Stockholm Syndrome // h.s

chapter three

Once Harry drove me back to the house I couldn't stop replaying the words he spoke to me.

"you are never going to get away" "you are never going to get away" "you are never going to get away"

His words frightened me because he couldn't be more right. There was such a limited chance that anyone would figure out that I am missing, I would be stuck with Harry forever. In the back of my mind I couldn't help that think it wasn't really that bad after all. So far Harry hadn't done anything to hurt me and honestly it was nice to have some company. But I still would rather be here on my own terms, not because he took me.

Once we were inside the house I started to walk towards the door of the room I had previously been staying in but Harry roughly grabbed my arm to stop me. I turned around to face him, confused why he had prevented me from going into the room.

"Do you think your just going to get away with trying to escape without any punishment?" Harry said glaring at me, clearly upset I had tried to escape. I stayed silent afraid that my answer would anger him farther.

"TELL ME!" He yelled, slamming his hand into the wall right next to my face. I attempted to back away from him in fear but failed when his tight grip held me back. I have never seen him this angry and it honestly scared me. He ran his hand through his hair in frustration at my lack of response. Then I finally responded to his question.

"N-no," I said quietly, hoping that was the answer he wanted to hear.

"Good, because I will make sure you never want to try to escape again," Harry said, still tighting grabbing my arm. He stopped in front of a door I had never seen before and opened it forcefully. He motioned for me to step inside and I obeyed.

"You are going to stay in the basement for a while and keep in mind if you EVER try to escape again you will never see the light of day." After those words he slammed the door in my face and locked it. I was left in complete and utter darkness.

I groped around in the dark, trying to find a light switch but there were none to be found. I angrily sighed, pulling the strands of my hair realizing how disgusting it was. I haven't taken a shower in days.

I slowly walked down the stairs, making sure I didn't miss a step. When I finally reached the bottom I looked around trying to see what the basement contained. I quickly realized that there was a small window in the corner illuminating a section of the basement. I sat directly where the light was shinning on the floor. Tears slowly fell down my cheeks as I reminisced about how close I was to escaping Harry, the same Harry that had fed me pizza one day then almost hit me the next. The tears slowly turned into sobs. I was curled up on the floor violently sobbing unable to stop myself. I felt so weak for crying, the last time I remember crying was when my family basically disowned me a few years ago.

After I finally controlled my self and stopped crying, I could hear voices talking from above. I heard laughing, they sounded like they were having a good time. I quickly ran towards door at the top of the stairs trying to hear what was going on. I recognized the one voice as Harry's but the other one sounded distinctly female. I suddenly felt anger towards the mysterious female but quickly pushed the feeling aside realizing I could use this opportunity to escape from Harry.

I stood next to the door frantically thinking of a way to escape while Harry was other wise preoccupied. I though about trying to pick the lock on the door but I don't have anything that would work. Then the most obvious idea came to light, I could go out the window. I ran down the stair and rushed to the window ignoring what Harry had said just minutes before. I had to keep trying to escape.

I found a chair in the floor and moved it directly under the window. I stood on top of it and attempted to open the window but it was sealed shut and unable to be opened. I tried every way I could think of possibly opening the window before I finally gave up, punching the wall next to it in annoyance. The impact from the wall caused me to lose balance on the chair and fall on the hard concrete. Then everything turned black the second time this week.
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I woke up to the sound of Harry's voice calling my name.

"Belle? Belle!" Harry was gently shaking me. I attempted to sit up and open my eyes but the pain in my head was far to great. I groaned and laid back down.

"God damn wake up." He says caressing my check gently. I finally got the strength to open my eyes. I saw him staring at me with a worried expression.

"What happened? Wait, you didn't do this to your self on purpose did you?" I painfully shook my head, I tried to come up with a lie so he wouldn't know I was trying to escape but none came to mind.

"My-my head, it really hurts," I said clutching onto Harry's arm as hard as I could hoping to relieve the pain.

"I will go get you some ice, I promise it will be alright," Harry said, gentling laying me down on a bed. Minutes later he came back with ice and he held on my section of my head where a giant bump had formed from the fall.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't want you to get hurt, I just wanted you to never want to escape again," Harry admitted. I stayed silent, not quite sure how to respond to his words. After a few minutes of silence I mustered up the courage to ask him a question.

"What were you going to do to me if I didn't fall and hurt myself?" I asked. Harry stared at his hands not answering until a few minutes later.

"I-I was really mad at you so I was going to leave you in the basement for a few days without food. But I was going to check on you to make sure you weren't dying and give you water. Thats how I found you today," Harry said. I cringed and started moving away from Harry on the bed disgusted by the fact he was not going to feed me for a few days.

"Look I'm sorry, I was just really mad that you wanted to escape so soon. I swear I'm not as mad anymore," he said while scooting closer to me. Harry seemed so bipolar; one minute he was concerned for my health and the next he was throwing me in basements.

"Just please leave me alone, I'm in a lot of pain," I said cautiously, afraid he might get angered by my words.

"Okay," he and left without another word.