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Chapter Twenty: Down The Line (Explanations)

Trigger warnings for this chapter:

• Violence

• Death threats

• Mentions of violence

• Topics surrounding sexual assault/abuse

• Sexual assault

• Mentions of bodily harm

• Mentions of suicide

• Mild torture

• Triggering/harsh language

• Mentions of rape

Please read with caution, and remember to take care of yourself, when reading.

...

*Tuesday, January 21, 2020; 9:37 A.M. (flashback)*

*Linden's point of view*

Ian enters the room and starts walking down the stairs, with a bottle of water in his hand. Once he walks over to me, he kneels down, and gives me the water.

I drink down about half of the bottle, and when I'm done, I swallow thickly, and I look into his eyes.

"T-thank you."

"For what?" He asks.

"I-I don't know; I just felt that I should thank you, Ian."

"You're welcome."

He stares into my eyes, and I stare into his. For the first time in a long time, his eyes aren't full of malice. And I don't know why we're looking at each other like this, but it's making me sort of uncomfortable.

"I love you, Linden." He softly says, as he hugs me.

Instead of saying it back, I just nod my head, and look down. To my surprise, he doesn't get mad at me; instead, he hugs me tighter.

I've lost count just how many days I've been down here. I don't even know what day it is, but I know that it still must be the winter time, what with how cold it gets down here, at night.

I won't get into what's been happening since Ian shot me, but let's just say that I wish that he had killed me, yesterday.

It may seem like he's being nice to me right now, but trust me, earlier today, he was anything but nice.

"You know...I love you too, Ian..." I choke out.

"I know you do, Linden. I know you do."

And yet he doesn't even know that not even too long ago, I said that I love someone else.

But, does it really matter, now that I know that Adrian doesn't love me back? And for her to do those things with me, and to say that she only sees me as a friend, wasn't cool. Especially since I even got whipped, because of what we did.

Though at the same time, it's not her fault that he did that to me. It's not Adrian's fault that Ian is a sociopath who's obsessed with me.

Just the thought of Adrian brings tears to my eyes, and I start silently crying. I just hope that someone, preferably her, finds me soon, because contrary to what I just said, I actually really don't want to die.

"I-Ian...p-please don't k-kill me." I manage. "I d-don't want you to kill me."

"I'm not going to kill you. I just want you to learn your place." He whispers.

"What is all this really for, anyway? I know you said that you were going to take your anger out on me, but...I just don't understand it anymore. This has gone on for weeks, when are you going to stop?" I weakly ask.