Undercover

30. Give Me Strength

Natalia's P.O.V.

I woke up with a jolt. That dream had been so real. My parents had given me a key to a new car that they had bought me, which I thought was super weird, seeing as how I had just started high school at that point. It felt so real. If I had reached out to touch them, I was sure that my fingertips would have had come in contact with flesh.

I hadn't noticed that I was lying on my stomach near the wall. I don't remember what had happened. The only thing I remember was seeing monsters before passing out. I was going to move, but I didn't have the inner strength to attempt to move. So I just stayed there, even though I knew that I had to get up. There was nothing wrong with recovering a little bit of the strength that you didn't have.

I heard his footsteps a little bit later. He stopped a few feet away from me and I could basically hear his mind turning. I laid as still as I could though. Because I knew that if this could work, I would have the perfect chance to take my phone out and hopefully let it be my saving grace. I needed a plan. And if I could stay still long enough to get him to leave, I had enough time be able to whip my phone out and see if it would work. I just needed to plan this better. I couldn't let him suspect that I was planning something.

I felt him walk around the room and then he left, going to whatever place it was. It was a few minutes after I heard his footsteps get farther away that I attempted to get up. It was a good thing that my slightly curly hair was short. I just needed to put it up in a ponytail so that I would be able to see without having my hair in the way. I found a rubber band and used that to keep my hair at bay. Either way, it wasn't like he hadn't grabbed me by the hair before. I had literally just made it easier for him.

"What are you doing?" I heard his growly voice say.

"Tying up my hair." I said to him as sweetly as I could, but I could still taste a hint of venom in it. I didn't want him to start attacking me right now, and hopefully there was enough sweetness to stay punishment free. Hopefully he wouldn't actually drug me again. I didn't feel any different, but that didn't mean that there was no damage done.

I heard his footsteps approach me and I felt my whole body tense up. I heard him chuckle, as if this was the funniest thing that he had ever seen. "Relax, I'm not going to hurt you yet. I'm just going to help you up."

I didn't say anything to him. I was already pushing it with all that I had said to him the other day. There was no need to dig a deeper grave for myself. After all, he was going to do a great job of doing that for me.

"He knows he's running out of time, you know. I think he knows that the next time he'll see you, it will be in a casket."

"I believe in him." I said weakly.

He laughed a villainous laugh. That's the only way I can really explain it. "He doesn't stand a chance. It's too bad you believed in him so much just to have him let you down."

"He hasn't. He hasn't let me down. I'm sure that he's tried everything there is to try. I won't blame him for not doing enough when I know that he's done everything in his power to help me. I'm not going to hold that against him."

His eyes softened for a little bit and he brought me closer to him. I panicked a little, but then when he spoke again, it completely caught me off guard. "You're so much like her. Everything about you reminds me of her. And I wish you were. That way I would have her back."

"You really loved her, didn't you?" I asked him, wondering how the hell someone could love another human being so much and at the same time cause them so much pain. I didn't know whether Aiden's mother had known who her daughter's killer was, but if there was anything I knew just by looking at him in the state that he was now, was that he did love her. I didn't understand how so much love could turn into murder and revenge. Had I met him in the days before everything went to shit, I feel like maybe I could have grown to like him as a human being. But there are things that happen that you have no control over. And this would be one of those things.