Stolen By Him | ✓

day fifty nine

||DAY 59

Lana was awoken by the pressing need to pee the next morning. As she pushed herself off of the ground, she groaned at the dull throb encasing her whole back. It took her a few moments to understand why this was the case.

Escaped.

Found someone.

Safe.

"Safe," she said aloud, a small smile forming. She touched her lips lightly, almost as if to remind herself what a smile felt like. It was stupid, and if anyone saw her doing such a thing, she would've been embarrassed. But after all the struggles she'd faced, she was starting to realise how disconnected she had become with herself. How all the little things that made her her were stolen away, just as she'd been.

With a little bit of struggle, she managed to open the zip on the tent. Stepping outside, she noticed that it was empty. It must still be quite early.

The remnants of the campfire lingered in front of her- nothing but a pile of ashes, and burnt wood. All the chairs had been left in their original formation too.

Lana had never been camping before, but she had enough sense to know there was no toilets around. So, she made her way further down into the forest, to find a thicket of trees.

When she turned around, she almost jumped out of her skin to see Jackson before her. His hair was a disheveled mess, and his eyes were rimmed red with tiredness.

He held his arms out in surrender. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Just figured someone should be here to keep watch, as you, you know, just in case."

"Oh, right. Thank you."

A beat passed as they just stood there, and Lana wondered if she was actually going to have to tell the guy to turn around.

"Say, you didn't have to relieve yourself like this when you were, uh, trapped there, did you?"

Lana squinted at him. "What?"

"I mean, you didn't have a toilet there, right?"

"Uh, actually, there was one." She couldn't quite understand where Jackson was going with this, and as she was about to ask, he continued speaking.

"Oh, the guy must've installed it or something. Must be good at plumbing."

"He's enlisted... so that's probably why he knows this stuff."

"He actually told you that?"

"Yes." Lana had already decided to refrain from telling him, or any of the other guys, that she actually knew her kidnapper. That was one string that was too knotted up to try and untangle.

"What else did he try to do? He didn't try to... touch you, did he?"

It was only then that Lana had noticed how close Jackson had gotten. They were face-to-face, and one step closer would've led to their noses touching. She tried to take a step backwards, but her back hit a tree. 

"No-no, of course not. Matthew would never..." She stopped suddenly, realising her mistake.

"Matthew, huh? And did this Matthew tell you to lie?"

"I'm-I'm not-"

He lifted one of his dirt-stained hand, and caressed her cold cheek.

Lana's head began to throb vigorously. She just couldn't understand what was going on. She couldn't understand this.

"You're a very pretty girl, Lana. Do you know that? I doubt some guy would be able to keep you locked up in some room for days without doing anything to you."

"Please stop this."

How could something that was only supposed to go uphill from here take a complete 180 degree turn in a matter of seconds? It felt as though somebody was snapping each vein and artery connected to her heart, one by one, as the man pressed nearer. They were so close she had no choice but to breathe in the stale air he exhaled out. 

"I haven't even done anything yet hon."

Yet.

With all the strength she had, she tried to push against his chest, but he was quicker. He grasped both of her wrists, and pinned them behind her head.

"Now look, we can make this nice and simple if you just co-operate. I know you've been through this already, so you know there's no point in struggling."

This can't be happening, she thought over and over. How fucked up can this world get?

"Help!" She cried.

A sharp pain filled her side as his fist connected with her abdomen and she doubled over, dry-heaving. Her vision blurred as he pulled her back up again, hand against her tender throat.

"Shut the hell up," he whispered, but his voice was all knives and sharp edges.

Blackness crawled around the edges of her vision.

Can't breath. Can't breath. Can't breath.

Please... Oh God.

Suddenly she slumped to the ground, the hold on her gone and she gasped in harshly. The ringing in her ears was the loudest thing. She couldn't see nor could she couldn't feel anything except from the sea of throbbing pain in her side, slowly drowning her to death.

Warm hands grasped her face.

"Don't... touch-"

"Lana, I need you to stay awake. Can you get up?" Through the haze, she recognized the voice, but it sounded all wrong like she was listening while her head was submerged under water.

"N-n-n-no," she said in an uncontrollable stutter, voice hoarse and thick with pain.

He took her arms around his neck, and lifted her up by the legs.

"How... did you... find... me?" She all but wheezed out, still unable to see clearly or catch her breath.

"Shh, we don't need to talk about this right now. Just relax. I got you. It's okay now." His voice was too stiff to match with the reassuring words that left his mouth, and he was shaking so much that Lana could feel the contractions in his muscles.

But after what happened- what could've been- she wanted nothing more than to know someone was there for her. So, she didn't say anything else. Instead she closed her eyes, tried to switch off her thoughts, and let him carry her back. 

Back to where it all started.