Stay (Disasters In Love: Book 1.5) (SLOW UPDATES)

Chapter 21

Kat
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Date Unknown

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I think I doze in and out of consciousness for a while, but honestly it's hard to even tell if my eyes are open or closed. I feel like I've been here for days, but it has probably only been a few hours.

I tried to lay down earlier, but the concrete is unforgiving and freezing. How has Samantha survived this long? I wonder how long she's been here. No wonder she's cranky. This is a miserable existence.  

What did she do to deserve this? You know, for that matter, what did I do to deserve this? Is it all for not staying away from Ben? But why? This makes no sense. 

I close my eyes, praying to return into the abyss, but of course my brain is racing too fast now to get any more rest.

"Hey?" I continue whispering, even though I doubt it makes any difference.

She groans, but I figure what's the worst she can do to me? If her chains are as short as mine, she can't come near me.

"Are you awake?" I know perfectly well she is, but I give her the chance to ignore me. I feel like she's earned that much by living in these conditions.

"Ugh. What?" I'm honestly surprised she answered, but maybe she's just starved for human interaction at this point.

"What's the last thing you remember doing? You know, before you woke up here." I feel like this is important. Maybe if we know why we are here, we can figure out how to get out of here.

"I went to check on Ben's mom. I know the letter said not to, but when I heard the news, I couldn't help it. She's like a second mother to me, well a first mother, actually."

"What's wrong with his mother?" My heart drops.

"What, you don't know?" The smugness in her voice almost makes me regret ever feeling sorry for her.

Crap. I really don't know. Why wouldn't Ben tell me? How does Samantha know and I don't? What could it be?

"I'm going to assume your silence means no." She laughs, but it's empty and hollow, like even she's not really feeling it. "Wow, I can't believe he didn't tell his precious Kat. Wonder what else he might be keeping from you."

"Oh, probably lots of things, considering we broke up." I immediately regret saying it. I know she'll gloat even more now.

"You what?" Samantha screeches.

Suddenly, a blinding light turns on. Before my eyes can adjust to see anything around me, it's gone and I'm plunged back into darkness.

"Well, guess that was a lie, huh?" She sounds amused, but also in pain.

"What? No, it isn't. We really did break up." There's a faint hissing sound in response.

"Here we go again." I barely hear her as another burst of light blinds me. What the heck is going on?

Samantha groans. "Seriously, just shut up. Everytime you lie, we get blinded, so either stop lying or completely stop talking."

I don't understand. "But I-"

"Stop!" She hisses at me. "Or I will chew my way out of these chains just to choke you to death."

"Okay, fine." I raise my hands in surrender, even though she can't see me. Some habits are hard to break. "You talk then. Tell me what's wrong with Ben's mom."

"Nothing is wrong with her." I can hear the smirk in her voice. She is clearly enjoying knowing something that I don't.

"You said you went to check on her." I can't stand her mind games. But the light didn't flash either time, so how can both of her statements be true? Unless the light person just doesn't know either? Who is this light person and why are they doing this?

"I did. It's his dad that's not doing well. He has cancer. Apparently it's pretty bad. They only gave him a few months to live." To her credit, she does genuinely sound sad.

"What? His dad is dying?" I can't believe it, but there was no blinding light, could it really be true?

She sighs. "I guess his dad is going to want him to take over the business a little sooner than planned."

Oh. I hadn't thought of that.

Poor Ben.

"Anymore questions? Or can I rest in peace now?" I can't help but giggle at her poor choice of words, given our circumstances.

"Yeah. RIP, Sam." I know I shouldn't be laughing, but I can't help it.

Maybe I'm in denial.

"Oh, shut up." She tries to sound stern, but I hear a slight laugh in her voice. I think a part of her is relieved to have someone else here, even if it is me. It had to be pretty lonely for her. 

"Hey, Sam?" I know she wants to be left alone, but I need to know more. We need to figure out what is going on here and how to stop it. Is this some kind of game? Or revenge plot? None of it makes any sense. 

"Oh my God. Do you ever shut up?" She sighs. "What now?"

Something she said earlier has been niggling at the back of my mind. "Did you say you got a letter? What kind of letter?"

"Uh, yeah." I can hear the annoyance from here. "It just said 'Stay away from Joey and his family'. Why?"

"Because I got the same thing." I try to keep the annoyance from my tone, but I'm a little confused why she even needs a note to keep her away from him. Has she secretly been seeing him? Well, I guess it wouldn't be a secret since we did break up. I'm so confused. 

Who would want us to stay away from Ben? Who would care enough to kidnap us?

"Oh great, I'm gonna die because of Ben when I'm not even dating him! What the hell?" She gives up on whispering and switches to yelling and clanging her chains loudly against something. Who knows what.

The obnoxious light switches on again and I'm momentarily blinded again. Which part of what she said was the lie? She's not dating Ben. I know she's not. Don't I? So what is she lying about? Wait, is she not going to die because of Ben? Isn't that a good thing? Maybe there is some way out of this. 

I hear sniffles again, so I decide to just leave her alone. There's nothing more to learn right now and honestly after all the darkness and then the blinding light, my head throbbing. 

I'm tired of straining my eyes to make out nothing, so I close them, praying for some rest, despite the pounding in my head. My mind continues running through all the scenarios without my permission and it's hard to say what is or isn't true. But there's one thing I know with absolute certainty...

Things are going to get a lot worse.