I wake up with a pounding headache and a fresh bruise in the shape of a fist on my left cheek. I look around the dimly lit basement and feel a sense of deja vu wash all over me. I haven't been here since I was sixteen, too many traumatising events keeping me away from this room. I would rather risk the wrath of my stepmother than step into this moment, but look at me right now, lying on the same floor with no way to leave. I get up from the floor and almost fall back down from the bout of dizziness that hits me. I lean on the wall until I'm strong enough to move towards the door. "Please open the door!" I scream while banging on the door, almost bursting into tears when, after a few minutes, nobody responds. I feel around my back pocket for my phone, and when I find it, I almost die from relief. When I take it out, however, my mood turns sour at the total lack of network, almost as if my dad had installed a cellphone jammer in this room. I turn on my phone light and look around th

"Roman?" I ask beneath the gag."Yes, baby?" Roman asks in response while pulling the strong duvet off my body. "Get this off me!" I scream beneath the gag in words that I'm sure come out in incoherent mumbles. "I will remove the gag if you promise not to make a sound." Roman says in a patronizing tone. "Nod if you understand." I nod my head angrily, willing to do anything to get him to take the gag out of my mouth and off my face. He takes off the gag slowly, watching my face for any signs of defiance. Satisfied with what he sees, he takes it off fully, giving me a lopsided grin that almost melts my resolve. Almost. "What are you doing here?" I whisper yell at him while trying to get my hand out of the loose rope he has around my wrists. "To see you of course. What do you think?" Roman says giving me a dumb look while sitting up in the bed. I wiggle once more, trying to get my hands out of the ropes binding them together. "Why would you want to see me? You made it painfully

A shiver runs through me for what seems to be the 100th time since I hid under this table. I wait and wait for what seems like hours but is probably just minutes for the door knob to turn and for the door to be pushed open but neither happens. The footsteps that seemed to have been coming towards the door could not be heard anymore. I refuse to step out from under the table to lay on the bed, even when my neck starts hurting and my back starts aching. After an hour or two, I start to doze off, and the first few times I wake up with a start, banging my head on the roof of the table. I really don't understand why I can fall asleep in this kind of dangerous situation. With my head on my knees, I eventually give in and fall asleep right there. I don't wake up till I feel myself being lifted from under the table and placed softly on the bed. "Stubborn girl." A voice says from beside me, but before I can decipher who the voice belongs to I'm lulled back into a deep dreamless sleep. Whe

"Hey!" A voice calls from very far away. "Hey!" The voice calls again and this time it sounds closer. I try to respond but find out I can't. I know I shouldn't just give up like that, but it's damn hard not to. I'm tired and exhausted and just at the brink of totally losing consciousness, the janitor's closet is pulled open and air comes rushing into my lungs. I breathe in very fast as though if I pause for a moment, the air will be taken away from me. I feel someone's arms on me, the person pulls me out of the closet and towards a room at the edge of the brightly lit hallway which seems to be affecting my eyes. The person softly pushes me to lay on the bed and places a light blanket over me before offering me water. After some time, I start to regain myself, and I start to look around my environment. I take stock of the room which is so prettily designed in pink and I sigh dreamily. I turn towards the girl who had saved me and I almost fall on my knees in gratitude. "Thank yo

Trisha. In all her annoying glory stares back at me with barely concealed anger. I look back at her already coming up with various theories as to why she would be here looking for me. "How long has she been waiting for me?" I ask the girl at the front desk. She stops typing on her phone for a second to look at me, "I don't really know. But she's been here for like thirty minutes." I nod in response. I had been right. This girl had done research on me while we were still at that stupid event and found out where I stayed. She probably rushed down here immediately I left with Roman and also most likely already knows that I went out with Roman. Her supposed fiancé. When I walk towards her direction, she probably feels like she has won the lottery or something. She has a little victorious smirk on her face probably from getting me to do her bidding. "I don't like to be kept waiting, Ms Aella." Trisha says with her nose in the air. "How can I help you, Trisha?" I ask, going straight