Author's note: Thank you all again for reading. I hope you're enjoying it. I would love to know what you all think about it. I want to know if you're enjoying the characters and story :)

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Something cold brushed along my cheek and my eyes slowly opened. There was an intense pain that spread across my temple. I was glad the room was dark as my eyes watered and ached.

Jimmy was sitting on the edge of the bed so that he was facing me. He had on a grey shirt and a red plaid jacket over top. He must have already been outside working. Jimmy must have drugged me enough so that I didn’t wake up at the alarm.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he told me, his lips curled into a smile.

I opened up my mouth to talk, but it was so dry that I couldn’t speak. I shifted my weight on the bed and I realized that my arms were stuck. I looked up to see that my hands were tied to the bedframe with rope. I gave them a quick tug, with all of the energy I could muster, but my hands went nowhere. My back was propped up with pillow.

Jimmy reached out and his cold fingers covered my hands.

“You’ll only hurt yourself more,” he warned me. “Are you thirsty?”

I didn’t dare to speak and I just nodded my head. Moving my head caused the pain to increase and I winced.

Jimmy picked up a glass of water off of the nightstand and carefully brought it over to my lips. I struggled to drink from it and I felt the trail of water as it ran down my throat. I felt some of the water run down my chin and over my cheek. I ignored it and drank from it greedily to relieve my parched mouth.

Was I had finished it, he put the glass back down on the nightstand. He gave me a soft smile as he ran his fingers through my tangled mess of hair.

“You really scared me last night,” Jimmy told me.

I tried to open my mouth to speak, but I felt so tired. I was fighting with my eyes to keep them open and I felt like I was so close to slipping into unconsciousness.

“I love you, Juliet,” he said. “Don’t tell me that you’re going to take yourself away from me like that again. So many girls have done that in my family before and it leaves them all alone. I never want to lose you, so I need to make sure you won’t do anything silly while I’m outside. I’ll untie you when I come back in. Okay?”

I wanted to shake my head no. I wanted to scream and yell at him. I wanted fight against the restraints. There was no strength in my body though to do any of that though. I couldn’t even open my eyes anymore as I started falling asleep.

“Be a good girl and rest up,” I could hear Jimmy say.

His lips pressed up against my forehead were the last thing I remembered.

When I finally woke up again, the pain in my shoulders became unbearable. The rest of my muscles were in pain, but I almost couldn’t feel them compared to my shoulders.

I looked up to see that my hands were still tied up. I pulled down my wrists and my shoulders screamed out in pain. The rope burned into the flesh on my wrists and I yelped out in pain.

There was no point in fighting against the restraints. I would be a miracle if I managed to break free, but I seriously doubted if I had the strength to get out of bed and walk. Even if I could, the doors were all locked, I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere. Jimmy would just find me crumpled on the floor somewhere and I would be punished for trying to escape.

I stopped struggling and settled myself on the bed. I had to wiggle my weight around on the bed to find a comfy spot for my shoulders.

I looked over to see Jimmy’s alarm clock. It was just past noon and I groaned. They usually come in from outside when it has just turned dark out. That means that I’m going to have to wait tied up to the bed for another five or six hours.

The day was painstakingly long. I slept for a couple more hours because there was nothing else to do. Every time I woke up, my body felt a bit better. The pain in my head dulled to a manageable headache and the only major pain was in my shoulder blades.

While I was awake, I couldn’t stop thinking about Jimmy. My mind kept wanting to go to the meat that I was eating, but I knew I had to avoid thinking about that. Anytime I did, I could feel the bile rise up into my throat. I didn’t want to be tied down, vomiting, and then have to lie in it until Jimmy came in.

It was much better to think of something that made me feel happy and safe. That was always Jimmy. Outside of this house I was always on my own, but now I had a whole family that loved me. Jimmy protected me and made me feel safe, I was never going to feel lonely again for as long as I had him. He was the only one who loved me.

But I couldn’t forget about the meat. It was sick an absolutely disgusting. Only bad-low-budget-horror movie villains killed people and then ate their corpses. Maybe I just heard him wrong? No. I remember last night vividly.

