The Untold Truth

Chapter 4

Burn marks etched across his back and some of the skin was still a dark red from when it had happened. I slowly reached my hand up and lightly touched a part of the skin that wasn't deeply stained in red. Shadow jumped at first, and even I was surprised by my boldness.

My feelings of sadness now overwhelmed the sentiment and all I could think was that if I hadn't of gotten taken, none of these hurts would have happened to either of us.

He said slowly, "Benjamin apologized again and again for not getting me out fast enough, but all that I was glad about was that he had carried you out before you had gotten anymore hurt."

He pulled his shirt back down and turned to face me. As soon as he noticed the change in my demeanor, he sat down on the edge of the bed and gave me a concerned look. More tears fought their way to the front of my eyes and shame filled my entire being.

"I'm so sorry."

Shadow looked at me with worry. He didn't say anything, but instead, waited for me to continue.

I said with my head down, "This was my fault."

Confusion was laced throughout his words, "What do you mean? You didn't-"

"No."

He seemed surprised that I had cut him off, but I continued, "No. I did everything. I was the one who got kidnapped. I was the one who didn't defend myself. I was the one who didn't fight hard enough. I was the one who took the stupid poison and made myself even more weak. It was all me. It was all my fault. You bullet wound, your burns, Benjamin's burns...those were all caused by me. I'm so sorry."

He gripped my face tightly and leaned forward. I was ready for him to agree. I was ready for him to yell at me. What I wasn't ready for, however, was the look of determination that crossed his eyes.

He said sternly, "Aleksandria Baynes. This is not your fault. Dorian was a monster that tried to use you to get to me. If you are going to blame anyone for the damage, blame him. Not youself. Please."

Right then, I heard a door open and Shadow exhaled loudly, almost sounding annoyed at something. He gently released the grip that he had on my chin, but he didn't back away from how he was leaning towards me. A man I had never seen before walked around the corner. The man stopped short when he saw the look on Shadow's face.

The man asked, "You alright?"

Shadow glared at him slightly and finally backed away from me. He stood up slowly, adn cleared his throat as he crossed his arms. His walls were back up. It made me feel a little better knowing that he had become vulnerable to help me not feel the guilt I had placed on myself.

Shadow started to walk away from the bed, shooting a glance my way before fully turning towards the door.

The man said, "Shadow you can stay in the room, I'm just looking at the monitors."

Shadow said as he walked out of the room, "I have to work."

I heard the door shut and the man looked over at me and smiled. This man had to be in his twenties, since he still had some remnants of teenage acne on his face, with no wrinkles of age to be found. He had auburn hair with some orange showing through and he was abnormally tall. He was wearing an outfit much like Shadow's with the only difference being that he was wearing light colored jeans and a plain black shirt.

He walked over to the bed and said, "I'm Benjamin, Shadow's assistant."

This was Benjamin?

I asked quietly, "Benjamin?"

He nodded and I immediately sat up to hug him. The movement caused my bullet wound to hurt, but I didn't care. This man had saved my life.

I heard him gasp in surprise, so I said, "Thank you for saving me."

When he realized why I was hugging him, he somewhat relaxed and awkwardly hugged me back.

He said as he broke from the hug, "You're welcome."

He walked over to the monitors and started to write numbers down on a piece of paper.

He said jokingly, "Try not to be too bothered by how Shadow gets. He still acts distant sometimes even around me."

He never moved his eyes from the screens as he said this, but I didn't feel the need to tell him that Shadow only acted like that after he had come into the room.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I'll try to not let it get to me."

Benjamin nodded and walked out of the room, leaving me in the room alone. I thought of Shadow, but guilt instantly broke its way into my thoughts and I realized that I had forgotten about Stuart. How long had it been since I had been kidnapped? Why hadn't I thought to ask Benjamin or Shadow about this when they were around? Was Stuart looking for me?

My thoughts drifted around in my head, making me more tired than I should've been. I fell asleep thinking about Jenna, my mom, but mostly about Stuart. When I woke up, it was to the sound of the door opening. My heartbeat quickened at the thought of it being Shadow, but it was Benjamin who walked around the corner.
He walked over to the monitor and picked up the paper that he always wrote on.

I asked him, "Benjamin, how long have I been asleep?"

"You've been asleep for about three weeks."

Three weeks?

He saw the surprise clearly on my face, so he explained, "Arsenic poisoning can be very deadly to people. Your treatment has been slow, but it's been working. It's the treatments that made you sleep that long."

I nodded and he left the room again. Three weeks. I had been asleep for three weeks, on top of the time that I was being held in captivity. I wondered what my mom was thinking. What were Jenna and Stuart thinking? Were they still searching for me? Did they think that I was dead?

The thought of Stuart and Jenna living their lives without me and acting as if nothing was wrong made me physically cringe. Then again, the thought of them constantly being distressed over losing me also made me cringe. I didn't want them to live their lives filled with sadness over me, but did they even care that I was gone?

The door opened and Benjamin walked into the room with a tray of food. The food didn't instantly make my stomach growl or make my mouth water, which I thought was odd. I knew that I hadn't eaten in a while, but when I did see the food, I almost didn't want it. Benjamin didn't catch on to my obvious distaste of the food. He set the tray down on my lap and smiled at me.

He said, "Eat up! It's really good!"

I laughed and asked, "Let me guess...you made it?"

"Actually Shadow made it."

I nodded my head, surprised by the fact that Shadow knew how to cook. That feeling made me realize I really didn't know that much about Shadow. Was he a really good cook? Did he enjoy sports? What is his favorite color? Benjamin was patiently waiting for me to start eating and I realized that I was making him wait by thinking for too long about Shadow. That thought almost brought a blush to my cheeks, but I willed to not make a fool of myself in front of Benjamin.

I reluctantly picked up the fork that was next to the plate and moved some of the food around, not really making any move to eat the food.

Benjamin laughed and said, "There's nothing wrong with your food. I personally watched him make it. He didn't do anything to it."

I smiled an unsure smile at him, which made him just laugh more. I picked up some of the food and put it into my mouth. At the taste of food, I realized that I was hungrier than I thought. I finished all of the food before I could think about anything Shadow might have done to it. Benjamin stayed the whole time to keep me company, even though I was too busy eating the food to really talk.

He walked out of the room and a sudden drowsiness overcame me. My mind instantly shut down any thinking I was about to do and I drifted into unconsciousness.