"How are you feeling today, Vienna?" Came the nurse's reply from behind me, but I didn't bother to turn around. I stared numbly at the barred window of the commons room, seeing the sunny courtyard that was just outside the window. My knees were pulled up to my chest, and my arms were wrapped around my legs.

I wore a pure white outfit – a white shirt along with white pants. White grip socks were on my feet, and my medium length hair was braided down the middle of my head.

"Did you take your drugs?"

"Does the sun rise every morning?" I snapped back, turning to glare at the nurse. I had been here for about two months now, and luckily Aidan hadn't visited me since I had checked in.

It was a good thing, too – I realized how much I was slowly returning back to a human being. The drugs that they practically had to force down my throat the first couple of days, and seemingly every day after, might have had something to do with it.

"Leave me the fuck alone, Linda."

I turned my head to look back out the window. I heard her quiet footsteps and allowed my brain to become numb again. 

It wasn't bad – being here.

Being rid of Aiden for the time being.

Having other like-minded, broken people being around you...it was better than the den of monsters I was held captive in.

At least I was brought over to the United States to be checked in – it didn't seem like Aidan really trusted the Japanese to give me decent treatment. I would assume that the language barrier influenced that decision. 

It was almost time for our daily walk outside. I could tell from the sun's position in the sky. The skill used to be rusty – but now it's all I could do to tell time at this place. There was no concept of time, and in a miniscule way...it was exactly like back at the mansion.

Unlike at the mansion, though, at least here I was aware of the passing, fleeting days.

It was currently May – I would have almost finished my senior year. I would have went to prom that Jack had been talking about since the beginning to the school year. I would have beat Lindsay Chamberlain's score and had been accepted to Florida State.

Heartbreaking to think about...

"Vienna, you have a visitor."

Those words shook me to my core – they could only mean one thing. There was only one person that knew where I was and that would be able to visit me...

I hope I'm wrong.

I quickly turned my head in the other direction to see Aidan standing there. The common rooms were mostly empty, and so it was mostly just the two of us.

The nurse turned to talk to the man that caused me to be broken in the first place. "She's a lot more responsive than when she first came in, Mr. Mathis."

"Is that so?" Aidan asked, looking at the nurse. I glared at the two of them, watching the way that Aidan was walking over to me.

A small, hallow smile was on his face.

I turned away, trying my best to ignore him despite the unwavering gaze that he was directing towards me. I didn't want to be anywhere near him. At least when I was alone here, it was almost as though I was there living again.

I wasn't surrounded by teen hunger games, and human trafficking.

"Vienna, how are you feeling today?"

I ignored him.

"I was thinking..." He trailed, causing me to narrow my eyes at the space I was staring at. "That it's about time for you to return home."

"My home is gone..." I muttered out, as I slowly looked over at him.

He sat in the other chair across from me that one was on the other end of the window. There was a small distance between us, but I wanted it to be bigger. "I'm never going back with you," I hissed out, now glaring at him. "If I have to play the crazy card more, I will. There's no way that you're bringing me back to that mansion. You're not going to break me more than you already have."

I wanted to pounce and hit him. I knew that it would get me sedated, but then it would have been worth it.

It would have cut our visit short.

He smiled at me in amusement. I watched as he leaned forward and he took my hair that was pulled together in one braid. He stared at the braid in his hands for a few seconds, and his eyes darkened in distaste.

"I hate that look on you," he spoke, causing me to lose my hostility towards him. I froze where I was. I didn't like when he was so close to me. I couldn't breathe. I didn't want him touching me. "White isn't your color, either," his grip on my hair lifted as he simply rested it in his open palm.

A smirk rested on his face.

"Red is your color."

I pulled myself away as I dug my feet into the floor, causing the chair to let out a loud screeching noise as it was dragged along the floor.

My heartbeat thumped loudly in my chest.

It was from fear – he was scaring me.

I had thought that a month away from Aidan would heal and let me recover from the monster I had become. Instead, it seemed like it had just reset all the tolerance I had built up to him. It was as though I had met him for the first time, back at the school...before this all had happened.

The scared little Arianna was back – and I didn't know why.

"Don't touch me..." I whispered out, looking at him with wide eyes. My body started to tremble uncontrollably. I brought my braid over my shoulder and grabbed it tightly, as though trying to remove his vile touch from it.

He smirked slowly and leaned his arms on his knees.

"We need to make up for the lost time. I haven't slept with you in months, Vienna," I cringed at how he phrased that – as though we were having sex with each other. "I need you by my side."

I held my breath and pushed myself out of the chair, stumbling backwards. "No..." I spoke, turning around and running away from him.

I used to be on the track team in high school – I used to think that I was fast.

I tried to retreat into my room, but the grating interfered with that decision. "Help! Help, please!" I banged on the grating and looked back to see Aidan standing up from his chair, taking his time as he dusted his pants with his hand.

I whipped my head back around. My fingers dug into the small openings of the grate as I shook terribly. "P-Please! I want to go back to my room!" I didn't hear him behind me. I was doing all that I could to not break down hysterically from the panic that was overwhelming me.

"Help!!"

