Stolen By Him | ✓

day twenty eight

||DAY 28

"We're going out," was the first thing he said that morning, voice firm, but not harsh. And before she could protest, he was hoisting Lana into her wheelchair. Momentarily he scrambled around in the dark, gathering things, which when they left the darkness of the house, she saw was a picnic basket.

What did he think this was? A game?

She wasn't going have a damn picnic; she wasn't going to touch his damn food.

Even though she no longer needed the IV, he still made her use it as she refused to eat. And every time he put it in, she would rip it out when he wasn't looking. The first time she did it, she made the mistake of not waiting until he was occupied.

"Lana," he had said. "Don't do that. Don't do that to yourself." His voice had wavered slightly like he was teetering on the edge of instability. It was as though the thought of her starving herself was unbearable to him. It was ridiculous really- the fact that he acted like he cared about her wellbeing so much, and yet didn't give a damn about how she felt being trapped here.

Instead of stopping at the usual place, he pushed her further away from the house, deeper into the swath of green canopy. She was starting to feel antsy when, to her surprise, she noticed he was following a clearly paved out path in the ground.

If there were paths, then maybe, somewhere, there was one that lead out of here. Maybe there was-

"We're here."

All thought left her mind as she saw what was in front of her. A small lake was carved into the ground, filled with green-white tinted water. And all around it was colour. Not just variations of green. But red, blue, purple, orange. So many different plants and flowers, nothing like she had really ever seen before.

The whole place, strangely enough, reminded her of that in-between place that she had been living in for the past few days- between this life and the next.

He pushed her to the edge and, as always, sat beside her. "Pretty, isn't it?"

For once, she actually agreed with him. Though what he said seemed more like fact than one's own opinion.

The water lapped softly to the light autumn breeze and the scent of a plethora of flowers in the air mingled with the water's salty scent. The caw of a bird echoed through the clearing, and she looked upwards to see a dove. It was white and beautiful as it dipped and curved around the trees. Nothing got in its way at all.

It was completely free.

Free unlike her.

You'll help me escape, won't you? She thought to the bird, not even caring over the fact that it was daft. 

The bird cawed once, and in her mind, she took that as an affirmation. 

It was funny how calm this place made her feel, how at ease with herself she was at this moment when only twenty minutes ago she was staring away into oblivion, wishing it would take her away.

"This place isn't like most others," he said after a while. "I have a theory that it's other-worldly. Like some place greater than earth and we were lucky to find a snippet of it here. A taste of the life to come."

He was doing it again. The human thing.

Lana took in a breath and willed away any ounce of emotion she felt in that moment. The only thing she allowed herself to feel was the hatred.

"Can I ask you something?" He paused for a second, in the case that she would respond. She didn't. "Why won't you look at me?"

So he had noticed. She didn't think he would ponder that deeply into things, but then again, it was only the two of them out here and nothing but endless hours.

"You've known me since forever Lana. There's no way you can suddenly just hate someone that instantly, that intensely."

She wanted to show him that he was wrong. So, so wrong.

People make mistakes- it's an inevitable part of human nature. And when they do, they're almost always are forgiven, because after all, it was a mistake. But this, this was no mistake. It was a cold, calculated plan that he, no doubt, had spent time trying to carry out. How could you forgive someone for something like that?

"What can I do to make you trust me again? How can I make you happy again?"

"Nothing. There's nothing you can do," she said, finally speaking after days of empty conversations, because if there was one thing that Matthew needed to know, it was this.