Page 82 of Trapped: Until The Darkest Of Night

I was asking for this, though nothing can happen. She’s hardly going to overpower me, just the thought of Lou threatening me with nail scissors is rather pathetic. What about her though? Would she do anything to herself? Then again, she has seemed a lot less desperate this past week.

Before I can stop myself, I sneak to the bathroom door and listen. The fine, high-pitched sound of hair being cut can be heard through the gap between door and floor.

Truth.

I breathe a sigh of relief and hug Grey who is still hanging down from my arm to my stomach.

“You’ve had enough for now or you’ll get a stomach ache again and cry our ears full.” I use two fingers to grab the almost empty bag of milk from the table and throw it into the garbage under the sink. That’s when I notice water sloshing around my used cup.

“The gray-water tank is full,” is the first thing Lou tells me when she emerges from the bathroom and joins me at the table with a full cup of coffee.

When Grey discovers Lou, he begins to fidget. “I know. I noticed the water standing in the sink.” I hand Grey to her across the table and he immediately licks her face. Giggling, she puts him on her lap.

I stealthily scrutinize her. Her hair is now all one length, falling slightly below her chin.

“Looks good what you did to your hair,” I say. Cutting it with my hunting knife was practical, but it made it look rather wild.

“I just cut off the tips.” Lou reaches to where a fringe used to be, but there’s nothing there. She was thorough.

I suppress the urge to grab her hair and ruffle it. She’s wearing her light blue sleep shirt that makes her eyes shine brightly. As a matter of fact, they sparkle and are no longer so cloudy. When she realizes I’m watching her, she suddenly smiles.

“Shall I empty the tank after coffee?” she asks, stretching the smile a little too far. It looks fake.

Watch out! screams the voice inside me.

Shut up, replies the part of me that wants to believe Lou. I start to nod deliberately.

“I’ll show you which lever to pull,” I say, making it absolutely clear that I’ll come along.

“I could also take the buckets to the stream. I feel strong enough.”

Damn it! When she looks at me like a lamb, I can hardly refuse her anything and she knows it!

“Alone?” I ask anyway, just as innocently as she looks at me.

She shrugs and bites her lip.

“Give an inch, take a mile syndrome, I assume.” With a short snort, I stand up and eye her from above. I would never let her go to the lake alone. “Did you put the scissors back or are you going to use them on my neck later?”

Lou crosses her arms over her chest. “I put them back. You can check the cabinet.”

“I’ll do that later—assuming you let me live that long.” I can’t resist a bit of ridicule. I grab two white cable ties from my stash in the kitchen cupboard and start threading the bells on them like glass beads. After every bell, I look at Lou, and every time our eyes meet but before I can interpret it, she looks away.

I feel like the air is supercharged with a buzz and my mouth gets dry. The next time I look at Lou, her cheeks are flushed and she’s fidgeting in the seat, making the upholstery creak. She hastily puts a piece of pancake in her mouth.

“Done.” I’ve threaded the last bell, seven in total per zip tie. Like every morning as I place the bells on Lou, she alternates arms while eating like it’s no big deal. Maybe that’s her way of coping with it. I step directly in front of the bench. Carefully, I put the straps around her small wrists and pull them as tight as necessary. Lou’s hands are shaking.

I look at her face again, holding the end of the second cable tie a moment longer than I have to. My fingers tingle and the strange feeling of reality merging with my dreams makes reality falter.

Why is she so nervous? Is it possible that she suddenly wants me? Does she feel more for me?

There’s a rushing in my head like the wind blowing through the trees and it sounds like I’m at the ocean. I pull my hand back and brush the back of Lou’s hand. Goose bumps run down her bare arm.

My heart is pounding.

Lou swallows and avoids eye contact, though she’s stroking Grey with trembling hands.

“Lou?” I whisper.

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