Hearts are never Broken {Pricefield} #wattys2016

Chiaroscuro

When I finally come to, the whole world feels sideways. The room I'm in is pitch black. I can hardly see anything, but I do see a glint of light reflecting off of a monster's glasses. I struggle to move, but my hands and feet are bound together. Somehow I manage to get on my knees yet my head still feels like it's planted to the hard concrete. I hear footsteps approach, and that can only be one man.

Jefferson flips a switch. Blinding light causes me to squint and groan. My head is pounding like a jackhammer.

"You're finally awake. Don't worry, after this you won't even remember that you were ever here, or that you saw my face."

He puts down a small jar with a needle and squats down in front of me. He grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. I contain myself from screaming in his now heavily damaged face. I have to admit that seeing the several cuts in his face Rachel caused somewhat satisfies me.

"You are definitely going first. Just look at those eyes, still so full of hope and light. It's time to break that and I'm going to enjoy every second of seeing you falling into darkness. Light, and dark. There's something beautiful about the contrast between them. People, though, they always just seem to be a boring shade of gray. Except for you Max, you have something special. A gift. Too bad you wasted it on her."

He releases my face and takes some kind of binder from a nearby table. The feeling of his fingers wrapped around my cheeks doesn't leave and I start feeling more and more disgusted the longer I think about his words. He sets down a folder full of pictures of various girls, two girls of which I recognize from my photography class. Their strange behavior suddenly starts making sense. The way they stared dead into space, as if they were still on drugs. They didn't seem to be living, more like just existing.

"But to a camera's lens, there's a certain type of person that emanates light. I want to capture that luminescence as it meets darkness. Is that too much to ask? I thought Rachel would be the perfect model, but when I saw you risking your life for something so useless, it wasn't the flashlights shining bright that night, it was you."

My eyes widen in shock. I try to crawl backwards but Jefferson takes my foot and drags me back to the position I had been lying unconscious for hours.

"All I wanted was to turn her into a work of art, to capture her innocence," he says, then pauses strangely, "the star she always wanted to be, until I realized she wasn't that innocent."

I finally get the chance to speak and I take it.
"You are sick. Don't think a bunch of drugs will make me forget your face."

He scoffs and stares at me.
"You have no idea how lucky you are, Max. Being chosen by me is an honor, you just don't see it yet."

You sick son of a bitch. Oh, if only I weren't tied up.

"And this is how you repay me," he nods to his bleeding shoulder.

"I should've let Chloe shoot you."

"Exactly! But you didn't. Why? Because you are a good person Max, but being good doesn't get you anywhere besides in the hands of bad people, like Chloe."

I have to make him pay for the things he's done, as soon as I figure out a way to get free. He's going to rot in jail or die, I'll make sure of it. If I get my hands on a gun, I won't hesitate to kill him.

"You're a joke, Maxine Caulfield. Your life never amounted to anything. And now... It never will." He sighs deeply and cleans his glasses between his shirt and fingers. " What a shame, you had talent but I have to admit that I'm going to enjoy breaking you."

"It's Max," I growl, struggling to break free from my binds, but to no avail. He tilts his head, a brow raised. As he leans in, I can feel his disgusting hot breath on my lips. If he was a little closer, I could bite him, or try head-butting. But the bastard is just out of reach.