Solitude

Chapter Ten- The real deal

Lyle^^

They made sure the drugs wore off before they let me go back to my hundredth level. It's been an hour since I've been back, and I didn't have the nerve to face Carver yet, if he was even here.

The first thing I did was turn on every light on in the living room and kitchen, even the hall light on the second floor and the empty rooms were lit up. Nothing could take me off guard now. All the clothes I brought from my level were in Carver's room still, so I paraded around in my bra and panties, not wanting to be stuck in the tank top and sweats any longer.

Then, after some difficulty, I grabbed anything in the pantry I could eat without cooking it and took it all to my room to eat. Half the food was gone in under an hour. Wrappers and crumbs laid all around me as I scarfed down a second loaf of bread, not being able to control my hunger. All the lamps in most of the level were collected and placed around me in a circle, along with all the pillows and blankets. I'd gone too long without fluffy pillows and warming blankets. My door was shut firmly with light from the hallway spilling underneath.

Noises from downstairs made me refrain from shoving another raspberry into my mouth. A faint: "What the fuck?" was heard and suddenly, footsteps were pounding up the stairs and my bedroom door was slamming against the wall, making me flinch and back up into the corner.

Carver stood in the doorway, looking better than the last time I saw him. When was the last time I saw him?- how long ago was that? He looked more muscular and all healed up. His hair was the same way I'd cut it perfectly and he seemed to have grown taller and more defined. But his eyes were more green than mint and it unsettled me because they weren't the same anymore.

"Winnie?" His voice was like hearing a catchy tune you've never heard before, it gets stuck in your head and it doesn't come out. When he was five feet from me he dropped to his knees and just stared at me, not believing I was really there. Slowly, I shoved six raspberries into my mouth and mixed them around in my mouth with a swig from my eleventh glass of water.

"Why the hell didn't you wake me up when you got here! I would've gotten you everything you needed and made sure you were comfortable." I shrugged guiltily and looked at all the food scattered around my room, deciding which one to eat next. "What the fuck did they do to you?" My eyes widened and slowly made their way to him. He was looking at the fleshy part of my arms and both sides of my neck, before finally, they landed on the bruises scattered around my body. Maybe wearing just my bra and panties wasn't such a good idea.

"Those bastards are going to fucking pay." His eyes glowed that amber I've seen in my dreams and stalked out of the room, already yelling and shouting. As quick as I could I ran downstairs to catch up with him, panicking that they would take one of us away again. And I didn't want to go back.

"Carver please don't! I don't want to go back, it's fine now. Just drop it." My voice was scratchy and unused, when I had to shout to get his attention from the base of the stairs, he spun around and growled at me loudly.

"Drop it? Look what they fucking did to you!" Carver gently brushed his fingers against the sides of my neck, despite being so angry. But he needed to stop or they'd come back. As I stepped back from his touch and wrapped my arms around me protectively, I couldn't help but think this all wasn't real.

"It doesn't matter Carver! I don't want to go back, and you shouting and threatening them is going to make one or both of us go back to them." Images of Lyle injecting me and spraying me with water made me space out for several long minutes. The hallucinations they made me have were terrifying enough, not to mention the people they made me meet.