Page 41 of The Beginning
Smiling back at her, I nod. “I will be in there soon. Give me about an hour or so,” I reply. As she turns to walk out the door, I turn around to face my laptop once again, immediately immersing myself into my work.
Time passes and when I check the time in the bottom right corner of my screen, I see a little over an hour has passed since Lexi went to bed. Leaning back in my chair, I stretch my arms over my head groaning at the ache in my back. I guess I can finish this up tomorrow morning. I’ve gotten enough done tonight. I close the screen on my laptop and turn off the little desk lamp that I have sitting next me. The room is only illuminated from the light shining in from the hallway now. Standing up and pushing in my chair, I hear a door close out in the main part of the house. I am still trying to listen to see who is up.
Thinking to myself, it better not be Darian. Heading to the living room which is basically the center point of the house. “Darian?” I call out. Looking around the living room, I head into the kitchen. The lights are out, but I switch them on to look around. Walking over to the backdoor, I check the lock and confirm it’s secure. It’s been a couple of weeks since our lastencounter with Jason. I’m sure he’s moved on, at least I hope so. But we can’t be less vigilant or become complacent.
Everything is secured, so turning off the lights I walk to the front room. Everything seems to be still, nothing out of place. I check the front door and see that it’s locked but the chain isn’t in place. We must have forgotten to secure that. As I slide the chain lock into it’s slot, I glance out of the plate glass window next to the door. The front porch light is off. Straining my eyes to see the street, I don’t feel the hand until it’s too late coming around my middle and covering my mouth and nose with a cloth. I try to scream but it’s no use.
I scratch and kick but whatever is on this cloth is making my eyes droop quickly and my head begins to spin. My heart is racing, scared out of my mind wondering how they got in. How I didn’t hear them. “I told you I would be back, bitch. She’s mine and always will be. Not you or anyone else will take her from me,” Jason’s voice in my ear sounds muffled, sounding like I’m in a tunnel. “I will kill her first before I let anyone else have her.” Then nothing. Total darkness.
Lexi
My eyes flutter open to the darkened room. I don’t know what woke me, but my heart is racing. The light from the moon is shining through the small opening in the blackout curtains, and that’s the only light in the room. Looking over my shoulder, I notice Shayna is still not in bed. I reach onto the nightstand beside me grabbing my cell phone that is still on the charger, and look at the time. I’ve only been asleep for a little over an hour.Sitting the phone back down, I pull the blanket up over me, and close my eyes again.
I hear the door to the room open and softly close. I hear Shay make her way over to the bed. She thinks I’m asleep because she’s trying to walk quietly. I feel the bed dip slightly behind me. “Did you get everything done?” I ask her.
Feeling her move up behind me, I scoot back a bit trying to cuddle closer to her. She doesn’t answer me. Shifting my body to roll over and face her, I feel her arm come around me, over my arm which I notice is a little unusual. Until the hand that is coming over me, covers my nose and mouth with a cloth. I suck in a deep shocked breath and my hands immediately come up to grab at the arm that has me. Twisting over onto my back in a panic, Jason shifts on top of me, straddling my legs still holding the cloth tightly.
My eyes are wide in fear, when I look up into his glaring face. I try to shake my head and plead with him to stop but he just holds my face tighter, pinching my cheeks so hard it caves into my mouth and pries my teeth open. I can feel my teeth cut the inside of my cheeks. He leans down close to my face with an evil smirk on his.
“I told you I would be back for you, Lexi,” he grits out as my eyelids become heavy and my head spins. I’m trying so hard to fight the effects off but the way he holds the cloth to my face, I can’t move or speak. “You. Are. Mine.”
My eyes flutter closed and my last thought is of Shayna. What did he do to her? Please just be okay. And then I slip into the darkness.
Attempting to roll over, I hear the bed that I’m lying on creak terribly. Slowly, I move my head back and forth, and the first thing I realize is that the pillow my head is resting on isn’t mine or Shayna’s or even Cam’s. It’s stiff and hard and it smells musty. My shoulders are burning in pain, but when I try to pull them down from over my head, I’m not able to. Fluttering my eyes open, everything is blurry. My head is heavy as I try to lift it from the hard bed I’m laying on.
