Chained to You

Captured

I just laid there - pathetic and broken - until I heard the ragged breathing of the police officers standing over me. I started trembling, but forced myself to sit upright. There were three of them; two I recognized from previous chases and one who was a stranger.

I felt like I knew him. The scar on his right cheek seemed familiar, the blue eyes made me feel welcome, and his crooked smile made me feel comfortable. I shook my head. I don't know this man.

He whistled for the dogs to back off and reached a hand toward me. "Here let me -" I flinched away from him and clenched my teeth. "Easy there," he said.

"I'm not a horse that needs to be tamed," I spat with such ferocity that actual spit flew out of my mouth. The officer's smile still dominated his face, but instead of reaching out again, he knelt down next to me. His buddies glanced at each other, but didn't say anything.

Yeah, that's because they're more accustomed to grabbing me and throwing me in the back of their squad car.

"Look, I'm not here to hurt you-"

"Oh, like I haven't heard that one before," I interrupted. Still shaking, I put my wrists out for him. "Go on, put 'em on." He looked from my wrists to my face and sighed.

"I'm not going to put handcuffs on you. I want you to believe me when I say I want to help you," he said. His buddies covered their mouths to muffle their laughing. "Downey, Laughlin shut it." They immediately dropped their hands to their sides and stared blank-faced at their glaring coworker. Even the dogs calmly sat down with their tongues lulling out.

"How did you find me?" I asked abruptly. The officer's eyes flicked back to me. I couldn't get over how bright they were; they reminded me of my own green ones.

"That's classified-" One of the officers tried to say, but Mr. Blue Eyes shook his head at him.

"We got a tip off," he explained. "Somebody was worried about you." I tilted my head.

"Who?" He chuckled as if he had expected me to ask that question.

"Now that, young lady, I cannot tell you." His eyes looked me up and down as if he was waiting for me to do something. But I couldn't do anything. I was in shock. It had been years since an adult had treated me with such respect and politeness. Maybe I was imagining it, maybe I was hallucinating. I mean, I did hit my head not that long ago...

One of the other officers stumbled forward as if to grab my arm and my breath hitched in my throat. Mr. Blue Eyes tried to intervene, but it was too late. Light streamed off my body, blinding both me and the officers. My skin felt like it was splitting open, bubbling, boiling. I screamed aloud in pain and racketeered backwards, causing me to collide with the ground for the second time.

I was awake long enough to see the light fade and a shadow stand up in front of me. Then everything went black.