Hyena

Held

The story I'd told him was an old Japanese folktale about why there was a shape of a bunny rabbit on the moon. A story about self sacrifice and the rewards it can bring you in the end. I had told him that story a lot, well, as best I could over the internet. He never complained that I repeatedly sent it to him when he wanted to hear a story. He liked stories. There was something about him that was innocent in nature as well as sinister. He was somehow a five year old as much as he was a grown man. Over the years, I had found it had to hate him entirely, even though I was well aware of his behavior and what he did for fun. Even his brother knew this feeling. Something about him forced you to care for him despite not wanting to. We both theorized that it was some kind of survival technique he'd learned, or it was just entirely unintentional due to the fact that he was also very mentally ill. 

Alex didn't look like a monster. Quite the opposite. He was tall, extremely handsome, and he was very charming. He had amazing eyes, green, and unless you knew his true nature you couldn't see how dead they were inside. The initial pictures I got of him before finding out what he was, I remembered thinking he was so handsome. He had a great smile, great hair, everything about him was attractive. At least physically. The more I learned about his behavior and hobbies, the more his face started to change for me. The more I noticed that he really didn't have light in his eyes and that his smile wasn't genuine. It was a mere replica of what he believed a smile to be. It wasn't real. He was just mimicking behavior to appear normal because he knew if anyone should ever find out about him, what he really was, he'd be dead. 

He'd fallen asleep, with his head on my chest. Had muttered something about wanting to hear my heartbeat while he slept when I asked him what he was doing. Given his large size compared to mine, I had no chance of getting up without disturbing him in some capacity. I didn't want to risk it and I knew escape was going to be very impossible. I did attempt to shift just a bit to get to the pocket where I assumed he was keeping the keys but then he started to stir, and I stopped. He was well over six feet tall and given that I was about 8 inches shorter than him, it made everything on his body harder to reach compared to mine. I had no choice but to stay where I was and thanks to the drugs he'd given me earlier, still being in my system, it didn't make it hard for me to eventually drift off as well. 

When I woke up, it looked like the sun was starting to set, at least from what I could tell looking through the slight cracks in the boards covering the windows. I sat up, because Alex wasn't there anymore. I still wasn't chained to the bed. It was a good thing, in the way that it seemed to mean he was trusting me not to run. He shouldn't have, of course, because I already knew that the moment I saw any realistic means of escaping I would. I'd just have to do it without him being aware of it. I would never beat him in a fight. Not a man who could easily snap my neck in a fit of psychotic rage without realizing he was doing it. I'd have to sneak out or incapacitate him somehow first. I just didn't know how, quite yet. I glanced over at the vial of Fentanyl on my nightstand, wondering if that was a possibility when I heard a noise. This drew my gaze over to the corner of the room where it was considerably darker since there was barely any light in there to begin with. I blinked a few times and realized that what I was seeing there was Nikolay. He was alive, bound and gagged but alive. 

"Nick!" I scrambled out of bed and hurried over to his side, my shaking hands reached to remove the gag from his mouth. He didn't seem too hurt as I checked him over. A black eye, bloody lip, nothing appeared to be broken and he certainly wasn't as bad off as Zakhar had been. "Oh my God say something." 

"Keep it down," He whispered. I looked at the door, that was probably a good idea. If Alex realized I was awake then he'd certainly come back in here to continue with whatever his plans were. "Why...why does he have me here with you?" 

I couldn't answer that. Not because I didn't know, I knew very well what was probably about to happen. I remembered it very clearly, it all hit me like a ton of bricks. A conversation I'd had with Alex about six months back. It had disturbed me at the time but given the fact that I hadn't foreseen any possible future where he could accomplish what he'd told me I had pushed it to the back of my mind. Forced myself to believe it was just fantasy and it would always stay a fantasy, at least for him, it was a nightmare for me.