𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 *UNDER MAJOR EDITING*

twenty-one

how do you feel about quarantine?

***

My lungs become cold and dry. I can barely breathe but I don't care. My legs burn, using up all of their energy but I refuse to stop. Freedom was literally right there in front of me and I was not passing it up.

I honestly don't even feel the pain in my ankle anymore. I'm moving too fast. Everything is numb and the world around me has turned into a blur of green and brown. Branches scratch my face and my arms but I don't care. I change directions randomly.

I will get away.

I have to get away.

It's right there. I'm so close.

Before I thought, he was different. I thought he was...

I don't know what I thought.

I was delusional.

His actions back there only proved me right of what I had originally thought when I first got there. He's a dangerous psycho. I mean who even takes the time to take that many pictures? And of person?

Psychopath and sociopath. A double whammy.

I look behind me and I see that he is not there. I should have lost him right? I slow down to a walk but then I rest myself against a tree. My breathing is heavy and sweat drips down my forehead. I don't even know how long I've been running.

It felt like an eternity. But with my lack of physical fitness it was probably ten seconds.

I hear a twig snap and I immediately look up. My head scans the area and when I see nothing but trees and begin to move again. I'm frantic and alert.

A twig snaps again.

Okay that's it. I'm out.

My eyes focus behind me to make sure he is not there but I run into something.

It's too soft and warm to be a tree. I played myself. I played myself bad. Why didn't I run when I heard the twig snap the first time?

I instinctively push him away and turn to run but he grabs my arm and tears are once again in my eyes.

I look at Stephen and beg for him to let me go.

I fight and fight. I was so close. It was right there.

I elbow him in the stomach. I bang my dirt against his chest. I kick his shins. I yell on the top of my lungs for help and for him to let go.

It's useless. Futile even. I'm alone and tired.

"No babydoll. You are mine," he holds me to his chest. He picks me up bridal style and walks us back to the house.

It was a rather short walk, approving my theory that I had only run for ten seconds.

He lays me on the bed in his room and walks out.

I limp to the window again and try to open it but it won't open. It's like it's been superglued shut. It wouldn't be above him to do so.

Stephen walks back in with a first aid kit. He disinfects the cuts on my legs before putting a bandage over them. I watch him as he takes out the gauze and wraps my right ankle.

When he is finished, I hug my knees to my chest. I peek up at him through my damp lashes waiting for him to say something.

"Bella about what you saw," He looks down at my ankle and sighs.

"I swear, I didn't intend for myself to become so stalker-like, but it was for your safety. When I first saw you five months ago I intended to slowly introduce myself to you like a normal person but everything was so fucked up with the mafia it would be too dangerous for you. So I had to watch you make sure you were okay..." I listen to him ramble off.

I was so confused. So terribly confused. And the part I was most confused about was the fact that part of me was willing to give him a second chance.

That's it. I'm self-diagnosing myself with Stockholm syndrome.

"And as for the pictures, I just couldn't help myself. I was spending so much time with myself that whenever I could I would go and see you," he scratches his shadow.

I look at the man in front of me. He was a like a bear. One moment he is all scary and protective and the next, he's all cuddly.

Plan A did not work. So I have to make Plan B. Maybe I should just wait and gain his trust so he can trust me enough to go the outside world. I mean, it would take a while, but it might just work.

***

I have online class in five minutes.

🍒much love <3🍒