😂

Blacking out seemed to be becoming a regular occurrence for me since my arrival to this dreaded town known as Barnaburgh Hill. When I awoke for the third time, everything seemed rather hazy to me. My thoughts were jumbled up and all I could recall was flashing images of my previous attempted escape.

Where was I? What had happened? How had I managed to escape the wolves within the forest? They had closed in on me so fast. I should have been ripped apart. I should be dead.

Gradually I tried to sit upright. Shrill aches soared through my muscles wave after wave. It took everything I had to prevent myself from vocalising a scream due to the immense pain radiating throughout me. I was sore and tender from head to toe.

Looking down, my soggy, torn and mud ridden pajamas were stained red on my right shoulder and in various other locations. Blood? I gulped instinctively knowing I would be better off not knowing what lay beneath.

As my senses slowly became more coherent I realised that I was in fact laying in an unknown room on an unfamiliar bed. The duvets below me were by far the softest material I had ever felt.

I glanced around the room, the walls were painted a dark green in colour and the only window in the room indicated that it was nightfall. Looking over to my right, there sat a wooden desk much like the one that had been in my kidnappers study, except this one had a bunch of papers scattered messily upon it. There was no telling whose room this belonged to.

A door to the left of the room sat slightly ajar casting a vertical beam of light from the inside down out onto the floor before it. I could hear water running and splashing from inside. It was a bathroom. Someone must have been showering.

Wait ... someone was showering.

My body was beyond weak, it had been nearly two full days since I had eaten last and my stomach felt as if any second it was going to eat itself as it bubbled growling for sustenance. Had I of had any energy in the slightest I would have made a move to run immediately. But realistically any attempt at that would be feeble with the state my body was in.

Slowly and tactfully I moved to the edge of the bed trying not to make a single sound. Leaning my entire body weight up against the bed frame I made a move to stand and sluggishly made my way towards the door at the far side of the room which I figured had to be the only way out.

Testing the door knob to the room I discovered that it was indeed locked just like I had expected it to be. Whomever put me here wasn't stupid enough to leave the door unlocked. But it was worth a try nevertheless.

The temptation to lie back down was far too intense. Turning I swayed leaning up against the frame of the door in attempt to hold my body steady and upright. I didn't even hear the water subside within the bathroom as all my concentration was centred on trying to stay awake, or even alive for that matter. I wanted to sleep but I knew that it wasn't safe.

As the door to the bathroom opened, it cast more light into the room and I froze in fear from where I stood. I felt like a deer caught in headlights.

The Alpha guy stood before me dripping wet with only a towel tucked in low around his hips. My eyes trailed down his body following a droplet of water that was weaving a path down his chest and across his abs only to be absorbed when it met the towel at his waist. My chest tightened and it felt like I couldn't breathe. I had never laid eyes on someone who looked so perfect. He looked almost god like.

Growing up boys and dating were the two things that never appealed to me. No one had ever made me feel gender conscious before. Well not until now. Suddenly I felt very aware of how I may look and very aware of how he looked. It felt like I was being drawn to him by some mysterious connection that I couldn't quite fathom.

It was genuinely unexplainable. But why this guy? This guy was a leader of a cult. He was insane, he was a murderer. This attraction was making me feel sick to the pits of my stomach. How could my hormones betray me like this? This guy kidnapped me. How shallow of me to be attracted to someone just for their looks. I needed to snap out of this immature superficiality.

"You're awake ... and up I see." He commented, his eyes never straying from my right shoulder which was currently sporting a large red blood stain. The Alpha guy moved across the room over towards a wardrobe where he started rummaging through it. So this was his bedroom. How fitting. "How are you feeling?"

Staying quiet I remained perfectly still. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know how I felt. I was a mixture of everything. Disappointment, anger, fear, worry, exhaustion. They all explained how I felt. I was a whirlwind of emotions.

"What happened?" I mumbled out cautiously, my voice shaking uncontrollably as I spoke. I didn't want to overstep my boundaries, I was growing scared of what he might do to me now after my previous attempted escape.

"You tried to escape and failed. You fell down a steep slope after passing out and were inches away from splitting your head open on a rock, lucky enough your shoulder caught it instead." He explained glancing over at me pulling out shorts from the dresser.

Placing a hand on my forehead I could feel a headache coming on. My mind was in overdrive.

"Is everything ok?" He muttered slowly walking over towards me. Was he worried? It was almost as if he cared slightly for my wellbeing. Almost.

Putting my hand out I made a signal for him to stop moving. "Please don't come any closer."

"Don't come any closer!" I shouted glaring at him as he took two more steps towards me. I had gone through all the stages of fear after being kidnapped by these insane cult members. Now I was stuck in a bedroom with a lunatic talking to him like he was an acquaintance.

"You want to help me? Help me by letting me go home." I stated blandly and emotionlessly staring at him dead in the eye. I needed to go home. I could only imagine what kind of state my father was in right now. He was probably blaming himself. I couldn't leave him alone. I was all he had left. He was all I had left.

Suddenly his demeanour turned cold and he raised his chin looking down at me dominantly. He had such a laid back demeanour but the subject of me leaving was obviously not one he favoured.

"No." He shook his head before he started walking over towards me once again. Instinctively I moved away from him shuffling back across the room towards the bed to put some distance between us. Part of me was still very wary of him no matter the odd pull that I felt towards him.

