The Illusion

Nine

I woke up to my bedroom door creaking open quietly. I squinted, sitting up on the sofa.

"Hello?"

"Shh." He walked across the room quickly, pressing something cold under my neck. "You're supposed to be asleep Freya." Despite the pitch black of the room, I could make out Leo's eyes. Black. So black. The metal on my chin moved. "This is so much easier when you're asleep." He reached behind me, flicking on the lamp as he removed his clothes. "But I guess watching you cry over my cock is going to be so much sweeter."

"What? L-Leo."

"I said-" He pressed the blade to my throat. "Not a fucking sound." How the fuck does this keep happening?! Leo pushed me back on the mattress, tearing my tights off to get access to where he wanted to be.

"Leo- pl-please don't."

"I will not tell you again Freya. I don't know why you're complaining. I saw how bad you wanted this earlier. You're a whore aren't you? Just want someone to ram their dick into you."

"NO- STOP- LEO STOP." I screamed, the knife plunging into my stomach as I made a sound I wasn't supposed to make. It burned. The room lighting up quickly.

"Freya. Freya, wake up." My eyes shot open, backing away from him as he stood above me.

"GET AWAY FROM ME."

"Hey, it's okay."

"N-no-" I kicked the blanket off myself, scrambling to get up from the sofa and stop the bleeding. I lifted my shirt in the mirror. It hurts. It's here. There's nothing but it hurts. I can't see. What the-

"Freya- it was just a dream sweetheart." He approached and I turned around, holding my shaking hands up to him.

"S-stop."

"Okay. Okay. I'm not moving. Can you take a deep breath for me though? Slowly? In and out?" I shook my head. "Okay. Is your hand hot? It looks a little red. You need to blow on it to cool it down. I'd do it but I don't want to come too close." He lifted his hand, blowing on the back. I swallowed, not taking my eyes off him but blowing on the back of my hand slowly. "That's it. Do the other one as well Rey. I don't want you to overheat so you need to cool yourself down."

I don't understand.

He wasn't wearing any clothes. And the clothes he's wearing now weren't what he was wearing 5 minutes ago. I looked down at my long pyjama pants and long sleeve shirt. I put these on last night. I haven't worn tights in months. How did he rip my tights?

"That's it Rey, cooling down now huh?" I nodded. "Good. Come sit down." I shook my head, backing up to the wall. "Okay. I'm going to sit on the floor though, okay?"

"Don't- don't come any closer. I'll scream. They'll hear me." He sat down on the floor quietly, reaching into his pocket. "Don't-"

"Just some playing cards." He looked up as he shuffled them "Do you know how to play 21?" Nod. "Okay." He laid out 2 cards. 6 of clubs. 3 of hearts. "Want another?" I nodded, slowly sinking down to the floor. "Tut, you can't see now. I'm gonna scoot forward a little." He pushed the cards closer, staying sat on the floor but wriggling over to me. "Okay. Ooft. 10 of diamonds. Want another?"

"No."

"Let's see then." He straightened his back, slowly turning a card over and looking at it. "You're sure you don't want another card?" I counted. 10. 6. 3. 19.

"No." He nodded, laying down the 3 of clubs.

"Good call Rey. Another round?" I nodded. He shuffled them slowly and I knew for a fact he was taking his time. They didn't need shuffling. He'd just done it. "It was just a dream Rey. None of it was real. You're okay. You know that right?" 2 of Diamonds, Jack of Hearts. "Jack's 10."