Escape Route (Decode Sequel)

Chapter Eight - Bed Ridden.

Lennon.

Being strapped to a table, with every limb tied down was not how I imagined waking up. I would have preferred waking up in the cold, damp prison cell like room. My first instinct was try and get up but as far as movement went, I could only slightly tilt my head from side to side. My second instinct was to panic. I wriggled around as much as possible, sweat dripping from my pores but nothing loosened and I was causing the straps to dig deep into my flesh. 

"I wouldn't bother," I jumped visibly at the voice. I hadn't even noticed another presence in the room. 

"Why am I strapped to a table?" I questioned.

"Probably the same reason I'm tied to a chair."

"Which is?"

"They wouldn't tell me."

"They?" I repeated Zayn. 

But he didn't have a chance to respond when the door was flung open. The door was behind my head but the footsteps weren’t heavy like a mans, in fact I could hear the heel of a shoe clicking against the floor. I waited anxiously as the slow seconds passed by until I was face to face with a stranger.  

“Who are you?” I asked, my voice shaking uncontrollably. There was something about a woman with the look of evil in her eyes that made her scarier than a man. A man could have power and strength, but she looked merciless. 

“You can just call me mum,” she sniggered. I tried sitting up again in shock but the straps held me back, blood was beginning to drip down my hands from the wounds which had now appeared. 

“What?!” 

“The more you resist the more it’s going to hurt, sweetie.” Her tone wasn’t sweet like her words would make you think. She made my skin crawl with her venomous tongue and I didn’t even know who she was. 

“How did I get here? What are you going to do? Who are you?”

“There’s no time for questions and answers.” Axel’s voice was familiar and distinct amongst the group of people that had sauntered in the room. He stood next to my bed along with the strange woman and kissed her cheek. My eyes widened, almost threatening to leave my skull. “Is it ready Anita?” He addressed her.

“Yep.” She smiled sinisterly back at him. I couldn’t do anything but lay there and watch the exchange happening right before my eyes making my stomach churn. 

“How long will it take?”

“Just over an hour,” she spoke as her hands reached out towards my head. I wanted to flinch away but I couldn’t, all I could do was squeeze my eyes shut and hope this was a dream. But It wasn’t. I felt her cold hands run through my hair several times, confusing me even more. My eyes opened again as she smirked above my head. 

“We leave in two.” Axel replied before he and his men left the room just as fast as they came.

“This shouldn’t hurt, maybe…” 

“It’s just a dream,” I muttered to myself over and over, my eyes squeezed shut but every time I opened them I was greeted with the same room. 

“Oh honey, this isn’t a dream.” Anita yanked my head upright by pulling my hair, I screamed out in pain but it only made her laugh. I felt more vulnerable, unsafe around her than around Axel.

“Please tell me you’re not involved with Axel…romantically.” I grimaced as the words left my lips but I already knew the answer.

“I told you, you can call me mum.”