Her Majesty's Bad Boy

19: THIRTY-ONE MEAL BRINGINGS

CHAPTER 19: THIRTY-ONE MEAL BRINGINGS

ANA

"I thought you'd want something to keep you busy" Jack mumbles as he places my notes and assignments next to me.

He's still in his uniform, save for his blazer that he keeps draped around me, his long tie grazes me cheek as I stare up at him, "Why are you even still going to school? Haven't you completed what you went there to do? Or is there another unsuspecting victim who's life you want to destroy?"

He winces at the knife in my words, "I-I have to keep going so they won't suspect that I have anything to do with your disappearance"

I let out a bitter chuckle, "It amazes me how well thought out everything was"

He sighs, "Ana"

"It makes me wonder, every look, every touch, every word. Was it all calculated? Everything was designed to lead to this very moment, wasn't it?"

"I'm sorry" he chokes out, anguished, "I'm so sorry"

"Stop saying that, you have no right to say that" my voice is hard, bitter, "Sorry counts when you've made a mistake, when you've done something wrong, unintentionally. It doesnt count when you knew what you were doing, you lied to my face, manipulated me, intentionally" I close my eyes and lean back against the cold wall, "Sorry doesn't cut it"

I don't open my eyes, just listen to his ragged breaths and choked sobs. "Ana" there's so much anguish poured into those two syllables that I feel my heart thump in my chest, desperate to reach out to him and comfort him.

But he doesn't deserve comfort. He deserves to feel pain, guilt, "I'd like you to leave now" I tell him flatly.

I hear him sigh, "I'll come back with your lunch"

"I'd rather the man brought it" I mumble bitterly. Honestly? The man scares me to death but I'm tired of the constant ache in my chest whenever Jack is around me.

"Nobody else is coming near you" he tells me with such fierceness that my eyes open only to see him walk out and slam the bars shut.

If he cared so much about me, then why am I here?

___

I keep phasing in and out of consciousness. I keep having to remind myself that I wasn't always in this place, that the smell of rust and sewage wasn't always suffocating me. That the scared, panicked feeling choking me everyday wasn't always there.

"Is he going to kill me?"

Jack looks up in surprise, this is the first time I've spoken to him in sixteen meal bringings.

That's how I count time, I assume he brings me breakfast, lunch and dinner so that's five days and one meal since I last saw the sun or the moon. Not even a week and I'm already losing my mind.

"What?"

"That man, will he kill me?"

I'm taken aback by the rage that darkens his eyes, "Over my dead body"

"Stop that!" it erupts from my body as a scream and I'm panting. "Stop acting like you'd do anything to protect me when you're the reason I'm here" this one comes out as a whisper. "You can stop pretending already, okay? I know the real you, I know what you wanted from me, you've gotten it, so just... Stop"

I bury my head in my hands as fresh tears replace the previous ones.

"Ana" Jack stops, expecting me to cut him off but I don't, "I would do whatever it takes to make sure nothing happens to you" his words hold so much promise but that's the thing, his promises are empty.