Featherless Bird

That night was probably the longest Carolyn ever experienced. Her arm was pounding, her moral was at below zero, and all of her hopes were flushed away. It was like someone went and turned off the light inside her so she was left being a lifeless human being. She lied on the bed with her knuckle in her mouth to make sure she made no sound.

The next morning when Carolyn woke up, Wade was sitting beside her bed, looking at her.She jumped back when she saw him but he didn't even blink. He was focused on what looked like a piece of lint on the sheet.
"I got you something," he said as he finally looked at her with eyes that reminded her of the devil. "But, you'll have to behave to get it. I don't give things freely."

With that he left, but he kept the door open. Carolyn was unsure of what to make of the situation. He was actually allowing her to roam the house which could be a sign of improvement. If she played her cards right, he might just let her go.Curiosity swept into her and she crawled out of bed. She slowly made her way downstairs.

Wade was sitting on the sofa, watching a TV show with an unamused look on his face. Carolyn frowned before she went to see what he was watching. The TV was full of static which made it hard to see much. She suppressed a laugh when she saw that he was watching Bugs Bunny.

"Don't you laugh! This piece of crap wasn't worth my money," he kicked the television set. The static got worse causing Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to disappear. He turned to Carolyn and said, "so I'm off until one. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Carolyn sighed. "You kidnapped me, remember?" Wade smirked, leaving her even more flustered than she already was.

"I do actually. Well, let's get some breakfast first." He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the kitchen. "Well we don't have much, I'll have to go get some groceries. So we have toast or eggs. Which do you want?"

"Eggs, please," she told him. He scoffed.

"Make it yourself." He walked over to the bread and started to make himself some toast.

Carolyn had burnt the eggs. She had always sucked at cooking anything other than something that came out of a box. Her nerves might have had something to do with it this time because Wade had been staring at her the entire time.

"Tasty," he said sarcastically while looking down at the food. Carolyn quickly rolled her eyes, hoping that Wade wouldn't see. He didn't seem like someone you'd want to disrespect. Chances are he'd rip your arm out.

"It's the best I could do, eh," Carolyn told him. Wade chuckled which annoyed her. Was everything she did amusing. "What?"

"'Eh', you're so Canadian. No wonder you got some weird looks, all those British were saying 'bloody' and 'hell' while you were saying 'eh' and probably saying the famous 'aboot'."

She glared at him, she had never liked her accent but she didn't appreciate being mocked because of it. She would have said something but she thought it was much better to be made fun of than be thrown about like a rag doll. That started the first of their many debates and fights to come; thankfully this wasn't one of them where Carolyn eventually got hurt physically, just in her pride.

"Well then, that was nice. Now, I guess you behaved alright. Come on, I'll show you your gift." She frowned, yet again. This man had kidnapped her, yet he was giving her a gift? She would probably never understand the logic in his mind, and some part of her was glad for that.

Wade brought her to one of the rooms upstairs with the door closed. Carolyn was starting to get antsy to see what he had bought her. Some part of her believed that it would be something positive, but the other half was screaming that it was possibly a death trap. She was debating whether to actually go in the room, when Wade pulled her inside, knocking aside any plan that she had.

The room was much like her own, except completely bare. The only thing there was in the room was something strangely formed that was badly wrapped in some paper. Carolyn couldn't figure out what it was, and the thoughts of it being a bomb started rising in her mind again.

“Go on, open it. But be careful, it’s breakable.” Carolyn frowned but obliged. She kneeled down and tapped the thing carefully; it hadn’t killed her yet, so she thought it would be alright to open it.
She went slowly, but as she started seeing the present, she began to tear the paper apart, not even caring that Wade was snickering behind her. A smile started to light up her face as she held a brand new violin in her hands. She caressed the soft instrument, gliding her fingers on the strings. The smile had spread and was now a huge grin, she forgot where she was, and who she was with, and started playing softly. It wasn’t anything complicated, just something she had memorized a long time ago. The notes began floating in the air, engulfing the room in beautiful music.

Carolyn stood there a while, just enjoying doing what she loved to do the most: play. Everything was erased from her mind except for the movement of her arm and the roughness of the violin on her chin. For now, she was happy.

But, she had to stop eventually, mostly because she didn’t have the force to hold the instrument up anymore. When she turned around, Wade was still standing at the door, his eyes closed peacefully. For once, she didn’t feel afraid of him. He looked just like the first time she’d met him, handsome. Carolyn knew this facade wasn’t for always, but she savored the moment, not knowing if she would ever see it again.

“So, do you like your gift?” He said finally, opening his eyes slightly.

“I love it.” She whispered, afraid that if she spoke too loudly it would shatter this moment of peace.

“Good. Oh look, it’s one o’clock. Do you want to stay here or in the room?”

“Here.” He nodded, before closing the door and locking it behind him. Carolyn sighed; at least she had the violin now.