I pull again on my arms and feel the restraints around my wrists. I shift my gaze to look above my head, and even with my hazy vision I can tell my wrists are tightly bound with thick rope. Twisting my hands back and forth, trying to get them loose, I hiss in pain from the harshness of the rope rubbing against my skin.
“He-hello,” I rasp out. I try to swallow and clear my throat, I can barely croak out the single word. My voice cracks. Licking my dry, cracked lips but my mouth feels like a desert, nothing helps. “Hello,” I try again a little louder, but my voice is barely a whisper.
I lift my head as much as I can, and when my head starts to spin again, I close my eyes. Blinking rapidly looking down at my feet, I notice my ankles are bound the same as my wrists to a black iron style railing. Sluggishly, I try to lift my knees to test the bindings. They are just as tight. Now that I’m able to see straight, I notice I’m still in my sleepwear that Shay bought for me.
I scoot down as much as I can and start kicking the iron rod at my feet to make noise, hopefully getting someone’s attention. The loud clanging echoes around the room. However, I still feel drowsy from whatever was on the cloth, so I can’t kick very hard. Everything is coming back to me. Tears pool in my eyes and I’m scared to death. I know what life was life before I ran. I know things are about to be infinitely worse.
Looking around my surroundings, I see I’m in a small room that looks like a storage unit or small warehouse, with cement walls and a heavy duty solid looking door. The bed I’m lying on has no sheets. There’s a wooden chair and table in the corner along with a little table next to the bed with a small lamp, but that’s all that’s in here. Nothing else. I wonder where I am and why did he bring me here. Why does he have a place like this and what does he use it for?
Continuing to kick the black iron rod, I try to speak again between kicks, “Hello. S-Someone, help me.” I hear heavy footsteps coming closer and closer from outside the heavy looking door. I still my kicking and stare at the door. The steps are getting closer. I hear a heavy sliding lock shift and then the door opens.
The tears that had been only pooling in my eyes spill over at the sight of Jason Webb walking in. He doesn’t look my way, just turns to close the door, latching it behind him. He grabs the wooden chair next to the wall, and walks over to where I’m laying. Slamming the chair on the concrete floor causes me to jump. He straddles the chair backwards, crossing his arms over the back of it, then finally looks at me through his lashes.
His face is unreadable. His expression could read anger, rage or boredom, but the way he’s flexing his jaw biting down and the fire in his eyes, I can tell it’s definitely anger or rage. He’s trying to control himself.
“Jas–”
“SHUT. THE FUCK. UP!” he yells, making me jerk back in surprise, interrupting me. Taking a deep breath and releasing it slowly, he speaks a little more calmly. “I don’t want to hear your lame excuses or lies, so just shut up. You will listen to me now,” he says. I nod my head quickly, but have to squeeze my eyes closed to ebb the spinning it causes.
I open my eyes again, and he's staring at me. Resting his chin on his arms, he stares for a moment. It appears he’s trying to collect his thoughts.
“You know you fucked up, don’t you?” he asks. But I don’t move a muscle. Answering that, regardless if I admit or deny it, will bring me pain. He takes a deep, calming breath and the sinister smile he always got before a beating crosses his face, and I feel more tears slide down my cheek to pool at my ear lobe.
“Just admit you fucked up, Lexi and we can move on. We can get past this… eventually, and just move on,” he says tilting his head to one side. I still don’t answer or reciprocate. “ADMIT IT!” he yells, making me jump again.
“Y-yes… I…” I have to clear my dry throat again. My voice is barely a croaky whisper. “I f-fucked up, Jas. I’m sorry. I-I sh-shouldn’t have left,” I stutter out as best as I can. The words feel like acid on my tongue, but at this point what is there to lose.
“That’s right. But now, because of this you will be under the strictest of rules…” he holds up one finger as if to make an emphasis on the next words, “... and containment.”
“Jas–”
“NO!” he yells again, barely holding back the rage. It’s slipping. I can tell this is going downhill fast. “No more ‘Jas’. No more talking unless I ask you a direct question. Do you understand?” He asks but before I can answer him he goes on. “I own you, Lexi Richards. You are my property, until I get tired of you. Then,” he says, smiling wickedly, not finishing his sentence. He stands slowly from the chair, keeping his hands on the back rest. I watch him stand to his full height.
