Page 25

The images of what happened come to me before I even open my eyes. I’m still shaken up by the fact I didn’t fully believe the things Don was saying about Jack, until now, that is. How did I not see what he was like? All this time and I didn’t see it, I feel like a fool.

I try to pry my eyes open, but only one opens, the other one takes a bit of coaxing, before my vision clears fully. I attempt to move, but soon realize I can’t. Slowly regaining my focus, I figure out that I’m lying on the floor of my bedroom, bound to the foot of the bed, with zip ties. Both of my hands and feet are bound to the legs of the bed. What does he want from me? If he wanted me, actually wanted me, he could have had me years ago, why now? I’m so uncomfortable, and I really need to move, my bladder is screaming at me, Fuck! “Jack, Jack!” I yell as loud as I can.

“Jack, Jack!” I keep yelling until I hear movement coming toward me. Jack enters the room but doesn’t make a sound, he just glares down at me, not saying a word, the dark gaze in his stare is giving me a bad churning feeling in the pit of my stomach. Nausea threatens to overwhelm me. “What are you doing Jack, let me go,” I plead with him, but he’s still being ignorant.

“Why are you doing this? What do you want with me?” I whimper, struggling to move. Annoyed, I pull at my arms, a stinging pain shoots through my wrists, as the zip ties bite into my skin, but I grit my teeth to conceal the pain, Fuck! If I don’t get to the bathroom soon, I’m going to wet myself.

Jack begins to pace the room, his footsteps echo off the walls as he mumbles. It's as if he’s engaging in a debate with himself, his expressions shift with each thought.

I remain silent, until he halts directly in front of me, locking his gaze on mine. “Why are you doing this?” I plead again, anxiously hoping to get through to him. “It's because of you, you ruined everything, you were meant to wait for me, but no...instead you go and spread your legs for someone else, and to make matters worse he's an Archer, a fucking Archer!”

He bends down and cuts off the zip ties at my feet with a pocket knife, then continues onto my wrists. Awkwardly he yanks me upward by the collar of my T-shirt, his voice echoing with rage as he screams in my face, he accuses me of being the cause of everything going wrong.

With sudden force, he shoves me down back onto the floor, turning his back to me. My mind races, trying to piece together scenarios on how to get myself out of here. Truly wishing he would just let me go, but my instincts strongly disagree, he’s not going to let me go that easily.

Reluctantly I sit up, inspecting my ankles and wrists, my wrists look worse than my ankles, all cut up and stinging like crazy. But before I attempt to move, I turn my gaze toward Jack. Again, he’s in deep discussion with himself, is he really arguing with himself? Is that what he’s doing? Unless he has an imaginary friend that I don’t know about.

I pull myself up, not averting my gaze away from Jack as he still has the knife in his hand, and I don’t want to anger him. Once I am fully standing up, I search around for something; anything I can use, but there’s nothing, not even a hairbrush in sight, did he move my stuff? Unable to think of any logical way to escape, I do the next best thing, grit my teeth and be nice. “Jack, can I use the bathroom please?” Slowly turning his gaze to me, he nods.

Without hesitation I make my way to the bathroom, and just when I think I’m in the clear and can find a way out, he follows me, shit!

I remain composed, keeping my cool. He doesn’t even have the decency to look away while I relieve myself, his stare fixed on me, while he stands motionless. I’m scared that I don’t know what is going on in his head right now because I have never seen him like this. But when I really think about it, he pushed me away most of our lives so would I really know? I’m unsure what this version of Jack is capable of, I need to be cautious and figure a way out.

With trembling hands, I finish up and wash at the sink, still searching for something I can use to escape, but as I go to make my way back to the bedroom, he stops me, directing me to the living room instead. “Sit,” he points to the nearest chair and I comply with his request, dread washing over me as I sit myself down. Using handcuffs this time, he handcuffs me to the radiator and without a word he heads into the kitchen. I take a deep, controlled breath and use the time to clear my head, thoughts race through my head like a storm. How do I escape this? The weight of uncertainty makes it increasingly difficult for me to stay calm and the sound of Jack arguing with himself in the kitchen unnerves me. As he continues on, I’m starting to think he might be losing his mind; it’s like he’s fighting himself on what is right and wrong.

When he comes back through from the kitchen, he pulls up the other chair and sits in front of me, his gaze overcast with gloom. “This is how it’s going to go; you’re going to tell me everything, and I mean everything.”

“About what?” I whisper, scared about what he will do if I answer incorrectly.

“About your new boyfriend, I want to know everything you know, you knew I followed you, what else do you know?” His hands fidget with the knife in his hand as he speaks, and my heart drops with the notion of him and how he might use it.

“And where’s my fucking research, huh?”

“Research?” I say with a shaky breath, “I don't know anything about that.”

“Don't lie to me, Raine.”

“I swear I don’t know anything,” I plead, trying to put all my emotions behind my words, but he grabs me tightly by the hair, yanking it. It hurts like a bitch, but I’m trying my hardest not to scream. “I told you I don't know anything, please, Jack, let me go.”

Tears roll down my cheeks, and I can’t stop them. I don’t want to show him weakness, but I’m scared.

Hesitantly he lets go of my hair and I slump back down in the chair, the handcuffs bite and sting at the impact. “You’re a fucking liar, Raine,” he yells, with spit flying out of his mouth. “A slut and a liar, I’m giving you one last chance to tell me, because I don’t think Howard and Rose would appreciate my anger, do you?”

“You son of a bitch! Don’t fucking touch them, leave them alone. I told you I don’t know anything.”

The tears are still flowing, as I try my hardest not to snivel. Would he do anything to my parents? With his deranged appearance, I wouldn’t underestimate him. With a malicious look he bends down, unlocks the handcuffs, then grabs me by the hair again. He yanks me up and drags me along painfully until we reach the bathroom. Forcefully shoving me to the floor, I land flat on my back and a sharp pain goes soaring through me. I attempt to get up, but it’s too painful. So instead, I try to turn over, but I am stopped when Jack straddles me, placing both his hands around my neck. “You did this, Raine, remember that.”

With a cold blank stare, he squeezes both his hands tightly. Frightened and scared, I attempt to move my hands and feet to fight him off, but I can’t. Anguish floods through me as I try to speak, yet I keep trying but it’s not working, I’m too weak, too tired, my eyes feel heavy, and I’m losing my vision.

“You deserve this.” Is the last thing I hear before everything goes black.