Okay sorry for the extremely long wait!!!! I was so caught up with school work.
****IMPORTANT***** Expect delays in uploads until AFTER about the first/ second week of May. I have AP exams and subject tests coming up and I really have to concentrate on those. My mom has been bugging me about it too :( I'm so sorry but my school work does come ahead of my story. I may upload again within the next week though :)
The next morning when I awoke, it was still fairly dark outside. It felt odd but I had to keep reminding myself that the sun was only up for about four hours each day in December. Grabbing my glasses and tucking them into place on my face, I glanced over at the alarm clock which read 7:00AM. So I suppose the sun wouldn't have even risen in California.
I looked beside me expecting to find a human body but instead was only greeted with empty blankets. I threw off my blankets and walked to the door. I tried to turn the door knob, but when it didn't move I looked down at it, remembering that the nincompoop had switched it lock from the inside. Dang it! I jiggled the door knob in frustration and sighed. How long would I be in here? I banged on the door and screamed, "Let me out of here! Hello? Master nincompoop? Are you there?" Feeling trapped as ever, I banged on the door even harder.
"Cut it out would you!" A voice sharply said.
I looked around the room for him, but didn't see anyone there. "Where are you?"
"On the wall, idiot."
I turned to my left and saw a sleek metallic-silver and black box with a screen on it. It was one of those nifty home intercom systems.
"Oh," I replied dumbly, examining the contraption. I switched through the panels until I found his annoyed face looking at me.
"Hi!" I waved, "Haha, this is so cool!"
I began flipping through the panels again, seeing views of some of the other rooms. The screen with his face on it came back without my doing.
He rolled his eyes at me, "Are you done playing now?"
"Whoa how'd you do that?!"
"I have control over all the panels and cameras," he said in the most obvious way, "Have you never seen a home intercom system before?"
"I've never lived in a house big enough to need one," I shrugged.
"Okay well quit touching it, stay put, and I'll be up in a minute with breakfast."
"'Kay" I shrugged offhandedly.
He turned the screen off and I went into the bathroom to wash my face off. The luxuriousness of the house was finally starting to become normal to me so I wasn't as caught off guard when I saw the granite countertop, fluffy mat, 3D wall paint, intricate details in décor, and second half of the bathroom that was accessible through the large, multi-faceted shower. It was literally just as large as a second master bedroom.
I grabbed some facial soap, took off my glasses, and began to rub my face. After rinsing it off with some water I took a good look into the mirror. Even at such a close proximity, the outlines of me in the mirror were somewhat blurry. Everything behind me just looked like blobs. Placing my elbows into the counter, I examined my green eyes, my mother's eyes. God I missed her. Right now they were a very light, calm shade, like the algae filled lake near our house we used to sit by.
"Staring at the mirror longer isn't going to make you look any better. You should better be careful though, if your ugly face cracks that mirror, you'll have seven years of bad luck."
I put my glasses on and rolled my eyes at the smug look on his face.
"I'm pretty sure my luck couldn't get any worse than it already is, considering I'm stuck here with you."
He narrowed his eyes and turned the ends of his lips upward into the most demonic smile. "Honey, I'm probably the most interesting thing that's happened to you in your boring life."
"Don't say that."
"You know it's true."
"I meant don't say the word honey. It sounds weird hearing such a sweet word roll off your tainted tongue. And I happen to like my boring, systematic life thank you very much. I've had enough surprises to last me a lifetime. I cherish predictability now."
"Wow, you really are as boring as you look. I was hoping you'd be one of those girls who look ugly on the outside but is secretly some ass-kicking spy or something on the inside. The more I get to know you the more you disappoint me."
I cocked my head, raised my eyebrow, and opened my mouth. "You watch WAY too much TV, and you don't even know me."
"Well you've got the attitude to fit the part, and you're not that hard to figure out. You're like a one layered onion."
I gave him a what-the-heck look and retorted, "I only act this way with you and Bax. I don't know why, but you guys vex me to the point of provoking my sassy side."
"Well I like it. It's the only part of you that entertains me. You may as well be somewhat useful while you're here."
"Whatever suits your fancy nincompoop."
He raised an eyebrow at me, "Nincompoop? You may amuse me, but you still better watch what you say to me. I won't take any disrespect from you of all people," he spat, "You call me your Master until I decide otherwise."
"And why on earth would I ever call you Master. Don't you have a real name?"
