ERODA

~Chapter 2~

Those are the clothes Annabel wears towards the end of the chapter. She does not have all of those accessories, just the shirt, pants, coat, boots, and hat. I thought you would like to have a visual.

ANNABEL FLEMING

"Welcome to the island of Eroda."

I don't say anything. I just think about all of the events that lead to my arrival here: the beach, the bathroom, the drink, the darkness, the sailboat. I just keep repeating the day over and over again hoping this was all some awful dream and that I would wake up and be at the beach again. My headache keeps getting worse by the second the more I think about everything. I just keep my eyes on the lifeless green grass below my feet hoping to avoid eye contact with Harry at all costs. I won't give him the satisfaction of speaking when he won't answer any of my questions. Once he sees that I am not going to respond, he pulls on the rope around my hands and unwillingly my feet begin to move.

We begin our ascent up to what I assume is the peak of the island. I see no form of life besides the two of us and that just makes me start to panic even more than I already was. I know I will regret speaking, but I know if I don't I will never get the answers that I need from this stranger.

"Where are you taking me?" I manage to say as I finally get the nerve to look at him again, "If you don't tell me then I just won't walk anymore."

With this, he turns around and just glares at me without a single word being spoken. His eyes are not the kind ones from the beach. They are now a dark green and full of resentment. I huff and decide not to move. Before I can even think of what to say, I am being lifted off the ground and carried away. He has me slung over his shoulder and I am hanging upside-down from his tall height. I push, punch, and kick at him but he doesn't budge. I am running out of strength and still have a massive headache. Just as I was about to stop fighting, he comes to an abrupt stop. I quickly realized we were at the top of the island. I can now see that we were in the middle of nowhere. The air is dry and the waters surrounding the island are so dull that the color looks almost gray. Any hope I had of leaving was completely shattered. I felt like crying, but I still didn't want to give him that satisfaction. I just look at the dull sea ahead of me and wonder why this man has taken me as what seemed to be his prisoner.

"Where am I?" I ask as I am slowly starting to fall apart.

"Sunflower, as you see there is nowhere to run." He says with a smirk. With that, he unties the rope on my hands. My wrists are a pinkish color and have a bit of a sting from where the ropes were tied. I feel relieved they are off, but immediately he grabs my wrist and starts walking again. I hiss from the pain of his hand on my wrist.

Eventually, I see what looks to be some sort of an old fishing cabin come into my sight. It looks like it has not been used in years. The color of it, just as lifeless as everything else I have seen so far. We slowly reach the destination, but instead of walking in the front he avoids it and we go through a side door that is directing us straight to a staircase to the upper level. I couldn't believe this place was even big enough for a second story. On the outside, it looked shabby and unkept, but to my surprise, it was a very elegant cabin. As we slowly walk up the wooden staircase, my heartbeat increases more and more with every step that I take. I hold on tight to the railing and notice how much my hands are shaking. Harry is following so close behind me that I can feel him breathe down my neck. I stop when we get to the top of the staircase.

In front of me is a long, dark hallway with very dim lights shining through it. The hallway is so long that I can not see what is at the very end because of how dark it was. There were doors on each side of the hallway which were what I guessed to be rooms. Harry's hand shoves my back harshly, a motion telling me to keep moving. I hesitate before walking.