Within His Reach

Chapter 1

BRIAR POV 

It had been so long since I had even stepped outside. Almost nine years in fact. Nine years since I had felt even the gentle stroke of wind against my face. Nine years since I had felt my skin turn warm under the sun's rays or even felt the dampness of the morning grass beneath my bare feet. It had been so long since I'd been able to experience a lot of things. And every single day in this god forsaken place I found something new to miss. For some bizarre reason I had come to learn that the little things hurt to loose just as much as the big ones. 

I had lost everything. My family, home, freedom. And in a single week it was about to become even worse for me but there was absolutely nothing that I could do in order to save myself or even change my fate. Everything was sealed in place. There were no cracks for me to slip through. 

Sometimes I could do nothing but spend my days stuck in bed, contemplating what was soon to become of my already pitiful life. I thought in the beginning that it simply couldn't get any worse, but now with the day fast approaching I had learnt that there was always something to loose. I had every right to be fearful. I should have been terrified, and I was. 

For the last three years of my life I had been preparing for what was to come. Yet somehow they still managed to keep me in the dark about it so that I only ever knew what he wanted me to know. And that was never much at all. I was his prisoner after all. Of course the bars of my cage were golden, but it was still a cage. And I do not mean that metaphorically. 

I was always kept in a room at the very top of what I could only presume to be a mansion, although I had never seen it from the outside. I had only ever seen inside two rooms of the house. My current room and the basement. And I never wanted to relive what I had experienced in that ever so dark place. This room was painted a pale pink color, decorated with a double bed, desk, chair and little else. It was a fairly simple set out but it was an improvement compared to where I was three years ago. It tasted bitter to me to admit that I was somewhat grateful to be here instead. Yet I was also plagued with unnecessary guilt. 

It was not your fault.

I reminded myself of this fact every single day. However it rarely made me feel much better. I couldn't bring my family back. It wasn't fair. They were back yet for some reason I got live. Often I wish that I'd have been killed too. It was a quicker and surely less painful fate then what was in store for me. 

I slowly removed the blanket that was over my lap and moved into my bathroom. It was connected to the bedroom and was not overly large but just like the room, it would have felt suffocating no matter the size. 

I slowly took off my night gown, dropping the cotton material to the ground before picking it up and placing it in the hamper for someone to collect later. I then stepped over to the bath which had already been filled by a maid. I did not know her name. I was barely ever spoken to by anyone these days and often found myself talking or singing lightly to myself just to escape madness or loosing my voice completely. 

The bath, as always, had been filled with bubbles and a selection of products were out for my use. Just the basics. Shampoo, body wash, conditioner and facial wash. I never had a use for a razor because I'd had several treatments of laser hair removal after they deemed me untrustworthy to have unsupervised use of anything sharp. I wasn't even allowed a pair of scissors. He was too  scared that I would harm myself, or that's why I presumed there were so many precautions in place.