Breathe (Anthony Trujillo)

36

Song: Apologize-Timbland ft. OneRepublic

Groaning, I try reaching my face to wipe the slobber from my mouth, but my hands are retrained above my head. Starting to panic, I yank on my arms, wiggling around to get loose, at this point I notice my entire body is tied down to a bed. I look around at my surroundings, I notice that I'n in a half renovated basement.

My heart beat picks up. "Hello!?" I call out, not understanding what is happening. A bright light pours through a doorway at the top of a wooden staircase, the silhouette of a man stalks down the stairs.

Memories start to flood back into my head. I start jerking harder on the restraints as the figure nears. My wrists and ankles start burning, but I ignore the pain, still yanking on the ropes.

"Careful Princess," My body freezes. "You're going to hurt yourself." Braydens hand reaches out to stroke the side of my face. I turn my head away from him. He kneels down next to the bed, his arms rested on his knees. I look at him with defeat, I catch a quick glint of guilt in his eyes, but it is gone almost immediately.

"Please.," I whisper, tears running down the side of my face. He looks away from my eyes, almost like he is scared to look me in the eyes. "Why are you doing this?" I blink away the tears settled on the rim of my eyes.

He shakes his head, standing to his feet.

"You hungry? You've been out for a week now." He asks. My eyes widen, a week?! I shake my head looking away from him. Staring blankly at the panel walls. I hear him sigh before leaving.

My chin starts to quiver at the thought of my friends getting hurt because of me. Am I ever going to see them again? I shake the thoughts away. Of course I am, this is not going to be the end of my life, I will get out, no matter the circumstances. I look back at the room in front of me, I notice there is only one window, but it is one of the small rectangles ones that only open a little bit.

I look to the other side of the room, I don't see anything that could benefit me. My eyes stop on the breaker panel. I look back up at the headboard I'm tied to, the ropes are thick and strong, the head board is wooden though. I start yanking on the wood as hard as I can.

I've had to be doing this for at least 15 minutes and nothing has happened. I sigh, feeling hopeless.

"One more pull Tish, pull." I quietly tell myself. I bend my knees as much as I can, and wrap my hands around the rope above my wrists, I squeeze onto the rope, and take in a breath. I push my hands toward the head board and as hard as I can, I yank the wooden rod.

A smile appears on my face when I hear the wood splinter. I pull repeatedly for another minute on the one that cracked. The wood eventually weakens and breaks. I reach to my other hand and untie the rope. I sit up rubbing my red wrists. I reach for my feet only for the door to open.

I look up with a hard expression on my face at Brayden. His eyes get big when he see's me half untied. He runs over to me and grabs me by the arms. I yank my body away from him and send a weak punch into his side. He flinches, grimacing at the little pain I caused.

"Get off me." I say through gritted teeth struggling against him. I push him off of me onto the floor.

"Michael! Help me!" He calls up the stairs, I rapidly untie my feet and jump out of the bed. Putting myself stupidly into the corner, I get into a fighting stance. I hear quick footsteps above me, Brayden comes toward me.

I throw another punch. 'Come on Tish, use every ounce of your body' I think to myself before punching him square in the nose. He staggers backwards holding his now bloody nose. Michael steps into the doorway, looking at Brayden and then to me, I notice he is holding a needle in his hand. He charges me fast and unexpectedly. I try shoving him off, but he pushes into me and holds the needle over the side of my neck.