Hunted - The past that kills [COMPLETE]

17 - Crazy in "Love"

When Nate's consciousness began to return, he came to the realization that he couldn't feel a thing. His first assumption was that he was dead; this, however, was debunked quickly as he realized that he wouldn't be aware of his own consciousness if he was dead. He internally groaned, he was not ready for this type of meta-thinking five seconds after 'waking up'.

Everything was black. He couldn't see or hear anything, not even his own breathing. His memories were slowly coming back to him. The last thing he remembered was collapsing and blacking out as he felt his throat tighten, his breathing constrained from something entirely unknown to him. The last thing he saw, however, was Clara. He remembered kissing her after they both confessed that they'd loved each other. If whatever knocked him out was meant to kill them, then Clara would've passed out when he did, maybe a few seconds later.

She had been okay at that time, from what he knew. Nate didn't know how much time had passed since that moment. Minutes? Hours? Could it have been longer, or was he just being too paranoid now? As his brain ticked by, trying to answer his own questions both logically and in unrealistic ways, he started to sense things around him. His throat was dry and burning from earlier. He began hearing soft footsteps and the clattering of wood and metal objects. He slowly regained feeling in his fingers, then my hands and feet. Eventually, he had feeling in his whole body once again, which is when he decided to cautiously open his eyes.

Once again, all he saw was darkness. Then, a single light hanging from the ceiling above Nate flickered to life. It was bright enough to blind him for a few seconds but barely enough to illuminate the room. As he waited for his eyes to adjust, he began noticing my surroundings. He was in a large bedroom, with a rectangular window on the left wall, all boarded up. The room itself was in a state like the rest of the house; worn from age and partially vandalized. Though, surprisingly, there wasn't a spot of blood in this room. He spied a door on the wall to the far right. That looked to be his only escape route, but was most likely locked. He shifted around a little, coming to the realization that he was lying on a bed. How he didn't realize that sooner stumped him too.

Something suddenly moved directly across from the bed, against the opposite wall. No, it was someone. Hayley, to be exact. She was seated in an old but sturdy chair, her arms strapped to the armrests and her legs to the chair legs. Her head lulled on one shoulder while her soft breathing caused a few strains of her hair to rustle. Devon had been right, the killer had taken Hayley to mentally torture Clara, not to kill her outright. Speaking of Clara, Nate then realized that she wasn't in the room with them. Then where was she...?

"Hayley," he said quietly, trying to sit up and move towards her. He jerked suddenly and turned his head to see why he had been stopped.

He glanced up and saw his right hand was cuffed to the bed head. He tried to sit up but his ankles were tied to the foot of the bed in a way that stretched his body out, not leaving him much room to move. Oh fuck was his first thought. He then looked down at himself, searching for any injuries he may have received. He was shirtless and not wearing any shoes, but otherwise, everything was normal. Well, as normal as they could be when you were tied up in an abandoned building with one of Australia's most wanted close by.

Nate flinched suddenly, eyes widening as an eerie voice filled the room. "Nathan, I'm so glad you're awake. So nice of you to come!".

Wait a minute... that voice sounded very feminine... Dots began clicking in his head. His gaze drifted to the far corner, where a silhouette stood out against the darkness. Nate wondered how he had missed the silhouette when he looked around the first time.

The figure stepped forward more into the light and Nate felt his breath hitch. The figure's hair was frizzy and tangled, her black sweater and pants covered in dirt and splattered with blood, her makeup darker than usual and her eyes wild.