We silently stared at each other. Minutes went by. Eyes both narrowed toward one another, we waited for the other to break the silence.

I looked at the small book that was now back in his hands. I wanted to rip it out of his grasp; it was still part of the mystery I wanted to solve.

I needed to keep it for a little while longer. I decided to speak first.

"What do you mean? I checked it out at the library, with the other book." I try to speak as innocently as possible and even feign confusion.

I never was a good actor.

He looks me dead in the eye. "I am going to ask you one more time. Where did you get this book?"

He holds up the book above my head, almost in a taunting fashion. His eyes smolder and it makes me think about kissing him again. I squeeze my thighs together at the thought, but then shake my head. I need to get rid of these thoughts.

I see him look down at the involuntary action. At that moment and only for a sharp second, he seems to lose his cool.

"I guess if I am being honest," I sigh. "I kind of took it from the library..." I cringe, waiting for his reaction.

He looks angry.

"Stop lying to me!"

I take a step back from him. Did he just growl at me? I am shocked at the outburst.

I don't know what to say, as I had told him the truth. We make eye contact and I could have stayed there forever, looking into the deep dark depths that are his eyes. He looks haunted. And almost looked like he was searching for something.

Klayton takes a tentative step forward. "You are telling the truth,"

I exhale a breath I didn't realize I was holding in. I'm relieved to know that he actually believes me, or this situation could have gone worse.

I mean, the predicament we were in 10 minutes ago compared to now was very drastic.

He grabs my arm and pulls me closer, closing the gap between us. I stifle a small gasp.

He looms over me, leaning down to whisper in my ear. "Do you know what this is?" He asks, his breath lightly fanning the side of my face. If I turned my face right now, our lips would meet.

I'm unsure of how to respond. He starts to play with my blonde curls as I open my mouth to say something.

"It looks like a bunch of drawings, of you ... but I know that's crazy," A dry laugh is compelled out of me.

He just sighs, and drops my arm as if he wanted me to elaborate. As if my answer wasn't what he was truly hoping for.

He skims through the pages and looks pained. His face holds a small grimace, although I can tell he's trying to hide it.

"More like my design."

He said the words so softly I thought I had imagined hearing them.

I'm not sure how to respond to such a weird statement. It literally made no sense, although I decide not to press further on the issue. He must be joking or something...

I decide to ask about the book.

"Come on, don't fool around. Why is it such a big deal that I have this book?"

Klayton doesn't hesitate in his response.

"It doesn't belong in this library, and most definitely does not belong with you."

I watch his face become impassive. His eyes, however, stay dark. I want him to forget about the book and go back to kissing. I want him to push me up against the bookshelf again. After I get answers.

"Does it belong to you? Is it your great-great-great grandfathers or something?"

His laughter fills the air, and I suddenly feel stupid. Did I say something wrong?

"No, Adira, it certainly does not. In fact, it doesn't belong to me at all."

And with that, he puts the small book into his back pocket. My heart sinks. I needed that book. A deep confusion fills me, and I start to ponder what he just said. However, I'm not given much time to react before he stops my train of thought.

"I'll drive you home," He states it as if I had no choice in the matter. Klayton turns his back and starts walking to the door, as if I was going to blindly follow. I decide to not let him have the satisfaction. Does he think after everything that has happened, we can just ignore it all? The kissing?

The confusion is absolutely suffocating.

"I'll walk thanks..." I shout to him as he began walking away. "I'll see you in class, I guess" I grumble.

I wait for him to either continue to leave, or to protest my actions. I was surprised when he did neither.

Instead, he just stopped. His hand is frozen on the door. He didn't even bother turning around. His voice sounds strained as he firmly says, "Please, not right now Adira."

"Why not now!" I sounded like a child throwing a temper tantrum. "Why do you never want me to question you? Why do you act like I-I'm, your pet!"

Before I could blink, I was staring at the ground. It took a minute for me to get my bearings but when I came to, I realized I had been thrown over his shoulder.

He was walking back from where we came. Maybe his car was at the observatory, where his office was located.

But then it struck me. My eyes widened out of my sudden strike of reality. It came crashing down on me like thunder.

None of this was normal. A girl hooking up with her teacher; him being so protective, and him insisting I get in his car.

What if he's a murderer?

