DERANGED

9

Asha-

I need fresh air. Deep wind, night sky and stars. I was starting to go mad inside this room they had me locked in for the past several days. Keeping me cooped up in here, I was only allowed to go out to take showers and for bathroom breaks, they'd come in 3 times a day to feed me and the only clothes I was able to wear was their overly large t shirts and hoodies, they had several underwear here, I'm assuming for when they had hostages but none of the clothes of the other girls fit me as I was too petite and so, I walked around the room with a hoodie that came all the way up to my thighs.

Banging on the door, I was starting to lose more than just my patience as I waited for one of them to open the door and when door swung open, I came face to face with who I assumed was Hugo.

"Hello."

I said abruptly as he eyed me down.

"Why are you banging on the door like that?"

Even though I was getting used to their french accents, it still caught me off guard sometimes and the way Hugo was pronouncing his words, it made me chuckle.

"What's funny?"

He questioned, clearly somebody was in a bad mood today.

"I need fresh air. Can I get some fresh air?"

Thinking for a moment too long, he sighed as he stepped to the side and let me out of the room, following behind me like a guard dog as I walked down the glass stairs, but before I could reach the bottom, Hugo grabbed me and pulled me back, holding me still against him as he yelled out-

"The girl is out, ready up."

Informing them to wear their masks and once we got the heads up that they were ready, he let me go and I didn't even bother looking at the rest of the guys, I just went straight for the door leading to the outside, I needed to breathe. It was getting awfully suffocating in there.

With Hugo standing guard, I paced around a little bit, letting the gentle breeze of the wind rush through me as I closed my eyes and took in a deep air. Xenon had left me several days ago after he threatened my body with his hands, and he hadn't came back to check on me since, everyday, there was a new guy keeping watch on me, feeding me, taking me to the bathroom and whatnot and today, it was Hugo's turn I assumed. I wondered why Xenon was avoiding me because I was sure that he was. Was it because he had made me feel uncomfortable? Was he ashamed? Or was he afraid that he'd act on his words?

Why did I care?

"Alright, time up, back in."

Hugo spoke out, ruining my moment as I opened my eyes, it hadn't even been two minutes.

"What are you? The fresh air police? Let me breathe."

I rolled my eyes, trying to enjoy the nature around me in peace before Hugo completely disregarded me, grabbing my arm, he dragged me back into the house but before he could drag me up the stairs, I pulled my arm out of his grasp.

"At least let me get a drink of water from the kitchen first."

Eyeing me down, he looked over to the rest of the guys before looking back over to me and nodding his head, guiding me to the kitchen, he stood by as I searched around the cabinets for a glass, filling it up with water, I took a long sip before setting the water down and heading back into the living room and up the stairs. I watched Hugo close the door and lock me in.

Waiting for his footsteps to disappear into the distance, I jumped into action, it was evening time and sky was getting dark. Looking down at my hand, I let the knife I stole from one of the cabins slip out of my sleeve and began my assault on the lock on the door, trying my best not to make any noises, I managed to eventually with a whole lot of effort, break the lock and open the door.

My breath hitched in my throat as I listened in, trying to see if anyone was around in the living room and when I heard no ones voice, I tiptoed my way down the stairs, being careful not to breathe loud enough to catch the attention of anyone.

The coast was clear and the door was winking at me, teasing me to go right through it and I did. Rushing out the door, I made a run for it, through the many trees and snowy ground, I didn't care anymore that I could possibly get lost, I was afraid that if I didn't try to escape I'd never make it out. Xenon said he would find a way to get me out of there and it had been long enough and he still hadn't stuck to his words. And the last encounter I had with him, he threatened to do things to me that I didn't want to think about, I was not willing to wait and find out exactly what he or the rest of them were capable of doing to me and so, I took my chances and ran, I knew that it would be a matter of time before they realised I had went missing and came searching for me so I had to make sure I made this escape attempt count because if they caught me this time, I'm not sure there ever would be a next time.

Running through the maze of trees, my view became harder to clear up as the darkness founds its way to haunt me, the night was close and I was far from making it out of here and the more I ran, it felt like the further I went into the never ending jungle.

Tired, with my heart pounding into my throat, I listened in as I heard the sound of the howl of a wolf as it cried out into the night, reminding me that I was a mere human in the middle of probably hundreds of deadly animals and insects and that realisation wasn't sinking in well with me but when I heard that same wolf howl getting closer and closer, I knew that I wasn't going to make it out of here unscathed.

Putting my feet to work, I ran, ran until I had no energy left as I felt something chasing me and when I looked back, my heart froze in my chest, it was indeed... a wolf and before I could even think of an escape plane, the wolf jumped onto me, throwing me to the ground, I went tumbling down, smacking into the hard snowy ground as the wolf stood right above me, keeping me grounded, I waited for him to chew down on me but instead, it just stood there, looking at me before looking back towards the rustling through the trees.

"Here boy."

And with that, the wolf left me and went and stood beside no one other than Xenon. Staring at him in complete shock, it was just sinking in now that Xenon had a literal pet wolf. Where was this wolf before? Was I seeing things? But as Xenon spoke out to me, stepping close as he did so, I knew that I was not hallucinating as the malice within his words dripped of his tongue and wrapped around my throat, suffocating me.

"Well done princess, you managed to really piss me off.."

Is all that he said before the back of his gloved hand came crashing down on my cheek, knocking me straight unconscious with his harsh blow.