Little Girl Lost.

"Calayah."

I felt like I was being pulled out of a fog. My head was throbbing, eyes were puffy from crying and my entire body was sore from tossing and turning all night long. I doubt I even had any real sleep; every time I drifted off, I would wake up panicking from the nightmares. I felt completely detached from myself, like my body was a jigsaw puzzle and I had to put the scrambled pieces back together somehow.

"Calayah."

"Rodney, chill. Five more minutes..I had the worst nightmares, I didn't get any sleep." I groggily replied, rubbing at my eyes with the back of my hands as I rolled my shoulders; trying to ease out the knots from my aching muscles.

"I'm sure," He laughed, to my chagrin.

"Why is he laughing?"

And then it came rushing back, everything hitting me with a force so overwhelming- I swear my heart could have stopped. The cold, gray walls, musty and stained mattress. The car, being abducted, screaming, kicking, and..being completely alone.

Adrenaline surged through me like electricity, I could feel my heart pounding and blood rushing through every inch of my body; from my fingers up to my shoulders and right down to my toes. Slowly, I lifted myself up and began to turn around to meet the owner of the dark voice.

A tall, dark figure was standing near the doorway. He leaned his weight against the drab wall behind him, the shadows fell over his face keeping him hidden from view. I could make out a tousled, dark mop of hair and husky arms crossed over his chest.

"Y-you're not Rodney." I managed to choke out, fear clearly showing itself through the waver in my voice.

He didn't say anything, just tilted his head to the side as if I had said something that puzzled or intrigued him.

"How do you know my name?" I slowly inquired, my heart beginning to beat harder against the walls of my ribcage.

Ignoring my question, he stepped forward out of the dark and under the dull halo of light cast out by the single bulb hanging precariously from the ceiling. The dim glow illuminated his previously hidden features. Dark, piercing eyes glowered down at me from beneath a heavy, broad brow. Striking jawbones cut through his skin, making him appear even more menacing than he already had. He was tall, broad shoulders and I could easily see his muscles rippling beneath his gray, t-shirt.

"Didn't mommy ever tell you it isn't nice to stare?" He suddenly snapped at me.

Embarrassed, my gaze darted to the floor where I focused my attention to a black crack running through the concrete surface.

"Calayah, 15 years old, high school student and competitive gymnast." He began to read aloud from a manila folder he held, identical to the one my captor had been clutching just the night before.

"How did you know that..who the hell are you!?" I suddenly found myself shouting, loud enough for the back of my throat to begin to feel hoarse and abraised, "I have no idea where I am, nobody is telling me anything and now some..freak is standing here telling me this stuff about me as if I'm not supposed to get all freaked out?!"

I paused, waiting for him to reply but I was met with nothing but silence as he continued to glare down at me with that same, blank expression.

"Just please, let me know what the hell is going on! ..I just want to go home." I trailed off, pulling my knees into my chest; trying to create some sense of security.

"Are you done?" He stated, surprisingly calm. I was expecting more of a tirade; yelling and screaming back at me. The unruffled response was unsettling, I didn't know how to react or what to think in the face of someone who was so..unreadable.

I swallowed and nodded my head, too off guard to do much of anything else.

"I'm going to make something very clear to you," He crouched down in front of me; his sharp eyes boring into mine as he pointed his finger at me to accentuate what he was about to say, "You. You, don't yell at me. I have very little patience and I'm not going to spend it on some little girl with an attitude. Do you understand that?"

"I wasn't having an attitude, I just want to know what the hell is going on and I just want to go home! What the fuc-"

Suddenly, before I realized what had happened, my cheek was burning and my head had been whipped to the right. Tears sharply pricked at the backs of my eyes and I choked from surprise.

"Did..did you just slap me?" I stammered, pressing my shaking hand to my face and trying to hold back the tears that threatened to overflow at any second.

"Watch your mouth. I don't tolerate that kind of behavior." He snapped, rising from the floor and standing over me again.

My lungs felt as if they were about to implode and I could feel tension building as I struggled to hold back my emotions. The walls felt like they were closing in on me, everything around me seemed like it was shaking and ready to collapse on top of me; choking and suffocating me until I couldn't breathe anymore.

"What is going on..oh God, what is happening.."

"This isn't difficult, Calayah. You don't need to be such a drama queen."

I could feel that fog coming back, wrapping around me and pulling me away from whatever hell-hole this was. The room felt far away. The dim, swinging, flickering lightbulb felt far away. His voice felt far away, even I felt far away. Like someone had stepped into my body and pushed me back into some other dimension where I didn't exist as anything more than a spectator in my own body.

"Hey. Pay attention." He barked, snapping his fingers in front of my face as if he could sense the identity crisis I was experiencing.

"I'm not a patient person, but my rules are simple to follow. You don't disrespect me. No cussing, no talking back, no random outbursts or hissy fits like the one you just decided to so elegantly throw. Listen to me, follow my orders, be obedient; that is all you need to do and you'll get along just fine."

His words felt like whisps of smoke; evaporating and dissipating into the atmosphere, vanishing before I had a chance to grab onto them and understand what he was saying. Everything felt so far away and so..untangible. Like a mirage in the desert, you swear you can see it but when you reach out to grab it- it slips through your fingers.

"Hey!"

I jumped, and just like that I came back into my own body; as if his words were shocks of electricity and I just needed to be re-charged like a dead battery.

"I heard you.." I mumbled, pinching at the skin under my t-shirt in order to try and keep myself alert.

"Please just don't hit me again."

"Sir."

"What?" I stammered, confused.

"I said, Sir. You will refer to me as one of two things; Sir or Master. Understood?"

I nodded, my head beginning to spin again with that same confusing fog. With every minute that went by, things seemed to get progressively worse. Was I going to die here? Was he going to kill me? Or worse..

"Your day is about to begin, as is mine and as much as I would love to sit here all morning and deal with your insubordinate attitude; I have things to do."

He closed the folder after briefly skimming it one last time and tossed it in the corner. Stalking back over to where I sat, hunched over on the ground with my knees pulled up under my chin. Gripping my arm in a rough, steadfast grasp; he roughly pulled me up off the floor as if I was a mere cloth ragdoll.

"Ow, plea-" I cried out in pain, I could feel his hands imprinting fresh bruises into my already sore arms.

"Whatever you're going to think about doing, I'll find out. Whatever you say to anybody, I'll know about it. If you simply cough, they will tell me. So don't think about trying anything and you better keep your attitude in check. Don't test me." He snarled, shaking me.

I was too shocked and too scared to reply, I just tried to nod but it went unnoticed. He threw me back to the floor and stalked out of the small cell; the large, cold door sliding shut behind him with an ominous echo.

Yet again, I was completely alone and yet again, I started to cry.