His Desire

Tina didn't know how long her captor been gone or where he'd angrily left to, but she was becoming less certain that this was some sort of test. She hadn't moved from the spot she'd been left when he'd dragged her into the bedroom by the chain and locked the door as he left, but the fear that'd kept her there had now ebbed and she rose to her feet. Peering out the window revealed that the car was gone and she was alone.

It wasn't the first time she had been left alone while being in this cottage; however, it was the first time she was conscious, and that made all the difference. She wasn't about to let it go to waste.

The drawers that she knew the camera was kept in was the first place she began to look through. She wanted to grab the camera and break it to ensure that he could never use it again, but stopped herself from even touching it, instead sorting through the other items for something, anything, that she could use to remove the chain from her ankle. With that off, she wouldn't even need to open the door because the window would work wonders.

The second drawer yielded nothing but underwear while the third was full of items that looked like they would be useful to squash a bug and nothing more. It also contained the sanitary towels he'd bought for her only two days after he'd asked about her period. The only good thing about having her period was that he never once violated her, though now that it'd ended she was sure he would continue if she didn't escape. The fourth drawer was empty so she didn't both checking the bottom one, instead turning and looking around the room. There was the bed, two bedside cabinets either side of it and another set of smaller drawers on the other side of the room. There must be something in this room that could be of use to her.

Underneath the bed she found several boxes and as she stared at one of them, she found herself not wanting to look inside. Her captor was clearly disturbed, but what if he had items that truly emphasised that? That doesn't matter, she told herself as she took a deep breath before sliding the lid off. Tina didn't know what she had been expecting but it certainly wasn't what she had found.

Dozens of pictures littered the box, and the one thing they all had in common was that they were all to do with her. With a shaking hand, she plucked one of the top ones and stared at it intently. The face of her father stared back at her. How was this even possible? She knew that he had claimed to have first saw her at a young age but to think that she'd been stalked for that long was truly an idea that made her mouth go dry. Not only had he been stalking her, but that included her family as she dug through the box to reveal more pictures of her mother, father and even cousins whenever they would visit.

She emptied the box on the floor and began to scatter them about, trying to look at all the images at once. There were so many, ones of her at the age she was now, ones of her when she was fifteen years old, and ones of her in her school uniform. Years worth of pictures, all taken by this man, her captor, a sick individual who she'd thought couldn't get any worse than he already was.

Tina shoved the empty box away and pulled out another box, one that was a lot smaller. This box's content confused her. There was a blanket on the top and when she removed that found a small trinket box that was empty, a ring in a box that was missing its lid, a small sock and a plaque that had the name CHRISTOPHER engraved onto it. Was that his name? Why would he have it engraved into a plaque? Why did he have this box full of items that she couldn't make any sense of? It didn't surprise her that she couldn't but it made her warier. At least the pictures told her that he'd been stalking her, these items said nothing of the sort.

She shoved that box back where it was before collecting all the pictures and dumping them into their box and replacing that back under the bed. Then she turned to the bedside cabinet beside her and tried the top drawer. It was locked.

Hope surged through her and she climbed to her feet, dashing around to the other side to try that top drawer. That was locked also, something she hadn't been expecting, but told her that both held items he felt best remain under lock and key. What if that was where he kept the key to her chain? The only problem she now had was how was she going to get into those drawers? She wasn't strong, especially being starved like she was, but she hadn't come across anything of use as of yet. She felt like a mouse caught in a trap: able to see their sanctuary ahead but unable to free themselves to get there. Who knew how long her captor would be gone for? If she managed to escape, she could run in the opposite direction and hopefully put a lot of distance between them long before he discovered her gone.

She hurried over to the smaller drawers and opened them quickly, dismayed to find each drawer filled to the brim with clothes. There was nothing hard hidden beneath any of the piles, no hidden key or hammer or anything weapon-like she could use. Suddenly she remembered the knife that was sat in the bathroom and she looked down at her ankle. The chain was long enough to stretch through the entire cottage up until the window on the far side of the house. There were also two windows in this bedroom: the one she'd look out of that faced the road her captor would return on, and the one that faced around back and was out of view from the front. Would it be long enough to allow her to climb out this window and back into the cottage on the other side of the locked door? She didn't know but she was going to try.

