The Attic

Chapter 15: Movie Night

Raiden's POV:

I don't know exactly how long I'd been there, but it felt like an eternity. 

I had a general idea though. Every couple of days, Adam let me go downstairs to shower and stretch my legs. Not as often as I'd like, but it's better than what he'd been doing before.

Roughly, I must have only been there for about a month. As far as I knew, it was near the end of June. 

Still... I couldn't believe I hadn't been found yet. It's like everyone had stopped trying. 

I repeated my mantra every day still, though it seemed to lose its effectiveness over time. It was still keeping me sane, but I doubted that I'd ever leave. 

Adam had created a ritual. He would come up a couple times each day and try something on me. If I pushed him off, he wouldn't give me food until I gave in. 

I'm not an idiot. We took the same psychology class. I understood that he was conditioning me, but I couldn't figure out how to stop it. We didn't quite learn that part.

When Adam next came up to see me, I had zero desire to fight back. 

He bent down and unchained my ankle before pulling me up. With his hand on my wrist, he walked down the stairs. 

"Adam, where are we going?" 

"My room. Want to watch a movie?" 

"Uhh... Sure..." 

I know he has to be messing with me. He held onto me gently, as if he knew I wouldn't fight him. 

It almost made me want to test it. To push him and see how far I could. But honestly, would that be wise? If I take a step back every time he takes a step forward, we aren't going anywhere. 

He led me into his room, then nudged me towards his bed. I sat myself down, scooting back until I touched the headboard. I snatched one of his pillows and pulled it and my legs against my chest. I welcomed any extra place where he couldn't touch me.

"Do you still like thrillers?"

I peered over my legs to see him kneeling before a pile of DVD cases as he stared back at me.

"Yeah, of course I do."

He nodded in confirmation and went back to the pile, cutting it in half. There wasn't much use in asking me. He knew that. Every time I used to come over and spend the night, we would stay up past midnight watching horror and thriller movies. We'd be too scared to go to sleep after that, and we'd watch the same six episodes of Animaniacs on DVD to help us fall asleep afterward.

It's so hard to believe that the kid from then is the same one who planned and executed my kidnapping.

"I'm going to go make popcorn, okay?"

He's up and out of the room before his words register. I just sit there. Sit there and watch the beginning trailers as I wait for him to come back.

...I don't know what I'm doing anymore. This can't be it for me.

But I can't think about that. I'm not alone. People are still looking for me.

My name is Raiden Loeffler. I'm sixteen years old. I have two parents who love me very much. Turner is searching for me. I will be found.

The trailers finished and the title screen went through a few loops before Adam came back. He pressed play, sat down next to me, and pulled a blanket over us both. With a bowl of popcorn in his lap, he settled in.