Elise | 18+

02

I am greeted with a ceiling entirely different from my own. There is a slight chatter in the distance as well as the light hum of medical equipment. Instinctively, I try to get up but my hands, feet, and head are bound to what I assume is a bed. I remain quiet, partly because my memories are a bit hazy, and this foreign environment makes it no better.

"You are awake, finally." A woman comes into my view, taking the cold air with her. "You've been lying like this for the past two days, Elise. I believe it's time you start paying rent."

A door opens and closes in the distance before another feminine voice sounds throughout the room.

"I'm starting to think you like her, Alina. You check up on her more than I do, and she is my patient for God's sake." The woman chuckles.

"She is beautiful, I admit. Although a little too dainty for my taste." Alina, the name given to her, looks back at me and smiles. A vindictive aura surrounds her. She is dangerously beautiful too and I can't help but feel like a rat cornered by a cat whose only intention is to kill and not eat me.

"So, has Blake come to visit her yet?

"He has not... Hm, the way he brought her in, you would think he would have already."

"I don't like it, Liz." Our eyes make four again. "The daughter of a traitor, why are you still breathing? Why is she even using our resources? She should be dead."

"Careful, Alina. I won't hesitate to have you removed if you in any way try to harm my patient."

"Relax, Liz. She must be worth something for being here. I might be impulsive but I am no fool... If Blake comes to visit her, please inform me."

"I only answer to one, Alina, and you seem to be forgetting your place."

I have a pounding headache, and their foolish chatter only worsens the feeling. Where am I? Who even are these people? My dad—

I am brought back to reality when warm fingers find their way to my wrist, seemingly checking my pulse; her touch is gentle, yet precise. After listening to the steady thump of my heart she removed the belts that secured me onto the twin bed.

My body feels odd like it has not been mine for a good couple of years. I try to sit up, and once I succeed she smiles at my progress.

"So, how are you feeling?"

I look around the room, Alina must have left as it is only us two who breathe within the space.

"Who are you people?"

She chuckles slightly. "Forgive me, you can call me Cathrine. I'm the family doctor."

If I heard correctly, Alina had referred to her as Liz.

"Who's family?"

"The man who brought you here. Do you remember that night?"

Vaguely.

I ignore her. "Of course, you want answers. Typical." She pauses for a moment as if thinking about the right thing to say. "I knew your mother, Elise... A very beautiful woman and luckily, you are even more so."

Instantly, my chest tightens at the mention of my mother.

"You see, your father was—different—he was starved, for power mostly which is understandable in this line of business. Do you know why he killed her? Your mother?"

"I don't care."

"Oh, but you should, Elise. Your being here is no coincidence. Quite frankly, you should be dead but it seems that Blake might have other plans where you are concerned. Consider yourself lucky. Now, I am to take you to him. If you wish to stay alive, like your mother would have wanted, I suggest you listen."

She takes three paces back and gestures for me to stand to which I hesitantly do so.

"Who are you people?" I ask once more sounding like a broken record.

She smiles and her eyes flicker to the corner of the ceiling, by this I can decipher the fact that the room must be filled with cameras and bugs.

Of course.

I knew as little about my father as I did my mother. Having killed her when I was eight and then shutting me away from the world paved the way for my naivety of his shady business. I had always gone to school two hours away from home and then was shipped off to a university all the way across the world.

I had never really paid it much attention, mostly because I didn't mind being away from him... My father was an odd man, and incredibly unsettling. He made beasts seem like babies and there is only one way to deal with men like him; allow them to do what they want. Otherwise, your life becomes their playground where the master is satan himself.

"Always be honest with him. Consider him omniscient... Blake can be cruel, whether you are a man, woman, or child. The torture might hurt less than if you were a man but it is still torture. He doesn't just feed off your pain but he will seek to understand it." She begins to laugh, "Which to me, is madness. Give him whatever he asks for, even if that means swallowing your pride and dignity."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I am the one who confirms if you are dead and if you are not, you will be revived and be taken through much worse... Your father is a saint compared to Blake and I'm afraid your mother will haunt me if anything bad happens to her daughter under my watch."

"I don't have a mother. Stop saying that word. Now, can we get this over with already?"

Her mouth forms but purses in the same second. Great. She talks too much.

"Come with me."

A few moments pass and we are walking through what I've been referring to as a maze. There is nothing except tall black walls and heavy-duty steel soundproof doors. About three minutes go by and we are greeted by the scar-filled faces of two giants. Their presence alone reeks of death and it makes me almost sick to my stomach.

"Gentlemen," Cathrine, or Liz, acknowledges them. They only stare at her and routinely, she turns on her heels, without as much as uttering a goodbye, and leaves me standing there.

So this is the lion's den.

The one on the left opens the door. I know that I have to go in but my feet are seemingly glued in place.

I'm... scared?

Consequently, the one on the right then moves from his guardlike position and pushes me inside the room... Immediately, tiny hair bumps rise on my skin. The room is cold, too cold and that is when I realize that I am in nothing but the usual hospital gown.

I hope my ass isn't hanging out.

My eyes pan to the movement over in the corner of the large room. The walls too are black, like the rest of the building. Only a desk, a chair, and liquor occupy the space, as well as the man who is pouring what smells like scotch from where I am standing.

"Remove the gown."