It Happened to Me

Chapter 18

My eyes are closed and I'm desperately trying to block out my current situation. My attempts to do so is proven feeble every time Jayce opens his mouth to try and convince me to talk to him. I can tell that he is becoming frustrated, but I don't care. The sting of his betrayal is still prominent over my heart. My eyes hurt and feel swollen from crying. My stomach growls with hunger, and I know that I've been here for a while. I'm starting to lose track of time as the evening fades into dusk, and the sun illuminates a soft pink glow through the small window. It should be relaxing, I think, but I can no longer find comfort in that.

I hear footsteps echoing from the outside. I have yet to see anything other than the inside of this room. By the sounds of their footsteps, I can tell that they will come inside. I have become adept at recognizing them in the short amount of time that I've been here. I hear the jingle of what sounds like a set of keys. The doorknob bobbles up and down before opening. A quick sigh escapes my lips as my eyes settle on Jayce. His eyes become narrowed slits as he looks at me.

"What?" He hisses. "Better me than someone else, right?"

I cross my arms in front of my chest. "I guess."

"Mia," He says softly. "I'm sorry."

I squint. "'I'm sorry. I'm sorry' That's all you keep saying, but you haven't told me why I'm here."

"I'm not sure that I can." He whispers.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I yell in shock.

He doesn't say anything. Instead, he keeps his gaze angled towards the floor, and I assume that this way it keeps him from feeling more guilty. That is, if he has a heart to feel guilty with. I soften my gaze a little, an idea burning inside my head. Maybe I could tug on his emotions. Maybe if he looks at me and sees that I'm in true pain, he'll help me. The time we spent together had to have meant something, right?

"Jayce," I call softly.

He averts his gaze at me. He doesn't say anything, but instead just waits for me to continue. "Please don't let them hurt me." There's a flicker in his eyes as I say that, and I can tell that it's working.

"Jayce, Don't you - don't you love me? Because I - I love you." It isn't until the words come out of my mouth that I realized that what I was saying affected me too. My throat begins to sting, and my heart starts to break all over again. No, I think to myself. I've got to keep it together.

He walks over to me and presses his palm to my check. He strokes his thumb across it, and I feel the cool air brush over it. I'm crying, and I didn't even realize it until now. I look into his eyes. They are slick with tears, and I wonder how he can feel so much for me, but can not bring himself to do anything about it.

"Don't you know what they're going to do to me?" I ask him coarsely.

"I don't want to think about it," He says almost incoherently.

"How can you," I say in just below a whisper, and pausing to regain my composure. "How can you just let it happen?"

Jayce pulls his hand away from my face, anger flashing through his eyes. His chest heaves up and down as he quickly moves away from me. He stands on the other side of the room with his head facing the floor. "You think," He starts, shaking his head side to side. He places his hands on either sides of his head. "You think that I want this?"

I straighten my posture in surprise, alarmed by his body language. I have never seen him so disoriented. He has always been calm, and put together. Or so it seemed. His face is riddled with confliction. He's overwhelmed. He crouches and stares at the ground. I stay quiet, wondering what he us going to say next.

"You don't -" There's a crack in his voice before he stops speaking. His nostrils flare and he sighs. I watch as he rises to his feet, letting out another breath. He stands still, and fixes his gaze on the wall above my head. "You don't understand what it's like for me."

His face is emotionless, but I can tell that his heart is hurting. However, I can offer him no sympathy. I'm scared to move, and scared to speak, but I am also curious.

"You don't know what it's like to have no one." He says. "My uncle is all that I have, so I must do as he says, or risk losing him too."

Even if it means hurting other people? I don't say what I'm thinking, I just keep my mouth shut. The corners of his mouth twitch a little, as if he wants to say something but has stopped himself. He squints his eyes and glares at me, then turns on his heels and grabs the doorknob.

"I knew you wouldn't understand," he says, his voice piercing the air. "I know that I'm wrong, but this isn't easy for me."

He opens the door and steps out. He turns around and looks me in the eye. "You won't be seeing me again."

I stare at him startled. You won't be seeing me again. His voice rings in my ears as I look at him. The pause he's taking leaves an eerie silence between us that grows by the second. Say it, I find myself thinking. Just say it one more time.

Jayce turns his face and slowly starts to swing the door shut. I hear the click as it locks. "Goddammit," I say to myself. It's only been a minute of silence, and it's deafening. My heart feels heavy as the realization of Jayces accompaniment hits me. He kept me from feeling lonely, but if I'm being honest with myself, that isn't why I'm carrying a heavy heart at the notion of his goodbye. In that moment I realized that I wanted to hear him say those words to me. I think back to the night we were in bed together. I love you, I remember him saying. I love you. I love you. I love you. The memory of his voice professing his feelings to me is too much to bare. My heart stings with a sharp pain and my eyes flicker. My eyes well up with water, blurring my vision. I shut them, and a few tears roll down my cheeks.

"Dammit," I say repeatedly. I'm so stupid.

The quiet room starts to make me dreary. I lay onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. It's starting to get dark. My eyes droop shut, and for about an hour, I do my best to fight my impending fatigue. Eventually I give in, hoping that if I close my eyes for a few minutes, I'll be able to feel more awake. Instead, I find myself drifting into a dream-like state.

One by one, my senses start to dull. I'm falling asleep against my own will. I hear the door open again, but I ignore it. Footsteps shuffle in my direction, and then I feel a sharp pang at my side. My eyes shoot open, my vision blurred with blue. My hands instantly dart to my right side, where I felt the impact. Pain shoots up my side, leaving me crumbled over. As my vision clears, I can see that I'm staring at a pair of legs. It isn't Jayce this time. This man is wearing jeans and has the same demeanor as I had seen in one of my captives before.

A had grabs me by the hair and yanks me upwards. A yelp escapes my lips as I rise to my feet. He pulls my head back so that I am looking him straight in the eye. With his free hand, he squeezes my cheeks SK that I'm pursing my lips. He laughs and smiles wide, bringing his face closer to mine. My eyebrows furrow in disgust, and I silently pray that he keeps at least an inch if space between us.

"Oh, we're gonna have fun with you, girl," He says. "Your time is comin', and don't you forget it."

He let's go of my face ad moves his hand t my neck, gripping it tightly. I make a series of grunts and coughs, trying to breathe. He loosens his grip on my hair. I try to speak, but my voice comes out in pieces. His grip on my neck softens.

"T-Tell me," I struggle to say.

"What?" He asks with a foolish smile.

"Tell me," I say again. "Why are you doing this?"

He laughs again and presses me to the wall. "Revenge is a dish best served cold."