Stockholm Syndrome ✔

Chapter 2 - Nutcase

When Harry regained consciousness, his first though was why he was in a bed. Wouldn't some cold, hard floor be more realistic? In movies they always wake up in some dark and cold room, alone and scared.

But Harry? Nope, he woke up in a soft, warm, king-sized bed, which was placed in a bright large room.

And he wasn't alone.

Harry had a massive headache, but he didn't care, contrarily. He sat bolt upright, his eyes wide and scary, whimpering when the pain shot through his head.

"Wow, wow", the guy standing next to the bed said. "If I were you, I would take it easy. Chloroform is not fatal, but it causes you a massive headache."

Harry glared at the guy with wide eyes and squirmed quickly further away, to the other side of the bed. He didn't want to be anywhere near that nutcase who was standing in front of him. The guy was short, tanned, young. What the hell was happening? Harry stared at the guy with wide eyes, unable to talk.

Harry remembered everything. How he was too tired to get up, how the guy had lifted him up... Everything. Though Harry was still tired and his legs sore, he ignored them because he had bigger problems to worry about. For example the fact that he had no idea where he was.

"Do you want water?" the guy asked, lifting up a bottle of water in his hand for Harry to see.

Harry wanted to say a lots of cliché things, like, "who the fuck are you", "what the fuck is happening", "let me go", "No, of course I don't want your fucking stupid water", and, the most popular repartee, "why are you doing this?" But, instead of saying any of the above mentioned, Harry rasped out, "Yes, please."

The fuck? Please? Please? PLEASE? Harry wanted to slap himself. Now is definitely not the right time to pursue good manners.

The guy threw the water bottle on the bed and took a few steps back, giving Harry some space. Glaring at the guy, Harry slowly took the water bottle with slightly trembling hands. He held it but did not open it.

"It's not poisoned", nutcase informed, sounding a bit amused. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead by now."

Harry glared at him. Well, what the hell, the guy had already kidnapped him. Harry opened the water bottle and took a gulp. He felt immediately better, but he still didn't trust that he could stand on his feet without falling, so he stayed on the bed and took another gulp. Cold water cleared up his mind and made him feel slightly better. But only slightly.

"You can call me Lou", the guy, who now had a name, stated suddenly.

Harry snorted, because the whole situation was surreal. "How about you tell me your full name and your personal identification number", he grumbled dryly. Weak try, he knew that, but he was kind of in a shock.

Lou chuckled. "You're funny, Harry."

Harry turned his eyes away from Lou, and kept his mouth shut. Slowly he examined the room. One weird looking window. Two closets. Nightstand. Two doors. Nothing on the walls. The room was decent. Boring but decent. Harry glared at the window again, and noticed trees behind it. Forest? At least Harry assumed it was a forest. It could be a optical illusion too.

Harry heard Lou's voice saying, "You can't open the window."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. He can't? Well, now when come to think of it, it was obvious. Maybe he could break it?

"You can't break it either."

Finally Harry turned his eyes on Lou, who was grinning. "No, I'm not reading your mind. I'm reading your body language." Lou shrugged. "I'm quite good at it."

Harry kept his eyes on Lou, now focusing on him. Okay, so Harry couldn't open or break the bedroom window. But Lou was small, smaller than him. Harry was not a violent person, but maybe--

"Don't even think about it. I may be small, but I have been practicing kickboxing since the age of five. I'm almost twenty-three" --he raised an eyebrow-- "You do the math."

Disappointment filled Harry. The odds were not on his side.

It dawned on him why kidnapped rarely managed to escape.

Harry opened his mouth, and asked quietly, "Why?"

"Well it is a nice hobby and--"

"No", Harry interrupted. "I mean, why?"

"Oh."

"Why do you do this? Why me? Why?"

Silence.

Harry breathed slowly, trying to stay calm. He was scared, frustrated, horrified and angry. Really angry. He wanted to panic, but he knew it wouldn't help. But staying calm? That might help because when he remains calm, he's able to think clearly and perhaps figure out how to escape. So deep breaths, Harry. Deep breaths.

"Fine. Am I even in London?"

Lou walked towards the door which was the furthest from the window. "No."

"England?"

Lou opened the door. "Yes."

"Where are you going? Where am I? Who are you and why are you doing this?" Well hello, slowly rising panic. Harry couldn't breath properly, his head was killing him and the horror finally took the best of him.

"Because you're key to my freedom", Lou said, stepping out of the room. He turned to look at Harry, his expression remaining normal.

Harry jumped out of the bed and rushed towards the door, ignoring the pain in his head and legs.

The door was slammed shut, and Harry stopped. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. Harry screamed in frustration and kicked the door, yelling, "Let me go! Let me go, you nutcase! LET ME GO!" Harry kicked the door repeatedly and beat it with his fist. "Let me go, please! I've never done anything to you--I don't even know you!"

Harry stopped violating the door when he realised that it was not helping, and slumped to the floor, burying his head in his hands. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

"I'll be back later", muffled voice said from behind the door.

Harry raised his head, gave a murderous look to the door and took one deep breath. "Calm down", he whispered to himself.

Slowly but determinedly he got up, and one last time kicked the door  in frustration. He walked to the bed, and threw himself on it.

Staring at the ceiling, Harry started to realise his situation. He had been kidnapped. He didn't know why. He didn't know where he was. He was all alone and scared and angry. He had no idea how to even begin to plan his escape. Then a though ran through Harry's head. What if everything is just a bad joke? Maybe someone had decided to prank him.

Yes. That must be it. Harry had never done anything to anyone so there was no logical explanation why someone would kidnap him. 

"Stop being ridiculous", Harry snapped to himself out loud. "This isn't a joke. Or I don't know, it could be but.. Why am I talking out loud?"

Harry shook his head and got up. He walked to the bedroom window. It was still somewhat weird looking, and Harry couldn't figure out why. You couldn't see through it properly, but luckily he was able to see enough. The forest was right in front of him. If Harry could just get out of the window, he could run 10 meters  and he would be in the woods.

Harry examined the window curiously and then his heart sank.

Apparently Lou had not been lying when he said that Harry wouldn't be able to break the window. It was plastic.