Taken.
I heard the muffled sound of an alarm going off as I slowly opened my eyes to reality. Wait, I didn’t have an alarm clock. And those shoes, they certainly weren’t mine. So that left only one question. Where the hell was I?
Then I saw him, quietly creeping in with a small grin on his face. I recognized that smile from anywhere. It was Oliver. His deep, sea grey eyes glared at me when he realized I was awake. He slowly started walking to me, gliding his hands through his dark silky hair making him look sexier than ever. His simple, white top was clinging to his perfectly chiselled body. He chuckled as he realized I was checking him out, he knew I wanted him.
Within seconds, he was on top of me in bed, pinning me down. We both stayed like that for what seemed like forever, just staring into each other’s eyes, until he began to lean closer. I felt his hot breath on my neck as he lowered himself. My heart was racing, not knowing what to expect next. That’s when he kissed me. Not just any old kiss, this was hot and passionate. His lips were warm and soft. Perfect. His hands were gently making their way up my legs and to my waist when I realized, I didn’t want this, but I couldn’t stop myself.
He slowly pulled away. But I didn’t want him to, so I quickly pulled him back and roughly kissed him. I think he got the message as he smiled and started lifting my top up, moving his hands to my belly. He trailed his kisses down my neck, making me moan to myself. I lifted my hand and started gliding it through his hair, gently tugging it with pleasure as his spare hand made its way down to my shorts. He started to slowly pull them down when I suddenly froze. I definitely did not want this.
Only a few days ago, Oliver had taken me from my home in London and drove me out into the middle of nowhere. Away from my family and friends. He, of course, thought he was doing the right thing by letting me start a new life with him. But he was wrong.
With all my strength, I pushed him off me. I knew he would never hurt me, he loved me too much. Back at home, I could use his love of me to get him to do anything for me. I now realised just how wrong I had been for doing that. I wanted to go home, but unfortunately that was the one thing he was not willing to let me do.
I must have dosed off again because when I woke, the room was full of darkness. The only light came from a small TV set that murmured every now and then. A dark figure sat cross-legged in front of it. The building was either a cheap hotel, or an abandoned house that had been convenient for Oliver. You could clearly tell this place was a hotel, but you could also see why someone would want to abandon it.
Oliver knew I was awake as he whispered to me “You talk in your sleep you know.”
“Really” Was all I had to say. I tried to make my voice sound as uninterested as I possibly could, but I couldn’t help but wonder what I had said.
“You said my name a few times. And mentioned your mum.” He said slowly before turning around to look at me, it was like he knew what I was thinking. He had sympathy in his eyes. Like he was truly sorry for everything that had happened to me in the past three weeks.
“Ohh.” I couldn’t quite manage to continue. I felt my eyes slowly turn blurry and a small tear managed to escape without my permission. Wait, was I crying? I never cry! And I’m not going to start now.
“Oliver, can’t we just..-“
“No!” He said fast. I was cut off before I could finish. But I could tell he knew what I was about to say.
“But what about my dad? He’ll be worried sick, and straight after my mum..” I sighed. Just thinking of my dad alone without me and my mum made me want to cry. He had never been alone before, and it can’t be that nice.
It had been just two weeks since my mum had died. She was on her way home from work one night when a crazy drink driver crashed into the side of her car. She was killed instantly. My dad and I had not been able to cope at first, we stayed in every day and cut off all communication with everyone else. But as we started to go out a bit more, my dad returned to work, and I went back to school.
Though very soon, I started to feel like I was being watched. I was relieved at first, I thought it was my mum; maybe she had come down from heaven to keep her eye on my dad and me. Although I knew that was a crazy idea, I didn’t believe in angels and I’m sure even if there were such a thing, my mum would be up there having fun by now. But then walking home from school one day, there was a tall shadow overcasting me. I started to speed up and noticed that so was the figure behind me. There was no noise except for two pairs of feet. Theirs and mine. I had been known at school for my speed. Every sports day, I was picked to run first. But even with my speed, I felt I could not outrun him. Yet I didn’t understand why he had been following me.
