Luke

“W-who am I?” I stammered, my panic overridden by curiosity.

“Yes. That’s what I asked. You’re in my home, after all.”

“I didn’t know,” I protested in a small voice, flinching slightly as he adjusted his grip on me.

“Your name.”

“My name’s Skye,” I whispered. His gaze seemed to soften slightly as he picked up the undertones of fear in my voice. “Please, I’ll leave, I’m sorry…”

“You’re in a bit of a predicament, then,” he said coolly. “I don’t intend to let you leave.”

Once again his eyes trailed over my body, lingering on the holes in my shirt that led to exposed skin. I wanted to melt into the shadows, even though I got the sense that he didn’t intend to harm me. I didn’t respond to him this time, not wanting to know what he planned on doing if not letting me leave.

“When’s the last time you ate?” His voice was even, calculating. He seemed to distrust me nearly as much as I did him. He didn’t show any signs of sympathy, but at the same time, he didn’t lack empathy.

“This morning,” I mumbled.

“And what did you eat this morning, Skye?” I didn’t like how he was questioning me. He made it sound as if I’d done something wrong.

“Apple…”

He removed one arm from me to dig in his pocket. I tried to run, but he grabbed onto my shirt before I could get away and pulled me back to him.

“Stop trying to run. You’re not getting out of here. Now stay still.”

He took his arm away from me again and I obeyed his instructions obediently this time. He dug in his pocked before pulling out a few pieces of candy. Or at least, I was fairly certain it was candy. It was several small objects wrapped in a foil. It smelled good, but that didn’t mean too much.

“As a peace offering,” he explained. “You need to eat, and I have food and I’ll share with you because you can’t go running away. Not at this time of night. Do you have any idea what kind of terrible people are out there? It’s dangerous.”

He had no idea…

I hesitantly took the candy out of his hand and before I could think to be suspicious of the candy, it was already in my mouth and swallowed. It’d been a hasty decision, yes, but at the same time I wanted any food I could get and even if it were a bad decision… Well, maybe I’d get lucky and he’d just drug me to death instead. He nodded, clearly satisfied with my willingness to cooperate.

“You’re going to stay here, at least for tonight, okay? In the morning, I’ll talk to you, and if you really want to leave then, that’s fine.”

I nodded mutely.

“You look exhausted. Come on, you can sleep in my bed for tonight, and I’ll sleep out here.” He finally detached both hands from me and began leading the way to what I assume was his bedroom. I glanced back at the door. If I was going to leave, now was my chance.

Still… Something about him made me feel safe. He’d given me food, didn’t seem to want me going outside because he knew it was dangerous. He was thin, and undoubtedly like me was probably living off of what his hands could steal. We had common ground there.

I turned back to him. He’d stopped a little bit down the hallway, and had been watching me, but from his position he didn’t seem quite like he was going to run after me if I had decided to leave. I walked with him for a few seconds before he pushed open a door. The walls were peeling with cream colored paint, and there wasn’t anything in there aside from a mattress and several blankets.

“Get some sleep,” he instructed as I sat down on the mattress. “You’ll be safe here.” He backed off to the doorway and grabbed the door handle. There was something striking about him, though I wasn’t quite sure just what. His eyes seemed to sparkle, but I’d assumed I was just imagining it, or it was just because of the way the room was lit. The corners of his mouth twitched up into a tiny smile.

Just before he closed the door, he added in a gently voice, “By the way, my name’s Luke.”