Runaway Lover // Andy Leo

Chapter Twenty-Three

I stir, the throbbing pain returning to my head. I groan and try to move my positioning - the one I'm in has left me while pins and needles in my leg. I open my eyes and the bare white walls - aside from the odd blood streak here and there - of what has become the only room where I can move even a little bit greet me.

The pain centralises around my arms and legs where the ravens have had fun cutting me up. I make no further effort to move, only to bring a hand up and take Andy's necklace in it. I don't even bother to look when the door in the corner of the room unlocks - but I know immediately who walks through it.

His boots click on the floor, and I listen to them come closer until he appears in the corner of my view. We both stay silent - I've found he leaves quicker when I don't talk to him.

"What's the matter? You look awfully melancholic." His tone contradicts his face, which sits in an evil grin. I don't even look at him for a second; just a quick glance over so he knows that I've heard him. "Well someones not feeling talkative today - I wonder why?" He laughs to himself and I keep my gaze on the ceiling as not to punch him; something I've already discovered doesn't work with chains around your ankles.

"Go fuck yourself." I say, not even giving him the satisfaction of my attention. He laughs again.

"Not today, sweetheart." He turns and goes back over to the door, stepping through when a scarecrow opens it for him.

The door closes after him and I can hear them talking outside, though I can't tell what they're talking about. Minutes later the door re-opens and three scarecrows step through. Used to this, I sit still while they change the chain around my ankle for a shorter one that keeps my feet together and stops me from running. I don't bother struggling against them when they drag me from the bed and onto my feet, and I don't wince as the shackles dig into the pre-existing wounds that they had created.

The scarecrows lead me down different corridors, and I check them against the mental map of the building that I've been trying to create in the three days that I've been here. I check of the turns as we walk; right, left, up the stairs, right until we take a turn I wan't expecting into a room two turns away from the usual one.

This room has the same pristine cleanliness of all of the others that I've seen, the only difference being that there is a projector set up against the far wall. It flickers on as we walk in, and I immediately recognise the building that it shows.

I stop in my tracks, watching the screen. At first I think that it's frozen - or just a picture - but then I see a door open. Andy storms out of the building with his hood up. He looks over his shoulder once before jogging out of shot. I stare at the image that remains confusedly.

"He should've listened to your friends." I jump at the voice, not having noticed The Raven enter the room. He stands in the corner, grinning.

I stalk over toward him and shove him up against the wall, my arm pressing across his front.

"What was that?" I growl, the anger inside me burning strong. I keep it burning so that I don't cry.

"That was your surrender, my dear." He chuckles and grabs my arm, pushing me away from him. I stumble backwards. "We made a deal, you see. The Runways' surrender for your safety. Of course, Mr. Leo was the only one to agree to this deal."

He walks up toward me and raises my head with two fingers on my chin.

"It's almost a shame that neither of you will live to see the other."