Stay with Me

Chapter Two

"It was instantaneous,

the mutual agreement between

her mind, heart, body, and soul.

All at once, they left her;

replaced by four walls.

Though inside she's screaming.

The darkness was inevitable.

It was instantaneous."

OLIVER MASTERS

The flight wasn't so bad. No obnoxious crying children or Chatty Kathy's. Though, I didn't look like the type to entertain a conversation. People tended to stay away from me. Resting bitch face was real, and I wore my venom on my sleeve, not my heart—I didn't have one. Well, yes, I had the organ that was continuously flowing blood through my body. It did its job, unfortunately.

I spent the entire flight leaned against the window, looking out into the different shades of blue with my wireless headphones over my head, listening to playlists most would criticize. As the color of the ocean blurred into the sky, it was hard to tell where the water stopped and where the sky began.

Surprisingly, my father had arranged for a limousine to transport me from the airport to the university. It was nothing more than a guilt trip—literally.

The sky was now shades of gray on the verge of a rainstorm. As we approached the tall iron gates of the school, the letter "D" was monogrammed front and center before they slowly opened, splitting the "D" in half. A tall brick wall wrapped around the entire campus. No way to escape once the gates closed. If it weren't for the security guard who was sent by Dolor's finest, I would have jumped out at the first opportunity, more than happy to leave my suitcase behind. Even my condoms. I could find my way around the United Kingdom, beg for food, sleep in alleyways. The thought of my dad receiving that call made me smile to myself. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

The large German man sneered over at me as the idea crossed my mind, or at least I assumed he was German by the looks of him. He was tall with a shaved head, muscular build, square jaw, and light eyes. He didn't speak but looked like the kind of man vocal during a game of rugby. Did he know what I was planning? Inevitably, someone had to have attempted the great escape before. I could only imagine at least a dozen escape attempts, each one ending worse than the next.

I fell back into the black leather and averted my eyes from the silent German man and looked out the tinted window toward the castle before me.

The lawn was perfectly manicured with the lawnmower stripes still visible. Vines snaked vertically up the sides of the stone castle walls. A tall tower protruded on the left-hand side, and on the right sat a separate building wholly detached and made of concrete. Victorian windows covered the majority of the front of the castle with the addition of black bars across them.

No way out.

The limousine came to a stop, and a one-man welcoming committee greeted me as soon as the driver opened the door.

"Thank you, Stanley," the older gentleman said, greeting the Silent German as I exited the vehicle. "Hello, Ms. Jett, welcome to Dolor. I'm Dean Lynch. Now, follow me." Lynch didn't bother extending a hand for a formal shake, which filled me with relief. I followed behind him with my luggage in hand and my headphones around the back of my neck. We walked through the tall wooden double doors and a security checkpoint conveniently waited for me. Stanley took my suitcase and laid it across a revolving belt before it entered the scanner for the second time within the last twenty-four hours.