Bloodlust

chapter nine

-9-

I wake up and groan. My head hurts and my mind feels fuzzy and distant. What happened? I dig through my head. I was at the park when James showed up. Suddenly it all comes back to me. I sit up and my whole body aches and my stomach wrenches, making me gag. I groan again and I look around. I’m in an apartment; specifically, I’m on a black leather couch. The décor is red, black and white. The apartment must be James’. I look outside through the black curtains that are drawn over the windows and it’s light outside. I must have been out cold. I wonder what knocked me out to make me unconscious that long. My head hurts but I don’t feel any bumps from where I could have hit it. I check out the rest of my body and while my hands look a little pale, I’m fine. Just achy, plus my head is throbbing like it was smashed into a locker. But still, I feel well rested and I guess that’s good.

  I need to get out of here. I head towards the door and it’s locked from the outside. Fuck. James is trying to keep me here. He doesn’t want me to leave. I’m trapped here. I feel the terror like a rock in my stomach. I pat my pocket and my phone is gone, he stole my fucking phone. He did that on purpose. I feel the panic start to spread and I take a small deep breath to calm myself down and it doesn’t work.

 I look around for a phone, a computer, anything. I pat my pocket and my own phone is missing. There’s no phone and there’s no computer.

  Panic begins to well up inside me. I’m trapped in here with no way out. I can’t get out through one of the windows. They’re too high up. I go to the door but it’s still locked. I bang on it and yell for help. Nobody comes but I still yell as loud as I can for help. With every minute that passes, my dread grows. I’m stuck here. Why is James keeping me trapped here? He could be trying to kill me. He could try to rape me; he’s always been really…forward with me and this could be where he plans to finally do what he wants. As my panic escalates so does my persistence as I bang on the door with no avail. I slide down to the floor. I’m alone and trapped with no way out. I feel like a sheep waiting for slaughter. I have no idea when James is going to be back, if he even comes back. I shake away the thought that I’ve been abandoned here. I have to do something when James gets back. I don’t even know what he’s going to do though. What if he doesn’t have any plans for me and he’s just locked me in here? But why would he lock me in here?

The funeral is today. I need to go, but I’m stuck here. I look for a clock and find one in the kitchen. It’s a little after noon and the funeral is at two. I must have really been out to sleep until noon. I’ve missed school and my friends are probably freaking out. James probably grabbed my suit. I look around the apartment and open the door to a bedroom. The bed is made and the closet door is open. Hanging there is my suit. It looks cleaned and ironed and instead of the white shirt and black tie, there’s a black shirt and red tie. I sigh. Why the hell did James fuck with my suit of all things? The suit is the only thing that’s hanging in the closet so it’s not like I could switch stuff out… unless I find James’ room. I go back out into the hall and there’s another closed door that has to be his room. I grab the doorknob and it’s locked.

“Fuck,” I say. I head back to the main room and sit down on the couch.

“Hey there,” James says as he steps through the door. He’s holding a bag of groceries He went grocery shopping while he was keeping me captive. I stand up and I head over to him.

“What the fuck was that?” I ask as I shove him, but it’s useless. He doesn’t move. He just stares at me with a bewildered look on his face.

“What was what?” he asks.

“You really don’t know?” I yell.

“No,” he says shaking his head.