Here is chapter three with some slight alterations :) Still don't own any of the characters apart from my own :) Enjoy :)

Heartache and Pain

Chapter three: Aching arms avoid accepting the aching in my head

Charlene's POV

When I woke up the first thing I noticed was a slight ache in my arms where the stitches were and the next thing I noticed was the masked man sleeping with his head on my bed and I jerked out of the way quickly. This action caused him to wake with a start.

"Are you ok? Are you in pain? Another bad dream?" He questioned quickly. I nodded my head once then shook my head twice in reply.

"Do you want something to eat? I could prepare some breakfast for you if you want me to." He questioned. I thought for a moment about whether I wanted to eat anything or not. If I starved myself long enough I could leave this miserable excuse for a life; but I knew if I refused food outright the masked man and his friend would start asking questions. So knowing I had no choice but to accept I nodded my head in assent.

"I'll be back momentarily with your breakfast." He explained matter of factly before promptly leaving out of the door and closing it gently behind him. I then decided to get dressed for the day after having a bath first. But I then realised I had nothing to wear except my torn garments from the night before. At least they hadn't tried to change my clothes and I must have been asleep for quite some time under the covers. I then realised when I made my first escape attempt I was still in my torn clothes; those men could have taken advantage of me but they didn't. Did that mean I could trust them?

"No..." I told myself.

"I would never trust another man again after my ordeal." I continued to think to myself. There was a knock on the door and after pulling the covers over my body and waited for them to enter my room. But there was no sign of them entering and I realised they would not enter the room unless I allowed them to; but yet again I couldn't bring myself to talk and was now in a dilemma as I needed to say something to let them enter otherwise they wouldn't be able to bring me my breakfast. I then got up and wrapped the bed sheet around my body and went towards the door to open it. I then went back to my bed and they placed the tray on the bedside table and left me to eat my breakfast. Little did they know that I was planning to only drink but never eat any food they give me. If I wouldn't trust another man for as long as I live then there was no point me living my life any longer. No man would love a mute girl who was disabled and ruined like I was so I would remain lonely for the rest of my life. But what do I do to make it look like I have eaten the food? My eyes immediately fell upon the balcony railings and so I threw the food out of the window and it landed in the hedge below. Now all I had to do was wait for starvation to take effect and soon I would be able to join my friends and family for eternity.

2 weeks later...

Charlene's POV

It had been two weeks since I began my hunger strike and I was lying weakly on my bed waiting for death to claim me. I just about registered the knock on the door but didn't have the energy or the will to answer it and just as darkness was about to take over I heard the faint noise of a door opening. I then let the darkness take over knowing I would join my parents and my friends soon in heaven.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a bright light; am I in heaven?

"She's waking up! We can take it from here doctor. Thank you for your assistance; you may go about your business now." I heard a voice exclaim matter of factly which confirmed I was still alive.

"Come on you need to eat something." The voice explained which sounded like it belonged to the man wearing the turban. I then felt a spoon being pushed against my lips but pulled my head away. When he tried yet again to feed me I used some newfound strength to hit the spoon out of his hand. I then proceeded to get out of the bed but a pain shot up my arm which caused me to stop immediately. When I looked down to see what the exact cause of the pain was I saw a needle in my arm which was connected to an intravenous drip. I guess that was how I was able to wake up and get out of bed as I remember before that happened I was lying weakly on my bed waiting to die. I got to the door and pulled it open before proceeding to get out of the flat as quickly as possible. But before I could even get out of the front door I felt someone grab me by the wrist and I instinctively kicked and struggled out of their grasp.

"I'm not going to hurt you! Now let me take you back to bed so I can give you something to eat." I shook my head constantly not wanting this man to give me anything to eat. I mean he could potentially drug or poison the food and then take advantage of me when I am unconscious or just murder me instead.

"Please I need you to eat something. You were out for a week and we had to call in a doctor to put an intravenous drip in your arm to get you to eat. He also gave you some medicine to stop you from becoming pregnant after your attack so you shouldn't have any unexpected pregnancies after your ordeal. But I don't like seeing you hurting yourself like this. I know you have been hurt and you don't fully trust us right now but one day you will understand I would never, ever do anything to hurt you." He explained reassuringly. When I looked into his eyes even though I found it hard to read people's emotions due to my mild autism there was a little something telling me I should trust him. But could I bring myself to trust this man after I have only known him for a short while? I then stopped struggling and followed him back to my room and tucked into the food left out for me straight away.

"Once you have finished eating you can have a bath. I'll leave some clothes out for you to wear." I looked up and tried to smile but couldn't bring myself to so once I finished eating I went straight into the bathroom and closed the door behind me.

