Steal

04

O N E  T O O  M A N Y

It's funny how addiction develops. First,  we all start off by just having one more  and later,  one more turns into 'i don't remember how many I've had '. And at that point it doesn't really matter.

Addiction is a disease, always lurking around looking for room to grow,  hosts to manifest in. I've always been fond of coffee and I'll shamelessly say that I am addicted to caffeine.  It numbs and in contrast,  awakens you from a sleepy state, but sometimes I'm just craving the taste of a nice cup of coffee in all innocence.

Mason must've thrown something in that wonderful cup of heaven because I remember it tasting slightly sweeter than I'm used to,  but I guess I liked it - and you knew that. How did you know I like my coffee sweet?  It's always been something meaningless playing on my mind, but I've learnt from you to pay attention to detail.

The whole café must have been in on the act, because when I began to feel slightly dizzy, no one came to my aid,  no one spared a second glance. Except you, you caught me as soon as I began to topple over from my seat,  and in a heartbeat I was in your arms. The last thing I felt before I blacked out were those wonderful sparks, and that's how I knew that you had caught me. Of course I didn't know about my intoxication at the time, I was merely having the best nap of my life. Completely oblivious to the danger that is to come.

I drifted off into a quiet abyss but I have no idea for how long exactly. Nothing about Mason screamt 'dangerous',  except when I woke up feeling like I had just been run over by a heard of elephants making sure to step on my stomach. Something about Mason gave the impression that I could trust him and I guess that's what was so inviting about him.  And those eyes of his, we're even so captivating. As soon as I opened my eyes,  I felt sick and threw up almost instantaneously. I wiped my mouth and smelled something else other than my sick beside me,  I smelt strong tobacco.

"Not on the carpet please,"  you irratebly exclaimed as you would have to a child. I knew it was you speaking because I felt those damn sparks again and that brought a sense of warmth within myself. It was starting to frighten me how I felt so comfortable around you when I knew that I had been abducted.

The room was dark.  No light source other than a small amount of light shining from the corner of the room.  I could, however see that the carpet was a blood red color. I tried to move my hands,  and to my surprise,  they were not bound to each other neither were my feet - I was free to move around as I wanted too.

"Why am I here? What do you want with me?"  Mason leisurely strolled over to me with a cigar in-between his fingers while I backed up as he approached me -hitting a wall. "It does not matter. There is no where to go now. Now, you're here with me, I finally have you," I trembled as he spoke, but kept my composure the entire time.

I grabbed my knees and brought them to my stomach so I was in a cradle like position - childlike even. I feel so vulnerable, and the slight gesture of having my knees so close to me shielded me in a way from what I thought was to come,  so I prepared myself for the worst.

Then he did what I least expected.

He crouched down and I shivered when he slowly blew the smoke from his cigar into my ear in a taunting manner. The tobacco contaminated the entire room,  nothing but it's smell drifted in the already tense atmosphere. Mason then tucked one of my stray hairs behind my ear and my heartbeat started to quicken,

"I can hear your heartbeat,"  He trailed off, placing his hands on both sides of my head, caging me in like a bird,"Do I make you that nervous?" it was more of a rhetorical question.

He makes me feel things I shouldn't,  things you shouldn't feel for strangers who spike your coffee and then abduct you. Things I haven't felt in such a long time,  things I've never felt before. Maybe that's what drew me in,  the new feeling of you.

Mason took another drag of his cigar before getting up and holding his hand out for me to take. "What makes you think that I'm going to take your hand?"  I questioned venimously.

"Because from now on,  you'll only have me," Mason says,  sounding dead serious. "What do you mean?" 

"Now that I have you, I am never letting you go."

And I trembled feeling a mixture of fear and something else that i couldn't quite pit my finger on.