"Yes, but you don't have the privilege of knowing," he smirked
"Why not? Is it something embarrassing as Eugenie," I laughed.
"No, it's nothing near as bad as Alaure. I mean seriously, what kind of name is that? You're not even alluring. You're completely repulsive."
I frowned, unable to think of anything witty to say, I simply crossed my arms and asked, "Whatever, can I have breakfast now Eugenie, I'm hungry."
He frowned at the name, but smirked in triumph of having won our little quarrel and led me out the bathroom door back to the bedroom. On the bed was a large tray filled with assorted fruits, some French toast, a tall glass of what looked like a smoothie, eggs, and a bowl of honey nut cheerios. YUM!
I scampered to the tray and was about to grab a French toast when his hand slapped mine away.
"Uh, uh, don't touch."
"What? What not? I'm hungry."
"Because that's my food."
I narrowed my eyes at him, "Then what am I supposed to eat? The tray?"
"No of course not! I wouldn't do something like that. You get to eat this," he said handing me the bowl of honey nut cheerios.
"Are you kidding me? Not that I don't like honey nut cheerios, but you have an entire tray overfilled with food and this is all you're giving me?"
"No, I'm not kidding and yes, that's all you're getting. I don't have to feed you, you know."
"Selfish pig! You know what; I'll just call Nadya up on this wonderful intercom here and ask her to make me some French toast," I smirked in triumph.
"No you won't," he said not even looking up from his food.
"Oh really, and why is that?"
"Because she's asleep and you're not waking her up just to make you food."
"You actually care enough about her to let her sleep? Gasp!" I said putting my hand over my open mouth and feigning a surprised look.
"Yes I actually care about her," he said sharply, narrowing his eyes at me.
"Gosh, I didn't know you even had it in you to care about people. So what's so special about her?" Suddenly I remembered how on the first day I woke up and asked Nadya about her work with him, she had the most affectionate look on her face for him. Didn't she say something about raising him like she was his mother? How did they form such a strong connection? I would be sure to try and find out more from Nadya if I could.
"Don't mistake my discourtesy towards you as an overall characteristic of mine."
I frowned. "Well then who made your food?"
"I did."
I raised my eyebrows. "You cook?"
"When I need to," he replied, munching on his French toast. I frowned. I could smell the sweet, sugary, scent of maple syrup. He was teasing me with it.
"What a waste of talent," I muttered, "even Baxter put together a better breakfast than this for me yesterday."
"You just complimented me. You called me talented;" he smiled smugly, "And Baxter made you food?"
"My bad, I didn't mean to feed your ego any more than it already is. And yes, he did because unlike you, Baxter is actually a sweet, considerate, and caring person."
He scoffed, "You don't know anything about either of us. You're too quick to judge."
"Oh kind of like the way you are with me?"
"Well you're different."
"Whatever, hypocrite."
I looked down at my bowl and stirred the little wheat O's in alternating circular motions when I suddenly realized something. I placed the bowl back on the tray and quickly backed away as far as I could.
"I'm not eating this. You drugged this didn't you? The same way you drugged me when you kidnapped me!"
He sighed. "Alright, fine you caught me; I tried to drug you again so that I could rape you."
I look of sheer horror crossed my face as my body began to feel tense and tremble. "Why on earth would you-"
"I'm just kidding. Now shut up and eat your cereal. I wouldn't have sex with you if my life depended on it. For the record though, I didn't drug you the first time either, and I wouldn't try to drug you now. I thought you were supposed to be smart. Use a little logic; I need you to try to remember things not forget them even more."
"Wait, so you didn't drug me with whatever made me forget everything? So I was really drugged? Did I just get a really bad concussion from hitting something?"
"No I didn't. You were already drugged by the time you got here. And yes, I tested it; you had drugs in your system, so no, you didn't get a concussion."
"Speaking about your memory, how'd you sleep last night?"
"Eh, alright I suppose, but it was a dreamless sleep; well that or I just can't remember any of it. Did you hear anything you wanted to?"
"No, except the bothersome sound of you snoring all night."
"I do not snore!" I snapped.
He chuckled, "Yeah you do."
"I asked my friend and she said I didn't."
"Who, Jayden? Maybe she was lying."
My subconscious tugged on my mind, it felt weird that he knew Jayden."Or maybe you're lying."
He shrugged, "Believe what you want. So tell me about your friend Jayden. She's so hot. How much of her homework did you have to do to get her to hang out with you?"
