5. Fight or cry

ASTRID

“Where am I?” I muttered to myself as I opened my eyes to see an unfamiliar room and my head hurt a little.

Then I recalled what happened. I was kidnapped and taken to a place. My vision was blurry but I was in chains and I wasn’t the only one there. I heard the voice of some men and they spoke about injecting something to me but someone came.

Because of how weak I was, I could barely see anything but I heard sounds before I succumbed to darkness again.

This place was a little different from the blurry vision that I had earlier. It was a room, it was big but because I could barely move my body, I couldn’t look around.

I heard the sound of the door opening and footsteps.

“Do you think that you can get any information from that man?” I heard an unfamiliar masculine voice.

“I don’t know if I can. But at least now we know something is up in that school and we have to find out who is behind it.” A voice I kind of recognized spoke.

“Judging by how things are going, you might be able to find out who they are soon. You won’t stay long then.” The first voice spoke.

“Exactly.” The voice I recognized answered.

“And her? What about her?”

“And what about her?” The voice I recognized spoke and I tilted my head towards the direction the voice was coming from.

Noah? I called in my head.

“She’s awake.” Noah said, taking long strides towards me.

“Hey.” He said, waving his hand. “How are you? Can you hear me? Can you talk? Can you tell me how many fingers this is?” He asked, showing five of his fingers for me.

“Five.” I replied, my voice a little husky.

“And this?” He asked again.

“Three.” I replied.

“What’s your name?” He asked.

“Astrid.” I answered.

“Good. Do you recall what happened?” He asked again.

I nodded my head gently. “I got kidnapped.”

“Do you recall what they did to you?” He asked.

I shook my head in response. “No.”

“Alright then. How are you feeling?”

“Thirsty.” I replied.

“One second.” He said, leaving me with his friend to go get water for me.

Noah returned shortly with a glass of water. He handed it to his friend first before assisting me to sit up on his bed. I felt a little ache in my neck which I’m guessing was because of the injection.

I let out a small sigh because of the pain.

“How are you feeling?” Noah asked.

“A little better.” I replied.

He gave me the glass of water and I could barely hold it so he helped me with drinking the water.

“Thank you.” I said almost in a whisper.

“Can you remind me what happened?” I asked.

“You got kidnapped and I saved you.” He answered curtly.

This would make it the second time that he had come to my rescue. All my life, I never had anyone stand up for me or want to assist me but he has done that not once but twice.

“Thank you.” I said and I meant that.

But I was scared of believing that he did it genuinely because of what Damien did to me. Damien tricked me. He made me believe that he cares for me when he suddenly changed towards me and started treating me nicely.

I was gullible to have fallen for it. At first I didn’t believe that he’d like me although I’ve crushed on him just like most girls in school. I was too stupid to see behind it all and let myself enjoy the moment in my life for it to hit me back.

I should have known better. Even my father didn’t care much for me so why should anyone. No one has ever cared for me. I’ve always been reminded of my status and never welcomed in people’s circles.

If Noah was being nice to me then he had an ulterior motive. It was only a matter of time before he finally revealed his true motive to me.

I tried to get up but Noah stopped me. “What are you doing?”

“Leaving.” I replied.

“Alright.” He said and he doesn’t bother to stop me.

It was only after I stood up I realized that I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t go back home or my step father would sell me off to be a breeder and I couldn’t go back to the academy because I have been expelled.

Everything but me was so hard that I almost collapsed from the thought of it.

“Are you alright?” Noah asked as he held me so that I wouldn't fall.

I burst into tears. Noah did what I never expected, he pulled me towards him as I cried. I continued to cry until I felt at ease and not for once did he speak while I cried.

I pulled back from the hug. “You don’t have to be nice to me! You don’t have to care for me okay! I know what you all want! You always want something! I know this is all fake so tell me!”

I cried, my chest was burning from the thought of what I was going through.

“What do you think I want from you?” Noah asked, his tone was clipped.

“Go on. Speak. What do you think I want from you?”

“I don’t know.” My voice came out lower than I anticipated.

“I don’t know. I just know I will never be good enough and would never fit anywhere and you being nice to me doesn’t seem real. I mean why would someone like you save me not once but twice? Just like them, you also have a motive.” I cried out.

“Now I don’t have anywhere to go. I have been expelled too. The academy was all I had. I just had a year and a few months and now it’s over. My life is over.” I fell to the floor, beating my chest lightly to nurse the pain.

“Life isn’t fair. It’s never fair to anyone and it only gets worse when you don’t ever stand up for yourself. You can’t keep letting them step on you and expect it to be fine if you don’t ever stand up for yourself. No one will stand up for you if you don’t stand up for yourself.” His tone was cold.

I shuddered from the sound of his voice. How could someone be so arrogant and nonchalant? I glared at him because all he did was worsen how I felt.

“You can either continue crying and hoping for help or stand up and fight. The ball is in your court.” With that said, he walked away, leaving me alone in the room.