45. The Escape

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Over the past few hours, Annalise had managed to shuffle herself onto the chair in the middle of the room.

The knife, clutched in her hand.

She was no killer.

She was also not weak.

She would fight.

She had spent the last few hours trying to stop all the bleeding and clean herself up. There was only so much that she could do, but she was already feeling stronger.

She was feeling hope again.

She was strong.

The door swung open.

The Collector wasted no time walking over to Annalise.

"I see you found the knife."

"I'm not blind you idiot. You left it here on purpose."

"Maybe I did."

"Enough of your mind games. You were wrong. You thought I wouldn't use it."

"Or maybe I hoped you would."

She screamed at him angrily.

This earned a slap across the face.

"Annalise. I will ask you one more time."

She glared.

"Where is the item?"

"What makes you so sure that I know?"

The Collector grabbed her jaw with his cold, hard hand.

"I know."

"You wish."

He stepped away from Annalise and headed back out the door.

But not without leaving behind a disgusting laugh and a disturbing comment.

"I'll know soon enough."

As the door closed, she looked down at her left hand.

Still clutching the knife.

He was right.

Not ten minutes passed before the door slowly opened again.

Annalise barely raised her eyes to meet his face.

But not the face she was expecting to see.

"Noah?"

He held a finger up to his lips and hurried towards her.

"Can you walk alright?" He asked cautiously with wide eyes as he took her in.

Annalise used his shoulder as support as she stood.

"Well enough."

They both hobbled towards the door as Annalise began her typical barrage of questions.

"How did you find me? Where were you? What happened to you? Do you know how to get out? Did anyone see you? Have you foun-"

Noah gently closed her mouth with his hand and smiled.

"Annalise, trust that I have great answers for all your important questions. Right now, we just need to find a way out of here."

Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"I remember how to get out."

                                                                   ~~~

His nose was itching.

But Liam couldn't move his arm to accomplish the simple task. It hurt too much.

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