldn't have one god-damn bit of remorse. But I'm not going to kill you. Do you know why, mademoiselle? It's because I know of something that would hurt you more, and itmay prove... beneficial to me as well."
Alyssa was about to ask what he meant when he yanked her away from the wall. She let out a cry as Erik began to force her backward toward his room. No matter how wildly she struggled, she couldn't get free of Erik's hold on her. Once she stumbled, and she gave a small cry of pain. She could have sworn that Erik hesitated in tht one moment, but he was pushing her back again in a second.
When they were in the room, Erik compelled her back more until the back of her legs hit the cool, hard metal of the bed frame. He did not relax the pressure he put on Alyssa, causing her knees to bend until she was lying on the bed.
As Alyssa watched in a stunned horror, Erik lay himself upon her. He rested his head on her breasts, and she shuddered as his breath penetrated the thin fabric of her small nightgown. She shut her eyes and did the best she could to prepare herself for living her worst fear.
Slowly Erik reached one hand down and under the short shirt of her nightgown. He felt the thin strap of her underwear, and curled two fingers around it, then he started to slowly slid it down her thigh. Both of Alyssa's hands were firmly clasped in his left.
"No..." Alyssa breathed pitifully, and she let out a choked sob, still not daring to open her eyes. Erik paused and looked at her, rising onto his elbows to see her face. It was turned sideways, away from him, and now a few tears were streaming silently down it.
Just then Erik realized that he couldn't go through with what he'd intended to do. Why had he even started doing something that he knew he would never be able to finish?
Am I trying to prove something to myself? Is that it? Why the hell did I even threaten to do something like this? I... Ican't do this. Erik looked sadly at Alyssa. Oh god, mademoiselle-
"I'm so sorry." Erik's eyes instantly widened when it hit him that he'd said those last three words. He had meant them, true enough, but for some reason he hadn't been ready to say them.
Erik shakily stood up, then he turned and was gone before it fully registered in Alyssa's mind that he wasn't lying on her anymore.
At last Alyssa peeked one eyes open. There was no sign of Erik, so she fearfully groped above her head for a pillow. She grabbed the first one she found and held it tight to her body. Her fingers clutched the soft material as though she would never let go, and she sobbed desperately into the blissful coolness of the cushion.
After a couple of panic-filled minutes, Alyssa took one final conscious breath before gratefully falling asleep.
Yes, my people... I know that was harsh... Perhaps overly so... but it happened nonetheless. And I can't exactly change it at this point... unfortunately... Well, right at this moment, as I'm typing this, I guess I can... but obviously I won't. So HA! LOL just kidding... ok, I'm not. But let me know how you guys liked that. And be gentle if you didn't. Things'll get better.