I was just an average girl. Long brown curly hair, slim with a normal height. Not too tall, not too small. I wouldn’t say I was the prettiest girl in school, but I had been complimented once or twice. I wasn’t as clever as other people in school, the only thing I was good at was running. I’m not exactly popular either. Unfortunately, I can count my close friends on just one hand. I wouldn’t say I was shy around people, when someone said something I didn’t like, they would know about it. But I didn’t really like getting involved with everything, I prefer to sit back and watch.
Then one day, I had stayed after school for sports training and as I walked out the school gates, a body stopped me. I froze right on the spot as a hand grabbed my shoulder and said those five words, the ones that kept me up at night. “I’ve been waiting for you” his sharp voice was no match for my mouse of a squeak. I didn’t no what had happened at first, and had no idea who it was. He was wearing a black jumper with the hood up and covering his face. The only way I could make out whether it was a man or woman is by his stern voice. I stood still as he put his hand behind my back and slowly marched me to his van. Conveniently parked right in front of the school, he managed to push me into the back of his van and drive off without anybody noticing. And for some reason, I couldn’t stop him. Every time I opened my mouth, I could not scream for help. My mouth was dry and I felt terrified of what would happen next.
Suddenly, I snapped back into reality.
“What are you thinking?” Oliver’s soft voice asked. Somehow, between my flashback, he had managed to walk over to the bed and put his arm around my waist, pulling me in close to him.
“Nothing.” I still wasn’t ready to talk to him. I just wanted to pull the covers over my head and fall asleep forever. But I guess that wasn’t going to happen.
“Oliver..” I said after a little while. He had switched off the telly and was breathing deep onto the side of my neck giving me goose bumps. You could see his smile widen as I said his name.
“Yes?” he whispered in a soft voice as he slowly moved his hand up to my hair. He started playing with it, spinning it around in his hands and smiling to himself. What was he doing? Acting like it was natural for him to take someone from their home, their family, their friends, and act all passionate like nothing had happened.
“Don’t! Just listen to me okay!” I squeaked, firmly pushing his hands away from me and standing up. His beautiful smile had quickly vanished. What was left was a shocked face, staring up at me and watching as I paced back and forth in front of him. His eyes grew big as he watched me and for the first time since I had met him, I could see his eyes were almost hurt. They were big and greenish grey, and reminded me of a child that had just been told he couldn’t have his favourite toy. This only made me angrier, is that what he thought of me? That I was only his toy?
Oliver quickly got to his feet and walked calmly to my side. Trying to put his arms around me, yet again, I pushed him off.
“What’s the matter?” He said looking concerned.
“What’s the matter? What is wrong with you?! First you take me from my home, keep me locked up in some cheap hotel, and then act all lovey with me!” I almost shouted straight in his face. I could feel my face start to burn up with anger as I held my fists tight and stood staring at him.
He looked shocked. Ready to duck in case I hit him, ha like I would stand a chance against his perfect muscles. I started to shake, from the sudden temperature change in the room and from feeling so angry with him. We both stood silent for a while, trying to avoid eye contact with each other. Until he finally gave in.
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t realized how unhappy this would make you. I thought leaving your town and starting again was what you wanted.” He finally said. He looked unhappy himself now. After thinking it through I realized, he was only trying to do what was right for me. He gave up his life, his family and friends, his future, to make me feel happy again and get a fresh start. Somehow, this made me feel guilty. Even though he was the one that took me, I couldn’t get it out of my head that he had done all of this for me.
I reached for the bed and steadied myself onto it. I couldn’t believe how much I had changed in two days. I had given in to him, I felt guilty for what he had done. Why did this have to happen to me? A month ago, I would have been sat at home with my mum and dad eating my dinner. This made me even more upset. But for just one minute, I forgot about my problems and just focused on Oliver and me.
If I had to stay like this from now on, I thought I might as well make the most of it. I got up off the bad and walked over to the kitchen area. It was no bigger than a cupboard and managed to fit in a mini fridge, small table, and a dirty sink. The walls were covered in horrible dark brown flowers; the decorator must have been blind. The tiny windows looked like the ones from a prison cell, foggy from handprints and grime. This place needed a damn good clean!
