chapter fifteen

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A hand is over my mouth.

That's what wakes me up, and my eyes flash open only to find more darkness. Unnatural darkness. That's when I realize there's something over my eyes preventing me from seeing. I was sleeping perfectly fine. It was the first night I wasn't having a nightmare. Maybe that's only because my mind knew I was going to wake up in the middle of one.

I scream, but it does nothing to improve my situation since the hand muffles the sound. I think I'm still in bed because I can feel the feel of the sheets under my body. My arms struggle but that's when I realize they're bound together. I kick my feet and they're bound together too. How did I not wake up when that was happening?

This is it. There is no way out of this situation. I am so screwed. I can't scream for help, I can't kick or punch, I can't do anything. I try to will my electricity to hit him but once again, my power remains useless. Why is it not helping? When I try to use my knees, I realize that the person is no longer above me but instead next to me. I attempt to use my elbows but my arms are tied behind my back so there's no use. There is absolutely no way I'm just going to lie here and let this person have their way with me. I know that this is a male because there isn't one girl in the compound besides me. What am I supposed to do right now? I feel so helpless.

"Come on, Evans." The guy urges and I freeze in my struggling. Everything suddenly clicks together. Oh my god. I recognize that voice.

It's Miles.

I scream a little louder and he shoves his palm harder against my mouth. What can I do about that? I could bite him. This realization gives me a new motivation and I stop feeling so helpless. Okay, I can get out of this. So I bite him and he curses at me, lifting his palm from my mouth. I only have a few seconds before he covers my mouth back up and in those few seconds I scream so loud it hurt my throat. And it's not just any scream. I scream for help. Before I can finish, though, he slaps me across the face and then replaces his hand on my mouth. I can taste blood.

We both know there's a ticking clock now. It's only a matter of time before someone bursts through that door and comes to my rescue. I'm just afraid of what Miles's is going to do in that limited amount of time. I've spent a little time with him so I know

he's not completely stupid. He's got to do what he came here for in the first place and he's got to do it quick. It's really weird not knowing what's going to happen next. I just have to lay here unable to impede the inevitable.

Actually, I guess I could try to use my power again. I could form an electric current inside his body and then send it outward. The only problem with that is that he would die. Now that I'm thinking clearly, I realize that would make me a murderer, a monster. I would become what everyone thinks I am and I wouldn't be able to live with myself. So, my power is useless. I can do absolutely nothing with it. Not only am I cursed but the curse is unusable. Why couldn't I be cursed with super strength or invisibility or something that can actually help right now?

Miles scoops me up off of my bed and I feel the cold air rushing against me as he runs down the hallway. Crap. Now my screaming did nothing. My rescuer will come to my bedroom; he won't go running down the hallway like an idiot. That means I have to bite his hand. Again. But this time, when I do, instead of lifting his hand he just grips my face tightly and curses under his breath. I have got to get out of his hold. I twitch and struggle and kick my tied legs until the cloth falls from my eyes and my jerking body is too much for him to hold.

I fall to the ground in a loud thump.

Maybe not a thump, but a definite crack. I don't have to think twice to scream since the pain does the thinking for me. I landed on my shoulder right on the cement. To know it's unquestionably broken, I don't need a doctor. As much pain as I've suffered, I've never broken a bone. Though this may not compare to getting stabbed with a Flesh Feeder's tooth, it hurts like hell. There are feet pounding on the cement and as I try to look, I realize that my vision is bordered in a red hue. Everything is really blurry and I struggle to stand up. Every little movement is like a knife plunging into my shoulder over and over again. But once I'm standing, I'm so dizzy that I stumble until I hit a wall.

It wouldn't be that bad if I didn't hit the wall with my shoulder.

The scream that tears from my throat is groundbreaking. Somewhere in the distance I hear glass shattering. I glance down at my shoulder and that's when I realize there's blood. There's blood everywhere. I manage not to throw up when I see the bone poking out of my skin. How I manage that, though, is beyond me. I don't know if it's the sight of a bone not in my body or if it's the excruciating pain that makes me pass out but at some point the lights just flicker.

     Then there's darkness.


"Did you know that every time I look at you, I find a reason to love you just a little bit more?" A deep voice whispers in my ear and I remain perfectly still, keeping my breaths even and deep so I seem asleep. "Like right now, for example. You look so at peace with your eyes closed and your mouth a tad bit open. For once you aren't yelling at me or fighting with me or asking me questions I don't want to answer. And this right here makes me love you just a little bit more."

Is that Parker?

What is going on? Where am I? Did he just say he loves me? Oh my god. I mean, I figured there was something going on because of the whole pet names thing, but this? I had no idea. He thinks I'm asleep. I'm not supposed to hear what he's saying but here I am, listening to every word of it. But Parker loves me? That's a little too much to process right now.

So instead of trying to digest that information, I focus on something else. Okay, where am I? It feels like I'm lying down. And there's obviously a bed under me so that means I'm in a bedroom. There's something in my hand. No, wait, that's someone else's hand holding mine. It's big and I've held it before. It's Parker's hand. I want to move but I can't let on that I'm awake. I'm forced to remain in the exact same position pretending to be in a world of dreams. This whole situation reminds me of something I really don't want to remember right now.


"Don't say a thing." Parker whispered as he slipped a hand over my mouth. My eyes widened and I stared at him as he listened to something in the distance that was beyond my ears.

How could he hear that?

