His, Eternally [18+]

Chapter Sixteen: Long Nights & Pepper Spray

Indie's Point of View:

          It had been weeks since I had heard from Thaddeus. I felt hurt, depressed even — back to the isolated stage I had been in for such a majority of my life. Every day I felt like I was going through the motions of life, feeling disassociated from everyone around me. I went to work, waiting tables with a plastered smile on my face, came home to study and do my online classes, and I would often fall asleep with a textbook open in my arms. I was so exhausted from the constant voices, and the sadness I was feeling made it hard to block the thoughts out. I missed him, and it made me feel so angry towards myself. I would never think in a million years I could feel anything for anyone, especially feeling such a way for someone who had hurt me time after time again. Hell, I barely knew him — which just  added to the overall frustration that clouded my mind. I was currently laying in bed, staring at my fan that spun in therapeutic motions above me. It was around three a.m., and I couldn't sleep. No matter how tired I was, I couldn't fall asleep. After having Thaddeus in the same room as me while I slept, it was hard to be alone. It felt like a small voice in my head was crying, needing his presence and voice around me at all times.

I huffed, sitting up from my bed and rubbing my blood-shot eyes. My feet dangled off of the bed, and I couldn't stop spacing out. I needed to get out of this house. I weakly pulled myself from the corner of my bed, feeling the floor creak underneath my feet as I pulled on running clothes. I knew it was dangerous, for me to leave my house at this time of night; but I ignored the fear. I felt emotionless, and lonely — I couldn't sit in bed all night wondering about him. I pulled my hair back in a tight pony tail, splashing my face with cold water before slipping out of my house into the quiet night. I started sprinting, hard and fast, feeling the breeze kiss my skin as I began to run harder to hush the cold air away that crept onto me. I blasted music, turning the volume up all the way as I ran until I was on a dirt road that looked empty from all life. It was cloudy out, and the grey clouds covered the blanket that was the night sky. The energy around me felt melancholy — as if the universe was feeling the pain that surrounded my mind as well.

I came to a halt, my breath uneven as I slid against an oak tree that looked to be over one hundred years old. I sat there, in silence with myself as I enjoyed the peace in the air. I traced the vines that ran up the trees, admiring their deep emerald color. No voices, no chatter, no nothing — just the sounds of nature that I had grown to love. My breath hitched in my throat when I heard a twig snap. I attempted to brush it off, holding my knees to my chest as my teeth chattered. A twig snapped again, this time louder. The hair on the back of my neck stood up in fear. "Hello?" I said, my voice weaker that I would've preferred. The wind gusted over my voice, making it sound even smaller. The sweat that cooled my face and back began to feel like icicles running down my body.

I grasped at the waistband of my leggings, feeling a small amount of relief as I felt the small canister of pepper spray I had luckily brought with. I heard more twigs snap, and footsteps approach me. I felt all the blood and warmth leave my face, and my legs began to feel like Jell-o.

"What are you doing out here, miss?" I heard a deep voice say, behind the trees. My back was faced to them, and it had suddenly felt like my legs had been paralyzed. I scrambled up from my spot, my hand still at my waist-band, ready to retrieve it at any moment. I turned around cautiously, only to come face-to-face with a group of tan men who all looked oddly alike. The one speaking was tall, and a had a slight beard. A wicked scar ran down his strong face, looking angry as ever. A woman stood behind him, clutching his arm as the others watched — there were at like ten of them there, their eyes all glued to me as my eyes widened in fear.

"I-uh, I was just on a run. I'm sorry, is this your property?" My voice was small and frail, cracking throughout the sentence as I felt my palms become sweaty with nervousness. "Do you know where you are?" He spat, a vein in his neck convulsing. Where I was? I looked around at the emptiness that surrounded the path, shaking my head. I had never seen this land before, I must've run at least five miles from my house. After all, where I was was still extremely new to me — I had no idea who owned property, and what the trespassing policies were.

"I had no idea this was your property, I'm so sorry. It'll never happen again." I stumbled across my words while speaking to him, his eyes glistening in anger. "What is your name, rogue?" He seethed, holding the woman behind his arm as she looked at me, like she was studying me. Rogue? I was at a loss for words as I tried to think of something to say. Damn, this town really was weird as fuck. He stepped closer to me, taking a whiff of the air — or was he smelling me?

"Um, I should get going, I'm sorry, sir." I said awkwardly, my face still feeling cold and washed out. "Wait." He said suddenly, lifting his hand. What could he possibly want from me? I obviously wasn't trying to do any harm, and it was solely an accident. I stood there, dumbfounded, waiting for him to continue on with his weird phrases.

"You are Alpha Thaddeus' one. We must bring you to him." Alpha? Thaddeus? His one? At that moment, I felt like I was going to go into cardiac arrest. This was most likely Thaddeus' sadistic cult, and it was probably all set up to capture me. They probably waited for me to leave my house, just so they could get the chance to bring me to him — for whatever odd fetish he had. However, as much as I tried to understand what they meant by "alpha" or "his one" or rogue, I continued to stay confused. It was as if they were speaking an entirely different language. Déjà vu lingered my mind of when I remembered Thaddeus' speaking another language to me as he carried me to my bed. I held myself back from shivering at the thought of it.

The mysterious man grabbed my wrist gently, making me instinctively grab my pepper spray out that was clad under my black leggings. My hand was trembling, but something in me snapped — thinking back to when Thaddeus grabbed my by my wrist and stress-fractured it. The world was seemingly going by in slow motion as I popped the plastic top off, spraying it into his glowing gold eyes. He yelled in pain, clutching his face as I saw his neck begin to turn red.

"You fucking bitch!" The woman that stood behind him screamed, running to the mans side. All of the words past that were incoherent to me, as I heard loud, ear-piercing growls fill the air; much like an engine revving. I dropped the canister, my legs wanted to collapse in on themselves as fight-or-flight mode kicked in.

So, I began running — not looking back at the mess of terror that I had just created.