I opened the fridge door and suddenly got a draft of cold air making me shiver. Like he knew this, Oliver was over to me as quick as he could be. I never noticed what he was wearing before but he slowly lifted his jumper up, his top caught in it and showing off his great body. He had his jumper off in one quick tug and laughed when he saw me still gawping at him.
“Not usually the reaction I get.” He joked, winking at me. “Here, catch” he tossed his jumper to me, watching my expression finally change to a thankful smile.
The jumper was way too big on me, I could fit at least another two people in here with me. But at least it kept me warm. Opening the fridge again, I picked up the first thing I could place my hand on. Not once taking my eyes off his. Of course, this made him laugh a bit more. It was a comforting laugh, one that reminded you of good memories every time you heard it. It soothed you, like something you had grew up with your whole life.
I pulled out an apple. Well, it’s a start I thought to myself. I took a bite into the apple as I walked around the hotel room. There were three rooms altogether. The kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. What did he do? Look for the cheapest one he could find? I sniggered to myself.
The bathroom was no bigger than the kitchen. Just enough to fit a baby blue toilet in there and a matching bath. There was a small mirror screwed into the wall, but was cracked at one corner. “Hi, I’ll just take the crappiest room in this place please, sir!” I said out loud, copying Oliver’s husky voice. Something that I would have liked to stay in my head. Oliver obviously heard because he walked in laughing at me.
It took him a while to stop laughing but after he had finished, he took me and sat me down on the edge of the bed next to him. I wasn’t in the mood for him to try anything with me again just yet. I sat stiff, staring into space. I think he realized that because he whispered “relax” and turned on the TV.
We sat there watching for a while, nothing really caught my eye until Oliver switched to the news.
“Please, if anyone has any information as to where she is. Please, just give the police a call. You won’t be in trouble. Please!” a familiar voice pleaded.
I sat there, my eyes wide with my mouth open. “DAD!” I shouted at the telly. “Dad! My dad! He’s on the telly! He wants me! Oliver, we have to get home! I need to see him right away!”
“No!” Oliver quickly stood up, shouting at the TV. “NO NO NO NO NO!” He ranted to himself. His eyes turned a fierce red as he clenched his fists. He turned to me with anger in his face. What was up with him? I thought he would be happy that I’m happy.
“You can’t go, just don’t leave me again! He doesn’t matter anymore!” Oliver said through gritted teeth. He swiftly turned the telly off, leaving me in the dark before he walked off into the kitchen.
I had frozen, my face had that same shocked expression I had when my dad told me that my mum had died. I followed Oliver into the kitchen.
“Again?” I asked, still shocked. I hardly knew this guy! Oliver slowly turned around and looked up into my eyes. I stood still for a while, trying to figure out what he meant. But just then, as if nothing had happened he said
“We’ve ran out of milk. I’ll go take a walk up the shop.” Straight after saying that, Oliver’s calm face had reappeared and was smiling at me. He almost glided past me to pick up his wallet and opened the door. But before he took another step, he turned around and looked into my eyes again. His smile had gone.
“Don’t go” Oliver whispered. I’m surprised I managed to hear it actually. I stood, watching him leave as he had told me so many times not to do. I knew he would be back in a few minutes but there was still time to get out of this horrible place. All it took was for me to open the door and run. Run as far and fast as I could. I could be far away by the time he got back to the hotel.
I was about to open the door when I had a sudden urge to check in the fridge. Something told me that we couldn’t have ran out of milk. We had only been here one night and we couldn’t have got through that big bottle yet. I tiptoed to the door and put my ear on the grimy deep red wallpaper. I was right, there was someone pacing up and down outside our room. I tiptoed to the fridge, stubbing my toe on the small round table as I walked in. Ouch! I shouted in my head. I was shaking as I opened the fridge door and just as I had suspected, there was over half a bottle of milk still left in the fridge. All I had to do now is wait for Oliver to come back in so I could confront him.
I slowly closed the fridge door and made my way over to the bed, all the time, keeping my eye on the door. Maybe if I locked it, he wouldn’t be able to get in. Had he took a key? I only saw him pick his wallet up. I started to feel bad for him again. I just couldn’t forget that he had done all this for me. Yeh, the hotel is dirty and nobody would actually ever want to stay there, but we’re starting a new life. Together.