The Fire In Me (Ryder) (COMPLETED) 1 ✔️

Chapter Twenty We Are Strong

Suicide- James Arthur

     The man was smiling evilly as he held the small knife in his hand. "I've been waiting for days to do this. You're strong Ryder. I had to wait til you were weak." He says, twirling the knife in his hand as he nears me. I don't know this man, but he seems to know me. My hands were still hanging from chains above my head, holding me up. I was too weak to stand. I was too weak to do anything. My breathing starts to pick up as he stands in front of me with a smile plastered on his face.

     "I always thought you were so beautiful." He runs the blade along my face but not hard enough to cut skin. "And now I finally have you all to myself." His smile widens as he pulls the knife away and eyes me. "I'll make you a deal." He says, pointing the knife at me. "If you don't fight me, I won't hurt you." He was so close I could kick him, but my legs were too weak for me even to stand, and I probably wouldn't kick him that hard. It would just make things worse for me.

     "You're insane." I say breathlessly. Why is my heart beating so fast? He hasn't even done anything, but for some reason, him just being here scared the hell out of me.

     "I don't feel insane." He laughs. "I feel as normal as anyone." I shake my head as my head lazily falls down to where I'm staring at the ground. "No. No." He says, lifting my face to look at him. "You look at me." He says. His dark brown eyes bore into mine as his thick dirty blond hair fell around his forehead.

     "You'll rot in hell." I spit out, but he just smiles again.

     "This is why I chose you. This is why I like you." He says, leaving his hand on my chin to hold up my face. "You've got a fire in you. One that I'm gonna put out." His eyes go up to the chains holding me up before they flick back down to my eyes. "Maybe I should give you a break from hanging. Then we can do some real fun." He pulls his face closer to mine until it's just inches away. I try to pull my head away, but he just holds it tighter. "Don't you want to have some fun?" He asks, tilting his head.

     His eyes move down to my lips, and they linger there a bit before they move back up to my eyes. I spit at him, hitting him in the face as he tenses. He lets go of my face and lifts his shirt to wipe my spit off his face. When his face is clear, he continues holding his shirt up as he stares at me. He lifted his black shirt revealing white skin and rough, dry skin. I force my eyes to look at the ground and away from him. "You see, that is part of the fire I'm gonna put out."

     "You can try." I growl as I continue staring at the ground. He lifts my face again to look him in the eyes.

     "I will try." He says, leaning closer. "And I will put that fire out."

     "You can try," I repeat, spitting out the words. "But the fire in me will keep burning until I'm out of here, and you are dead." He holds his face inches from mine again before a slow smile creeps up on his face.

     "Maybe you should hang a while longer." He says, leaning back and twirling a knife. "Maybe I should start by carving my name into your stomach." My eyes widen, as does his smile when he backs up to the table, spinning on his heel and touching each knife while clicking his tongue. He stops his hand on a knife before picking it up and facing me as he twirls it around with his fingertips. The blade was bigger than the other one he had, and it had a curve to it. The tip of the knife was curved like a fish hook.

     The man smiled in satisfaction as he began toward me with the knife in his hand. I yank the chains making them clatter together as he stops and looks at the chains. "Right." He says, nodding. "You need to be on your feet for this." He went to the wall where the chains were, and he started cranking it up, the chains pulling me up inch by inch until my feet were flat on the ground. He stops and hooks it there before coming over to me, dragging the knife all over my jawline. Before dragging it down to my shirt neckline.