The window was hard to open but she persevered, pushing with all her might, relived when it began to lift. She didn't open it all the way, only enough so that she could stick her leg out and swing her body through. The grass beneath her feet made her feel free, despite the chain that still kept her prisoner. She moved to the window that would lead into the kitchen and wedged her fingers at the bottom, desperate to open it from the outside. It took a while but it slowly began to rise, and once it had opened about two centimetres, it was easier to push all the way up.

Once inside she began to truly inspect the place, looking through the cupboards and drawers for anything that could prove important before she grabbed a knife. Tina didn't know how to pick a lock so she definitely didn't know how to unlock a shackle, but that wasn't going to stop her. So she sat on the floor with the knife tightly in her hand as she began to wiggle the tip in the hole that normally unlocked it. She tilted it upwards, downwards and to both sides, pressed it hard and pressed it softly, all in an attempt to trigger it to unlock. Nothing worked.

Frustrated, she threw the knife on the floor and grabbed her head with her hands. How was she supposed to escape now? Or was the point being that she was never supposed to? That the only way she'd ever be free from her captor would be if her life was ended. She didn't want that to be true but part of her screamed that escape was futile, that her previous attempts were just clear indications that she would always fail in her attempts. Accepting that would mean that she gave up, and that was just something she would not do.

She rose from the floor just as she began to hear noise coming from outside. She didn't have to look to know that her captor was returning. As quickly as she could she swiped up the knife from the floor and shoved it back in the drawer before darting to the window and tumbling out of it, pushing with all her might to close it before she hurried to climb through the bedroom window. This time the window didn't seem to want to close even as she desperately pulled at it. There was noise within the cottage and her desperation grew tenfold as it slowly began to budge before suddenly shooting down. She hurried to the other side of the room and dropped down into the spot she was sure was where he'd left her as she heard the door be unlocked.

The look her captor wore made Tina wish that she could have fled right there. He thundered over to her and grabbed her by her hair even as she was moving backwards. "You always have to make things difficult for me," he snapped, throwing her onto her back and crouching over her. "You never think before you do something, do you?!"

"I don't know what you mean," she said, crying out when she was rewarded with a slap. "I'm sorry!"

"Let me tell you." He grabbed her chin and dug his fingers into her cheeks. "Your disobedience that involved the police is the reason you're here." He hit her again with his free hand. "After we left they decided that they couldn't just look over what had happened and instead decided that they need to check up on you. We couldn't have that, could we? You are lucky I was able to fix the mess you made otherwise you would have been disposed of tonight."

Her heart was in her throat at his words. There had been hope for her after all until he'd extinguished it while she languished here as his prisoner. Knowing that her actions had brought about some consequence was of some comfort to her, though she was unsure whether that comfort would get her through the beating she was sure was coming.

"Do you understand now?" He grabbed her hair and pulled her head, stretching her neck in an awkward angle. "Your life, all your decisions, belong to me, and any attempt you make to try and break that will just result in more pain and misery for you. Your misguided notion that someone out there cares about you is pitiful," he said, rising to his feet and dragging her up by her hair. He grabbed her arm and pulled her out the bedroom and into the bathroom, forcing her to stand in front of the mirror, tilting her head so that she was forced to look at her reflection. "Look at how pathetic you are. Not even your mother could stomach you. Why else would she kick you out onto the street?"

Tears burned her eyes as she tried to block out his words. It wasn't true. None of what he said was true. She didn't belong to him, and she certainly did have people who cared for her. But the stark reality was that none of those people would even have the faintest idea that she was no longer living on the streets and was now a captive of a deranged man who she grew ever more accepting of the fact that he would one day kill her. He was too unpredictable and threatened her too much for her survival to span a long time. Whenever her purpose had been used up - whatever purpose that actually was - she was certain he wouldn't even hesitate to kill her. And her family would still be none the wiser.

"Everything you have now, including your life, is because of me, and you best remember that," he murmured in her ear before he threw her on the floor and gave her a kick before stepping over her and walking away.

Tina curled into herself as she began to cry, hoping that someone somewhere was worried about her.