Behind the Mask | Mattheo Riddle

Chapter 2

30 days missing.

I think I might go mad, this place could actually drive me crazy. It has now been what I think is 26 days since I went missing, and the only person I have spoken to is my captor and my rapist.

Reg has not shown his face since that day. In fact, I think he has made an effort to not come close to me entirely. Someone new has been dropping off my meals, they are quick, and I don't even get a second to look at them.

They don't stay though, not like Reg did. They don't even look at me, maybe I am safe now, maybe what happened is a one-time thing and when the Ministry found out, Reg was taken to Azkaban.

I'll allow myself to remain hopeful of this, it's the only thing I have left to hope for.

I grab my tray from the door like I do every morning and start to walk back to my bed. I used to hate eating in my bed, I always thought it was not the place for a meal.

Today's food is the standard, what I have had for all but one day. A bowl of plain oats, an apple and a bottle of water. Just enough to keep me alive, but slowly killing me at the same time.

I know that if these men don't kill me, my malnourishment will. The average human needs 2000 calories a day to survive, not 200. Slowly my body will start to eat at the fat left on my body until there is nothing left but skin and bones.

I know my body had already gone into stages of starvation, when I saw myself in the mirror the one time I was allowed to shower, I had already lost at least 10 pounds and my hair had been thinning leaving stands of blonde around the room.

I eat my food quickly before drinking half the water and saving another half for later. The only thing I get twice a day is water, that has started since Reg left. The new captor brings me a bottle of water each night before I go to bed.

I lay down closing my eyes, wondering what I would be doing if I was free, if I had no care in the world. Unintentionally I fall asleep and begin to dream.

"Alora, you're going to be the death of me" A boy laughs grabbing my hand and leading me through corridors.

He has dark curly hair and brown eyes. Someone I have never seen before

Sometimes I can hear him outside my door. I like to imagine that he is there to protect me. If he wanted to hurt me he could have by now, but he hasn't.

Suddenly, I hear the door downstairs crash open and muffled yelling, something isn't right. Am I being saved? Has someone finally realised I was missing?

I hear the sounds of things breaking before the sound is crowded into one area and then the talking stops, it falls completely silent until the sound of the stairs creaks. They found me, they finally found me. Am I actually going to go home?

The door swings open and I see a wand lit with a lumos charm which lights up the room. For the first time in 28 days, I smile, not because I'm allowed to have basic human rights but because I'm about to be freed.

"Hello Princess"

Reg's voice stabs me in the chest and It's like the air has been ripped out of my lungs. Any hope I had vanished immediately. I'm not free, no one has found me. And Reg is not in Azkaban

"Reg?"

My voice creaks with my body's weakness. I need more food, and more water if I want any chance of surviving this place long enough for someone to actually find me.

"Missed me?"

His voice is cold like there is no soul left in him. I'm sure he knows he's an awful person, I wonder if he has a guilty conscience at all for what he has done to me, for what I'm sure he will do to me.