His hand found its way on the back of my neck. "These people work for me, Vienna. They've been following my exact orders on how to care for you." His voice came against my ear. I clenched the grating tightly before my arms fell limply at my sides. He began to stoke the sensitive skin there with the pad of this thumb causing me to tense up. "You've never been really free of me."

"I...I won't go back there."

He chuckled darkly, sending dread through my body.

He knew that he was in control – he always had been.

"You'll be back there before dawn," he spat out, not caring how I trembled. I could imagine the large, suffocating bedroom. The people there – Dominic and his other men, walking around and hunting teenagers as though it was normal. The black rooms that Aidan would torture people in. "Just in time for another game to start – you remember those, don't you?"

I clenched my fist and tried to hit him. He dodged by taking a step back flawlessly, and then pulled something out of his pocket. It glinted underneath the florescent lights. I swallowed as I stared down at the needle that he was holding in his hand. He twirled it around in his fingers, causing the anticipation to build between the two of us.

I was scared, but I was doing my best to not show it. I had wanted to stay here where the nurses and doctors were nice. I felt as though I was so close to rebuilding myself, and he wanted to take it all away.

He wanted to snatch away any progress that I made and send me back to his house of horrors.

He wanted me to become a monster again.

"I-I'm not going back," I said, looking intently down at the needle. All he needed to do was stick it into my body and I wouldn't be able to fight back. Even now, I was no match for Aidan. He was toying round with me, he was watching me struggle. Once again, he was here to watch the hope drain from my eyes as I realize that there was nothing that I could do. "I won't go back!"

"It's time for you to come home, Vienna," he spoke, leaving no room for discussion. His tone became significantly darker. "You've done enough recovering."

He took a step towards me, but I took a shaky step back.

I shook my head.

"N-No, I'm not going back," I spoke, but even my words didn't sound believable to me. They sounded fake – as though someone was trying to be something that they weren't. Here I was trying to be brave when I very well knew that I was the farthest thing from it.

I was weak – I was exactly as Aidan told me before sending me here.

"Give me another week. P-Please. Just another week." He looked at me without any pity or remorse. My begging and pleading was just something that didn't work on him. If it did, maybe those kids wouldn't have...

"I-I just want..." He took a few more steps while I just stood there. I knew that there was no point in running – it would have delayed the inevitable.

He was faster and stronger than me.

It wouldn't have mattered if I ran – he would have caught me in his arms before mercilessly plunging the needle into my neck.

"But it's not about what I want is it?" I asked, looking up into his eyes numbly. He stopped his advancement, his cold blue, piercing eyes looking at me. "It's about what you want," I answered my question.

I lowered my head.

"It's always been what you want..." I let out a shuddering breath as I clenched my hands.

I wasn't going to keep letting him get what he wants. I was going to keep fighting him, and it seemed like the only head way that I was making was suicide.

The only thing that I've seen him worry about is me getting away from him -- either by running away or taking my life.

I told him that the next time that I would attempt it that I would be successful and I had meant it. He wasn't going to keep playing around with my life, trying to mold me into something that I wasn't. I would have rather died than continue living as the heartless monster that he wanted me to be.

"The first thing that I'm going to do when I get back there is just take my life again."

The nurse let out a gasp at hearing my words. I looked up to see a series of doctors coming back from break. Aidan glared darkly at the staff before tucking away the needle skillfully into his pocket. I rose an eyebrow at that reaction, and the grating opened up as Linda walked through.

"Vienna, that's not how we talk around here, is it?" She scolded, and I looked from her and then to Aidan in confusion.

I couldn't even mask it – I was too confused. They should have been helping Aidan, instead he was acting as though he didn't have any say in the way things ran.

Then, it hit me.

If Aidan really did control the staff here, then why was he so upset about the way they styled my hair?

Or the colors that I was wearing?

He didn't control the staff, it was just another mental attack at making me feel as though he was dominating my life – a ploy that made it seem like he still had control.

I was so used to it that I had believed it without giving it much thought.

"Mr. Mathis, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this visitation short," Linda spoke. I blinked my eyes as she proceeded to pull me away from him. I was too caught off guard my revelation to fight her off.

Besides, she was unknowingly helping me by getting me away from Aidan.

"She needs to see her doctor right away." She shook her head as we continued towards a door. She pulled my upper arm gently as she continued to shake her head.

I looked back to find Aidan looking as though he was going to kill Linda. His scathing gaze was directed at her hand touching me. A security man waved him down the exit hallway, and his gaze kept lingering on the nurse that was beside me.

Aidan tried to mask his silent anger as he turned towards the security guard just as he disappeared down the other hallway. "Would it be alright if I came back tomorrow? I flew out of country to be here for my fiancé..."

I faced the front and she guided me down the familiar hallway until she reached Dr. Bart's door. "Honestly, child, you're too young to be thinking about suicide. There's plenty of good things in the world."

I'd like to see her mentally fight against the monster that was Aidan. He had a way of breaking people without even trying.

"My friends had their tongues ripped out and one of them died." I spoke darkly at the nurse. "My fiancé is the one that did it." Her eyebrows shot up at hearing these words. "He also killed my boyfriend in front of me just to become my fiancé."

