A Promise

The basement

Cassie's POV

My eyes fluttered open slowly, trying desperately to adjust to the darkness. The tiniest sliver of light filtered in under the single door to the blank room. No windows, no furniture, just me. Sat on the freezing floor in the corner. Ice cold cement cradling me as I slowly stirred. The stained walls swam around me as my eyes refused to focus, must and something coppery shoving its way into my nose. My shoes and socks were gone. My toes stinging with pins and needles as they went numb.

It all came back to me in an instant. Travis. The man. The chase. My fall. His promise. Where had he taken me? The ragged wall grabbed at my hair as I wrenched my head around, fighting against the bouts of vertigo, but only managing to slam the side of my face into the wall in the process. I was seeing double. I couldn't feel my hands. My jaw pulled on its own accord, trying to open, but not quite able to say anything. My stomach churned, doing flips as I fought against the drug induced nausea.

Echoes of a distant conversation bounced off the cold walls. Muffled by the suffocating darkness. I could just barely make out the familiar pleading, Travis must be nearby, I realized. My whole body shook, trembling from the fear and the cold of my reality. I had to be dreaming, these kinds of things don't actually happen in real life, it must be a nightmare. Yeah, just a nightmare. A particularly shrill scream tore me from my thoughts. Even my nightmares weren't this terrifying. My heart raced in my chest. The sounds of a nearby struggle slinking under the door, and then it went quiet. Deadly quiet. Travis' ragged shouts cut off mid scream.

Somehow the silence was worse. The dreadful background noise of my nightmare suddenly gone. Static filled my ears, my eyes fixed on the door as slow footsteps appeared in the darkness. The haunting steps growing louder with each booming hit of hard soles on concrete. He was getting closer. Fresh panic flowed through me, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. I forced my limbs to move, each joint stiffer than the freezing concrete under me. Pain stinging through the numbness as I tried to move. Shoving my hands under me, the grimy floor tore at the fresh scabs on my palms. Slowly pushing myself up against the wall, his footsteps continue to creep closer, close enough now that I could hear the rough brushing of his pants as he walked.

Pain radiated through my injured leg as I forced myself to stand, using the wall behind me to prop myself up. I could feel my muscles trying to move, asking my knee to bend with no response. Just the echoing waves of aching soreness pouring out from my knee. Pins and needles bit into my bare feet, my freezing toes numb against the grimy floor. Gritting my teeth against each throb, I tried desperately to pull my gimp leg under me. If I could walk, hell if I could hobble... If I could get one good kick in I might be able to fight, to get away. The light sliding in from under the door disappeared behind the silhouette of 2 boots. The sound of a key sliding into the door lock breaking my painful concentration, drawing my shivering gaze to the other side of the room.

The door swung open with a quiet creak. Light sweeping through blank room blocked only by the black shadow of a man standing in the door way. Frozen in place against the wall, we stared at each other. A second of silent contemplation meeting terror halfway through our gaze. He hummed out a noise of amusement.

"Good morning, sunshine!" I could hear the smile in his voice as he slowly made his way into the room, loving every moment of the fear in my face as he stalked towards me. With each step I dragged myself away from him, digging my fingernails into the grimy cement to pull myself along the wall until I hit the corner. Trapped. Details began to appear as he inched closer. His heavy cargo pants and dusty t-shirt splattered with something dark and wet. Blood. That same coppery stench mixing with the smell of smoke. A handgun sat on his hip, the holster clipped onto his belt.

"Stay back!" I finally managed to stammer out as he stared at me. The light behind him cutting out his towering silhouette. He hummed out a sound of amusement, taking yet another step towards me until he was at arms length. His icy gray gaze flicked between my face and my leg. Watching closely as I refused to put any weight on it, even as I tried to cram myself further into the corner.

"How's that leg doing?" Friendliness hemmed his voice, "That's gotta hurt...you know I can fix that for you." He pulled his gloves off as he paused in front of me, only a few steps away, cementing my place trapped in the corner. Tears pricked at my eyes, the panic spurring in me.

"Stay away from me!" I blurted it out, blinking the blurriness away from my vision. Swallowing hard, I could feel the desperation in my throat. The urge to cry forcing its way to the surface.

"Hey, it's okay, just relax. I'm not gonna hurt you." He took a tiny step forward, watching me carefully as he showed his hands in surrender. The concern in his voice sounded so real, it made my head spin. "I'll tell you what... how about we get that knee fixed, and you and I'll will go somewhere a little more comfortable."

"No, no, no-" Hot tears began to fall down my cheeks as I slouched into the corner, panicky sobs tearing through me. Nightmarish scenarios ran through my head, each more painful and horrifying than the last. The twisted plans he might have waiting for me as soon as he got his hands on me. The darkness of his silhouette closed in around me as he followed me to the floor, crouching over me. Barely blinking as I pleaded with him. A yelp interrupted my sobs as the muscles around my twisted knee twitched sending cramps through my whole leg. Positioning himself carefully, he shushed me, speaking softly as he cradled my calf in one hand and placed the other on the outside of my knee. His touch sent fresh white hot pangs all the way up to my hip, each gentle push doubling the pain.

My hand instinctively flew to his arm, making him pause for just a moment. His eyes glancing over to me as I sucked in a breath between whimpers.

"Deep breath, Cassie." The worst pain I've ever felt tore through me. Miserable, punishing, exhausting pain that forced a shrieking sob from deep in my chest. My entire body tensed, each muscled tightening until I ran out of air and my vision went fuzzy. And then it was over.

"That's it." his voice found its way into my ears, pushing past the ringing as I came back to reality. "There you go... perfect." Slowly his kneeling form appeared in front of me, staring at my shaking figure in the darkness. "See? That wasn't so bad." He smiled as he watched my eyes try to focus, " Now, let's get you out of here."