The Hidden Box

Bleeding and Bruised

Hi Everyone! I changed the cover of this story yesterday! Tell me what you think in the comments. The cover was made by @rav0art. You can check out his work on instagram as R.A.V_Art, he is a really amazing artist and I'm thrilled to have him as the one to create my cover page. Also do tell me what you think about the story...In this chapter you will meet Matt's past lover who has several shades of his own... Sorry it took so long to publish. I had wifi issues and several other things going on. But here you are :)

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Matt

I put my ear to the door, Sarah could be in here. She could be crying or mumbling to herself like shew always does when she's upset. But I couldn't hear a thing. I tried to look under the door, perhaps a light could be on. Maybe she was in but was really quiet.

No such luck. It was pitch black. I tried opening the door, if no noise or light was there inside no one was there. But then again, what was the harm in trying? I quietly turned the knob, my heart was beating fast. No one should see me like this. They all thought I was on their side, I had to keep up with this charade.

My brain got blank on seeing her....

A girl was lying on the floor, breathing raggedly. There was blood in her hair and marks on her arm. This couldn't be her. My Sarah was strong. Bryan wasn't so bad that he would do such a thing. I walked toward the girl, praying to god that this should not be Sarah. I could only see around the room with the help of the light streaming in through the door from the hallway. Delicately, , I turned the girl's body so that her face could come in the light. It felt like Sarah. I knew every part of her, but I hoped I was wrong.

As the light shone on her face, my face got drained of color and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was Sarah! My beautiful Sarah - Bleeding & bruised.

Tears had dried up on her face. My poor baby. I removed the tape off her mouth as gently as I could and kissed her lips, her closed eyelids, her forehead, her nose, all so slowly and gently. The blood in her hair stained my hands. She was wounded on her head! NO! Bryan couldn't do this. I needed to get Sarah to a hospital. She was bleeding profusely. I needed to take her out undetected. I needed to find an exit. Somehow. Anyhow.

I kept my angel gently on the floor and quietly left, closing the door behind me. I'd quickly find a way out and rush back to take her. I couldn't carry her while searching. Everything I did could directly implicate her.

The house was a maze, I remembered the way I got in but that door was probably the main entrance. Everything looked the same here - dim lights, closed doors made of raw wood, narrow deserted hallways. I wondered where I'd hide if someone saw me, always watching out for others and keeping a hiding spot in view -

"Where are you going?", a sudden voice caught me off guard. I turned around to see Nicholas. He was the closest one I had here. We were buddies since we were kids and he was the first one I reached out to when Sarah got kidnapped. Our friendship had blossomed into something more before I got assigned to Sarah and had to leave. Nicholas was furious for so many reasons - sad due to me going away and leaving, feeling inferior due to not being selected for the job, feeling neglected for the first few months after I'd left but eventually he came through and though so much had happened between us I still trusted him - at least as much as I possibly could.

"Just looking around", I replied, "Say! what if this place got raided, I mean, the nature of our work is such that we need to always sleep with one eye open.....How do we get out of the building?" I wanted to use the word escape but that would give away too much, but still the moment the words slipped out of my mouth I wondered if I'd done the right thing.

"Matthew, you do know we've never been caught right? What did you do?" Nicholas knew me too well for me to keep secrets from him and the way he said my name made my heart flutter. Everyone just called us Nick and Matt but between us we would always use our full names, it just made us feel more...intimate? Personal?

"What makes you think I did something?" I asked with an exasperated look.

"The old Matthew would never worry about such things. You used to enjoy facing danger head-on".

"Well yeah, the new Matt needs to keep the girl safe at all times". I shrugged.

Something flashed in Nicholas' eyes but before I could catch it, it was gone. "Oh! That reminded me of something, catch ya later!", he said as he turned around to walk away.

"Wait!", I almost yelled and grabbed his wrist, "Where are you going?"

"Bryan forgot to lock the girl up so..." he started to say.

"Why don't I come with you?", I interrupted. If Nicholas wasn't going to give up the emergency exit , I needed some other way to gain leverage in this situation.

Nicholas shrugged his shoulders and walked forward, I quietly followed him.

After a few moments of silence, he spoke up, "You love her don't you?"

I kept quiet. I didn't want to talk to anyone about what I felt, especially not Nicholas.

"Life would be easier if she just gave up what Bryan wants. If you did love her, you'd agree that she deserves and may easily have a better life", he said. Nicholas' words stung me. He spoke as if I didn't know what was good or bad anymore. He was questioning my integrity.

"You've been watching too many romantic movies Nick. Just listen to yourself." I tried to laugh it off.

"When you were entrusted to bring back the box, I was jealous you know? But now I'm glad I wasn't chosen.", Nicholas said quietly.

His words perplexed me, not the fact that he was jealous but that he was actually happy to not be in my shoes? What had he figured out? How much did he know? I was stumped. Tongue tied. By that time we reached Sarah's door.

Nicholas took out the key from his jacket's front pocket and locked the door. Then he put the key in the back pocket of his jeans, which was already bulging with stuff - probably cigarettes and a lighter. He wouldn't realize it if the key was removed. Nicholas was smart, I figured out what he was doing. But the question was tugging at my mind so I went ahead and asked him,"Why are you glad you didn't get the job?"

"You can't find out something from someone who doesn't remember", he replied cooly.

My eyes grew wide. But before I could react he stopped me, "Bryan doesn't know. Maybe you should tell him plus she might not remember why she hid it and hand it over. Mission accomplished", he winked.

I had loved Nicholas once. Before I met Sarah and we had never actually broke up, it was more like drifting apart. I thought we were cool, given the fact that he had brought me here, or was it something else? I wasn't sure.

"I gotta go now. Good luck!" he said and gave me a tight, lingering hug. This was my chance! I slipped my hand into his pocket and swiftly removed the key. The moment it was out Nicholas whispered in my ear, "The exit is right down the next hallway to the left but you didn't hear that from me".

I smiled, maybe he wasn't so bad after all, but he left before I could say anything more.