When I came out of the bathroom half an hour or so later I got out of the bathroom and put on the jeans, t-shirt and jumper that was lying on the bed. Strangely enough they fitted me perfectly but I wasn't about to question how he knew my size. I guess he must be good at guessing sizes by looking at someone or something like that. After letting my hair down from its towel wrap and brushing through it I looked around and wondered what I was supposed to do with myself. Should I risk going downstairs or should I wait in my room until I am called for? I then heard a knock on the door and answered immediately.

"I see you have finished having a bath. Why haven't you come downstairs yet? There are many things you can do; including watch TV. It is fully at your disposal to use to your heart's content." The masked man explained. I thought for a moment then nodded and followed him downstairs to the sitting room.

"Here's our entire DVD collection; pick out whatever films or TV programmes you like and I'll show you how to work the DVD player." He explained and I went straight over to the cabinet to pick out the things I wanted to watch. After being shown how to work it I was left to watch as many programmes as I liked.

I can't tell how much time had gone by but I paused the programme I was watching when I heard plastic come in contact with wood and I looked across to see a tray filled with food which I ate as I continued to watch my programme.

It had been several hours since I began watching programmes on the widescreen TV and I could feel my eyelids drooping. Before I could bring myself to get off the sofa I fell asleep almost immediately.

Erik's POV

It had been a while since I left the girl to watch TV and when I went in after several hours I saw her peacefully asleep on the sofa. She looked so peaceful and I couldn't bear to disturb her. But she also looked so uncomfortable sleeping on the sofa in her current position. I moved her as gently as possible so she was lying properly on the sofa then placed a blanket gently over her body to keep her warm at night and I hoped she would have a peaceful sleep not graced with nightmares.

It was the middle of the night and I was still awake as I didn't require much sleep. I was about to take my usual night time walk when I suddenly heard a thump then a loud high-pitched scream which caused me to run downstairs in panic. I could just about hear Nadir following behind me in a panic too.

"Why isn't she in her room?" Nadir questioned breathlessly.

"Look, can we discuss this later once we know exactly what is going on." I replied quickly. When we got to the sitting room I saw the girl lying on the floor with a nasty looking head wound that was bleeding a little.

"Ok now we know what is going on can you explain to me why she is sleeping on the sofa rather than the bed?" Nadir questioned with a slight edge to his tone which I hadn't seen in a while.

"Whilst watching TV she fell asleep and since she has had trouble sleeping before I couldn't bear to disturb her. Also I didn't want to scare her by having her wake up in the arms of a strange man." I replied matter of factly.

"Well we better take her upstairs and get the doctor here to treat her head wound. I understand your logic on leaving her down here to sleep but we have to be careful that her nightmares don't wake her and cause her injury again." Nadir explained with a calmer tone this time. I nodded in agreement then picked the girl up from the floor and took her upstairs. I noticed how quiet she has been but I think she will come out of her shell soon.

Charlene's POV

When I woke up the first thing I noticed was a sharp throbbing in my head and then I noticed I was back in bed. But how did I get here? And why does my head hurt so much? I decided to try and ignore the throbbing in my head and get on with my day; but when I got out of bed I was immediately hit with a dizzy spell and gripped onto the bedside table to stabilise myself. I heard a knock on the door and tried to get to the door to answer but instead fell to the floor which caused the person on the other side to open it almost immediately.

"You're not supposed to be out of bed yet! You sustained a head injury last night after falling off the sofa. You need to stay in bed until the dizziness passes." A voice explained and when I looked up I saw the man with the turban coming towards me. But instinct kicked in and I crawled away from him as quickly as I could; but more dizziness hit me and I started to feel slightly nauseous.

"Nadir you are not helping; let me handle this!" The masked man exclaimed. So the man with the turban was called Nadir; I knew he definitely wasn't English so I wonder where he came from originally?

"Erik I can handle this!" Nadir yelled angrily. So the masked man did have a name and that was Erik. I loved the way his name sounded; it had such a mysterious nature to it. However, the other mysterious thing was the mask which he wore on the right side of his face. But do I dare take it off? No I won't break this man's trust; after all he did save my life and he has let me stay in his home so I can't bear hurt him like that?

"Why am I thinking about this man's feelings all of a sudden?" I thought to myself. I should just take it off and satisfy my curiosity but how would he react? He could get angry at me or even worse rape or kill me.

"Come back to bed, you will feel better. You need to rest for another week or so until your head injury has healed." Erik pleaded. I agreed and allowed him to lead me back to bed.

It had been a week or so since I sustained my head injury and I was back to watching TV and eating dinner on my own. But I still don't trust Erik and Nadir yet. But one day I was going to find out a little more about Erik...