Dream Catch Me (Student/Teacher)

Dream Catch Me - Chapter Forty Six

I earned myself another slap to my cheek. Apparently I was being a 'smart-arse' when I didn't say a thing to him. After he slapped me hard enough for me to see stars, he left in a huff and I heard his footsteps stomp up the rickety staircase and out the front door with a loud slam. I didn't sink back to the ground like I would've done before. Instead, I stood up and stretched out my muscles, unknotting the cricks from last night. I felt my way through the darkness again, my arm out in front of me to feel anything in my way.

I used my memory from the sunlight streaming in the basement to make my way over to where I knew a long and squat window was. My hand made contact with the cool and slightly damp surface of the wall and I moved it left, then right trying to find the window. My hand felt the rough contrast of the stone as a window was beneath my hand. I clutched desperately at the window and a papery surface was taped to the glass of the window. I knocked on it lightly, avoiding a loud sound to stay under the radar. It made a thunk noise like glass and I knew I had hit the jackpot.

My fingers scratched the paper near the frame of the window looking for an edge but I came up empty. I prayed for light, for even a small slot of light to see by. I started to become hysteric, knowing I was close to something that could potentially help my escape. I tried again and again, until my fingernail caught on a small corner of tape. Lewis had taped the paper down so well, to stop me from looking out, or seeing anything at all.

I used the very ends of my fingers to pull the piece of tape away from the window, hoping it would stay intact if I had to put it back in a hurry. The black paper started to come away and I was almost blinded by the bright sun that now flooded through the dirty window and into the basement. I could see my hands in front of me and I could vaguely see the whole room.

I felt triumphant. I peeled the paper back half way from the window, knowing I would have to put it back before Lewis came back home. However, now I knew that the paper on the windows was only taped on and could easily be peeled off, it tried desperately to come up with some sort of plan to help my escape. I knocked lightly on the window to see if the glass was thick. Luckily it wobbled unstably under my knuckles.

A smashed window? There was no way I would've been able to get out of the small window, let alone get close enough up to it to get a leg through. I could see through the layer of grime on the outside of the window that it was right against the ground, and looked out onto a flower bed with blooming roses.

I could get a limited view of the street, a small gap when I angled myself putting my face right up to the right of the window pane. I saw relatively nice looking houses across the street, but I had no idea where in town I was. A person walked past with a hairy dog on a leash. I didn't know what came over me, but I embraced it as I began to scream and bang loudly on the window. I contemplated breaking it, but before I could get enough force, the person had passed and taken their dog with them.

I sighed in defeat, knowing there must be another way to escape. I suddenly heard a door slam above me, and I scrambled to seal the blackout paper back onto the windows. I thanked my lucky stars for my nimble fingers which meant I could use the tape again to seal the window. I moved away from the window to look less suspicious, and back into the same spot where he had left me.

I heard the lock turn in the door, and the basement was once again filled with light. Lewis stomped down the stairs carrying a grocery bag and a carton of juice that had a squashed corner, as if it had been dropped. Lewis was grinning from ear to ear and approached me. "Breakfast!" He cheered and placed the plastic bag on the mattress next to my feet. I stared at it, and looked back up to Lewis. "What do you expect me to do? Feed it to you? Jane, I know you want me to but I don't have time for this." I scowled but again didn't say a word, nor move from where I stood. I took one small glance up to the door that was still open at the top of the stairs.

"Oh Petal. Don't worry, you can go up soon for a bathroom break. I'm not keeping you like a pet forever! What are we gonna do when we get married?" He pondered over the thought while I was struck with fear. How long did he expect me to stay down here? And marriage? I was only 18! He chuckled upon seeing my expression, "Petal, don't worry. As long as you do what I say then there shouldn't be a problem."

I gulped in fear, almost swallowing my own tongue. Lewis positioned himself between the stairs and myself while he bent down to unpack the bag. He pulled out a croissant and handed one to me from one of his hands. I refused to take it at first, but after a persuasive glare I reached out to grab it with my good arm. Before I could retract my arm away from his grasp, his hand snapped around my own wrist and turned my palm to face him.

"What do we have here?" He wondered aloud and stared down at my hand. My eyes followed his gaze and I saw the tips of my fingers were a dirty black that had come off the paper from the window. Lewis' expression hardened and he yanked hard on my wrist towards him. He managed to pull me close so we were pressed chest to chest in the small, damp basement. Lewis' face was too close to mine and I could smell the scent of his toothpaste on his breath as he breathed down on me.

"Tried to escape did we?" Lewis interrogated me as he insisted to pull me closer. His hand around my good wrist was tight and I felt the bones protesting against his strong grasp. Again I didn't reply to him. "Talk to me! Dammit!" Lewis shouted at the top of his lungs and I felt a flick of spit attack my face. I cowered away and tried to pull my hand free. I was trying to fight him. My flight instinct overcame my fear at that moment and I kicked his shin and tried to move around him.

