I Walk the Line ♤ (gxg)

chapter 12: breakfast

Willow never tried to help the girl.

She only watched her as she picked herself up from the floor, stood outside the bathroom door as she took way too long of a shower, and handcuffed her to the bed and also laid down, making sure she was as far on the opposite side as possible. She already harbored guilt for snapping so hard at the girl; she didn't want to make her also fear that she was a pervert.

August didn't move all night. She couldn't, really, with her hand handcuffed to the bed frame. "This is just for tonight, after the stunt you pulled. Hopefully, I won't have to do this every night," Willow had quietly told her as she had clicked the handcuffs closed. "But we will have to share the bed every night just as precaution. I'm a light sleeper, so don't try anything."

August never spoke a word to her the rest of the night. She just laid there, eyes closed as she listened to the sound of Willow take a shower, then walk in and lay down on the bed next to her. Willow shifted around the bed for a while, but eventually August was so exhausted and so drained that sleep overtook her, even though the woman next to her was kept up all night, haunted by the image of the younger girl laying crumpled on the floor only an hour before.

"If you don't wake up, my men will eat whatever is left of breakfast downstairs," a silvery voice spoke to her that next morning, waking her up from her slumber.

A throbbing pain in her head caused her to groan slightly, shifting in her bed only to feel her right hand pull against metal. Fluttering her swollen eyes open, she looked up and remembered that her hand was handcuffed to the post. Her eyes shifted back to the woman who stood over her, giving her an emotionless stare that she couldn't read.

"My head hurts," was all August could wobbly speak, closing her eyes again and rubbing her legs together, feeling some sort of comfort come from the soft blankets shifting between her legs.

First hearing a huff of annoyance, she heard the woman's footsteps walk away, and moments later she heard them in front of her again. "Here."

The woman held out two white pills in her open hand, her eyes watching as the girl took the pills, not caring if the woman could have possibly been drugging or poisoning her. Her head must hurt that bad, Willow pondered.

She then handed her a glass of water to wash down the pills, which the girl took with a shaky hand, water spilling from the corners of her mouth and spotting the white pillow sheets around her as she chugged the entire glass down.

Willow stared at the rope burns on the girl's shoulders that had healed slightly. She was wearing the same black tank top and grey sweatpants she wore when she had been taken from her dorm bed.

"I brought your suitcase and some of your clothes," Willow airily spoke, walking around to the other side of the bed where their bags sat on the floor, picking up the girl's dark red suitcase covered in various stickers. "I made you stay in those clothes after your shower last night as a punishment for trying to run away."

As the woman tossed her suitcase onto the bed, August stared at the only thing she had familiarity with. Throwing the empty glass down on the pillow beside her, she reached as far as she could with her free hand to grab the corner of the suitcase and pull it near her, feeling the rough but familiar texture on her fingertips. "That was my punishment?" she asked, her eyes narrowing to a glare towards the woman.

"Among others," Willow coolly spoke, reaching into her pocket and walking towards August's cuffed hand. "I am giving you trust that you don't deserve," she sternly spoke, her eyes not leaving August's as she unlocked the cuff, freeing the girl's aching wrist.

Holding her now free but red wrist close to her chest, August took a deep breath. There were no windows in the room, so she couldn't see what time it was, but she assumed it was morning since the woman had mentioned breakfast.