The Freedom Between You and Me

Chapter Thirteen

After what happened last night, I was too distraught to follow through with my plan. Finding his phone was the last thing on my mind when I mindlessly went to bed, and I was thankful that he left me alone to drift off to sleep as he usually did...but there was something he said last night that I couldn't seem to get out of my mind since waking up this morning.

"I would end my own existence if it were possible, if you told me...that it would make you smile."

What did he mean if it were possible?

And how could he say such a thing to me, after everything he's done? If he truly loved me, then...

It didn't matter. I was more fixated on what he said about 'ending his existence'. My brain began to interject with ideas about if it were even possible for him to be something other than human, and even though I knew it sounded completely absurd, there was a reason I kept circling back to the idea...a reason my gut told me that whatever he was, or whatever was within him...it wasn't normal.

All of a sudden, the bedroom door opened, and he came inside the room dressed in a dark sweater with sweats to match, carrying a plate of food in his hand. Despite his presence already giving me a bad feeling, after last night, I at least felt like he was telling me the truth when he said he wasn't going to hurt me...it made me feel safe, at least for now.

Once he approached the bed, he sat down before handing the plate of pancakes and bacon to me. I took it as I sat up against the dark headboard, and although it looked really good, I still wasn't sure about eating anything that he made. I looked down at the food while my stomach growled at the smell of the syrupy pancakes, unsure of what to do.

"Here." He muttered, as he took the fork and cut himself a triangle. He shoved the piece of pancake into his mouth, and I realized it was the first time I had ever seen him eat.

He set the fork back down as I watched him chew, and all I could think about were those same words from last night as they repeated themselves over and over in my head.

"You want me to do the bacon too? I'll do the bacon." He picked up a strip from my plate, before taking a bite out of it and setting it back down.

My stomach thanked me as I slowly picked up the silver fork, before I began to dig in, as I was starving. I tried not to think about the fact that he had just used it before me, and now it was going into my mouth.

"I have something I need to take care of this afternoon." He said, keeping his black eyes on me. "You can come with me if you'd like, I don't want you to feel trapped here..."

I raised an eyebrow, thinking he couldn't actually be serious. "I am trapped here." I said between chewing. "So how could I not feel like it?" I swallowed, before taking a bite of my bacon.

He sighed, seeming like he didn't really know how to answer my question. Of course he didn't because what he was doing was absolutely insane.

"When are you gonna let me go?" I asked, staring straight into his dark eyes. I prayed he would give me a legitimate answer so I knew that on the off chance I couldn't make it out of here myself, that he'd let me out eventually.

"...When I know you'll come back to me."

I set my fork down with a clank, furrowing my eyebrows in frustration. "What's that supposed to mean? What, you think if you keep me here long enough, I'll end up with Stockholm? Is that what you want? To keep me here for the rest of my life in hopes that whatever you're feeling for me will eventually be reciprocated?"

He blinked, as if he wasn't prepared for me to get angry with him.

"What. Nothing to say?" I pressed on. "That's what it is, isn't it? You're a fucking psycho." I couldn't help it. I was tired of being trapped here, and I was pretty sure he wasn't going to hit me since he hadn't done it yet, even after all my physical blows against him.