I was sitting all by myself in one of the hallways where the guards left me. They told me they'd be right back so where are they and why is Parker here? Parker's hand slowly left my mouth. He ushered me into some random room and closed the door silently. When I opened my mouth to talk, his hand flew back over my lips and he gave me an irritated look. I glared at him. He was listening to silence and acting like an idiot. I was thirteen and he was fifteen so I thought he was just playing a game with me.

"You can't say anything, Riles." He whispered in my ear. For a game, he sure was being serious. "We have to be quiet or else they'll find us and something bad will happen, okay. Please don't say anything. I don't want anything to happen to you." He lifted his hand from my mouth and I blinked at him. I was starting to dislike the game. It wasn't fun at all.

"What's going on, Parker." My voice was so quiet that I could barely hear it and when I spoke, I leaned close enough to him that my lips were practically touching his ear. He didn't seem appalled by my proximity so neither of us moved until he had to respond.

"Can you not hear them?" His breath tickled my skin and I wanted to giggle so bad it hurt. I shook my head instead. All I heard was silence. "They're just fighting. It's nothing you need to worry about. Just stay quiet, Riles." I took a shaky breath and furrowed my eyebrows in half fear and half confusion.

"Who is they and what are they fighting about." I whispered and Parker's hand flew to my mouth again. I swallowed my frightened shriek and listened closely as I suddenly heard footsteps. Parker's other hand suddenly held my own and his grip was so tight that it distracted me until I heard the voices.

"Where'd she go, you idiot?" A male voice growled. He must be one of the guards that left me in the hallway.

"How am I supposed to know? You're the one who decided we should leave her to go get the duct tape. How are we gonna kill her now?" And that must be the other guard that left me. Did he just ask how he's gonna kill me? They left to get duct tape? Why did they need duct tape? To cover my mouth? Panic rose and Parker suddenly lifted me up and sat me right there in his lap. I was too surprised so I forgot about the guards for a second.

Parker looked me right in the eyes, let go of my hand, pressed his pointer finger to his lips, and then the hand on my mouth fell. I stared at him a little in shock of everything that was going on and then I remembered why we were stuck in a room alone together and why we were so close to each other. Why did the guards want to kill me? I resumed listening to the guards fight.

"Hawkins is going to kill us if we don't kill her." Guard number one sounded scared but not as scared as I felt. "Don't just stand there. We have to find her."

"You're going to be fine." Parker whispered soothingly.

"Come out, pretty girl." Guard number two spoke loudly and I burrowed myself into Parker's chest suddenly, not caring about how horribly awkward it was going to be if the guards found us like that. Parker's hand hesitated before reaching up and stroking my hair gently. I breathed deliberately as I tried to calm myself.

"Did you know your hair is very soft?" Parker's voice sounded so quiet it was like I was hearing him whisper to me from behind a wall. His compliment made me smile. I knew he was trying to distract me and somehow it was working until I heard a loud bang and a groan of pain. "I like your hair." Parker concluded and I gave him a weird look.

"We lost her, idiot, and it's your fault." Guard number one had passed scared and was now beyond pissed. He must have hit guard number two with something and that's what the bang was from. Maybe he threw something at the other guard, missed, and then punched him instead? "You took your sweet time getting the duct tape and that gave that stupid boy time to rescue the girl like a knight in shining armor."

"And I also like it very much when you smile." Parker was trying to distract me again so I let him. "You don't do it very often but I catch you smiling to yourself whenever something humorous happens. There was that one time I heard you laugh when one of the other patients threw their tray at a guard. I think you should laugh more often. It's cute. It's kind of like a giggle." I almost laughed then but instead I heard something from the hallway. I listened intently and was relieved to hear it was the guards' footsteps retreating. I breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Parker. He smiled down at me and then whispered again.

"See? I told you you'd be fine."


"You always seem so mad at me." Parker chuckles now and I want to smile. "You're adorable when you're mad. You get that little pout on your lips and your eyes narrow and you do that little head shake as if daring someone to speak. Everyone else seems so afraid of you, especially when you get mad, but I never understood that. You may be able to burn me to ashes but there's more to you than just that. And sometimes it feels like I'm the only one who sees it."

All of those times I had to be very still and count things are really paying off right now. There are 60 seconds in a minute. I wonder how many minutes I will have to count before he stops shattering my world into pieces. I wish I could look up at the ceiling and count its cracks instead of the passing time. That would help me cope with all these words. These words are dizzying me. I will fall to the ground any minute and shatter and break and he will be the only one caring enough to pick up my pieces and put me back together. Because, apparently, he loves me.

If I had my eyes open, I'm sure I'd be dizzy. I'm just marveling at how nothing is exploding. I mean, my heart is, so how has my brain not sent out that cursed electricity and plunge us into darkness after the lights flicker out? Are the lights even on? The training must have helped me control my power. I was a little uncertain about it after I exploded my dresser the other night but now I'm sure I can. And being able to control something that's ruined my entire life is such a magnificent feeling.

"You don't know what I am, what I've done." Parker continues. "Your friends were right, I'm heartless and cruel. I've killed men before and I've sat back and let Hawkins ruin what little beauty was in the world. I've sat back and let Dexter torture you until you almost broke. But you never did. You may think you have but I can see that fire in your eyes. If you were broken you wouldn't have that. You'd be walking around like a zombie instead of laughing and smiling like you are. You don't want to die, love, you want to be saved. Being here in the compound has saved you. Being here has set you free." He's right, being here has set me free.

I let my eyes flutter open to meet his.

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