Mind Control

Shards

I limp into the large living room and collapse on the sofa, groaning. My entire body is sore from today's training session and I have several large bruises forming on my legs and stomach.

"Practicing for my bed, honey?" said William, walking into the room with two beers.

"Shut up. You didn't have to make me so sore," I groaned again.

"I wanted to prove how weak you are," he said, bringing his face inches from mine. "Not only in your resolve, but in your ability to defend yourself,"

"How dare you?" I snap. "I've never had the need to defend myself. I can handle myself perfectly fine in the streets, it's not my problem that your training is far beyond that of an average self defense class. Since when do you care about my well being anyways? You're using me for your own means,"

"Take the beer and shut up," he says, glowering.

I take the beer and take a swift gulp, my face twisting in disgust.

"Not a beer fan?" he raises an eyebrow, sitting down next to me. I slouch further into the seat.

"No, I just don't like this particular beer," I reply, angling my body towards him. "Do you?"

Before he could respond, I pour the beer on him and smash the bottle against the table, creating a rather sharp edge. Running out of the room, I rush back into his office and lock the door behind me. Soon enough, I hear furious knocking at the door.

"Lydia!" he hisses, making me cringe.

Crap, he's really pissed now. Looking around, I dig around the drawers before finding a gun and a Swiss army knife. Dropping the shard of glass, I tuck the knife in the waistband of my shorts and hold the gun out in front of me. Slowly, I open the door and stumble back immediately, pulling the safety loudly.

"Back away now," I say evenly, although my heart is hammering away.

"Honey, do not push me. Put the goddamn gun down now," he says tersely.

"You're hardly in a position to give orders," I spit, pulling the trigger.

His moan of pain fills my ears and almost has me on the ground begging for forgiveness, but I stop myself. This man is ruthless, and the only way to fight fire, is with fire.

"Lydia!" he groans again, swearing under his breath.

"Walk away from me right now before I aim a little higher," I state coldly. I had hit him in his abdomen, enough to cause severe pain and bleeding, but not enough to kill him immediately.

"Okay," he replies weakly, stumbling backwards and grasping the wall for support.

I dig around his jacket pocket, which was stashed in his closet, and find the keys to his car. Grabbing a backpack, I stuff a few hundred dollars and an untraceable phone into it. Changing quickly into jeans and a sweater, I rush out of the large house in absolute paranoia.

"Lydia?" William follows me to the door, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

"William, I'm so sorry," I begin, staring at his bloody hands. "I- I had to,"

"You just forgot one thing," he smiles weakly, intensifying my guilt.

"What?"

"The building is secured by more than just me. Set foot outside that door and you'll be hit several times with tranquilizers," he smirks, the wicked spark back in his eyes.

My eyes widen in horror and shock. I open my mouth to say something, but the lump in my throat prevents me from uttering a single word.

He stands up straight, takes his hands off his stomach, and saunters over to me, before yanking the gun from my grasp. He throws it across the room and puts his hand on my lower back, pushing me further inside the house. I walk backwards, away from him, in fear.

"I'm going to get myself cleaned up," he says through gritted teeth. "After, you and I are having a long talk,"

I inhale a shaky breath and nod.

"Oh, and Lydia?" he stops at the bottom of the stairs. "If you ever try anything like this again, I will simply cut off your fingers and bury the rest of you alive,"