I didn't anticipate that he would still have hold of my wrist, so when I attempted to escape, he pulled my right back and threw me onto the bloodied mattress. "You bitch!" He yelled. "Don't you ever do that again! You hear me? I own you now!" A dark side seemed to overtake his whole face, and if I thought he was scary before, it was then amplified by a million.

His demeanour changed and an evil personality overtook his whole being. That glint in his eye was back to play and I barely had time to think about what was going to happen next before he had thrown me down on the bloody mattress and layed down on top of me. I struggled under his weight, but he had a good 30kgs more than I did. Lewis quickly used his weight as an advantage and pinned my arms above my head, and sat on my chest. I barely had enough space to breath as I was being crushed, but the panic of not enough oxygen took away from the pain that would've been in my wrist.

Lewis sirked down at me, "Oh how the table have turned my Petal." He used the nickname but in a darker light, as if he were mocking me. Tears were threatening to spill from my eyes as they pooled, but I dissallowed him to have the better of me. I struggled through my lack of air and pain to try gain some power over him. It wasn't like that time in the park where I could reach up and knee him between the legs.

In fact, he seemed to have anticipated this and used his legs to in down my own. "It's no use, you're not strong enough." Lewis teased. It was only round one and I had already been defeated. As a gang member he probably already knew all the tricks of how to trap a woman; I mean it's in their initiation into the gang! Suddenly Lewis leaned down and attacked my mouth with his. I instantly repelled and tried to move away.

He bit my lip. I yelped out in pain and he used that opportunity to stick his tongue inside my mouth and try to suck the already non-exsistent breath from my mouth. I was powereless against his strength and the upper hand he had over me. I felt hot tears leak from my eyes and fall down my cheekbones before they fell down my neck, leaving a wet trail. I whimpered against him, but it was misinterpreted and he insisted on kissing me with even more force. I was terrified, where was he thinking this was going to go? If he took his pants off with the intent to rob me of my dignity in the basement of his house, I wouldn't stop struggling until he either left or I was free.

Luckily for both of our sakes, he pulled away and smirked at me. "I could get used to this," he said seductively yet didn't get up off me. It was annoying that he said that. Those were the words that Joe had said when I was staying at his house. Admittedly, I wasn't supposed to hear them, but they had an opposite effect than coming from Lewis. Joe's words had comforted me and given me a shred of hope, where as Lewis shattered all of that hope as he talked about the future.

The tears didn't let up and they flowed more steadily. I couldn't take large breaths and let my sobs out because Lewis still sat on my chest, restricting my air. "Stop it." He warned, referring to the tears. I couldn't turn of the tap that was leaking and the tears came out in fatter drops that rolled down the back of my neck. "Stop!" He shouted louder this time, hoping to scare my tears away. Lewis still had my hands pinned next to my head, and he put more pressure on them as he got angrier.

The pain only became more unbearable and I struggled to stop the tears when the pain just caused more. "STOP it!" He shouted again, but this time followed this by releasing my wrists and reaching into his pocket. He produced a set of keys as my arms were still immobilised above my head. Lewis fumbled for only a second before he had a pocket knife attached to the keyring pressed to the base of my neck.

"Stop it." He hissed and pressed the blade into my skin. I tried with all my might to stop the hot tears from falling, but it was as if he had found the water mains and broken them, spurting water everywhere. I didn't make any noise and hoped that he couldn't see the tears still flowing. He saw them.

The blade was pressed harder into my skin and I felt as it pierced the base of my neck and my warm blood touched the surface of my cold skin. I started to scream with the little breath I could muster. He stared into my eyes as he pulled the knife towards him and down my chest. I felt as my skin was split and the blood pooled and trickled down. Lewis pulled the knife away from my skin once had had got to the neckline of my dress. He pulled it up in front of him and it glinted in the sunlight from the open door.

I saw my own blood glistening on the knife as it dribbled from the tip of the knife downwards and onto his hand. I continued to scream until he threatened me with a motion of his knife. My screams simmered down to whimpers as a line of searing pain was spreading from my neck to my chest. Lewis grinned, his black eyes glaring into mine. "Now you'll do as I say." he said.

My whimpers didn't let up and he gave up on trying to stop my tears. Lewis got up off me, letting air back into my lungs. I took deep breaths as deep as my wound would allow. He stared down at me thoughtfully for a moment, before he reached down for the plastic bag and hooked it onto his arm. "You don't deserve this," he muttered. I watched as he stomped up the stairs and locked the door behind him, leaving me once again in the darkness.

Except this time, I was left on the mattress with my own blood collecting with the past victim's as my sobs reverberated through the silent basement and settled where no one but I could hear.