"Jayden isn't a shallow, heartless person like you. She's a genuine person with a heart of gold."
"Shallow or not, she must have had some ulterior motive for hanging out with the likes of you."
"She happened to actually like my camaraderie."
He burst into laughter, "There's nothing interesting about you!"
"That's because you don't know me, Eugenie," I sneered, starting to become aggravated, "How do you even know about Jayden anyway?"
"You talked about her when I first spoke to you, when I brought in some of your old things to spur your memory, but that obviously didn't work...unless there's something you're not telling me." He said raising an eyebrow at me.
"Nope, not at all," I lied calmly, "But if you bring back my stuff, maybe I'll have an easier time remembering. Maybe I could look through my phone and see my texts and voicemails to find out what happened that night. So then how do you know what Jayden looks like? You said she was hot."
"Feisty aren't you? The only thing you're getting are these cheerios until you tell me what you know. I may have done a little research of my own to find out more about your little friend."
"How am I supposed to tell you anything if I don't know? You keep reiterating that you're not an idiot, but you keep asking the same questions. Maybe I'll have a better chance of remembering if you give me my stuff. That's only sensible, right?"
"Right, just like you'll have a better chance sleeping on a nice bed in a cozy room huh? Look how far that's gotten us. NOWHERE! Maybe if that thick head of yours wasn't so hollow, you would actually remember something!" he shouted, "What if your belongings don't prove to be sufficient enough in jogging your memory?"
"It's been ONE night. Be a little more patient would you! This is like looking for the Lochness monster; you don't know what you're looking for until you've found it. And quit yelling at me. It's giving me a headache. And must you question everything I want to do? What if it does jog my memory? It's worth a shot isn't it?"
"Oh shots, finally, a good idea!"
"What do you mean?" I said furrowing my eyebrows.
"Tell me Alaure, do you ever drink?"
My eyes bulged, "No! Not a drop of alcohol has ever passed my lips, and they never will. Nothing good ever comes from alcohol."
"The more effective it'll be upon your body then," he smirked cynically, "I'll shove it down your throat if I have to. I will find out what you really know and what you're hiding from me." He continued to stare me down, making me shift uncomfortably under his gaze.
"That's a horrible idea. What are the chances of me even remembering more from that?! Isn't the whole point of alcohol to make you forget more? Yeah sure I'll be a blubbering idiot, but I told you, I don't know anything that I could even blab about. Would you just trust me and bring me my stuff. It's a more reliable option."
"Fine, but be wary because if your little ideas don't start producing results, you really won't like my methods." His eyes darkened as he burned holes into mine with their intensity. "Stay put," he ordered, getting up from the bed and leaving the room.
I smiled wickedly and grabbed the last French toast from his plate. Success! I chortled gleefully between each sweet, savory bite. I took a sip from his smoothie and almost died in the sheer blissfulness of the taste. Damn, he was good!
I was still drinking his smoothie when the door banged open.
"Enjoying my food?" he glared.
I swallowed the remains in my mouth and smiled coyly. "Yeah, where did you learn to make food like this? It's so good."
"Just for that, I won't slit your throat," he smiled as he set down the box of my things on the bed. Whoa. He actually just smiled. I felt like I had been temporarily blinded. It seems like such a trivial thing, but it was like going a thousand years without sunlight and then finally being able to see a glimpse of those beautiful, warm, golden rays. "I learned from Nadya, actually, when I was younger," he answered. There was a certain exultant glow to his face as he spoke about her, and it made me even more curious to know about their past with each other.
"Anyways," he continued, before I could ask him about Nadya, all traces of joy wiped off his face, "here's the stuff, so get busy."
The box had my knapsack (which I used in lieu of a purse), phone, and some of Jayden's things which I had already seen in our first meeting. I pulled out my knapsack and grabbed a handful of things which included some clips and rubber bands, my emergency contacts (if my glasses ever break in class), and my old iPhone 3G. I'd had the same used phone for the past 3 years. It was passed down from my lovely cousin who bought a new phone. I rarely used my phone so I could care less what kind it was.
I pressed the power button and waited for it to turn on.
"Give me your phone," he commanded, extending his hand forward.
"Why?"
"So I can monitor what you do on it."
I rolled my eyes and handed it to him. "Sooner or later, you're going to have to learn to trust me, you know."
"I'll trust you when you prove your trustworthiness to me."
