Expecting the Unexpected

Chapter 9

I didn't sleep at all that night. Well, I guessed it was night time, but I couldn't know. I couldn't see outside. I couldn't even see inside because this room was so dark. But even in the blackness I couldn't sleep. How could I? Even if I wanted to, I refused. I wouldn't let myself fall asleep and be even more vulnerable to them. I'd always been a light sleeper, so I would probably wake up at the sound of the lock turning, but I still wouldn't risk it. What if I didn't hear it. What would they do to me then? That wasn't a risk I was willing to take. As I said before, I was stupid, but not that stupid.

But being stuck in a room in the dark for hours on end wasn't exactly my idea of a great time. There was absolutely nothing I could do, and I was one of the worst people on the planet for boredom. Being awake for the entire time, with nothing to do, made me think. It made me think of all the things I was missing out on. At school. At home. Everything. All because I'd been taken by two sick, twisted psycopaths who thought it was ok to keep me in a tiny little room and beat the crap out of me with sports equipment just for answering them in the wrong tone of voice.

I wanted nothing more than to believe that this was all a dream, but I knew I couldn't. My body was aching and stinging all over from the beating I had recieved, proving that it was real. You don't feel that kind of pain in dreams. In fact, you don't feel pain at all in dreams. And usually, if you try hard enough, you can wake yourself up. I'd tried, as hard as I possibly could, but I still saw nothing but darkness when I opened my eyes, and still felt the cold, hard ground beneath me.

As the time wore on, I started to dwell more and more on the thoughts of what I was missing out on. I hadn't even done the things I wanted to do most in life. Ever since I was a young girl, I've wanted to go bungee jumping, and sky diving, and just loads of cool things. Now it seemed I would never get the chance. I mean, I'd never even been kissed before. I didn't even know where that thought came from, to be honest. I'd never really cared about that sort of thing, but knowing that I would never even get the chance was really quite sad.

I felt more than saw my vision go blurry with unshed tears, and before I could stop it, one escape, rolling down my cheek like a raindrop on a window, slow, and leaving a wet trail behind it. I quickly scrubbed it off my face, determined not to let anymore fall. I was a firm believer in the fact that crying never solved anything. I hated crying, it made me feel weak and pathetic. I know that probably wasn't true, as many people had told me before, but it was just the way I'd always felt.

I sniffled slightly before scrubbing my hands against my face again, blinking rapidly and removing all the evidence of my tears. That would be all I needed; for them to know that they'd made me cry, that they'd broke me so quickly. I shook my head firmly, removing those thoughts from my head. I would never let them break me. They could break every bone in my body, but I wouldn't let them see me broken. I couldn't let them. I had to stay strong. I just had to.

My stomach growled loudly into the empty room, sounding louder because of the way it echoed around in the darkness, reminding me of the fact that I hadn't eaten since lunch time yesterday. I didn't even know if I'd ever get food here, or if starvation would be the cause of my death. I doubted that though, if the beating was anything to go by.

If truth be told, I was angry at myself. I was angry at myself for just lying there and taking the beating. I was angry at myself for not fighting back. I tried to come up with excuses, but they weren't good enough. I had just lay there, letting them beat the crap out of me with a golf club and baseball bat, and just took it. Something I promised myself I wouldn't do. Yet not even twenty-four hours into it, I had broken it already. What a joke.

I was still mentally ranting at myself when I heard the footsteps approaching. I lifted my head from my curled up position against the corner of the walls, my arms wrapped around my legs, hugging them to my chest. I had been in that position for a while, trying to keep myself as warm as possible in the cold room. However, despite my folded up position, the cold air still nipped at my exposed skin, sending shivers down my back and making goosebumps all over my skin.

When I heard the key entering the lock, I pushed myself to my feet straight away, pressing my back into the wall. When the door opened, it revealed Sam, but he was on his own. My eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion. He'd never come down on his own before, it'd always been the pair of them. Light streamed in through the open door, proving my assumptions that it was in fact morning, and I had just pulled an all nighter.

"Sleep well?" Sam asked me sarcastically from the door. I couldn't help but think I heard a slight genuineness in his tone, but I must've been mistaken. This was the man who had pounded a golf club into my back for about five minutes yesterday.

I just stared blankly at him with narrowed eyes. He didn't seriously expect me to answer him, did he?

"O..k," he drawled out after a moment's silence, when he finally figured out I wasn't going to answer him. He walked into the room and grabbed one of my wrists. I yanked it back immediately, brining it back to my body before projecting it forward and landing a punch in his gut. He bent over slightly, and I brought my knee up as hard as I could to a place where the sun don't shine. He groaned loudly, and I pushed him aside, ready to make a run for it.

Of course, it wasn't that easy though, and he grabbed onto my arm as I passed him, his grip like a vice, tight and unmoving. His jaw was clenched hard, I could almost hear his teeth grinding together behind the straight line of his mouth. His face was set in a grimace of pain, but there was anger in his eyes, as well as something else I couldn't place.

I brought my other arm up to protect my face, squeezing my eyes shut, expecting multiple hits from him. But they never came. I slowly opened one eye behind the safety of my arm to see him staring at me with a range of emotions in his eyes, emotions that I was obviously reading wrong, because displayed in his eyes, I thought I saw sympathy and regret. I opened my other eye, blinking to fix my vision, before staring back at him. In those few seconds, his face had returned to the poker face he always wore, his eyes blank and void of emotion.

Without even hitting me back, he started pulling me out of the room with the arm he was still gripping like a vice. I honestly thought he would cut off the circulation in my arm if he held it like that for much longer. I was already starting to feel the tingles in my hand from the lack of blood getting to it.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I stumbled after him into the blinding light of the outdoors. To most people, it wouldn't be blinding. In fact, the sky was littered with dark grey clouds, showing that rain was almost upon us. Last week I would've deemed the day as dull. But now, after being trapped in a pitch black room, I had to squint against the light of the morning.

"Bathroom," he grunted out in reply, before quickening his pace as we reached the stairs.

The thought of a bathroom hadn't even crossed my mind the entire night, but now that he had mentioned it, I realised how much I needed to go. I was dragged up the stairs, stumbling after him like the graceful idiot I am. Probably a bad idea for him to drag a clumsy person up the stairs, but he didn't even give me time to catch my balance.

We reached the top of the steps and immediately turned right. There was a door straight ahead, and when we reached it, I was thrown in the room and the door was slammed behind me. I knew Sam was standing right outside, making me feel extremely awkward. Who wants someone to listen to you pee? But it was hardly like I could tell him to move away, so I just had to get on with it.

Once I was finished, I was taken back down to my room, as I started to call it, and thrown to the floor again. Straight away I pushed myself back up, like I would every time. He was about to turn and lock the door again, but he must've remembered something. He dug around in his pocket for a second, before taking something out and throwing at me. I quickly grabbed it off the floor, realising it was a bit of bread. It was slightly mouldy at the edges, but I knew it was the best I was ever going to get.

I hungrily stuffed my face with the bread as the door was slammed shut and I was thrown into darkness once again.

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A/N - That's the longest chapter I've written so far, hopefully it's over a page, and it's not just this author's note on the second page, like it has been the last few times. Anyway, please comment and let me know what you think, and if you like it please remember to vote :)