unhinged ↠ 𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞

twenty three

__________

He acted like a scary truck. A big, protective, scary truck.

Honk.

__________

Kitioma Hadlee

I'm dreaming again. I'm running down a dark hallway, in front of me, a bright light. The darkness seems to grow hands, clawing at me. One of the hands grabs my arm, then my leg. I'm so close to the light, but my body tumbles down. I slam into the cold ground, my body aching. More arms grab me, and when one wraps around my throat, I hear Kane's voice.

"Don't cover your pretty face with your hair,"

I gasp, my eyes flying open. I sit up, panting, cold sweat sticking my hair to my head. Someone grabs my shoulder and I shriek, trying to get away from the hands grabbing at my body.

"Hey, hey! It's just me, calm down," Tom's voice washes over me, and my breathing slowly starts becoming more normal.

"What am I...what am I doing here?" I murmur, looking around the dark room, the only light coming from the window, which is darkened with rain.

"Kane is...dead, so they decided to move you into my room to make it more safer, since I was the one protecting you before. The room is magically expanded, your bed is over there, but I just thought it'd be better if you slept in mine tonight."

I rub my arms, the room seeming freezing all of the sudden. "Kane is dead?"

"Don't make it harder than it has to be, Kitioma," Tom sighs. "I couldn't just let you be beat by him any longer."

"Why?" I murmur, my voice cracking. "Why not? So you can beat me yourself?"

Tom sits up, and I realize he's not wearing a shirt. He takes my cheek, cupping it with his hand, and I flinch, backing away on instinct. "I'm not going to hit you. That's not how I like to move in a relationship?"

"But choking is ok?"

"Kiki..." He trails off. "You have no idea what's going on in my head right now, and I'd rather keep it like that, but you have to understand that I'm trying to protect you, I really am."

My head is screaming at him, but I'm too scared to respond, thinking he'll hit me if I talk, just like Kane.

"What happened to you? Where did Kiki, the girl with fire in her actions, go? Now you're just a shell of a person..." He murmurs, removing his hand from my face. "Do you want to know why I'm not taking your blood?" I stay silent. "I figured something out last night after killing Kane. Something important. Something your family never told you and mine never told me."

"What is it?" I ask quietly, ignoring his comment about Kane.

Tom sighs once again. "I can't tell you, you just have to trust me."

My lower lip trembles. "I can't," I spit. "I can't trust you. You lied before, who says this is any different. You're just a liar," I reach up my hand, as if to push him away, but he catches my hand, pinning it up against the headboard. Suddenly, he's on top of me, pressing my wrists up against the headboard of his bed, ignoring my hisses of pain from my cuts.

"Are you sure you want to say that?" He whispers into my ear, his voice low and husky from sleep. I know something is going to slip out that I regret, so I press my lips together. He eyes my lips, smirking. "Don't do that, princess, it's no fun when you don't talk."