Obsessed

9

Iliana stirred from the floor of a dark cellar-like room. The air smelled of mold and wet stone. She pushed herself up slightly as her head pounded. It felt like someone had cracked her head open with a bottle. She placed her hand on her head, feeling shards of glass on her head and the spot was still damp. Did I get hit over the head with a bottle? The woman thought to herself as she squinted her eyes to look at the palm of her hand. Her eyes were barely adjusting to the light and her vision was blurry.

She sat up fully, feeling the repercussions of her actions last night. Her body was sore from running and she felt it in her feet as well, slight cuts and bruises marked her skin. She took a deep breath and started to cough. Her lungs were still damaged from a fiery incident in the past. The more she moved, the more pain she felt in places that she didn’t know she had hurt. Her ribs were sore. She tried to step, but she felt like her legs were about to give out. She felt so weak and disoriented. Iliana reached her hand out to feel around the dark room. She could make out some shapes.

To her it looked like some old wine cellar. She saw some bottles lying in their cases and she looked ahead to what seemed like a set of stairs. She slowly made her way over, feeling her body ache with each step. Iliana reached out her foot to feel for the bottom step, but she stood still when she heard voices coming from outside the room.

“BUT WHY DO I HAVE TO STAY HERE TOO?! I HAVE PLACES TO BE!” Liam shouted as he stood in front of the door.

“Someone has to keep an eye on her while I’m away and you already know what will happen if you let her escape again-” Caractacus said in a low tone. Iliana slowly made her way up the steps, hands bracing on the wooden railing as one arm was wrapped around her waist. “DADADADADA!” She heard Zach shout and she couldn’t help but smile. He sounded well. That’s all that mattered to her.

Liam let out a sigh. “Fine…” “Great, now go check on her. Everything better be as I left it when I come back.” He hissed and stomped away. She heard Liam let out an audible sigh as the baby continued to babble. “Alright little guy, let's go check on your Momma.” He said and opened the door and let out a screech once he saw Iliana.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack. You look terrible!” He said rather bluntly as he looked down at her and Iliana glared at him. She looked as if she wanted to slap him. The woman inhaled deeply and let out a loud sigh. “You’re lucky I’m too sore to move.” She muttered as she tried to stand up by bracing on the railing. Liam helped brace her as well and stepped back so she could walk out of the cellar.

Iliana squinted her eyes once the bright sunlight pierced her eyes and the pain she felt in her head intensified greatly. She held her head and staggered, nearly falling backwards back into the cellar but Liam caught her. “Whoa there. Lean on the wall.” He moved her away from the door and closed it. He had a gaze of deep concern for the woman. Pity even.

“What happened? Everything hurts so bad.” She muttered as she kept her head in her hands. Her head was bowed and she was slowly slipping downwards to sit down.

“Well… Once we brought you back, you gained consciousness and started to fight back. Kicking and clawing and shit and he dragged you down to the cellar because someone from that neighborhood had alerted the authorities and they came this way instantly since it’s his property. But you wouldn’t stop screaming as he was trying to hide himself and I had to speak to them. But once I came down here to tell him that the officers left, he was knocking you around. He was deeply enraged to say the least. Good thing I put the baby down, it took a broken nose and a black eye to pry him off of you… worth it though.” He smiled and looked down as soon as she looked up at him.

“Dadadada!” Zach added and Liam chuckled. “That’s right, buddy. You were being a good bean.” He booped him with a smile. Zach smiled and started to suck on his fingers. Iliana put one hand behind her onto the wall and slowly pushed herself into standing position and looked over at Zach and kissed his forehead and walked past Liam to head up the stairs to her room.