Secrets & Lies

Chapter Nineteen

(Leo's POV) 

***Who else missed Leo because I certainly did...My poor baby, what's been happening to you </3***

My head throbs and a dull ringing fills my ears.

What happened?

Where am I?

I squint through my swollen eyes and I'm shocked to see that I'm in the middle of a forest. Only now do I notice that I'm bound to a post.

I try to recollect the last thing that happened before I lost consciousness, but I come up blank. The last thing I remember is locking up the practice for lunch.

I remember Sarah ringing in that morning to tell me that her son, Luke, had been sick all night and she needed to stay home to look after him. I had no choice but to lock up the surgery for the twenty minutes it would've taken me to get my lunch together. What happened after that, though, I don't know.

A snicker from the left of me has my immediate attention. Fear fills my body when I realize just how vulnerable I really am here. The man in front of me, who, might I add, is butt naked, could do God knows what to me. I hope he knows I don't swing that way though.

I lock eyes with him and as he approaches me and it takes everything in me not to tremble in fear.

"I see you're finally awake," he says. "Good, I was beginning to get bored. You're not that much fun to play with when you're knocked out."

"W-who are you?" I mentally curse myself for stuttering. Don't let him see your fear, Leo.

"You don't remember me?" He taunts. "Perhaps you need a little reminder."

Before I have a chance to ask what he means his fist makes contact with my ribcage. I howl in pain as I feel, rather than hear, the crack of my ribs from the impact.

He plunges his fist deep into my stomach this time and I'm instantly winded.

"Remember me now?" He snarls, his face only mere inches from mine.

His eyes are what trigger my memory. How could I forget the colour they've changed to in the last few seconds? They're evil looking; blood red.

I grab my house keys as soon as the last of the morning patients leave the practice. I thought I'd never get to finish for lunch today. Trust it to be the busiest day of the week the day that Sarah can't come in. It's typical. Not that I blame Sarah, it's not her fault that Luke is sick.

I make a mental note to ring her later to find out how he's doing.

Just as I lock the door of the practice, I hear footsteps behind me. The crunching of feet on the gravel indicates that there's more than one person.

I'm shocked when I turn to find three menacing looking men, standing before me, wearing nothing more than a pair of dirty shorts. However, the thing that shocks me the most isn't their attire, but the evil looks in their eyes.

"C-can I help you?" I ask, trying to keep the nervousness from my voice but failing miserably.

"Are you Leo?" The man in the middle practically snarls at me.

The logical part of my brain is screaming at me to say no and to run for my life, but the idiot part of me decides to stay put and grow a pair.

"Who's asking?"

"Me."

No shit, Sherlock.

"And who might you be?" I ask, the confidence quickly leaving me as they step forward towards me.