What's Said in Silence

Sera-XXXXXVI

(C.W)

Earlier.

I closed the oven and rinsed my hands off in the sink. Cleaning the oven had to be my least favorite task, although Vessel had made it quite interesting before he left. A small grin curved on my lips. I contemplated putting on something risque and waiting on the couch for him to come home, if only because I was feeling a little more adventurous. 

My fantasy was short-lived when I heard the doorknob jiggling. Vessel hadn't been gone long, not long enough to have gone across town yet. Maybe he forgot something. The door jiggled again and something told me that wasn't the case.

My feet moved before my brain had a chance to catch up. I could hear the door splinter open as I ducked into my room and shut the door. My eyes scanned the room and, for a moment, I considered trying to escape out the window, but it was frosted shut. Damn the rainy January weather. 

Running out of options and time I slid under the bed. I pushed myself as far towards the center as I could but still keep an eye on the door. Something silver caught my eye from the night stand. My travel camera. I made quick work of snatching it and slipping it into my bra. 

Footsteps echoed through the house, freezing me in place. My heart pounded in my ears but I could still hear multiple voices and none of them sounded like Vessel or even Jessie. I pulled my phone from my back pocket, doing the only thing I could think of at the moment. I called Vessel. It rang once, twice, three times before the line picked up. 

"Hello?" He answered, confusion laced with worry in his voice. I opened my mouth, ready to call out for help, but the words never came. "Sera, darlin'?" He asked. Again, I opened my mouth to speak but I couldn't get the words out. 

The footsteps drew closer and Vessel went silent. I double checked to make sure the call hadn't dropped. He was still waiting on the other end. 

Say something! Anything!

The voices came from right outside my door. My breath caught in my throat and my body shook uncontrollably. 

Speak dammit!

The door opened and my stomach sank, blood running cold. A pair of black boots stepped into my room, slowly, tauntingly. The man stalked through my room languidly, as if this was another Tuesday at their day job. He came to a stop on the other side of the bed. 

A hand gripped painfully tight around my ankle as I was yanked out from under the bed. I clutched the phone in my hand, willing myself to scream out for help, but nothing ever came. Empty, dark eyes stared down at me. I was met with the face of a man who had left morality behind decades ago. Using my other foot, I kicked at his face but missed.

He drug me into the living room where another man waited to grab my arms, ripping the phone from my hand and looking at the screen. An amused sneer took over his face as he flipped the screen towards the other man. 'My Eden' flashed across the screen.

"Stupid bitch called her boyfriend." He chuckled, effectively ending the call by slamming my phone onto the ground, shattering it to pieces. I struggled against their grips as they carried me out of the house by each of my limbs. They threw me ass first into a trunk, knocking the wind out of my lungs and sending a shock wave through my body that made it impossible to move. They took the opportunity and slipped zip ties over my wrists and ankles before slamming the trunk shut. 

Fuck! Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!

Panic clashed with claustrophobia and my chest felt constricted. The car lurched forward, slamming me against the wall of the trunk. My camera slipped out of my bra. I reached out for it only for it to slide to the other end of the trunk. I shimmied my body forward as best as I could, but every time the car made a turn, I slid right with it. 

Finally, after many failed attempts I grabbed the camera and turned it on. I felt some semblance of hope until I saw it only had one bar left. Dammit! Why could I never remember to charge shit! I was going to have to make this count so I waited a few more minutes, feeling the car take another left turn before snapping the first picture.

Another turn, another picture. I took one almost every turn until the road straightened out. The car kept steady on this path for what seemed like an eternity. It grew increasingly harder to breathe every minute that passed by. I steadied my breathing and took slow deep breaths. I wasn't going to get out of this by panicking, if I got out of this at all. 

The car came to a stop and I heard the doors open and shut. I went to press the shutter button to snap another picture only for the camera to flash a battery low signal and shut off completely. No! Fuck! 

I tossed the camera to the back of the trunk just before it opened. The freezing air bit into my skin once more. I was yanked out of the car by my waist and thrown over the taller ones shoulder. I jabbed my elbows into his back and my knees into his chest with every ounce of force I possessed, it didn't even phase him. 

We stepped into a house that was nearly falling to pieces and was just as cold as the outside. From my view point, I could see the splintered floorboards and stained, cracked windows. An old couch covered in a plethora of holes sat against the far wall and, for a split second, I could've sworn I saw a rats tail slip through one of the cushions. 

"Set her down." I froze at the hauntingly familiar voice. A voice I'd hoped to never hear again. I was drooped down onto the cold floor, my tail bone throbbed from the impact. I looked up and nearly choked on my own spit as the very thing I'd been running from smiled down at me. He was my past personified and he looked at me like I was a one-of-a-kind show dog. 

His prized bitch as he used to call me.

"Precious Seraphine," His voice coated the air like sludge on a pipe. "It's been so long, I almost forgot just how beautiful you are." The compliment fell on deaf ears, nothing he said held any weight anymore. I had grown up enough to understand it was all a manipulation tactic. I refused to be manipulated again. He leaned back against the arm of the couch, like he was waiting on a response. He wouldn't get one.

"Not even a 'hey'?" He mused. My jaw hardened and my lips pursed. "I see. Well, you'll warm back up eventually." He stood upright and began pacing the room. His footfalls louder than the beat of a bass drum. 

"I have to say, I never thought you'd have it in you to leave the country. Took an entire fleet of IT nerds to track down your flight number and where you landed. Not that it mattered, my Seraphine was worth all the trouble, as you always are." My eyes tracked his every movement. I'd never entertained the idea of super powers, but in that moment I wished I could have laser vision so I could slice those loud ass feet off of him. 

"You really aren't going to talk to me, are you?" He looked like I'd cut his heartstrings clean through. It was a look he'd perfected years ago, one that used to have me bending to his every whim. "Ah, well, as I said, you'll warm back up. Sedate her." He snapped his fingers at one of the men. 

Before I could even turn my head, a sharp sting pierce my neck and heat pooled underneath the skin. Within seconds my body went limp, refusing to give even the slightest of movements no matter how hard I tried. My vision blurred in and out. I fought to keep my eyes open, but they were growing too heavy. As my vision darkened, an image of Vessel filtered through my mind.

I could only hope that my idea had worked.