His Choice - Rafe Cameron

27. Withdrawal

He's having a nightmare. 

"No Dad. Don't do it, I will fix it. I'll fix it. Please Dad. Why aren't you listening to me?" He shouts. I quickly walk over and and kneel down beside Rafe. I place my hand on his shoulder and lean down to whisper to him.

"Shh Rafe, it's okay. It's just a dream. It's not real." I continue speaking to him calmly, reminding him that the events which are unfolding in his mind, are fiction.

Rafe's eyes burst open and without warning, his hand immediately reaches for my throat. His hand grasps around my neck and he continues to tighten his grip. He stares straight into my eyes but it's not him looking at me. His pupils are completely dilated and almost completely black in colour. He's not completely awake yet. He adds his right hand which only restricts my breathing any more. 

My oxygen supply is completely cut off now and I desperately try to free his hands from my neck and push him away from me. 

"Rafe." I struggle to say. "I can't breathe." 

I stare back into his eyes, desperately pleading for him to let go of me. I can't talk anymore and eventually I stop fighting him to let go of my neck because I lose all of my energy. I begin to close my eyes because the fatigue gets to the better of me. Then at last, Rafe's hands are removed from my neck and I fall backwards onto the hard floor. 

"Oh my god Scarlett. Sorry. I am so sorry. I didn't mean to. Scarlett, open your eyes." He taps on my face, trying to bring me back to consciousness. "Fuck." I hear him shout, but I am too tired to open my eyes. Rafe places his hands on my shoulders and shakes my body. 

While my eyes are closed, JJ's face appears in my mind. I smile when I see his familiar face. I miss him so much. I can't imagine how worried he is. He would be tearing the town down while looking for me. 

"Wake up." JJ whispers to me and my eyes snap open. I take a huge gasp of air and sit up. I see Rafe on top of me with his legs placed either side of my body. He pulls me into him and holds me against his chest. 

"Fuck, you scared me. I thought I killed you."

I push him away from me and lay down on the bed. "You nearly did." 

Rafe climbs off of me and walks to the other side of the room. He stands there, watching me from afar with his hands on his head. "I'm sorry Scarlett. I thought you were my Dad."

He's hallucinating during his withdrawal. He's not himself and I know that he didn't intentionally try to strangle me. He was having a nightmare and that was his initial instinct when he woke up. To fight. 

I nod my head. "I know." I slowly stand up and walk over to him. I reach for his hands and look up at him. His under eyes are darker than the shirt he is wearing. "How are you feeling?"

"I just tried to kill you. And unlike the others, this time I didn't mean it."

I laugh at him. How sick is it that I am laughing about this? Let's blame it on the hunger. 

The lock from outside the door jingles and a short moment later, the door swings open. One of the men walks towards us and Rafe stands in front of me protectively. 

"I told you before, she plays no part in this. So leave her be." 

One of the men pushes Rafe out of the way and before he can fight back, a gun is placed to my head. The man grabs my arm and pushes me towards the doorway. 

"Don't you fucking hurt her." Rafe leaps forwards and I feel the man holding the gun move his finger on the trigger. I squint my eyes shut, bracing for the impact. My entire life flashes before my eyes, but thankfully when I open my eyes, no trigger has been pulled. 

Two others tie Rafe's hands together and they lead him out of the room. They move both of us to the top deck and I squint my eyes shut as the glare from the sun is intense. We haven't seen the sunlight in 4 days. 

"Where is Ward?"

"You think I am going to tell you just like that?" Rafe snickers. "Go to hell." 

The man beside me pushes the gun against my head again. "If you want your girlfriend here to live to see another day, you will tell us whatever we want." He spits. 

Rafe presses his lips into a thin line and I see his knuckles turn white as he clenches his tied up fists. He tries to wriggle in the chair, but the ropes around his entire body are making it difficult for him. 

"I don't know of his exact whereabouts. But you can get him to come to you."

I thought Rafe knew where the island was where Ward is hiding. He is either a really good liar, or he really doesn't know. 

"Do you think we are stupid? You really think we would tell him where we are?"

"You arrange for a place for him to meet you. If he knows that his son is in danger, he will do whatever you want. He won't tell anybody else."

The two men beside Rafe exchange a look. 

"You took my phone from me. Do you still have it?"

"Yes." The man beside me says. 

The long haired man stares at his friend in shock. "What? I told you to throw both of them in the ocean."

"They're switched off. Nobody can track them."

"On my phone case there is a magnet attached to the back of it."

I remember seeing it. Wheezie has one too. There is a device built into it to prevent Ward from being able to track her phone. 

"What about it?" The long haired man asks. 

"That is a tracking device. The second you turn on my phone, it becomes active again. Take that off and go into my contacts under the name Brian Floyd. Call that number and arrange to meet with my Dad."

I stare over at Rafe and he briefly nods his head at me. I really hope his plan works. 

The three men exchange a glance without saying a word. Then finally, the man holding the gun to my head speaks up. "Go on then, get the phone."

The bald man on Rafe's right-hand side retrieves Rafe's phone from somewhere around the other end of the boat. He grips onto the small device stuck to the back of Rafe's phone before glancing at Rafe. "If you are lying to us, you will be scrubbing the brain of your girlfriend off our deck within the next two minutes."

Rafe swallows and his bright blue eyes stare straight into mine. 

"I'm not lying."