I start to pound on his back, real fear striking through me. How could I be so stupid? My parents had always warned me to be wary, but there was something so charming about him that I missed all the alarm bells.

We passed no one on our walk, almost as if they knew he was coming and had stayed away.

All the while I had been screaming to be released, and pounding on his back. He didn't even flinch.

When we reached his car, he reached for the door handle. At that exact moment, I tried to jump out of his arms, because he was distracted. He almost seemed to anticipate my move and only chuckled to himself, before gripping me tighter. He wasn't going to let me go.

"Let me go! Please, Klayton, let me go!" I begged.

My heart was beating so fast that I was waiting for the moment where it would stop altogether.

I was buckled in my seat before I knew it.

I turned out of instinct and grabbed the handle of the car door. I shoved my body weight against it, but it wouldn't budge.

Did he child lock me into the car?

Images of my funeral pop through my head. Who would be the first one to notice that I'm missing? Lenna— My thoughts are cut off by him sliding into the driver's seat.

An eerie silence fell over the car. Could he hear how fast my heart was pounding? I felt like I was going to be sick. I had to brace my hands against the dashboard of his vehicle.

It wasn't until we were on the road that I decided I needed to distract him, so I could make my move to escape.

"So um, about Kaden, have you heard about how he is doing?"

The atmosphere of the ride changed. Upon my question, Klayton's hands began to grip the steering wheel so hard his knuckles started to turn white.

"He's just fine— I wouldn't worry about it," His voice is quiet. It's almost worse than him yelling.

"That's what Lenna said, but it's impossible. I saw what you did to him with my own eyes," I am watching his face carefully. I narrow my eyes towards him.

"All the blood was from superficial wounds. Cuts on the head bleed a lot, so I'm sure it looked worse than it was," His explanation seems logical, but I knew better than to believe it.

I know what I saw. With a flame of small confidence, I decided to voice my thoughts.

"I don't understand," I start. "You must have at least broken a couple of his bones... Y-you almost killed him," I stutter but stay strong. My eyes haven't left his face. Despite fear dripping down my back I still find myself leaning closer to his body, intoxicated by his woodsy scent.

"I should have killed him." He says, deadly serious.

It's these simple words that turn me away, as I lean back, cowering into my seat.

Killed him for what? Kissing me?

I need to escape now, before he kills me and it's too late.

"Adira, Kaden is none of your concer—'' As he starts to speak again, that's when I take my chance.

I grab the steering wheel and turn it as far as it can go to the right, swerving the car. Klayton's face went from deadly anger to utter shock. My only chance of escape is to somehow stop the car. If we crash, at least he's going down with me.

I overestimated how much I had to turn the wheel and we plummet down into a ditch.

The front end of the car hits into the grass and the back end swings up and over. The awful sound of metal crunching fills the air.

Holy fuck, I flipped the car.

That is my last cohesive thought before I start to feel the effects of the impact. I look into the reflection of myself in the windows beside me, my blonde curls flying everyone around at the impact. My head is abruptly smacked into the window, and it makes my head begin to feel foggy. This wasn't the only extent of pain I had begin to feel, however.

The car has stopped and as I try to gather my thoughts —to get out of here— there is simultaneously an incredible pain in my leg that makes me want to scream when I try to move it from where it was lodged. Something near my foot was keeping me trapped inside the car, and my cries were those of frustration not so much pain. I needed to get out of here and this was making me anxious; my heart was beating rapidly although I could feel my head pounding like a drum as well.

I was hanging upside down in my kidnapper's vehicle.

At least I was wearing a seatbelt.

My eyes start to close, and my head starts to spin in circles in my mind. I feel like I'm rocking on a boat and it won't stop, the waves keep splashing around inside my head and I feel suddenly feel sick.

I glance once more out the window of the vehicle, and with the illumination from the car lights, I see a shadowy figure making it's way to my side of the car.

My door is wrenched open at the same time that my eyes close involuntarily. I'm surrendering to the pounding pain, even though I'm trying my hardest to stay conscious.

I feel warm arms wrap around me before I lose the sense of touch; it feels like I'm floating.

That sweet melodic voice is the only thing I can comprehend, and it's filled with concern.

"Oh Goddess, Adira what have you done?"

My hearing is the last sense to go as the dark abyss that is sleep takes me instead.