Saige was overcome with boredom. It was just like her too. Here she was in a life or death situation, and she was worried about entertaining herself. Luckily she had had a lot of practice over the years.
At night she slept long hours, waking up when the sun hit high noon, or when her stomach began to growl. During the day she would scream for help, watch the birds when they landed on the windowsill, and try to free herself from her restraints.
She was currently involved in the latter.
She'd tried everything she could think of to escape. The chains allowed her just enough slack to shift positions comfortably, but not to get much further than a foot from the bed.
Her wrists were cut and bruised from trying to squeeze them through the cuffs, and her body was weak from hunger. She had kicked a rather handsome dent in the wall. She wasn't really sure what good kicking a hole in the wall would do, but it helped her vent.
She'd tried ripping the headboard from the bed, but hardly even budged it; it was bolted on pretty good.
At the moment, she was rubbing the chain vigorously, trying to wear down the bars of the headboard. Too bad for her they were metal. She'd even tried twisting the chain, hoping to break it. She continued these exercises all day until she collapsed in exhaustion.
She sat upright on the bed now, pulling, twisting and rubbing the chain, trying to ignore the pangs of hunger that plagued her. When she slowed down, she began to think of all that had happened in the last three days, and she would be consumed with rage and throw herself mercilessly against the wall. As she pounded her body against her prison, she heard the door open.
She froze and listened. "Hello…?" She croaked. Her voice was strained and coarse from screaming and crying. She heard a brusque voice, and recognized it immediately.
The man was back.
Aidan moaned and stumbled in through the door of some shack out in the woods. His captor had to half-carry him into the hut. He was pushed down the hall and into a somewhat large, white room. He was thrown harshly onto a bed.
"Take care of him," The man said, to someone other than him. His voice was distorted, and things were spinning around him, but Aidan thought he was coming out of it.
He forced his eyes open and looked around.
He saw the blurred figure of someone sitting on the bed next to him. Judging from the figure's slender frame, he guessed that it was a girl, and she was chained to the bed.
"Hey…" She said softly, but not to him. She cleared her throat and called again, this time in a harsh tone. "Hey asshole! Aren't you going to chain him too? Huh?" She screamed, lunging forward and pulling against the chain with all her strength.
Aidan moaned again and blinked, trying to clear his vision.
The girl was still flinging her weight around, trying desperately to free herself while screaming obscenities. "Are you listening to me? I'm hungry! Hel-loooooooo!"
Finally, she stopped and sat back against the wall, dropping her face into her hands. Aidan heard her begin to cry. He wondered how long she'd been there.
At last, Aidan's vision cleared and the double vision of the girl he was seeing earlier merged into one. He slowly sat up and looked at her. She was badly beaten and bruised, there was a huge cut across her head, and she had a black eye. Her clothes were caked in blood and dirt. Her blonde hair was tussled and dirty, and now her face was red and swollen from crying.
After a moment, she looked up from her arms and glanced at him. "What are you looking at?" She snapped.
Aidan did not respond; he just looked away from her and studied the room. There was nothing there but the bed, and a mirror in the wall at its foot.
"It's a two-way," The girl declared, noticing him look at it.
"How do you know?"
She shrugged, "Why else would it be there? The guy's a pervert."
Aidan looked at her and opened his mouth to ask her something, but was cut off when the door opened. Although Aidan's usual instinct would tell him to knock the guy out and run, he was currently too dizzy to try it.
The girl looked at him as well, and jumped forward when she saw what he was carrying: food.
The man smiled at her reaction and put the food in front of them. He stood back and watched as the girl lunged at it and practically inhaled it.
Aidan looked down at his; it didn't look very appetizing. It looked like take-out that was several days - or weeks - old, along with some kind of mush.
Aidan poked at it and tried some, and nearly gagged.
"You gonna eat that?" The girl asked him, looking hungrily at his plate. Aidan shook his head.
"Suit yourself," She shrugged, grabbing it and eating it all.
"When was the last time you ate?" Aidan blinked.
"Three days ago," She answered with a mouth full of food.
The man left quietly and most likely retreated to some other room to watch them.
The sun began to make its retreat behind the forest outside the window, but the two teens didn't pay any attention. It was pretty awkward between them, and although Aidan attempted conversation to keep him sane, the girl wasn't too up for it. She seemed wary of him, like he was going to try and hurt her.
It was getting dark, and the crickets started chirping incessantly. The girl was busy glaring up at the ceiling, her legs kept protectively curled against her chest.
Aidan lay down beside her, trying to stay far enough away from her so as not to scare her. He'd noticed how she jumped every time he made even a remotely sudden move. He tucked his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. He found his thoughts drifting back to Zeke and Lacy. By now they had probably noticed he was gone, although they weren't necessarily worried yet. Had it really been only a few short hours since he'd last seen them?
He looked at the girl and thought about where her family must be. She probably had a great family somewhere, searching for her. Did she miss them?
She didn't look very lonely, just afraid, tormented, and angry. "Why do you keep looking at me?" She asked. She was so casual about it that Aidan almost didn't realize that she was speaking to him.
"I'm curious,"
"As to what?" She snorted.
"Your name."
"Why would you want to know my name?" She asked as she turned her back to him and hugged her knees, the chains clinking together as she moved.
Aidan wasn't quite sure how to answer that, "Well I don't want to have to refer to you as 'girl',"
"Don't worry about it. You don't even have to refer to me at all. We're both going to die here anyway."
"Hm," Aidan sighed and looked back up at the ceiling. She was worse than he was! And Lacy thought he was antisocial. This girl was impossible.
