anxiety.

thirty-nine.

"you taught me the courage of stars before you left. how light carries on endlessly, even after death." 

scarlett.

"no one can really save you now."

"i- i don't understand how you're out of jail." i gasped as i stood pressed up against the wall. my head frantically turned right and left, searching for a clever way to escape this situation. he never held good intentions, this time wouldn't be any different. to my luck, no shoppers were passing by at either end of the alleyway nor would i possess enough strength to fight my way out from andrew's stance. i was completely and utterly trapped by him, again. 

he threw his head back and let out a malicious laugh that sent chills down my spine, "you really thought that small cell could hold me?"

i gulped. my heart pounded so fast i thought it was about to fall right out of my chest. instinctively, my hand reached for my phone in my back pocket to text mason for help. andrew's evil grin faded into an angry frown at the action. his arm shot up to steal it from my hand, but i was too quick, and pulled my arm back before he could catch it. this only enraged him further as we began to wrestle for the possession of my phone. exasperated 'no!'s and "stop!'s left my mouth while i struggled to keep him off. he finally obtained it, immediately smashing the device on the concrete. small shards of glass went flying everywhere and he stepped on it once more to make sure it was incapable of working. 

"why do you always have to be so goddamn difficult?" he bellowed, causing me to flinch. he proceeded to pick up most of the remains and dropped them into the dumpster bin. "you just made it harder for yourself." 

his ragged nails dug into the delicate skin on my forearm as he dragged me by the wrist down the end of the alley. "i'm sorry! please forgive me andrew. ow! you're hurting me!" i cried out, working on loosening the death grip he held on me. it was no use, his fingers didn't even budge. andrew continued to pull me like a rag doll until we reached a door on the back side of the shoppes. it opened to a dimly-lit flight of stairs that reeked of mold and dirty water. 

after being forced down two flights, we were in another dark room that i assumed had to be located in the basement of the establishment. a lone wooden chair awaited me in the center of the room that andrew bonded me to with rope. i managed to glance down at my wrist in the brief second that he let go to push me into the seat, seeing bright red indentations from his nails. one or two of the marks had broke skin and were starting to bleed. i also saw that the heart-shaped ring i usually wore was missing from its place on my left finger. it must've slid off while we had been fighting for my phone and i hadn't noticed.

a brutal force came down across my face, forcing it to turn to the left and bringing tears to my eyes. he grabbed my chin roughly as i quivered suddenly with intense fear, "i'll make you pay for choosing mason over me. i deserved you, not him. now you'll experience how it feels to be locked up like an animal you stupid bitch."

he turned around on his heels and left through the door we came through, leaving me all alone. i though the first step in my escape plan was to undo myself from the rope, but after almost fifteen minutes of twisting and turning, my wrists felt raw and were still shackled. tears were now fully streaming off my face, half from the pain on the bottom of my arms and the other half from my frustration. there had to be a way out of here. i took a few moments to breathe, calming myself down from the anxiety attack i was definitely having. 

i looked around the room for something that could help me. a small clock positioned in the upper side of the wall had numbers just big enough for me to see that it had been about forty five minutes since i remember texting mason. by now, he had to know something was up and come looking for me. i can't imagine what he must be thinking or doing right now. i wanted to let him know i was okay, for now at least, so badly. my ears were still ringing from the andrew's smack, giving my head a pounding pain. this made it so hard to focus on getting out of here yet i kept myself conscious.