Colourless Skies

11. Trapped

A soft and almost sweet voice awakened Leah from her exhausted state of sleep. Then a voice bloomed and thankfully, she was able to catch it.

"Dear, are you okay?" That was when she finally opened her eyes to see Elizabeth staring at her, an expression of worry evident on her face. As she rubbed her eyes, she asked, "What happened?"

"You should be telling me that; I was sleeping but then I heard yells and cries from your room, so I came running and here you were, sweating buckets and turning over repeatedly."

Then she remembered she wasn't in the damned basement, where her nightmares could not be heard, she was here, with someone who listened, and responded.

"Are you okay, darling?", the woman asked again. Leah nodded," Yes, I am fine, just had a bad dream, sorry for waking you up."

Elizabeth laughed light-heartedly and waved her apology off. "It's fine, I usually wake up at dawn."

"Now that you have waken up, would you like some pancakes?" Leah's heart leaped, at hearing the name of her favourite food, she forgot everything else and nodded quickly. The old woman gave her a signature smile and walked to the kitchen.

After a hearty breakfast of steaming hot pancakes, dripping in golden syrup, Elizabeth pushed forward the question she had been dreading. "You want to go back now? Want me to take you home?"

Leah's heart shouted for the old soul to understand, to not take her back to that hellhole. But there was no way she could know, no way at all.

As she reluctantly nodded, and signed her own death's contract, Elizabeth smiled down at her and grabbed her car keys. Her 'destiny' awaited.

By now, she was not even thinking about the girl who died due to the crash, or the bracelet, or even the initials. This time, her mind was making up all sorts of scenarios that could emanate once she got home.

At her doorstep, Elizabeth commented, "Oh my, you have a very pretty house young lady." Then she quietened down, as if biting her tongue and stopping at the last moment from saying something forbidden.

After the awkward silence, where they waited for someone to open the door, was broken, an expression of utter shock passed her father's face. When his eyes landed on the elder, it immediately changed and now fake sorrow was written all over his face.

"Oh my baby, where were you Leah? We looked absolutely everywhere for you! Where did you go?" His fake words were addressed with surprise by Leah, and by the time she gained her composure, her father had bent down and had done the unthinkable.

He had embraced Leah.

In the woman's eyes, this purely looked like a moment of an emotional reunion. On the other hand, Leah was having difficulty in breathing as her father grasped her too hard for it to be called a hug. Only when her breathing hitched did he let her go.

He got up and politely smiled at Elizabeth, " How will I ever repay you for your kindness? Thank you so much. Please, there must be something I can do for you."

She chuckled with a joking tone, "It was my pleasure, and maybe having tea in this beautiful manor of yours might do the trick."
" Come on in then please."

But Elizabeth rejected the offer, "I am sorry, but not today, I have to pick up my son at the train station. Maybe some day later."

With the exchange of goodwill wishes and her father acting abnormally polite and charming, she bid her goodbye and left, left Leah at the hands of her parents.

As soon as the front door closed behind them, her hair was in her father's grasp, who dragged her to the kitchen, where Leah's mother was busy making breakfast.

"Who was it-..", at Leah's sight, her jaw dropped and she paused for a moment.
" How?" , her mother mouthed, looking back at her husband.

While Leah whined in his hands, James explained, "Some old woman must've taken pity on her and brought her back. No wonder no one wants to keep her." His voice laced with disgust, as he looked with seething eyes at Leah.

Her mother, who now looked beyond furious, walked towards Leah and slapped her hard on her right cheek, then spat at her, "Can't you leave us alone? You should have died before doing something as vile as returning back after being kicked out."

As her words hit home, her father intervened, "Helen stop, not in the daylight. I will take care of her. Just bring me a glass of water, down in the basement."

The basement.

She started to cry out in pain as she stumbled on the basement stairs, his father dragging her harshly down them. She's thrown onto the cold hard floor, which had her wincing in pain. Her father walked to the corner, returning a moment later, with rope.

"This is what you get...", he hissed as he harshly took hold of her wrists and tied them up, "for disobeying and doing what you shouldn't." She cried out as her ankles were also bound tightly now.

"Tomorrow is School, so you better behave, and even though today is Sunday, I am not letting you go anywhere. It's time you learn what it is like to be caged in."

As he finished ruining her hopes of any escape, her mother walked in with a glass of water. Her father's face twisted into a smirk as he questioned Leah, "Do you want to drink?"

Cutting the throat of her own dignity, she nodded before he could change his decision.

He placed the glass of water in front of her, out of her reach.
"Good luck."
He smirked again and left, locking the door behind.

With tears streaming out of her eyes, she questioned life once again. 'What in the world is happening?'

As her cries turned to sobs, she thought once again, ' I need help.'

https://youtu.be/3rkcdYfx5O0
We are getting there.👌🏻