The Psychopath's Prisoner

Chapter 36

Cheyenne was still reeling from the previous night. "I have something for you."

"I don't care."

"You should. It's nice."

"You killed my brother-in-law. Was that necessary? Couldn't you simply have made him leave without doing that?"

"It was necessary. I wasn't about to allow him to steal you away. He died because he was going to take you from me." Daniel sighed resignedly and shook his head. "All that matters now is he didn't. Anyway..."

He handed her a large box. She looked at it, crossed her arms, and turned away. "How can you expect me to look at it when I can barely see through this swollen eye? Thanks a lot for that, by the way." Cheyenne lifted her chin in defiance.

He sighed. "I'm so sorry, Chey. It won't happen again. You can open it when your wounds heal." He caressed her face. "I love you so much. But you already know that, right?"

She pondered how to respond and quickly came up with, "Of course I do, but you've got to prove to me how much." The words revolted her but she loved the fact that he was buying the lie. It was part of the game.

"I'll do whatever it takes. Anything for you." He placed his hands on her hips, leaned up and kissed her. When she kissed him back, he started to feel her up.

She pulled back and forced a coy smile. "Whoa there, big boy. One step at a time. We don't want to go too fast. Now do we?"

"No." He eased away. "We want this to work. Together we'll make it work."

"Of course we will." Cheyenne reached up to touch his face. "If you don't mind, I would like to lie down. My head hurts."

He kissed her again. "Okay. Let's get you to the bed." Daniel helped her up and over to the sleeping bag. "Here you go. Easy. Easy. Take it easy."

With closed eyes, she eased down onto the sleeping bag and let out a cry of agony. "My ribs! I think they're broken. It hurts so badly."

"I'm sorry, but you asked for it. If you hadn't tried to run you wouldn't be hurting like you are. With that said, you will heal in time. I promise that I'll take care of you and nurse you back to health."

Yeah, I bet you will.

~

Unable to sleep, Cheyenne lay there trying to come up with a plan of escape. For the time being, he seemed to be buying her act. Hopefully he would continue to believe it until she could get as far away from him as possible. She wanted no part of burying her brother-in-law's body.

"Hey Cheyenne. You awake?"

Cheyenne pretended to be asleep and hoped he would go away. She did not want to talk to him. Survival was key here and she had to use her head. The last thing she needed was him interrupting her thoughts. She wanted out as quickly as she possibly could, but it wasn't going to be easy. She knew she had to hang in there for a little longer. However long it took, she had to continue to give him what he wanted.

"Cheyenne," he said in a sing-songy voice while he kissed her neck. "Cheyenne. Wake up. It's time to wake up. Come on, baby. Wakey, wakey. You need to eat."

She looked up at him through one eye and whispered, "I think I can eat something now."

"Good. Let me help you up." She wrapped one of her arms around his neck as he gently helped her to stand. She moaned in pain. "Come on baby," he whispered. "Work with me a little bit here."

Cheyenne cried out in pain and held on tightly as she slowly stood. Her body was in excruciating pain. The pain in her ribs was almost unbearable. In fact, the pain was excruciating everywhere. Her entire body hurt so bad she could hardly move without crying. Hopefully her body would heal soon, because she didn't think she could take any more.

Once she was seated, Cheyenne looked at Daniel. "I'm starving. What do you have to eat?"

"Pizza. Is that all right?"

"Yes. When did you leave to get pizza?"

"While you were sleeping." He placed a paper plate with a couple of slices on it. "I hope you like pepperoni and green peppers. Bon appetite."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"One minute you're nice, the next you're beating me. Why?"

Enraged, he grabbed her by the throat. "None of your business! Don't ever ask that again. You have no idea how easy it would be to snap your neck right now." With his other hand, he grabbed her plate and threw it on the floor. "Forget about eating now.

You've crossed a few lines. Don't ever do it again." He removed his hand from her throat when she nodded.

Cheyenne began to rub her throat. "I'm sorry."

"Now you get to watch me eat due to your stupidity."

Cheyenne's stomach growled as she stared at the pizza on the floor through the only eye she could partially see out of. She decided not to grab it out of fear of another beating and sat there watching him eat. Cheyenne knew that she had to get away from him. She just needed the opportunity and was going to take it when it arose.

~

"Do you think you're up to disposing of Aiden's body?"

"No and before you ask why, take a look at me. I have one fairly useable eye and my body is in agony. Why would you even ask?"

His eyes flashed with rage. "You will assist me," he sneered. "It's not like I'm giving you an option." He snatched her up by the arm. "Do it."

Cheyenne stumbled to the door as he yanked on her arm. She fell a few times, scraping her knees as she went. He opened the door, dragged her out and shoved her to the ground. She looked up and noticed Aiden's body. There was a hole in his forehead with dried blood caked on the side of his face. She looked away because the sight made her stomach churn.

"You're going to help me lift him into the oil drum."

Cheyenne couldn't look at him. A lump formed in her throat. "What are you going to do to him once he's in it?"

"Don't worry about it." He jeered. "You're my accomplice now. That's all you need to know."

"You are an arrogant son-of-a-bitch."

"I don't care what you think. Now, let's do this."

Not seeing any other option, she lifted Aiden's feet. I'm so sorry, Raina.

She kept dropping Aiden's feet. Daniel screamed at her every time. It had taken longer than he had anticipated. When they were done, he was angry, but didn't beat her. Cheyenne was grateful. She never realized how heavy a dead body was and hoped to never have to go through it again. Once they were done, her injuries were magnified ten-fold and he assisted her back inside onto the sleeping bag. She cried herself to sleep.