To the End.

Chapter Two

Naora's eyes opened to meet the darkness again. This was becoming the norm for her. The only time she was ever able to see any form of light was when Kazuki would arrive to turn the light on. Even the natural lighting from daytime wasn't enough for her to see inside the attic. She couldn't see the windows, but she was positive that Kazuki had covered them just to make sure she had no ability to see anything at all. It was annoying. All she wanted to do was find something in the room that could help her get free, but without the light, she had no chance. There was absolutely no chance of looking around while Kazuki was in the room, even if it were only her eyes that were moving. He would more than likely catch on to what she was thinking and put a stop to it. There had to be something lying around that could help her at least get her hands free, but at this point, the circulation had been cut off for so long that she was sure she'd never regain any form of feeling in them. It was as if her hands simply didn't exist.

She shifted some in the chair before a scream was muffled. The gag was in place again, much to her distaste, but that didn't matter. The pain tearing through her legs was unbearable --it was completely indescribable. Never before had she ever felt anything that could even remotely relate to that kind of pain. She'd forgotten that Kazuki had broken her knees, yet as she thought about it she could see the man swinging the hammer. She could see the object making contact and could once again hear the sound of the bone breaking under the rough force. Her stomach turned. That man was completely insane. Who in their right mind just takes women off the street and ties them up in an attic? It was as if she was stuck inside some crime drama or at least inside one of those real-life stories that she used to enjoy watching so much. But now that it was her reality, she was more than sure that she'd never watch one of those shows again.

The pain. It increased with every passing moment. She tried her hardest to stay perfectly still because maybe then that would make it hurt less, but it did no good. Her knees throbbed and stung. If she would have been able to see, she would have noticed that her knees were completely black in color and weren't even in the shape of knees anymore. The thought along with what they could have looked like sent her into a fit of hysterics as she did her best to pull at the ropes around her wrists. The action alone brought more pain both to her knees as her body jerked and to her hands as they suddenly came to life under the pain.

It was stupid. So stupid. Why did she have to get herself into this situation? Why did she have to try to get free? It was clear that there was no way out. Even if Naora had managed to get the ropes away from her body, how would she make it down the stairs without making any noise? How would she make it down the stairs anyway? She was sure it would be impossible. With her knees smashed, there was no way she would be able to walk, and her hands were ruined beyond use. Dragging herself was out of the question and would only hurt her knees more if she had tried. Going down two sets of stairs, even if the top set only had five stairs, was too much. Who knew how many stairs were in the second set, and she didn't even want to think about how it'd feel to have her knees smacking into them if she tried to slide down them in any way.

Down below she heard the sound of a click and a bell ringing. The bell was something she'd never noticed before, and maybe that was because she'd always been so focused on herself and trying to get out. The bell had always been there, and now that she knew it was there, she could use it as a way to mentally prepare herself. The door was pulled open slowly with a small whine before there was silence again. Silence meant Kazuki, and Naora knew it.

Step by step he ascended the stairs as quietly as he possibly could. Kazuki didn't know why he always insisted on being quiet. There was no one else in the house that he needed to hide things from, and he didn't care if Naora knew if he was coming or not. It was always more fun to see the fear in a person's eyes when he turned on the light, but maybe there was more fun in the idea of suddenly appearing out of nowhere as well.