Veneration of Dreams // Ransom Drysdale

seventeen // daddy issues

Ransom rubbed the back of his head, moaning weakly as he propped himself up on his elbows and waited for his eyes to adjust to the murky blackness around him. From the small, rectangular space and the grooved, metal walls of his holding, he came to the conclusion that he was in some kind of cargo box. At first he assumed he was alone but as he sat up, he noticed Katarina's still body beside his and though his heart raced in panic at first, he was relieved to hear her breathing, despite how laboured it sounded.

"Katarina, Kat...Kat, wake up."

He leant forward and shook her shoulder, turning her gently onto her back. As his hand touched her cheek, she opened her eyes with a groan.

"Ransom?" She murmured as he helped her sit up.

Katarina rubbed the back of her neck where the skin was still sore from the needle. Whatever that man had drugged her with, it caused her eyelids to droop as she sat up, fighting to stay awake. Leaning into Ransom, she ran a palm down her face, inhaling deeply.

"Fuck. Are you okay? Where are we? God, those men!" She started, looking about in a flash of panic until Ransom gripped her arm.

"It's alright, we're alone. I think we're in some kind of cargo hold." He said, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close to him.

"That makes sense, one of the men said something about a ship." She said, feeling her full consciousness slowly begin to return as the haze finally dissolved.

"Can we talk about last night?" Ransom asked, prompting Katarina to look at him in surprise.

"You want to do that now..." She said slowly.

"Unless you can break down a metal wall with your bare hands," Ransom said, taking her silence as a sign to continue, "What's your plan if we get out of this?"

Katarina paused for a moment, realising she had none, now that her freedom was completely out of the question. Her only goal had ever been to find her father but now, she wasn't even sure she still wanted to.

"I don't know, Ransom. The problem is there is no getting out of this, not really. If I don't turn myself in, and I don't plan to but if I don't, I'll spend the rest of my life hiding. I just...know I don't want to be hiding alone." She said, meeting his gaze.

"Yeah, whatever, I just hope you're not using me for my lakehouses." Ransom said, prompting her to laugh.

"Yeah, because getting shoved in a freezing lake was so much fun." Katarina snapped back but Ransom only smirked.

"Still got you wet, didn't it?" He whispered.

With a scoff, Katarina knocked her shoulder into his, pushing him into the wall.

"I think I miss the days when you were cold and heartless." She said, smiling.

Ransom thought about it for a moment, this time taking her by surprise when he grabbed her shoulder and pushed her back flat against the wall. Straddling her legs, he lifted the hem of her shirt and slipped his hand beneath, his lips inches from hers.

"What, like this?" He asked and just as his hand moved for the button of her jeans and she began to anticipate something entirely different he began to tickle her.

Katarina squealed against her will, hating that her clear struggle to control her laughter only urged him on.

"Either stop or move your hand a little lower." She said when he paused to take a breath, her cheeks red and lungs aching.

Ransom raised an eyebrow at the implication. His hand fell to her inner thigh as she craned her neck upwards, meeting his lips as a loud screech cut through the air. Both their heads snapped in the direction of the noise and Ransom scrambled to his feet as the wide door to the cargo box slid open. Katarina crawled away from the entrance as a man strode inside, his tall figure silhouetted against the sunlight.