Ocean Of Need

❤️ 62 🗡️ Unraveling

June 11th Continued...

We stumble inside and I automatically start walking towards the stairs and up to the room.

'No Lilah,' says Roxy. 'Through here.' She indicates a door to a room on the ground floor that I've always wondered about, but never been through.

My eyes flick back to the stairs, but with Asher and Noah pressed behind me and Roxy in front, I am caged. Forced with them as they press forward into the downstairs room.

It's sparse, not what I was imagining at all. Two desks with a lap top on each, four office chairs, a couple of single beds, and a small kitchen.

'This is your safe house,' I say. More to myself than anyone else. They immediately sit at the laptops, furiously typing and looking like something from an end-of-the-world movie. Streaked with black soot and hair all wild.

'What happens next?' I shout to get their attention. Asher said I'm the key to the kingdom. But what does that mean?

'We're waiting for Freya,' Asher throws over his shoulder. 'Take a nap. It's going to be a long night.' He turns to look at me and winces. I guess I must look as bad as the rest of them. 'Freya's bringing clothes for you. You can get cleaned up then.'

I make a circuit of the room. The only thing of any beauty is the window setting. Wooden slated blinds and William Morris curtains. Giving this room a completely different impression from outside the house.

'I always thought this was another art studio,' I mutter aloud.

'Art studio,' scoffs Roxy as her eyes flicker over her screen. 'More like a theatre.'

'What do you mean?'

She clicks a browser on her laptop. It shows a picture of the room. It's been shot at night, with just a small lamp on at my desk at the window. It's hard to make out what I'm supposed to be looking at. I lean closer to the screen, there's a movement. What is that? I peer closer. The window over my desk is open, the curtains are softly billowing in the breeze. It's not a picture.

'You were recording us?' My face heats thinking of all the things we've done in that room. 'What the fuck?'

Roxy looks back up from her laptop in annoyance. 'Oh, come on Lilah. Keep the fuck up. I already told you Mac was the hired help.'

The ground is moving slowly under my feet. 'Did he know you were recording us?'

'Mac was your jailor. The room started out as your prison. We all thought you were going to be difficult to detain. But once you were under Mac's spell it became clear that he didn't need to be with you all the time. While he was on other jobs we left a camera on you.'

She looks me up and down and chews her lip. I try to keep my face neutral but her words are decimating me.

She smirks and says, 'Jameson told us to be careful with you. He told us that you were highly attuned. That you could read a room better than anyone he'd ever known. But once Mac had cultivated an ache in you we didn't need to keep you locked up. The great Elizabeth McLaren who managed to keep her freedom for six years while the whole world was looking for her. And then you fall for a player like Mac. He created a prison with his words and you locked yourself in. It's pathetic really.'

I know she wants to shoot me down, but her words have missed their mark. My attention is on the screen and I can see that the empty room, is not empty anymore.