Recluse

Chapter 18

Nialls POV

Every breathe I take sends an agonizingly painful ache throughout my chest. I know that Jeff broke at least one of my ribs, if not more than one. That, I am sure of.

I gather up as much oxygen as I can, but honestly, it takes a lot of effort and tears are in my eyes from it. Simply breathing is excruciating for me.

But I can't give up. I have to scream again. I can't give up. Somebody HAS to find me down here. I can't let him win. I cannot let Jeff kill me. I have to beat him. I have to keep Madi safe.

A fire of determination lights up my eyes at the thought of Madi. Her beautiful face lights up my dark thoughts of pain. And suddenly, I find myself shrieking once more, "Help! Anybody f.ucking help me! I'm under the f.ucking floor! Someone... Please..." It's not long before I am out of breathe once more.

I fall back on to my back, laying against the cold cement beneath me, struggling for breathe. Even thoughts of that girl I love more than life itself can't take this horrible pain away.

I'm not sure how long I've been down here. Maybe a couple hours, maybe a couple of days. There's no way to tell. I'm stuck down here in a timeless universe full of nothing but pain and memories.

I arch my back and let out a groan of misery. I have so many injuries, I can't even count them.

Jeff overpowered me. He overpowered me physically and emotionally.

I begin to tremble as I remember his cruel treatments...

flashback

"Lets get started, shall we?" Jeff's terrifyingly calm voice is the last thing I hear before I pass out.

~

I awake to a gruesome reality.

My eyes groggily blink open and in a split second, alarm courses through my veins, followed by a blast of panic. I have no idea where I am. It's pitch dark and my arms are strapped down with rope, as are my legs.

I struggle to free myself, but I'm tied down too tight. Terrified, I shriek, "What the f.ucking hell is going on?"

A dark chuckle sounds from the corner and I look up to see Jeff walking towards me, a sly smirk playing across his lips, "Look who's awake."

In my moment of terror, I've forgotten about my injuries. But then it all comes flooding back. My head is pounding from dozens of blows. My right eye is swollen shut. There's a horrific gash on my calf from when he dug his teeth into it as hard as he could.

I feel dizzy, probably from all of my blood loss. But mostly, all I feel is terror.

"What the f.uck is going on?" I repeat myself through gritted teeth.

He takes a few steps closer and I try to cringe away, but I'm tied down too tight.

"I lost Cynthia because of you. And then I made the mistake of killing her when I should've killed you. I'm going to correct that mistake."

My blood runs cold all of the sudden as I realize what he's implying.

He's going to kill me.

"No." I snarl, struggling to free myself from the ropes, but to no avail.

"You think I'm gonna let you be with my sister after all you put me through?"

"All I put YOU through? YOU stole my girlfriend, and then you killed her! I didn't do anything to do!"

"She chose you in the end!"

"And then you ended her life! Why couldn't you let her be happy!" I'm shrieking at the top of my lungs at this point.

"Because if she didn't want to be with me, I didn't want her with anyone. You're nothing special." He spits. Insanity shines in the brown depths of his eyes.

"Look you piece of dog shit. I've made up my mind. I'm not gonna die on this f.ucking table. I'll get you in prison and I'll be with Madison. That's how it's gonna end and there's nothing you can do to change that." I growl at him, fists clenched.

In that moment, he steps forward and cuts the rope holding down my right hand. I lift it, opening and closing my palm. I give him a confused look. A spark of hope grips my heart. Is he gonna let me go?

My hopes are shatter when he hands me a knife. With a wicked smile, he says the worst possible thing he could've, "Cut up your wrists or I'll cut up hers."

I feel the color drain from my face and I choke out "What?" I couldn't have heard him correctly. I couldn't have.

"Cut your wrists up or I'll cut up hers." He repeats simply.

"You'd do that to your own sister?" I rasp out, absolutely terrified at this point. All sense of calmness has fled me.

"Do you really doubt what I would do?" He questions, smirking.

The sick thing is, I know for a fact that he would do that to her

But I can't let him.

"Keep in mind, if you try to free yourself or anything, I can overpower you easily. And I got that baby over there." He motions to a hand gun across the room.

So I take the knife in my free right hand and I drag it across my left wrist. I wince slightly, but barely. It's not like I've never done this before.

"Deeper." He commands.

Honestly I would use this knife to stab him and escape, but he's out of my range, and he has a gun. And I can't stand the thought of him cutting up Madi. Of her suffering and bleeding and begging to be spared...

Without another word, I dig the knife deeper into my skin, deeper than I ever have. I cut three long, deep lines like this before I drop the knife. My right hand is trembling as blood guess from my left arm.

Jeff smiles, satisfied, "Good."

He then takes the knife from me and digs it into the gash on my leg, twisting it painfully slow. I rise off of the table and my back arches. I let out a scream of agonizing pain. My eyes are wild and I can't think, the pain is so horrible.

He yanks the knife out and I'm left panting, tears squeezing themselves out of my eyes.

Jeff laughs, "Well that was fun. Don't worry though, it's not over yet."

For the next couple of hours, I keep my eyes closed as he tortures me. If my last breathe is meant to be on this table, my final sight will be of Madison. It will be of her smile, her laugh, her dimples, her beautifully oceanic gaze that I could look into for hours on end still without uncovering their oceanic depths fully. Her long, wavy hair that isn't quite blonde but isn't quite brown. Her beautiful singing voice and curiosity of me that drew me in to her from the first time we met. The first time I held her in my arms. When we played frisbee together. When she fell asleep in my arms at my house. When we had a sleepover at her house and shared our first, beautiful kiss together.

As I'm tortured and sliced up beyond repair, I think of her and all of her little quirks. I replay the memories in my mind even as my leg is being sliced off. They continue to replay even as three long slices are engraved into my neck, just missing the main artery that will give me a shortcut into death. As Jeff cuts off several of my fingers and traces his knife through my eyebrow, I close my eyes and I let thoughts of her consume me.

Through all of these torments and more, I think of her. Even in my most physically ecruciating state, thoughts of her make the pain almost bearable.

But sadly, thinking of her isn't going to save my life. Nothing will.

(sorry this chapter took so long!!! Idk why I just put a lot of detail into it I guess. So this ended at the end of a flashback. In the next chapter, we're back to the present :) vote and comment)