STOCKHOLM SYNDROME | r.b x oc

1

15th August 1981:
A small amount of light illuminated the room when the door opened, but the girl remained motionless. Regulus hung the lantern on the hook by the door and made his way over to her body and gave it a gentle nudge with his foot.

"Wake up," he hissed. She remained unresponsive. Regulus gave her side a harder kick, "Wake up!" he said again, louder this time.

Thalia flinched at the contact and took a deep inhale in pain. She made no effort to move, only opened her eye to look around at her surroundings. She was in a small room, although calling it that seemed like a push, there were no windows, only a solid, large door which kept out any light. All four walls were damp, it did not seem like she was even in a building, it was more like a cave. She was just thankful that for the most part it seemed rat-free.

"I'm here to tend to your wounds," Regulus pointed to the gash on her thigh. She looked at him plainly, trying figure out his features in the dark.

"Where am i?" Thalia tried her best to move, but her wrists and ankles were in chains, attached to a wall a few feet away.

"A cellar," Regulus said bluntly.

"That's not helpful," she finally succeeded in sitting upright and slumped against the wall, facing the dark haired boy who was still staring down at her, his face emotionless.

"I'm not here to be helpful, i'm here to make sure you don't bleed to death."

Thalia swallowed. "Charming."

Regulus knelt beside her leg and took his wand out from his robes, not once looking at Thalia's face. He lifted her skirt to fully reveal the wound. Thalia shuffled away as best as she could.

"Do you want me to heal you or not?" he snapped, batting her hand out of his way.

She looked at him uneasily when he pointed his wand at her leg, he either did not notice or did not care. A few words were muttered under his breath; the bleeding stopped. He took the lid off a small glass bottle and poured a few drops onto the open wound, it made a sizzling sound as her skin began to heal.

Thalia's body clenched when the liquid came into contact with her skin, sucking a breath in through her gritted teeth. She tried her best to muffle her pained sounds although Regulus did not seem to be bothered that what he was doing was hurting her. After wrapping the area in bandages, he began to survey her body for more injuries.

"We went to school together, didn't we?" Thalia spoke again, her voice more raspy than usual due to thirst.

"You only speak when you are spoken to," he snapped as he wrapped another bandage around her hand.

Thalia watched him silently, he seemed adamant to avoid eye contact, but she could still see his face. His jaw was clenched, refusing to let any expression show.

"You're Regulus, aren't you? Sirius' brother," Thalia moved her head down to try look in the boy's eyes, but he stood up before she could. Regulus and Sirius looked eerily similar, with the same grey eyes and dark hair, only Regulus' face was skinner and lacked the constant smile that Sirius' held but was still just as strikingly good looking. Thalia knew Sirius through quidditch, he had always been far friendlier to her than Regulus, who tended to keep his nose down and avoid interaction.

"He is not my brother." Regulus threw a slice of bread and a plastic water bottle on the floor and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Thalia scrambled forward but barely managed to move as the chains were holding her back. Regulus turned, looking at her expectantly. "What do i do if i need to piss?"

He nodded towards a bucket on Thalia's left, she followed his gaze before raising an eyebrow at the boy.

"You're joking."