Caged Bird | ✔

Chapter Thirty Seven

After 5 re-mixing sessions, a whole playlist of YouTube videos on how to 'deepen' your music sound, 13 cups of ginger and lemon tea, - provided by William for sore throats. One could say I recorded and produced my first single, in a small but still spacious makeshift booth in my captor's home

If that was not a compelling advertisement pitch to get people to listen to the song, I do not know what was

When I finished it I was so beyond ecstatic that I wanted the whole world to hear it

But of course that was out of the question, as there was no service whatsoever in the cabin. - believe me I tried by logging into my laptop religiously every day, hoping that one day service would magically appear

Therefore, for the time being I had to settle for William

''William'' I call out excitedly. I have said his name a couple of times now, but every time I say it, it feels strange on my tongue

He does not answer, but he appears by the doorway a few seconds later

''what's wrong?'' he asks, his brow slightly furrowed

''You need to hear this, - I begin animatedly ''sit down'' I say gesturing to the vacant seat stationed across the keyboard. I am so giddy it feels as if I am on steroids, I am smiling like a lunatic and practically beaming at William, - all traces of any resentment I had harbored towards him had faded throughout the last couple of weeks

Of course I have not forgotten what he had done, neither have I forgotten my vow, I could never forget.

Cassie used to say that if you behave normally with a person who did something really bad, irrespective of whether it was to you or another person, - the fact that you act okay with them gives them the impression that you're okay with that wrong thing that they did, leading them to believe that what they did is excusable

Nothing William did was excusable

And honestly I did try and prove a point with my silence and anger; that I did not agree with anything he had done

However, my silence and anger seemed to hurt me more than him

If Cassie was here, I could practically envision her pitiful and disappointed looks she would throw my way

Nevertheless, she was not here, and I didn't have much human interaction options, and even beyond that my brain had begun to prioritize my human interaction intake over what's morally correct and incorrect

William sits down, eyes never leaving me as he moves around the room, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips as well

His smile is probably due to my un-subdued glee, and the fact that I have been smiling at him like a whacko since he appeared

''I want to play you something'' I say, moving towards my laptop where I had exported the full track onto

He nods his head, urging me on. I hit play

The all too familiar intro starts playing, the one I had heard more times than I could count

My attention turns towards William, I watch him listen brazenly, taking in every movement intently; every twitch, every slight bob of the head. His reaction means so much to me, as the song means so much

The final verse begins to play, followed by the conclusion of the song in the drop, before the music fades out completely

I let out a breath that I had not even known I had been holding until then

William looks to me for the first time since the song started playing and claps his hand together softly

I cannot help it, a grin takes over my face