"Saige,"
"Huh?" Aidan blinked and sat up. He looked over at the girl's still body. Had that come from her?
"My name, its Saige." He saw her lips move this time. He smiled just slightly, "I'm Aidan."
She nodded.
"You're lucky, Aidan,"
"Why…?"
"Because you're a guy. What can he do to you…?" She dropped her head down again and closed her eyes, leaving Aidan stunned. Did she mean that…? He stared at her for a long time. No wonder she was so afraid of him. Did she think that…?
"Saige I…I'm not going to do anything like that to you."
She said nothing, but he knew she was listening.
We'll see, Saige thought to herself.
Aidan woke up first the next morning, and he glanced at Saige before he stood up to stretch his legs. Even though he knew it would be locked, her tried the door anyways. It was locked. Aidan sighed and began to pace the room while rubbing his head.
"Will you stop doing that? You're making me jealous."
Aidan stopped and looked up, only to see Saige watching him from a lounging position against the wall.
"Sorry," He muttered and sat down on the end of the bed.
"You think he's watching us?" She asked, glancing at the mirror.
"I dunno," Aidan admitted. "He can't watch us all the time."
"I guess…"
A door opened and closed outside the room, and they both stiffened, focusing their eyes on the door. But no one came. A car door slammed outside and then an engine roared.
"He's leaving…" Saige gasped.
Aidan leapt off the bed and ran to the window. He peered through the metal bars, straining his neck to try and see the man leaving.
"See anything?" Saige asked.
"No, he's on the other side. But he's definitely gone."
"Great…" Saige muttered angrily. She slumped back against the wall and crossed her arms in front of her.
"What do you mean? It's good that he's gone, right? I mean, he can't hurt us..."
"You don't understand. Last time he left I was without food or water or toilet for two days! Not that I had to go without any food in my system."
"You don't think he'd be gone that long, do you?"
"Who knows," She sighed, falling back on the bed. "We might as well sit here and wait to die."
Aidan frowned at her pessimistic attitude. He didn't want to die. He shuddered and closed his eyes, but all her saw were the flames that consumed his home and destroyed his life. As if on cue, his burns started to ache, and he raised a hand to his chest and placed it over the scars.
Finally, he slumped over to the bed and crawled inside. He pulled his head far under the covers and curled up into a ball. He didn't ever want to come out and face the world again. It was just too fucked up.
Saige watched Aidan's strange display with slight interest. She watched him as he grabbed his chest, sauntered across the room to the bed, and then disappeared under the blankets.
She saw the outline of his curled form under the blankets as he shook. He was really taking this hard.
"We all gotta go sometime, buddy. Why not now?" She muttered. She too, made herself more comfortable on the bed and positioned her arms behind her head. After a few minutes, Aidan stopped shaking and went slightly limp. Saige assumed that he had fallen asleep. She relaxed a bit and closed her eyes, concentrating and the life all around her. Soon, she too was asleep.
Aidan's sleep was plagued with nightmares. As soon as he drifted out of consciousness, he felt the heat. It started at his chest, over the burns, and then slowly spread. His entire body was perspiring, and his eyes stung from the intense light.
He raised his arm to his face to shield himself from the flames, but he noticed that something was different about him. His arms were so small. He was eleven years old again, he was in his room, and flames were reaching for him from under his door.
He screamed.
Aidan stood up on his bed and pressed himself against the wall, screaming for all he was worth.
He heard a thump in the next room, and then footsteps. His father flung open the door and ran to him. He picked the boy up and ran him out of the house, ducking under debris.
He placed him on the front lawn and knelt down next to him. "Aidan, I have to go back and get your mother. You stay right here, okay?"
Aidan couldn't find his voice.
"Promise me!" His father shouted sternly.
Aidan blinked back tears and nodded.
"Hey," His father smiled weakly, "Boys don't cry, alright?" He used his thumb to wipe away Aidan's tears, and then turned and ran back into he flaming house.
Sirens began to blare in the distance just as the fire swallowed up his father's form.
A huge truck stopped behind him, but Aidan never looked.
A fireman stopped and tried to talk to him, but Aidan could not move. He just watched as the firemen tried to calm the raging fire.
He watched until daybreak, when a lone fireman carried the charred body of his mother out into the front lawn.
Immediately, the paramedics swarmed to her, and just as quickly pulled a sheet over her face.
Then, his father followed. He too, was pronounced dead.
A woman stopped behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder; "Son, I'm Mrs. Nexing, I'm going to take you somewhere where you can stay. Do you have any relatives or…"
He shook his head; there was no one.
Aidan woke up when it was dark, bathed in sweat and shaking in fear. He pushed his soaked hair out of his face and lay back down, trying to slow his breathing.
A car pulled up to the house; the man was back. He groaned and rolled over to bury his face in the old, flat, dingy pillow. It smelt like something had died in it. Maybe something did.
He listened as the man shuffled slowly into the house and closed the door to what Aidan assumed was his own room. When he was sure he was not going to come in, he kicked the covers down to his feet and shut his eyes again. Even though he knew that he wasn't going to sleep.
Saige was awake, but Aidan didn't know it. She didn't tell him either. She didn't want to bother with asking him what visions had been plaguing his sleep. Her own dreams were haunted with images of her father, of Dianne, and of how she was going to die alone. She squeezed her eyes shut as she listened to Aidan's pathetic sobs, and promised herself that she would never let him see her cry like that.
If she was going to die alone, she at least wouldn't die a coward. She just wished death would hurry up and take her. She didn't want to live this nightmare anymore.
