Taken by fate

Chapter 2

Time passed, yet I had no way of knowing how much. There were no windows, no outward light to even give a hint as to what time it could be. Was it already night or was the sun still out?
Holding onto the hope that someone was coming for me. They had to be. Even if my bus driver didn't pick me up the school would have contacted my parents notifying them of my absence.
Right!?
Having to believe that because the thought of no one noticing that I was gone until I didn't come home from school was too much. Eight hours. Eight hours that I would be trapped here without anyone searching. Eight hours for you to do whatever you wanted.
Leaning my back against the wall furthest from the bed, the rocky cement poking through the thin material.
When I had circled the room earlier I had found that the length of the chain was long enough to reach every wall except the one leading to the door.
Fifteen steps from where I could reach the stairs to the opposite wall, twenty if I counted the extra five steps I couldn't walk. Ten steps from the bed to the buckets.
Buckets. Shaking my head at them. One was a yellowish, brown color though I had the sneaking suspicion that it used to be white. As for the other one a lime green, neither of them had any words or symbols printed on them. No handles either, those had been removed, just plastic.
My toilet.
Just thinking about using them disgusted me knowing that it would stay until you decided to empty them out. Rotting away like I was.
Already I had walked the walls so many times that I had lost count. There were marks running down the length of them at random, different sizes in different areas. Enough to keep my mind guessing as to what put them there.
The chains?
A hammer?
Maybe the buckets. Doubting they would be strong enough to break through concrete.
Did you put them there or were they from the person before me? People? Girls. Chills ran down the entirety of my arms.
Each time I had made another pass around the room I had avoided the bed. Horrified by it, by what it was used for. Knowing that soon enough I would be forced onto the cushioned surface. Throat tightening at the thought.
Laying my head onto my knees that were brought into my chest, curling further into myself pretending that I wasn't actually here at all.
Thinking about home. I was in my room sitting in my window seat leaning back on all the fluffy pillows I had stacked there. Rays from the sun seeping through the window pane, running across my skin as I looked out onto the trees. Watching as the leaves moved in their own little dance as the wind blew past.
If I listened hard enough I could hear my mom downstairs in her studio. Classical music playing from the rustic record player that she had found in some yard sale.
"Better sound." My mom would say whenever I asked her about the antique.
At first I had questioned the device wondering if using a regular speaker would be better but as soon as I heard the notes playing I knew that she had been right. Every beat vibrated through the air as if the atmosphere itself was part of the music.
Sometimes I would sneak down just to watch her work. Like I was doing right then. At the moment my mom was working on one of her latest paintings, one of the largest she had ever been commissioned for. Color exploding onto the canvas dripping down onto the plastic coverings that had been layered over the tile floor. Green, blue, orange, one after another splattering as she threw another balloon filled with paint. Every one of them created a different image as they bursted on top of all the other colors, mixing together as the globs of liquid trickled down.
Watching her work was mesmerizing  the flow of her movements almost as if she was speaking a different language through her body. Completely captivated by her art.
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I shut them tighter.
What were my parents doing right now?
Frantically calling everyone to figure out where I was, they had to know I was missing by now. Did they already contact the police to file a missing persons report?
How did you take me away? Was it by car, did you shove me into the trunk?
Cameras are everywhere nowadays. One of them had to capture my disappearance.
Please, pleading with myself, just come find me.
Time passed on, silence, my only friend. If I stayed still then I would be able to hear you coming. So far everything was quiet.
No sirens, no footsteps, just the sound of my breathing.
Staying bunched next to the wall. After all there was nothing else I could do, only my thoughts to keep me occupied.
Unable to relive my mind from all the images that popped up of things that you might do once you finally decided to walk down those steps.
The strange thing was I was almost wishing that you would hurry so that I wouldn't have to guess anymore. Never realizing how dark my thoughts could go until now. Seeing all the details of what could be possible.
Stiff as a statue, frozen in fear.
Which is why I hadn't jumped when I heard the distinct click of a lock being opened. Followed by the thumping from your shoes as you made your way down the steps. My heart was pounding listening as those steps came closer until they stopped right in front of me.
I didn't dare move, terror rushing through my veins.
Hair being swept away from my face, letting out a yelp pushing away from you before I curled into an even tighter ball, rocking myself back and forth.  Bracing myself for a hit.
"You've been crying."
Your voice was deep, a slight hint of an accent, unable to identify which one. Sounding almost caring, the exact opposite of what I had been expecting.
"Here, you must be thirsty." I didn't move. "You need to drink something. I promise I didn't do anything to it. Trust me."
"Why?"
The word escaped from my mouth before I could stop myself.
"Why what? You gotta be more specific."
Practically hearing the smile in your voice. You were enjoying this, acting as if there was nothing wrong, that it was normal me being here. Of course this was just another day for you, wasn't it? Shaking my head, anger replacing my fear.
"Why should I trust you?" Voice cracking on my words, throat still sore from when I hung myself. What would you have done if I did? Coming down expecting to play only to find a lifeless body, you would probably just move on to the next victim.
Silence, you were trying to come up with a reason even when there weren't any. Moving, coming closer, your touch once again on my face trying to raise my head up. Jerking away not wanting your hands anywhere near me.
"How can I prove it to you if you won't even look at me?" A pause. "Just look."
Maybe, weighing my options, if I didn't move you would leave me alone. Or more likely you would grab onto me and force me to look. Slightly tilting my head up, only enough to peak over my arm.
"That's it, just watch."
Twisting the top of the bottle, snapping the lid off. It was then that I had realized how close you were. Crouched down, your knee was right next to my elbow, practically touching me. Fighting the urge to move again, you would only follow. There were no bandages on your wrist like I hoped, there wasn't even a scratch that I could see in the ounce of light there was. What I could see was how muscular your arms were. Biceps almost too large for the sleeves of the plain white t-shirt you were wearing. Shadows lining the bulges defining them more.
Lifting the bottle up to me in a toast before bringing the water up to your lips, Adam's apple bobbing as you took a drink.
Your eyes were back on me before I even got the chance to look over your face, staring at the ground next to my feet.
"Here." Your hand back in front of my face holding the bottle out to me. Biting my bottom lip feeling how chapped it was. Not being able to recall when I had my last drink.
Ripples in the water as you leaned the bottle side to side aging me to grab the drink, but taking the water felt wrong. There was no way I could be absolutely certain that you haven't done anything to it, also for the reason that accepting the water-bottle also meant that this was happening and I was really here.
Before I could change my mind, I turned my face away, leaning back onto my knees.
Now that you were finally down here all I wanted was for you to leave.
What I really wanted was for you to take this damned collar off so I could run up those stairs, slam the door in your face and lock you down here.
Without another word, hearing you get up, footsteps echoing as you made your way back upstairs closing the door behind you sliding the lock into place.
Letting a few minutes pass waiting to see if you would come back down. When I decided that you weren't I lifted my head looking over my shoulder to see if the water was still there.
It wasn't.