Away

Chapter 7

~Aspen~

A few days had passed, and I was losing hope.

I had tried only once to escape, but I had been caught.

My punishment was sitting in that ugly bedroom for a whole day, by myself.

Not that I was complaining.

Anything was better than Darius.

Ever since I saw him push that body off of the cliff, I had been avoiding any contact with him.

He had displayed what he was capable of, and I wasn't one to play with fire.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Once again, I had refused to eat.

"I'm fine," I said weakly, "I'm just not hungry."

"Aspen," He said, "I need you to eat this. I don't want you to die."

I gave a sad smile. At this point, that was the only thing I was looking forward to for myself.

The only freedom that I could obtain was death.

"I know what you think of yourself, and I also know that it isn't true," Darius frowned as he spoke, his blue-grey eyes darkening with what appeared to be sorrow.

I reached for the bowl in front of me. If I had to eat to keep him away from me, maybe it was worth the risk.

I took the spoon out of the soup. When I pressed it to my tongue, it was hot, but I ate in anyway.

I ate the rest of the bowl , and then another and then another, Darius watching me like a hawk.

"See? That wasn't that bad," He smiled a proud smile.

I smiled weakly and nodded, ignoring the churning feeling in my stomach and the guilty feeling in my head. It would all come up in a matter of minutes.

"I need to use the bathroom," I told him.

"Go ahead."

I rushed up the stairs, the soup already halfway up my throat. It burned the back of my mouth as I shoved the door open and emptied the food into the toilet.

Violently, my body convulsed and compressed as the contents of my stomach continued their rapid exit.

I hope he hadn't heard. I stood up, dizzy, and wiped off my face, deciding to lay down on the bed in the room I was occupying.

The walk down the hallway was difficult. Everything was spinning.

Finally, I made my way to the bed, where I laid down to give my aching insides a moment of peace.

The pounding of my heart and the sound of my raspy breaths were so loud that I didn't hear him walk in.

"I knew this would happen," He said.

Darius laid down on the bed next to me,and carefully slithered his hand over my hurting stomach.

"I love you," He said, "I think that you are perfect, no matter how much you think the opposite."

"That won't help me at all," I said,and curled up so I was further away from him.

"It doesn't hurt to try," Darius' eyes shone as he pulled me closer to him.

I was too fatigued to fight against him,so I let him pull me into his chest.

My ear was against his torso. I could hear the beats of his heart speed up as I tangled my legs with his.

I knew who Darius was. I knew what he was capable of,but the comfort and support was what my mind needed at the moment,so I allowed this intimate moment to continue.