✓ | WELCOME TO DEADTOWN → original

twenty-three

                    KAYDEN'S EYES BLEARILY OPENED, A SHARP PAIN EMITTING FROM HER SIDE. As her eyes adjusted to the darkened room she was in, she tried to get her bearings as best as she could. Then, all in a rush, it came back to her. The woods, Kyle falling onto the ground, the killer towering overtop of her.

Her stomach heaved, and she pressed her lips together to swallow the bile that had risen up her throat. She craned her neck around as her eyes fully focused. The room was pitch black, and the one lone window there was boarded up. What last trickle of light she could see was the light of dusk setting, and it made her nerves skyrocket. It had to be at least almost 8:00; which meant if she had watched her slasher films correctly, whoever this person was was most likely planning on keeping her here all night.

She tried to move her arms forward, and instead winced as the rough feel of ropes stung her still-bruised wrists from all the times Kyle had grabbed her. Her feet were tightly intertwined as well, and her back already hurt from the hardbackedness of the walls. She looked up to see the ropes tightly knotted into metal hooks a few inches above her head. She was quite literally shackled to the wall.

"Fuck," She whispered, and realized with a jolt her phone wasn't there either. Of course he had taken it. The last thing she had texted Aiden was that she would be at the ice cream parlor in five minutes- and when she didn't show, he was going to go to her house to find her. And what would happen after that would be chaos. They had no idea she was in danger, so they wouldn't know to call the police. If they did, they would come looking for her with no thought other than making sure she was safe.

She just had to hope to God Aiden would be the sensible enough person he was to at least notify the police before they began to search for her.

Her head jerked up as she heard footsteps approaching the door, and braced herself as the it swung open. A figure clad in the signature black ski mask he had used the past two times he had cornered Kayden was firmly in place as he skulked into the room. She noticed with a jolt that he had a threatening looking saw in his hand, which he twirled in the utmost tips of his fingers.

She swallowed as he closed the door behind him with an echoing thud. As they stood before each other for a few excruciating seconds, she forced herself to speak.

"Aren't you going to take off that fucking mask?"

He laughed, a low sort of disturbing laugh that made her shudder. "You think you're in charge or something?"

"No," Kayden answered as loud as she dared. "I just think you owe it to me."

He looked up at her and drew a few paces nearer, his black eyes glinting darkly. "I don't owe you anything, princess. The only thing I owe you is sawing through your pretty little neck."

She flinched as he bent down next to her. She could fell the warmth of his skin even though it wasn't even making contact with her own. She wondered if the blood was rushing through his skin, filled with adrenaline at the prospect of killing her and everyone she cared about. The idea made her sick to her stomach.

She didn't voice any of these thoughts, and instead ignored the pounding of her heart as she raised her chin and said in a tightly clenched voice, "It sounds like you're scared."

In an instant, the blade of the saw was at her neck. She inhaled sharply as the he said in a barely controlled, "I would watch myself. . .very carefully, if I were you."

"You're not going to kill me," She said lowly. "You need me. You said so yourself."

She could have imagined it, but she thought she saw his eyes go black with fury. Maybe it was the trick of the light, but by the way he was keeping himself in check, she knew it was taking all of his willpower not to slit her throat.