Walking With The Outcast

Chapter 28 - Lucilia

To say that kidnapping as an act is a bad thing is true. And it is! But when you're kidnapper only shows up to feed you and allow you bathroom privileges, it makes kidnapping seem less...harmful, I guess is the best way to put it.

Even my 'room' isn't so bad. It's not too cramped, and there's a nice air mattress in here. The white walls could use some more decorations, though, and the heating system has seen better days. I get the impression that I'm in a warehouse, which worries me that the police might not find me because, as far as I knew, we didn't have many warehouses near town. The ones we do have we're vacated years ago because of lack of use.

I sigh, rolling over on the bed. When I first woke up, I had been handcuffed to a chair in a different room, restrained so tightly I could barely shuffle a couple inches in each direction. I had yelled and yelled, trying to get someone to hear me, and at the same time, I was crying through my panic. Someone did hear me, after a while. Though the fact that it was my kidnapper made the whole thing pointless. He had entered the room the I was in, staring at me for a couple minutes while I glared at him.

"Well, my dear, I think it's safe to say you have quite the set of lungs," Nikoli spoke with a grin.

I said nothing, opting for the silent treatment.

He had come closer to me, and I leaned back as far as my restraints would permit. Bending down so he was face-to-face with me, he reached into his shirt, tugging on a chain that revealed a set of keys. "If you promise not to try and run away, I'll let you stay in the good girl room," he said with a teasing tone and a mocking grin.

I looked away, unable to stand the sight of him.

"So is that a 'no'?"

A rough finger trailed down my cheek, and I tried to bite it, but he retracted it too quickly. He tutted. "That's not very nice, dear."

I finally spoke. "What do you want, Nikoli?" A traitorous tear slid down my cheek. "What have I ever done to you?"

An emotion akin to pity splayed across Nikoli's countenance, but I knew it was just an act. His gentlemanly facade hides a personality that is malignant and aberrant.

"It's not what you've done, my dear. It's who you are that matters to me."

I sent him a confused look through my watery eyes.

Nikoli leaned closer. "You see," he whispers, "you're actually quite innocent in this situation. However, I had to involve you due to the relation you have with a certain person."

"Who?" I questioned, running through my list of contacts.

He hummed but didn't answer. "Now, do you want me to let you out of those handcuffs?"

I immediately nodded. It'll be easier to escape if I'm not restrained to a chair, I had thought.

I had thought wrong it seemed because as soon as I was put in this room, I realized that there is no handle on the door for me to grab and it opens inwards, so there is no hope of opening it. Additionally, there is only one window, which is more like a skylight, so escaping that way is impossible.

Once that realization had set in, I sank onto the air mattress and watched through the skylight the day waste away. All I had done was think about how much I missed Ace and his comforting embrace.

I look up at the dark sky, stars twinkling in and out. I wonder if my friends and parents even know I'm gone. Maybe my parents think I ran away. I shake my head. No. Ethan knew where I was last night, so he'll be able to set the record straight.

Then Ace pops into my thoughts, and despite my situation, I hope that our plan had been put into action. I desperately wish that he doesn't still hate me. It's bad enough being kidnapped, but not knowing if the man you love cares makes it infinitely worse.

A voice floats through the air, crawling its way through the locked door. I walk over to it, pressing my ear against the cold surface, listening for any clue about what's happening.

Nikoli speaks somewhere close to the door, "You don't sound so good, Beast. Perhaps it's because your Belle is missing?" I quickly surmise that I must be Belle, which leads me to the conclusion that Ace must be Beast, but why the odd nicknames?

No more words float through the door, so I pull back right before I hear jingling on the other side. The lock is being taken off. I stumble away, wearily watching Nikoli as he saunters in, his arrogance permeating the atmosphere. Smiling cockily, he holds a phone to his ear, and looking my way, he addresses me, "Why don't you come say hello to someone for me, my dear?" He slides closer to me, and I meet him halfway, wanting to speak to Ace.

"A-Ace?" My voice cracks.

"Luce!" He yells. "Are you okay?"

I nod, tears starting to stream down my face, and the stress of the day finally takes its toll. "I-I wanna go home, Ace."

"I'm gonna kill him," Ace mutters darkly, then rapidly says, "Luce, where are you?"

I blurt out, "I'm in a–" My words are cut short, though, when I'm slammed into the wall, the heavy weight of Nikoli pressing down on me. He slams a hand over my mouth, and I yelp from the pain in my back and face.

"None of that," he says to me with a rabid look in his eye.

"Lucilia?" Ace shouts, panic and fury sounding in his deep voice, which seems to get deeper with his anger. "What happened?"

Nikoli pulls the phone away from me. "Nothing," he says, "Lucilia was just being a naughty little girl, weren't you, dear?" I give him my most hate-filled look, but he only laughs.

"Sometime in my life," Ace starts, "I'm going to regret a lot of the mistakes I've made, especially the ones I made a week ago." I instantly realize what he is referencing when he says those words in a soft tone, and it makes my heart warm and my stomach flutter. "But I will never regret what I am going to do when I find you," he promises darkly.

Nikoli's expression stutters for a second, showing surprise, before it tightens harshly. His grip on my mouth tightens painfully, and I know my jaw is going to be sore. I whimper.

"And for every mark you put on my girl, I take the same amount of your fingers," Ace continues. I almost flinch, even though I know that his words aren't aimed at me.

Nikoli looks slightly fearful at the serious words, but then his arrogance reappears. "I'll see you soon, Ace." He hangs up the phone, freezes, and then screams furiously, throwing the phone at the wall. It shatters in a spray of glass and plastic. I'm scared of his anger, but at least now he is no longer pinning me to the wall. Chest still heaving, he then glances at me, a smile crawling onto his abhorrent face.

"This is so much fun," he voices with a forced happy tone, but the twitch in his mouth says otherwise. That phone call did not go the way he wanted. "But if you excuse me, I have to get the place ready for when our new guest arrives." He storms out of the room, slamming and locking the door loudly.

I shake terribly, my body reeling with fear. Yet there is still that tiny flutter in my stomach, telling me that Ace is coming for me. And a determined, infuriated Ace is not something you want to be on the receiving end of. Nikoli will come to realize that soon.

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So as an apology for making you guys wait so long for the last chapter, I decided to get this one written today. It's shorter than usual, but it needed to be.

Feel free to vote and comment!