Obsession (1) ✔

E P I S O D E - 40

"Episode 40 - Stockholm syndrome ."   

I stared up at the ceiling with my hands behind my back in pure darkness. My bed felt cold, even on a warm summer night. Elena hadn't been anywhere near me for the last three days and four nights. I was, not only running on only 12 or 13 hours of sleep but I was lashing out without provocation.

When I tried to speak to her the next day, she not only turned and walked away, she had the nerves to get Jamie to me that she was doing this for the right reasons. He was lucky that I didn't punch him in the face. I needed someone to take care of her and I couldn't only trust Jamie. She stayed in the main sector with the women that everyone claimed was Capone's mother.

I didn't know if it was true or not.

However, that's not what bothered me gravely. What troubled me was that she was walking around the house like a ghost. I could see her blocking it all out. The way she kept looking around from one place to another, searching for an object to concentrate on. She was blocking out the words coming out of anyone's mouth, like she had blocked off the memories and cruel pain of her past. That's how she coped. That's how she didn't give up.

She seemed petrified. Her dark eyes had dimmed, the life had been sucked out of her. She appeared weak and frail and it made me ache when I couldn't reach her. I'd seen grown man crack under less pressure than her and lost their sanity after a battle. Elena was just a child when she was kidnapped, repeatedly brutalised and had been locked away her whole life. She'd blocked the faces of her parents out, the memories of her childhood and who really was in order to survive.

A type of Stockholm syndrome. I wasn't a fucking psychiatrist but I feared that there was a small part of her mind was so fragmented, that she couldn't separate herself from this life. She's only known this life and from what I could remember form the mandatory sessions I had with my shrink after during rehab was self-will. If someone is not willing to change, no one could influence that person to become someone else.

I stayed up half the night contemplating on what to do with Elena. When the sun dawn started to break, the morning sun started to peak through the white curtains, my mind shut down from complete and utter exhaustion.

"Man, what the hell is going on here?" Jamie asked when he caught up with me at 9 in the morning for breakfast.

"Just please, take care of her for a while." I played around with the cereal in my bowl. He walked up to me, invading my private place before speaking in my ear.

"She killed Dex. Do you know how livid Capone is?" He whispered. "And what's up with shoving a knife into his chest, like who does that?"

"Someone who was kidnapped at nine years old. Who's been sexually, mentally and physically abused since then." The words left my mouth as if I was on auto pilot. He stumbled back, shocked beyond his mind. I quickly changed the subject. "How is she?"

I allowed him to get his bearings back before he replied. "Elena was severely depressed. She doesn't get out of her bed unless she has to, she hardly eats, saying everything tasted bland. I don't know man, it's like something's died inside her."

I sighed. Every time she left the room, I watched her on my phone walking around like a zombie.

My girl didn't smile anymore. I imagined that she constantly had something on the T.V. or she was on the laptop because when the silence set in, tears would fill her eyes. I remember her telling me how much she hated the silence.

She was withering away right before my eyes and I couldn't do anything. The blank stares and the defeated appearance, I couldn't take it anymore. She was suffering and it killed me that I couldn't help her. Sleep was out of the question, just like me. She stayed awake most nights as I watched her roam around the mansion under the dim lights while she spent her days sleeping.

Our brains were wired to protect us and it works in such a mysterious way that even highly certified doctors around the world haven't been able to uncover the full extent of its secrets. Her mind has blocked most of it out. I wondered if she had any nightmares and if she did, what were they?

"Her mind is protecting her from the pain that she suffered and shutting down is the best way that she knows." I explained to him.

"Is there anything I can do?" He asked.

"Yes, just keep the mansion running. My priorities have shifted. It's time for you to step up." I dumped the bowl in the sink, turning to find him stunned. He knew what I meant. I trusted him. It wasn't like I wanted Capone to live, not that. Never that. I just wanted him to not notice that I was slacking while I planned on getting Elena out of the damn place.

I could have killed him but I knew Yashiko and Jeremiah would retaliate against me not to mention now that Jude was coming back, everything turned into a fucking mess. Like we were standing on shifting tectonic plates. I could physically feel the beginning of an earthquake but I didn't know where to go from here because the ground that surrounded me, was breaking off into pieces.

I remembered a tactical simulation during my time at training camp where we had to extract a hostage. I remembered my team leader detonating a bomb on the other side of our entry point as a decoy. It not only lured them away but made our job a lot easier.

Capone had gotten back from the doctors. He was not only heavily medicated when I visited him at the hospital, he was drunk too. How he managed to get drunk in the hospital was beyond me. As I made my way towards his wing of the mansion, I itched to take my gun out and shoot him in the face.

Shaking my head, I knocked on his bedroom door. When I heard a grumble, I entered to find him nearly passed out on the bed. He looked even worse. His wrinkles had wrinkles. The white bandage on his nose made me so proud of Elena. I was slightly turned on by that whole debacle.

"What do you want?" He slurred.

"To debrief you about J.D. wanting to use your hotels for his escort service." His eyes widened at my announcement. I didn't know that he had a small number of girls working for him but he disclosed that information on previous Saturday when Capone was away.

"That's good. We can keep adding to that." He tried to shake his head but grimace holding his nose. "That bitch got me good."

I physically had to step back to restrain myself from shooting him. Yashiko was just outside the door. If I shot him, I could take people out, one by one but that would be like drawing a bullseye on Elena's back for Jude.

No way.

"So, I heard you're fucking her anymore." He was somewhat right. I really wasn't at the moment, so I nodded.

"Good because Jude wouldn't like that when he's home." He was becoming incoherent.

"When is, he coming home?" I just needed to know if I it was wiser to leave without Ross or wait for him to make a clear path for us.

"Soon, very..." He was out like a light. "...soon."

Shaking my head, I left nodding at Yashiko on the way. I took out my regular phone and texted Jake.

Me: Are those cards I asked you to make for me completed?

I didn't wait for his reply. Instead, I headed to the security room. He was not surprised to see me but was definitely shocked at the information I revealed to him after a lot of persistent questioning from him.

"Even though we ended up in different foster homes, you still looked out for me when you didn't have to so please, tell me what the hell is going on?" Was all it took for me to break. I was sleep deprived and going out of my mind.

"Listen, I can only image what she's going through but you have to speak to her. I'll work security at night from now and will pause the camera's if that's what you need to speak to her but you can't let anyone know." He put his hand on my shoulder, his blue eyes appearing dark with sadness.

I sighed.

"Go to her now. Wait, go to your room first, text me and then I'll start my magic." He smiled, cracking his knuckles like he's getting ready for some serious fight. After, what felt like years, I finally cracked a half smile with hopes of making things right.