Fragile

Chapter 31

I didn't think I would've ever found myself locked away in a cold dark room again. 

My mother was still nowhere to be found after Noah chased her off. If anyone were to lock me away, I figured it would have been her. I never thought it would've been my own doing that got me locked away again. I hadn't considered that Noah wouldn't be around to protect me. 

I didn't think I would've ever missed fresh air and sunlight. 

The room that I was in was a lot colder than the one my mother had kept me in. The walls were dark and the bars made the room look like an old prison cell. I could tell we were underground, but I had no idea where. I didn't know how far we were from the university, or what the surface even looked like. I didn't know if it was day or night, or how much time had passed since I lost consciousness. Were Noah and Kiera looking for me? Did they notice my absence? Did they even care? 

"Look who's awake," I heard a familiarly warm voice that made my blood cold and a sickly nausea wash over me. The creaking of the bars opening made me flinch, but I refused to meet his gaze. "come on, Fay, don't be mad," Seth cooed with his voice dripping in malice. He knelt in front of me, and a second later his hand grabbed me by my chin and forced me to look at him. "There she is." 

Tears pricked my eyes as I struggled to look away, but Seth forced me to maintain eye contact. His eyes looked almost animalistic, wild and untamed, but the rest of his face remained calm, unfeeling. His mask had finally been removed. 

"You see, I'm a bit possessive over the things I like," he spoke, cocking his head as if he was intrigued by me, like some fancy object to be won. I trembled in his grasp. "I don't want to share you with my guys here." 

A small whimper escaped my mouth. There was a rope that gagged me, not very efficient but enough to get the message. No one was going to hear me down here. I didn't bother to scream for help, I knew better. my wrists were bound behind my back, but I was otherwise free. My lack of restraints, though, just meant Seth was confident I had no way of escaping. The thought made my heart sink. 

"You don't seem surprised by your predicament," he noted. "I'm assuming your boyfriend told you?" 

My heart lurched at the mention of Noah. He wasn't captured too, was he? My chest felt constricted at the thought. What if he got captured because of me? 

He tsked. "Only worried about him," he spoke as if he read my mind. I flinched. "I'd be more worried about yourself." 

In a swift motion, he ripped the rope from my mouth, most likely leaving red marks in its place. My mouth was dry as I struggled to moisten it. Seth raised a surprised eyebrow. 

"You know not to scream, how thoughtful," he mused. 

"It wouldn't... help," I croaked out, swallowing between words. 

His eyes glinted at my response, but still the rest of his face remained neutral. It was creepy, how his eyes could be so expressive but the rest of him stayed unfeeling. He hummed in response, seemingly satisfied. 

"I knew you were mine the second I saw you," he said. "You were so innocent, so desperate to be broken. It was almost too easy. But of course that fucktard of yours had to intervene." 

I blinked as my mind began to draw connections. "You?" Seth was the one that drugged me and dragged me out? He was the one Noah stopped from taking me that night at the party? 

"You seemed surprised. Guess that fucktoy kept a lot of secrets after all," he said. "But that only made the chase more interesting." 

I tried to hold in my gag, my entire body trembling. I felt like I was on the verge of a full blown panic attack as I tried to control my already labored breathing. "W-why me?" 

He shrugged. "I enjoy ruining childlike innocence," he stated as if he was reading a grocery list. "at least, at first. But when I realized the same fucktoy that was trying to ruin my operation also wanted you? I gained a little more incentive." 

I yelped when he grabbed me by my throat to force me to look at him once more. He easily pinned me under him, despite my aggressive struggles, barely even flinching. I whimpered and begged, trying to squirm away from his touch, which he quickly silenced with a harsh slap. 

"As much as I want to fuck you right now, I believe virgins deserve an audience," he hissed. "so you'll have to wait here until the guest of honor arrives." 

He was off of me in a second, leaving me coughing for air and weakly wriggling away from him. Tears streaked my cheeks as he roughly grabbed my face, wiping them away. His lips curled into a sickly smolder. 

"Let's see how fucktoy reacts when I fuck you until you tear." 

*****

"Prince Noni!"  the little eight year old girl yelled. "Prince Noniiiiiiiiii." 

eight year old Fay skipped around the playground, peering in every possible hiding spot. But she was only making a show to look around; she already knew where the boy was. She giggled to herself as she made a show of looking under the slides, her hands holding the straps of her backpack on her shoulders. 

She slowly made her way to the large dome in the corner of the playground. She seemed to dance around actually peering inside before she suddenly spun around. "Found ya!" 

The small boy inside jolted at her sudden movement, shuffling further back into the dome. Fay pouted at his response, but regained composure quickly. She sat in front of the dome in her usual spot, pulling out her lunch box. 

She set a juice box and a cookie on the ground in front of the dome, but stalled. "Your food is here," she spoke softly. "I'll give you an extra cookie if you come get it." 

It wasn't the first time she had tried this tactic; she often tried to bribe or persuade the boy to speak, or to reveal his face. Aside from the bruises on the boy's body, she didn't see much of him. He was always hunched over, curled up in the darkness of the dome. There were moments he would straighten up or peer a little closer, but never close enough to get a good view. Even as she spoke, she wasn't expecting much from the boy, but she still paused anyway. 

Maybe she had paused for longer than normal, or maybe her kindness and hope finally pulled through, but she suddenly heard small shuffling of bark. It was painfully slow, then slightly more deliberate. She held her breath, afraid of scaring the poor boy with even the slightest of sounds. Slowly, the boy inched out of the dome, and a very small, bruised hand reached the sunlight, quickly snatching the snacks from sight. Fay waited a moment more, but was pleasantly surprised to see the boy hadn't moved back. Though he was still under the dome, in the shadows, he stayed at the edge where dark met the light, waiting. 

She beamed. "Right! I almost forgot your cookie," she said. She could barely contain her excitement as she held out her hand with another cookie. "This one is chocolate chip, my daddy says I only get chocolate chip on very special occasions." 

Again, a long pause. A pause long enough for the girl's arm to feel heavy. She forced herself not to show it, though. She had a newfound burst of hope seeing the boy, and she couldn't help but test further, to see if he really would meet her halfway. She was desperate for any form of contact with her newfound prince, regardless of how small or seemingly insignificant. 

She tried not to make any sudden movements as she watched the small hand reach for the cookie, though inside she was jumping with excitement. His small arms were tan, she noticed, but also bruised like his hand. There was blood on the sleeve of his shirt, along with a few small, circular burns. But before she could observe further, the boy snatched the cookie from her grasp and resumed his spot. 

She smiled, noticing that he still stayed at the edge of the shadows, and considered today a win.