"Why? Look either way you've made it pretty clear that I'm a predicament. So why haven't you just done the dirty work yet if you're not going to let me go? Why haven't you killed me yet?" I questioned grabbing a hold of the lamp on the bedside locker and pointing it towards the Alpha guy as a warning not to come any closer.

I knew there was no point in me trying to escape. If I did attempt it again he would just send those wolves after me and they would definitely kill me this time. But if I stayed my fate would end up the same. They would frame my death as an animal attack just like they had done to the other victims who had been found mutilated in the reserve.

This was like a bad nightmare that I just couldn't seem to wake up from. The past events since my arrival to this town had all been rather traumatic. I was up and down. Brave and yet scared. Both defeated by this situation and yet determined to survive it.

He growled loudly and his entire body began to shake with anger. The tone of his inhuman reaction resonated through me making me tremble and feel weak. I didn't dare oppose or speak. I couldn't. What on earth was that? His eyes glinted and his breathing fell out in heavy heaves like he was trying to hold back something from within again. "You will stay here and that is final."

He wasn't going to kill me? But he wanted me to stay here? To become one of his little cult followers. Did he actually think I would agree to something that ludicrous?

This guy was beyond insane! Before I could stop myself the words just fell straight out of my mouth.

"You can't keep me here forever." I shook my head in protest and astonishment. He couldn't. He wouldn't keep me from my father. I would rather die than be a part of whatever was going on here.

He breathed in deeply and exhaled repeatedly until his countenance returned to its normal state.

"Perhaps not ... but that doesn't mean that I can't try." And with that I knew he meant every word. It was almost like an oath that the both of us had just sworn opposing one another.

"I've done a lot to protect my people Eliza. I'm not going to let a human of all things screw that up." He reasoned affirmably.

My mind was a mess. My head was in absolute bits. Never before in all my life had I been so confused over a matter.

"You know too much...I know too much." He breathed out lowly ruffling his shaggy wet hair. He made a move to come a little closer and I jabbed the lamp out in warning once again. One more move and I was throwing furniture in his vicinity.

"All because I saw some stupid wolves chasing after a deer." I scolded. "No one believed what I seen anyway! How do you sleep at night knowing those monsters you released murdered innocent people? You want me to stay and be a part of something like this?"

"Those people were not innocent they were trackers. My job is to protect my people! I don't know why I'm bothering trying to explain something like this to a mere human" He sighed throwing his shorts idly onto the bed.

"Protect your people from what? Here you go with this whole human thing again! I don't understand any of this."

He was hiding something. The Alpha guy remained silent. It was almost as if he was contemplating explaining to me what was really going on here.

"Eliza - " He started but it was short lived.

"Look... we need to get you washed up and get some food into you. Your cuts are starting to infect I can smell them. You're in need of a doctor, and the sooner you see one the better." He gestured towards me. He was unreadable. But nevertheless he was right, I was in desperate need of medical attention. That much was obvious.

"Now would you please lower that lamp?"

A sudden heat washed over my body. I felt nauseous. This was all too much for my body to handle. I began to sway and he was over to me in a shot.

His arms instantly caught me and lifted me into the air and although there was no skin to skin contact I could feel an intense heat radiating from his hands through my clothes. Suddenly I felt light headed as tingles ran through me originating from where his touch was.

I sobbed between breaths letting my emotions take a hold of me as my tears unleashed down my face. But that didn't stop me from trying to fight off his touch. I wanted to go home so badly. I wanted this nightmare to be over.

With smooth strides he carried me into the bathroom as I thrashed in his arms relentlessly. I was placed down gently upon the side of an extravagant bath, and as he let go I suddenly felt incredibly cold and craved the warmth of his touch that I had just felt moments ago. What was wrong with my body? Why was I reacting in this manner? He began to run the taps of the bath and the bubbling hot water began to fill the tub at an incredible rate.

I stayed silent cautiously watching him whilst he filled it to nearly the top before turning the taps off. Bending down he came to eye level before me.

"I know you're scared... but I need you to be strong. Wash your cuts. You're in danger of falling ill and you're going to need your strength to heal them. I'll be waiting outside my room for you to finish."

"My father will come for me." I whispered lowly trying to convince myself that I would indeed eventually be rescued. He didn't reply.

With that he left the bathroom shutting the door swiftly behind him. I couldn't let myself be fooled. He was a sociopathic murderer. He didn't care for me.

Gulping I moved slowly and turned the key to the door locking it just to be safe. Breathing deeply I warily moved to use the toilet first not realising how badly I needed to go. I didn't take in my appearance in the mirror in fear of what I must look like. Once I was finished I stripped down my clothes and slowly climbed into the bathtub.

As soon as the water hit my tender skin I let out a shriek in pain. It hurt so much. Everything hurt so much. Tears continued to fall and I couldn't stop them. Every emotion I had poured out through my eyes.

I was going to be trapped here at this god forsaken place for the rest of my life. How could this happen to me. Why was this happening to me? And father, he would never stop searching for me that much I knew. It brought slight joy to my heart knowing how much I meant to him but I could only imagine how broke he must be feeling at this very moment in time. We both had managed to lose the only thing left in the world that mattered to us, each other.

"Dad ... I'm so sorry."