Page 27 of All Your Pain

He takes a step inside and I instinctively step back.

“I’m not surprised, just disappointed.” His words are a punch to the gut and I can feel my eyes burning from unshed tears.

He’s so cruel, one minute he treats me like his prisoner and the next his girlfriend.

I don’t understand what he wants from me.

“I’m actually kind of interested to see if you’ll be able to do it,” he says, nodding to the knife.

The space between us is quickly shrinking along with my confidence.

“I’ll do it! I’ll hurt you, if you don’t let me leave right now!”

With one hand I clutch the towel tighter to me as I keep the other with the blade aimed towards him making the chain between the cuffs stretch tight. I expect him to reach out to disarm me but he steps aside.

“Fine. Leave. If you make it out, your life is yours. Not that you even have one. I know you have nothing to your name and nowhere to go. Except back to your father.” My breath catches in my throat and he notices.How does he know any of that?“I know you don’t want to go back there. Why else would you leavehim so suddenly? There's something you won’t tell me, but I will find out what it is.”

“Shut up! You don’t know anything about me. You have no right to know anything about me!” I look between him and the open door. This could be a trick but my freedom is right there.

So why doesn’t it feel like freedom?

Dean’s right, I have no place to go.

As much as I don’t want to be here I also don’t want to leave. I’ve craved affection my whole life and finally I have it but it comes from the wrong place. I can’t stay.

Keeping my front to him, I inch closer to the door. “If you don’t make it past the gate your life is mine, Willow. I choose what happens to you. I’ll be the only one to ever bring you pleasure or pain. It’ll be up to me when you die and it'll be up to me how you live. There will be no more chances to leave after this so make sure it’s worth it.”

That’s it then. If Dean catches me he really will kill me. He doesn’t even look sad about it. I really was kidding myself when I thought he might have actually cared about me.

Without giving him another look I toss the knife aside and run. There’s no point trying to fight him off with it, if he catches me then it’s all over and I don’t want him dragging it out any more than I know he will.

The road to the gate isn’t that long but each step is agony without shoes and my running is hardly more than a fast paced hobble.

I don’t dare look over my shoulder to see if Dean’s watching me. If he is, I’m sure his face is full of smug satisfaction.

With each step I realize how stupid this whole decision was. There’s no way I can outrun or outfight him.

As the gate gets closer more tears fill my eyes until they’re burning. When I get to it, I look over my shoulder and see Deanhalfway up the path just watching me with his hands in his pockets.

Why isn’t he chasing me down?Panic bubbles up in my chest and I search the gate for a way to open it.

It’s a solid block of iron without even any gaps to look through. The only way I can see to open it is a small panel next to it that needs a passcode.

No wonder he let me run. It was all a trick.

In a panic I start punching in random numbers but of course they don’t work.

Shit.This was such a wasted attempt. I should have waited longer, planned it out more.

The crunch of boots behind me makes my heart sink. When I turn Dean’s standing right behind me, smiling down at me.

“Looks like you’re all mine after all.”

11

DEAN

Ihave to admit I’m taking this better than I thought I would. I knew this moment would be inevitable. No matter how responsive Willow is to me she’s not here by choice and an escape attempt was always on the cards. Hopefully this gets it out of her system for good.

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