I found myself back in my prison cell, or as Tomas liked to call it, my bedroom. It was storming outside with lightning lighting up the room, only for the space to be drowned in a roar of thunder. I lay there shivering in my cage that had been stripped of its stuffing, leaving me with nothing but the cold floor and steel bars. My heart was beating frantically as I tried to pry the bars open to no avail. The door creaked open, revealing Tomas with a grin so wide it touched his hairline, distorting his face into a horror show. I let out a blood-curdling scream as he approached. I tried to scoot away, but was met with the immovable steel bar. He came closer and closer, and finally, instead of opening the cage, he walked through the bars.
"Leonida, wake up! Wake up! It's just a dream, you are fine," a male voice called out, thankfully dragging me from my nightmare.
Although I was awake, my eyes remained shut, my body paralyzed in sleep. Sleep paralysis was not something I was new to, but it did not make the experience any less jarring. Unable to fully wake up, I allowed my mind to wander, a skill I had learned after the hundredth incident, back to the room in my nightmare.
The real version of the room was not as nightmarish, but it was still disturbing. It was a lavish, spacious room and would have been the envy of many had it not been for the enormous birdcage that was at the center of the room. Initially, after the novelty of living in a proper family home wore off, I tried to return to the orphanage. No amount of suffering could make Tomas's obsessive tendencies seem normal, and I preferred a communal space where I felt like an autonomous human. His reaction after trashing his mansion and uprooting his mother's favorite roses was to hunt me down.
Back then, I had underestimated his obsession and figured if I took the initiative to leave, then he would simply let me go because he cared. I was younger and much more naïve then. I was gone for a total of four hours, and during that time, aside from trashing his house, he made renovations in my room. The spacious queen bed was removed, and in its place, he put in a steel cage with a dome top. He had the bottom padded before placing a thick mattress on the floor. He also had a few extra touches added, like the fairy lights that were anchored around the steel bars, which were painted black, my favorite color. He, of course, found me in the very first place he looked. I had nowhere else to go, and thanks to him, I had no friends who would dare offend him.
I finally gained control of my body, and my eyes flew open. I quickly shut them again as bright light flooded my cornea. Somebody helped me up, and I allowed my body to be guided, still gathering my senses before the events of yesterday, and the reason for renewed nightmares came to mind. I opened my eyes in the same second, threw my body in the opposite direction, and heard hammering, while my entire body broke into a cold sweat. I fought against the hands that had been comforting me in a blind panic.
" Leonida! It's me, it's Charles, it's safe!" he shouted a few times before the words finally sank into my mind.
I calmed down enough to look at him, and a shadow of guilt settled on my face as I took in the vicious scratch marks that littered his chest. I looked down at my red fingernails and saw blood darkening their tips. Charles looked more concerned about me than his bleeding chest, which made me feel even worse. I quickly got up and knelt in front of him on the bed.
"I am so sorry, I had a nightmare and I thought you were Tomas." I apologized; my sincerity is shocking me more than anyone else.
"Don't even worry about it. I am just glad you are awake now."
"Where am I?" I asked after a quick look around the luxurious room that was not mine
"You are in my house. Tomas knocked you out yesterday and would have succeeded in kidnapping you had it not been for my bodyguards. They took him and his Personal assistant down, and I managed to get to you. It didn't seem safe at your home, so I brought you to mine. A lot more security."
"Why would you help me?" I asked, truly confused. The first time we interacted on a personal level was when he attempted to harm me, but I ended up kidnapping him. We were by no means close friends.
"Surprisingly enough, I know your brother from way back. We met coincidentally when I went looking for you at your parents' compound, which your mansion in the woods is registered under. I found Brian instead, and he insisted on bringing me back to say hi to his family. Imagine my shock when I arrived and there you were with Tomas."
"I wasn't with him in any way. He broke into my house."
"I know, your guards were passed out by the time we got to the house. Happy to know I was right about him. He would make for an interesting play partner."
"This is the first time I have heard somebody say the word play when referring to Tomas ever. Even his family members are terrified of him."
"Then they are smart and kind. My mother had me in a mental hospital when I was four. It seems unreasonable, but the other option was dedicating me to God and then burying me alive. My father begged her to take me to an institution, and it was honestly the safer option."
I took a step back involuntarily. While Tomas' madness was visible in his eyes and his quick reactions, Charles' eyes remained indifferent despite talking about something traumatizing. It reminded me of how calm he had been about my kidnapping him and Tomas breaking in. I finally allowed my brain to wander into a territory I had firmly blocked off.
"Why did you break into my car?" I asked the question I should have asked from the beginning
"From the first time I saw you walking into the club, I was mesmerized. You gave off an angel in a demon suit, and I was intrigued. So I talked to the manager, paid him some money, and he let me join the group of us who were going to serve you. Everything you did after only made me more curious, so I found out which car was yours and hopped in."
"To have a nice conversation?" I asked hopefully, his wry laugh banished hope back into the abyss.
"I want to be honest with you, so no. I intended to take you home with me and lock you up until you found me just as interesting."
"If I failed to hold your interest?" I asked the question that nagged me the most.
"Let's not talk about that. Right now, you are the most interesting person I have ever met, so there is no chance of my letting you go," he said in ama matter of fact tone as if he was discussing the weather.
"Is it something in my eyes, or is it the way I dress?" I asked. He raised his brow in confusion. "Why do I keep attracting psychopaths into my life? My adopted parents were animals, Tomas was no better, and now there is you, who basically confessed your murderous intentions towards me if I failed your sort of imagination."
"I can't speak for all other psychos out there, but this is the first time I have been attracted to another human being. I want to protect you and keep you safe from other monsters in the world."
"Will you hurt me?" I asked, not sure what I was hoping to hear.
"I would rather die than let anything happen to you," he said, staring deep into my eyes, and I believed every single word he said.