Tiny Crown

Chapter 5

Emilia wasn’t sure how long she had been lying on the bed, lifelessly staring up at the ceiling. Her ribs ached so she figured it was best not to move. The room was en suite and it didn’t have any windows. She didn’t have the energy to look around any more, she doubted there was an escape from the room. It was strange that it had a lock on the outside.

There was a faint knocking sound, disturbing the quiet she had gotten used to. She could hear faint talking downstairs and some louder talking a few minutes later.
“You’ve ruined everything!” The voice was high pitched and they sounded fairly angry at someone. “This was supposed to work!”

Emilia wondered what was supposed to work. She wondered if whoever it was knew she was there. They probably didn’t.

She heard the door slamming and she flinched, she wasn’t expecting it to be that loud.

The house was quiet after that but it didn’t bother her as she just stared up at the ceiling.

Some time later, the door to the bedroom opened. She didn’t bother to look over at who she presumed was Evan.
“I’m going to cook food, is there anything you’d like or specifically don’t want?” His voice sounded different. Emilia looked over at him, his eyes were a bit glassy and his cheeks were a little red.
“Have you been crying?” she asked furrowing her brow as she sat up properly.
“Does it matter if I have?” he asked. Emilia shrugged. He might be more likely to hurt her if he was upset, despite the offer of food.

“Do you have pasta?” she asked after the awkward minute of silence.
“Yes, I have pasta,” he said. He smiled a little and Emilia stood up, wincing as her ribs and now her legs ached.

Somehow, Emilia ended up sitting on his couch eating pasta, which tasted delicious. She hadn’t panicked yet. She thought she would have panicked by now. It was also strange how nice Evan was being. He was her kidnapper and from what she could remember, they were supposed to be mean and cruel. Evan hadn’t really been either of those. Not yet, at least.

She was sitting in a different living room, this one had a window facing out towards the driveway. The black car parked there was presumably Evan’s. The driveway to the road looked like a fairly long way, no one would be looking in the windows and spotting her.

“Where do I put this?” asked Emilia as she gestured to her empty plate.
“Just on the counter,” said Evan. Emilia stood and walked to the kitchen. She set the plate down on the counter near what looked like the dishwasher.

Glancing at the door, Emilia wondered if it was locked. It probably was and glanced at the door. Someone had visited but she didn’t know if they had entered and left through the front or the back door. Either way, there was a chance that the door might be locked if they did use this door.

Her clammy hand closed around the door handle. Opening the door, she took a shaky breath in. It was open. It was actually open. Emilia took a step out. It was getting dark now. The air was cool on her skin and she noticed her leggings were a little ripped. Thankfully, it was near her ankle and not higher up her legs.

Hands grabbed her shoulders.

“I thought it was obvious that you’re not supposed to leave,” said Evan. Emilia froze but let him guide her away back inside his house. She stood in the kitchen, feeling numb. His hands left her shoulders as he walked over to the door and shut it. “I know it might be hard to understand, especially since you can’t remember everything right now, but you can’t leave.”

Evan grabbed his key and locked the door. Emilia squeezed her eyes shut, trying to stop her sudden tears. He stuffed the key back in his pocket.
“I just want to go home, I don’t want to be here, I don’t know you. I swear, I won’t tell anyone. I’ll say I stopped over at a friend’s and got hit by a car and I got lost or something, I don’t know, just please… please let me go. I won’t tell anyone. Just let me go.”

“Emilia…” he trailed off. Evan sighed. “I can’t. You have to believe me, you have to trust me.”
“I’m not going to trust you,” she said, confused on how he would think she would do that. “You’ve locked me in here, kidnapped me. I don’t know you! How can I trust you?”

“Upstairs. Now.”

His voice was deeper and his hands were balled into fists at his side. Emilia took a step back at his sudden change in demeanour. That was what she had been expecting from him.
“Are you going to lock me in again?” she asked.
“Now,” he repeated, avoiding eye contact. He couldn’t even look her in the eye.

Not wanting to anger him out of fear of what he could do, Emilia headed up the stairs and walked back into the weird bedroom with the lock on the outside of the door. The door creaked shut and Emilia heard the clicking of the lock.

Closing her eyes, Emilia felt the tears escape them.