His Desire

When Tina managed to slowly prise her eyes open, she couldn't think straight. Her mind was hazy and there was a throbbing behind her eyes that made her want to stay cloaked in the darkness. Something told her that wasn't an option, though. It could have been how stiff her limbs felt, or how her throat felt as if it had been replaced with sandpaper, she wasn't sure which was worse.

She moved her head to the side and immediately regretted it as the throbbing spread to her head. When she tried to move her hand to rub her forehead, she found that she couldn't move it. She tilted her head up and opened her eyes fully to see that her wrist was tied to the post of the bed. Panicked, she looked at her other wrist and found it to be in the same position. She tried to recall how she ended up in this position but found her mind was too hazy.

She moved her head to the side and immediately regretted it as her head began to pound frantically. The bed she was lying on was not familiar and she couldn't remember what had happened last time she was conscious. It was safe to say that today was not going well.

To take in her surroundings and allow the pounding to subside, she inspected the room. Opposite where she was laying there was two doors and to the left of the bed was a small bedside cabinet. Apart from that, the room was bare. There was nothing around that looked as if it would help her escape from her current position, and the restraints were too tight for her to slip out from. Unless someone was to release her wrists from where they were, she feared that she was stuck.

Nevertheless, she tugged at her restraints, desperately hoping for at least one of them to be loose enough for her to work on. All she succeeded in doing was rubbing the restraints against her wrists, irritating her skin. It didn't deter her, though. She didn't know how she got where she was or who was behind it, but she knew for a fact that she wasn't going to just lie around and wait for them to return. Who knew what they wanted with her, and despite being at a desperate time in her life, she was not prepared to find out.

Pushing herself up using her feet, Tina tried to position herself so that she was in a sitting position without the restraints digging into her wrists too deeply. Lying down was definitely not helping and she thought she'd gain a better look at her restraints if she was almost level with them. It did not work out as planned, however. With how her wrists were bound, she could barely sit up without pulling her arms into a painfully awkward position, and there was only so much leeway the restraints gave her when it came to shifting them on her wrists.

Frustrated, she tugged furiously at her restraints and let out a cry. She kicked her legs out and squeezed her eyes shut. Breathe, she reminded herself. Getting worked up wouldn't help and she needed a calm mind to keep trying to free herself. She might have been alone for a while but she was sure that whoever had tied her to the bed would be back.

Tina cleared her throat, wincing at how sore the back of her throat felt. A sound from outside the room made her jump and she set her gaze back on the doors facing her. Was someone out there? The person who brought her here? What if it's someone who could help her? She didn't normally rely on someone else to help her but at this moment in time, she had no other choice. These restraints were not budging and she needed to get out of this position. So she sucked in a deep breath and called out, "Hello?" It didn't come out as loud as she'd wanted, and it irritated her throat as well, but that didn't stop her calling out again. "Is anyone there?"

The door on the left's handle moved, making Tina hold her breath. A lock turned before the handle went all the way down, allowing the door to creak open and reveal a man. All Tina could hear was her heart thudding erratically in her chest, her fear doing its best to paralyse her.

"It's nice to see you awake," the man said, turning slightly and picking up what she saw to be a collapsible chair. He stepped into the room and shut the door, making her note how he didn't lock it behind him. Turning back towards her, he approached the bed and set the chair up, seemingly going to sit on it before he straightened back up, mumbled something and left the room again. He wasn't gone too long, unfortunately for Tina, and before she could begin to process what had just happened he was back in the room, a glass of water in his hand.

He placed the water on the bedside cabinet and sat down, putting him too close for her comfort. "How are you feeling?" he questioned, reaching forward and feeling her forehead. She shook her head, not wanting him to touch her and he drew back his hand. "You don't feel hot, so that's a good thing."

Hearing him talk made her skin crawl. She knew who he was - this man had served her at the shelter. She had got into his car willingly and look where she had ended up. She didn't even know his name, so she was honestly baffled at why he would have drugged her with that sweet and brought her here, wherever here was.

"Do you need some water?" he asked, reaching out and grabbing the glass. She saw him eye her restraints and she looked at them as well. Would he remove them for her? That was all she needed. Once she was free from this bed, nothing would stop her from getting to that door. Much to her surprise, he perched on the edge of the bed, placed a hand behind her head and gently placed the rim of the glass against her lips. As much as she was dying of thirst, she didn't open her mouth. If he had filled a toffee with a sedative, what's to say he didn't put something else into the water? She didn't want to chance it.

The man sighed and used a finger from the hand that was holding the glass to push into her lips and pry her mouth open. She fought against him but had no choice when he tipped the water into her slightly opened mouth. Her reflexes kicked in and she swallowed to prevent herself from choking. The coolness of the liquid soothed her throat and she opened her mouth a bit wider, now eager to have as much water as she could. She hadn't realised how parched she had been.

After allowing her half the glass, the man withdrew it from her lips, placed it back on the cabinet and sat back on the chair, watching her. She placed her head back on the pillow and looked at the ceiling, not wanting to look at him. What could she say? He had drugged her and tied her to a bed, was there anything she could say?

A hand reached across and touched her wrist closest to him. She jerked her arm, trying to stop him from touching her but this time he didn't pay any notice to her action. He fingered her restraint, pushing it down slightly and running his fingers over the marks they'd made. "You've been struggling," he noted, making her turn her head so that she couldn't see him. "This isn't very good, Tina."

"What is wrong with you?" she exclaimed, turning her head to look at him. "Why am I here? What do you want from me?"

This time the man stopped touching her and sat back in his chair, staring at her. "That's not a very nice thing to say."

"Please, just let me go. I won't tell anyone what happened, I swear--"

"That's not going to happen," he interrupted, making her words die on her lips. "Besides, it's not as if you have anyone you could tell. You're all alone in this world so why would I want to let you go?"

His words made a chill run through her body. Going to that shelter had come back to haunt her. Of course he knew she had no one otherwise why would she be seeking out warmth and food with other people who have no one? Anyone who had seen her go into that shelter would know that she was alone, without anyone to rely on. No one would know that she was missing because she was never consistent. And he probably knew that, much to her horror.

She clenched her fists and turned her head away, not wanting to let him see the tears that were stinging her eyes. She could have prevented this. Had she never stepped foot inside that shelter, this would not have happened. This man would have never seen her and she would not be in this situation right now. If only she'd known that seeking help would have ended like this.

"Tina," the man said, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Go away, she thought, desperately wanting to be alone. "Look at me."

Her arms were aching and her throat was still sore. She wanted more water but she couldn't ask him for more. She couldn't even listen to what he was telling her. Looking at him made it too real and she didn't want it to be real. She wanted this to all be a bad dream and that she would wake up in the derelict building she had been using to sleep in.

But that was ruined by the man reaching over and grabbing her chin, forcing her to look at him. "I said look at me," he repeated. She tried to pull away but that only made him tighten his grip. "When I speak to you, I expect you to look at me. Am I understood?"

Tina knew she would probably regret it but still she gathered saliva in her mouth and spat in his face. The back of his hand collided with her face before she could get her words out and her head flew to the side at the force. She hadn't expected to get away with her action but had still been caught by surprise. But the main thing was that he was no longer holding her chin and that was all she hoped to achieve.

"Whether you like it or not, you are staying in this room. If you continue to act like a child I will treat you like one. Don't test me, Tina, because I will always win," he snapped, standing up from the chair. "It's down to you how you want to go. The easy way or the hard way." With that, he folded up his chair and left the room, locking the door behind him and leaving her alone.

Tina looked up at the ceiling, took a deep breath and choked back a sob.