Can't we play pretend?

Moving In

"Sir, I didn't know who she was until-"

The sound of gurgled breath, although faint, made you flinch. You were so unaccustomed to the violence your keeper lived in. Shaking, you curled in a ball facing the wall opposite the door and clamped your eyes shut- trying to feign sleep. Perhaps if he sensed your exhaustion, his anger would cease?

As if he cares about you farther than what he can infantilize.

You tucked your shaking hands beneath your chin, biting your lip to keep it from trembling. Footsteps pounded their way down the halls. What scared you most wasn't what he would do or how loud he would yell- it was how alight your body became the closer and closer he drew to you. As if your very cells had waited for his touch to come alive. It terrified you, the ways in which your body responded to his mere presence. You'd never felt so energized, so buzzed, so alive. It was wrong... so fucking wrong.

But you craved the suffocation.

Why?

Sion had told you, you weren't the first girl he's stolen away. A shiver ran down your spine at the thought of what happened to those who came before you. How many times had he kidnapped girls he met in bars? How many innocent women agreed to his propositions in hopes of freedom?

How many did he toss away?

Before any more questions could plague you, he rushed into the room. The suffocation was sweltering now, his arrival as hot as the sun. Even with your eyes closed, you knew he was close.

You felt him.

"Are you hurt?"

You chose to stay in your pseudo sleeping state- his frantic concern far scarier than any anger.

"Dove?"

His voice was now a whisper, unreadable in expression. You could barely breathe, let alone move. A sigh escaped him, and you felt ease drift into the room as he stepped out. You could vaguely hear the droid informing him of your current state. He recalled your panic, your anger, your fear. You noticed he left Sion out of the story and instead claimed to have examined you himself.

Your keeper asked what seemed like a thousand questions. His main concern being that you remain.... untouched by the man he had left you with. Doc assured him that other than dehydration and a slightly battered appearance, you were fine. It was merely a panic attack. Silence once more filled the previously chaotic corridors, as did the suffocation as your captor entered the room again.

"I know you are not asleep, Dove."

Well, shit.

You rolled over carefully, opening your eyes. Hands still tucked beneath your chin, you glanced up at him from your ball in the bed. He stood across the small room, lingering in the doorway. As powerful as ever, the masked man sent shivers down your spine dressed in his usual black ensemble. The two of you simply stared at each other for several moments.

"Can't you take that off?" You asked meekly, your voice hoarse from your previous panic. He didn't move, so stoic you could barely believe he was real.

"Please?"

He stepped through the doorway, closing it behind him before carefully removing the mask. The click and hiss the only sound before silence clouded over once more. He looked tired, his hair disheveled and eyes a quiet kind of wild. Above all else, however, it appeared that a muted sadness seemed to be drowning him.

"Did he hurt you?"

You shook your head.

"Then why did you run?"