My train of thought was cut off when I heard somebody running up the stairs. The door opened up and Jimmy walked into the room. He had a plate in his hand and my stomach twisted when I saw the pile of meat on it.

Jimmy put the plate down on the nightstand and sat back down on the edge of the bed. He tucked the pieces of hair, which had been itching my face all day, behind my ears.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“My arms are sore,” I told him. My voice came out much hoarser than I expected.

Jimmy leaned forward and I felt him fiddle with the ropes. I bit down onto my lip to stop myself from gasping out in pain as the ropes continued to burn my flesh. My arms dropped as he pulled the rope away. I slowly stretched my arms up over my head and felt every muscle scream out in pain. I sat up completely on the bed.

I continued to stretch out the muscles in my shoulders. Jimmy sat back down in front of me and watched as stretched out all my muscles.

My scalp felt itchy and I couldn’t remember the last time I ran a brush through my hair. My body felt itchy and I could smell the sweat coming off of me.

“Can I take a shower?” I asked him.

“You need to build up your strength first,” Jimmy told me.

He reached over to the plate and placed it down on the small section of the bed that was separating us. There was a pile of the meat that I had roasted in the oven the other day and there was a smaller pile of carrots on the other side. I didn’t want to look at the meat, so I looked up into Jimmy’s soft eyes.

“I want you to eat,” he said.

I bit down on my lip and slowly lowered my gaze down onto the plate. I reached out to the pile of carrots and popped one into my mouth. My stomach had been grumbling all day, so I was happy to finally be eating something. As long as it wasn’t the meat.

“Julie, eat a piece of meat now,” he ordered me.

I looked down at the pile and hesitantly brought my hand over to it. I froze before retracting it back and shaking my head.

“I can’t do it,” I said, my voice was cracking.

“Yes you can,” he reassured me.

“No I can’t,” I whined.

“Yes you can, Julie,” he said more sternly. “You’ve been eating it for the last few months. It’s just mind over matter. It seems a lot worse than it actually is.”

I shook my head again and I felt the tears burning my eyes and nose. I couldn’t do it now that I know what it is. I could eat that meat knowing that I had a conversation with them while they were alive. I’ve seen them smile and laugh, I couldn’t just eat them now.

Jimmy reached down to the pile and picked up a few pieces of meat with his fingers. I watched him as he shoved it in his mouth and chewed it. It caused my stomach to somehow tighten even more.

“Look,” he said after swallowing. “It’s not hard and it won’t hurt you.”

“I can’t do it,” I said quietly.

“If you don’t eat it then you don’t get to take a shower,” he warned me.

I would be disgusted with myself if I ate that food. But I would sit here feeling disgusting and itchy until I did it. It was either feel gross and sick with myself for one minute, or feel filthy for days.

I grabbed a small chunk of meat off of the plate. Jimmy watched me intensely as I brought it up to my mouth. I thought of a cow as hard as I could. If I believed this is beef it wouldn’t be that bad. I thought about the burgers Lina and I used to get that were drenched in grease.

I struggled with the chewing and I had to fight with my tongue to swallow it. I shivered after I finally managed to.

“Can I take a shower now?” I asked.

“Two more pieces first,” he told me. “I want to make sure you’re healthy and eating enough.”

I took a few deep breaths before reaching out to the plate. I forced myself to think the same way as I ate the meat. I managed to force down two more pieces without being sick.

“Good girl,” Jimmy said as I swallowed the last piece. “Go take your shower now, but keep the door open. I want to make sure you don’t do anything silly.”

I nodded my head and went into the bathroom. I had to drag my feet, but I managed to walk on my own. I wasn’t allowed to close the door, but it didn’t matter anymore. Jimmy broke the lock when I locked him out last night. My last little bit of protection, other than Jimmy, was now gone.

I turned on the shower and peeled off my clothes. I stepped into the shower and scrubbed my body clean.

I couldn’t believe that I just ate another human being. I couldn’t believe how easy it was.

There was one thing that disgusted me even more than that.

I actually thought it tasted good.