I walked into the office and looked at Dr. Bart, who nodded while gesturing towards a chair. I closed the door behind me, hearing the nurse gasp at me.

"Welcome, Vienna," the doctor spoke in his gentle, fake tone. "How are you feeling today?"

I breathed out and tried to gather my thoughts. "Overwhelmed," I spoke honestly. I had expected this entire facility to be under Aidan's control, even when I first got here. I had assumed the entire staff was going to be against me, but now I knew that this wasn't the case.

Did I still have a chance to escape?

Did I still have the opportunity to get away?

I wasn't sure.

"I might be suicidal, but I'm not crazy, Dr. Bart," I spoke, and he looked at me as he nodded. "My fiancé kidnapped me from a small town in Florida. My father, Frederick Hopkins believes that I'm dead, and Aidan Mathis traffics humans to make a profit."

"Why are you telling me this, Vienna?" Dr. Bart asked lightly.

He was talking to me as though I was crazy, which is why I needed to switch to a different tactic. I couldn't talk to him as though he were a human – I needed him to understand my situation. I was taking a page out of Aidan's book, I needed to play against him the way he was playing against me.

I smiled gently at him. "Because if you don't take me seriously, then you're no less of a monster than I am." He leaned forward in his chair, any sense of ease had been extinguished. "I have your attention, now, don't I?" I couldn't help the small smirk that spread across my face.

My tone was cold and authoritative.

"First, I need you to call this number for me."

I wrote it down on a notepad and took a pen off his desk. I turned it around and faced it towards him. "That's my father's number. He needs to know that I'm not dead."

Dr. Bart looked unconvinced. Still, he picked up the phone and started to dial the number. I held hope in my heart for the first time in months. This might have been the key to my freedom all along. I was going to shine light on Aidan's shitty existence.

I was going to be the one to end him once and for all.

The doctor placed the phone on speaker and I waited impatiently with my hands on my knees.

Please, pick up.

Pick up!

"Hopkins," he spoke, and tears came to my eyes as I heard my father's voice. I tried to turn my emotions off for this, but my father still brought my humanity back to me. I wanted nothing more than to be home with him and have Bella beside me.

I just wanted to be embraced by him as he told me that everything was going to be alright, and that this was all just a bad dream.

"Dad?" I asked, standing up from my seat. "D-Dad, it's Ari..." I heard a deafening silence on the other line. He might have received a few calls like this just so people could mess with him. "I-I used to be known as..." I didn't even want to say my old name. I swallowed thickly, pushing aside my wants in exchange for my needs. "Child A," my tone was light, and my bottom lip trembled. "J-Jack was...!"

There was a sharp inhale, cutting me off. "Ari...Arianna!" He spoke happily over the phone. Dr. Bart was staring wide eyed in disbelief at the phone. He didn't understand what was happening, and it almost seemed like he couldn't believe that I had been telling the truth.

"You're alive! My precious daughter is still alive. Oh, Jesus Christ!" He started to cry and I smiled happily.

I smiled for the first time in months and it was genuine.

I placed my hands together tightly. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to go home to my father. I wanted this entire nightmare to end.

"Where are you? I-I'll send a driver...No, I'll send the whole police to come and get you!"

"I'm at-!" I began to talk but then the power was cut off. The line went dead, and I knew that it wasn't a coincidence.

Whenever Aidan was around...it wasn't a coincidence.

I let out a strangled breath as my legs started to tremble.

I knew what this meant – he knew that I had called my father. He knew that I was trying to end his entire operation, and he also knew that I was trying to get away from him.

"Dr. Bart, you are going to need to run." I turned back to the notepad and started to scribble everything that I could about Aidan down on it. It was a rushed writing job, but I could still make out the words on it. "You are going to need to run now. If you get caught, you're going to die."

The emergency lights turned on, leaving an eerie red in the building. I looked up at the lights and then looked down. I could see the way that the doctor was looking at me. It seemed like he still couldn't believe that this was real.

He didn't understand how much danger he was currently in.

"Aidan isn't afraid to kill you. You know too much," I swallowed, writing down something else on the notepad as quickly as I could. I was running out of time, and I knew that my chances to escape from Aidan were becoming smaller the longer that I waited around.

"Run to this address, and warn my father that he's being watched. That all of his family is in danger. His lines are tapped...also..."

I pushed my palms against my head in frustration. "I should have known that they'd have been tapped. I was an idiot. Why did I call him first? Why didn't I...?"

The first sound of a bullet went off.

I froze, and Dr. Bart leapt to his feet, now taking my threat seriously. A barrage of other bullets were heard, and it sounded as though this place had become a shooting range. "I'm taking you with me, Vienna." He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I shook my head.

"We have to split up. He'll be after the both of us..." I spoke, swallowing nervously. "There's not much of a debate about who he'll be after first." Dr. Bart nodded and opened up his door.

We ran towards the end of the hallway, and pushed open one of the many emergency doors. I let out a slow breath to calm myself. I eyed the forest that was around the building and knew that I wouldn't lose this time.

"I'm going to distract him. You get out of here."

Dr. Bart nodded and I ran into the open field. I