Page 30 of Wraith

Chapter Twenty-Eight

It tookme days to get my eyes adjusted to the light. I didn’t even chance leaving the apartment because I couldn’t see. Instead, I took advantage of the food in the refrigerator and the cupboards, being sure to leave enough so it didn’t seem as if I were eating him out of house and home. Not that he would care, I rarely saw him. Each day I would wake to the apartment door slamming shut. Each night I would fall asleep after I heard him come back through the door. He was avoiding me. I’m not stupid, nor did I care. I had more important things to worry about. Like how I was going to get out of here. Now that I am no longer locked underground in a room with no way out, I’m going to take advantage of that, too. I just need to regain control of my eyes before Ican.

With each trip to and from the laundry room, I watch the routines of the guards out of the corner of my eye the. I take different trips, being sure to clock them every hour of every day. It took me a while to figure out their patterns since I could only appear to be doing my job. But now at exactly five thirty, nearly three weeks after being brought up from underground, I take my chance and slip out of the apartment and down the steps toward the break in the shift. It’s meal time and right now everyone is heading to the mess hall—which I learned is right next to the apartment complex—so I have only seven minutes before the replacement guards who ate at five to get there. It’s still light outside but the sun is starting to set, making it that much harder to see, but for me it’s a godsend. The darkness is my ally. The more straining it is on their eyes, the better chance I have at getting thisright.

Step by step I make my way past the buildings, counting in my head the seconds as they turn into minutes. With the fence I need to climb in sight, I start walking faster, ready to get a jump start at climbing when a voice jolts my body and sends chills down my spine. “You don’t want to do that.” The husky sound isn’t new tome.

“Please. I just want to go home,” I whimper, knowing already I more than likely have no home to go to. My dad isdead.

“No going back now. Come on,” he gestures with his hand for me to follow, “hurry up before someone sees you and I have to punish you,” he tells me before walking back the way I came, not waiting to see if I will follow. For a moment, I don’t. I almost speed up my process to climb the fence but the noise of the replacement guards assaults my ears and I whip around to follow close behind myowner. “Stay close.” I catch his words but they don’t register quick enough because we are being stopped by none other thanTrenton.

“Taking your dog out for a walk?” He laughs while his eyes linger on me a little too long. I don’t have much for clothes but what I do have barely covers my body. A small tank top and short cropped shorts. At least the weather isn’t cold, otherwise I would freeze todeath.

“Showing her the training area.” I glance back the way we came and notice a flat pad surrounded by training equipment, with a tall wall-less shed over thetop.

“Give her any lessons?” Trenton’s gaze—as it always does—drags along my body assaulting me with the leering look that penetrates my skin, leaving me with an icky dirty feeling I want to wash off. “I sure as fuck would teach her a thing ortwo.”

“Some other time,” my owner growls, clearly irritated by Trenton but doesn’t say a word, and reaches out grabbing my arm to pull me back to theapartment.

Once inside he instantly let’s go, as if my skin spontaneously ignited and burnt him. “Don’t leave this apartment unless you are doing laundry. It isn’t safe,” he snaps making me jerk back from theabruptness.

“I’m sorry, please. Don’t punish me. I promise Iwon—”

“I’m not going to fucking punish you.” He scrubs his face in frustration, both of his hands gliding along his cheeks slightly smattered with facial hair. I find myself wondering if the hair would be soft or prickly. “Just, don’t try to run away again. I can’t promise that next time you won’t get seen. Tonight, was a close call. If Trenton had seen what you weredoing…”

“I won’t. I won’t do it again. I’m sorry,” I tell him honestly. Something in the way he speaks makes me think he is just as much as a prisoner here as Iam.

“I need to take a shower. Can I trust you won’t run off while I do?” I nod my head then speak the word yes when he stares a little bit longer. “Good. Get something to eat then go to bed,” he instructs and turns to walk away. Just as he starts down the hall, I stophim.

“What do I call you? What’s your name?” He pauses, his back bunched with tension underneath his black tee shirt. He doesn’t answer right away maybe wrestling with himself on whether or not to answer so I give him something first. “I’m Lara.” The sigh he lets out at the sound of my name doesn’t go unnoticed nor does the slight turn for me to see the side of his face. The darkness under his eyes has since gone from the first time I laid eyes on him. No longer looking like he’s at death’s door, he now has the aura of death in a different way. I stand there, eyes locked on his, waiting for him to tell me hisname.

“Steven.”

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