"How am I supposed to do that? Oh wait, let me guess, tell you information I know, even though I don't know it."
"Precisely," he answered as the phone came to life. Heaps of notifications from phone calls, voice mails, and text messages flooded my phone. Immediately, he changed my phone's settings to airplane mode. "I have to keep your phone from being detected or being contacted."
First I looked through my missed calls, looking at each contact. I had received several phone calls over the past few days from my cousins. I was supposed to be visiting them over the break and had made plans to stay with them for the six weeks of winter break. I saw a few phone calls from my dad too, a day after the calls from my cousins.
No one else had bothered to call, no one would have noticed my disappearance over winter break, but it's not like I had anyone else that would have called, except Jayden. I scrolled through the list of missed calls, finding it peculiar that Jayden hadn't bothered to call even once. Skipping over my voicemails, I checked my text messages to see if she had bothered texting me. And found the most peculiar text messages. Looking through them, I realized exactly why Jayden hadn't called and exactly what happened before I went to look for her.
Sorry about the cliffhanger. This next part is long and detailed and I didn't want it to be crappy. It's going to be a flashback and hopefully will start giving you guys an idea about what's going on.
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I'm so serious when I say I take your opinions into consideration. Someone told me they wanted to know more about Damon and Jayden so I made it a point to start including some more on them. This next chapter especially should explain Jayden some more.
For those of you who were fortunate to have read memories before I removed it, you may have a better insight on this next chapter, for those of you who didn't here's a quick exerpt. **this excerpt will probably not show up in the story as written (unless i decide otherwise, in which case i'll still have to make some adjustments), it's just a deleted scene that had too much information too early in the story. I adjusted parts of the plot**
I strained my mind harder while staring at the object. Slowly I began to remember vague memories of Jayden putting each item on and sticking her phone in her back pocket. Maybe her phone fell out and he found it. But that wouldn't explain how he got his hands on the ring or watch.
I pushed the questions aside and thought harder hoping to clear my memory even more. Okay, think Alaure. Jayden went out Friday night. I didn't go because I was studying for our big exam. Although it was the last exam we had before the winter break, it was also the most crucial. I was borderline A+ and I was too close to let it slip through my fingers. I pulled my eyebrows in closer as I thought harder. Okay, so I studied and...I fell asleep, right?
Saturday morning I showered and then what? What had I planned to do on that Saturday? I was going to study with Jayden at the coffee shop on campus. What happened then...was she even there? I began to shift through some key words in my head as well as my daily routine to hopefully spark a memory. Jayden...Jayden...wake up at 6...shower and eat breakfast...studying for exams...arghh.
I wanted to give up, but maybe if I could just remember, he would let me go back home. I thought harder. I stared intently at the watch. It was such a useless thing for her to wear. She was never on time anyway, especially not to class.
Sometimes she never bothered to show up because she-WAIT! Never bother to show up...never bother to show up...always late. Slowly I began to remember my frustration in Jayden's tardiness on that day. I had been studying on my own and waiting for over 2 hours at the coffee shop before I decided to head back to my dorm room.
Suddenly it came flooding back to me. My face went pale and my heartbeat sped up.
Jayden never did show up that day!
I faced the man and with a stern but fearful face I asked him,"Who are you and what have you done with my friend?"
All of my memories flooded back like a waterfall. I made my head hurt to remember and process everything all at once.
He pursed his lips as his raw went rigid. "Tell me in detail what you know," he demanded.
I closed my eyes for a moment, organizing my thoughts. I began talking very quickly to try and get all the information out without making my head explode, "After Jayden didn't return by that evening I told my residential advisor."
"Slow down!" he roared.
I scowled and took a deep breath before starting again. "Things were going slow and they hadn't seen any sign of her. They had contacted the police and reported her as a missing person. They contacted her parents, but that didn't make a difference. Her mother is dead and her dad is a drunk who could care less about Jayden. Jayden had left him the instant she was of age. After almost a week went by I went to the police office to see if they had found any traces of her. I was surprised they hadn't called me in for questioning or any information. An officer said that it would take some time because they were on top of a bigger case at the moment."
Tips for reading my story and finding hints: DETAILS DETAILS DETAILS! Every line and word I put in my story is carefully chose, handpicked, edited, and re-edited by your truly. That means that basically every line is important. You have to infer about the characters and situations.
that is all.
until next time my wonderful readers :D
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