C a p t u r e d

11: Temporary Blessings

Chapter Eleven- Temporary Blessings

Poison

1. Something destructive or fatal.

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Then the next morning, Nam Ha walked into the room.

She wasn't as pristine as usual. She hadn't showered; her hair is a mess; and she wore a mussy white nightgown.

"Where is Tyson?" I asked Nam Ha.

I was lying on the couch in the game room, with the red quilt covering my face. Nam Ha had her game-face on: probably to play a one-person game of bowling. Ohh, wow. How cool. She was so eclectic.

I had to admit it- I had a morbid curiosity now. Tyson said that Nam Ha was once a drug addict. Well, what in the hell was she addicted to?

"What?" she asked. "You didn't know?"

I blinked out of my reverie. "Know what?"

"The parties end when Tyson passes out. Then we scrub his ornate little floors clean. Then he passes out for three days."

"Why three?"

"He always drinks too much. He usually passes out for three days when he does that."

"What the fuck?"

"It's the price he pays. A day of drinking means a few days dead. It's like alcohol poisoning. But he doesn't care. It's his kryptonite to die temporarily."

Then she flicked the light on. Then I screamed.

"Oh God, turn it off!"

The light was too bright. The window outside only showed lamps and darkness in the distance. In this fucking cavern, there was no moon. No sun. What difference did time make?

"What I'm saying, Laurie, is that this is a pattern." Her eyes are soft. "For Tyson, he's usually dead for three days."

"Three days is a long time."

A smile ghosts through her face. "Alcohol is Tyson's poison. So as of now, everyone in the house can do whatever we want."

"Really? Like what?"

"Uh, like not worry about get bitten? Not feel paranoid?"

Because fuck Tyson, that's why.

"So what are you going to do?" I ask her. "Work on a grand scheme to escape? Dig through his stuff to find a stake; to stab him with?"

"Oh," she laughs. "No way. I'm just going bowling."

Wow, okay! Have fun dying in slow motion.

So, Tyson only bit me once.

Let me repeat that. I've been here for two weeks, and he's only bit me once.

Even that was before he kidnapped me. At Spring Park Park, right by my favorite bathroom.

I'm a missing kid now.

But hey... At least I went out with a bang, right?

I'm an architecture nerd. Don't laugh at me.

I needed something to do. Something therapeutic.

So... I spent three days doing something super important... Memorizing every section of his house.