“What the fuck just happened?” I ask, trying to move to get the numbness off my body, but I discover that I have one hand tied to the bench with a thick rope. “Ugh, really?” I mumble, rolling my eyes.
“I don’t think I have to tell you that somebody heard us,” he says in one breath, closing his eyes to calm down and leaning his head back.
I notice that he has both hands tied to the bench and they are full of blood, so I have to assume he already tried to untie himself.
“Don’t copy me,” he says with his eyes still closed, probably feeling my gaze on his hands.
I sigh softly, closing my eyes to bring calmness to my body. A lot of blood appears behind them, so I open my eyes again, mumbling words that make no sense because of mybeautifulimagination.
Sorry. My fault.
With my available hand, I try to untie the rope from my right hand. Surprise: I can’t do it. It is too tight to get it off easily.
Great.
Actually…
I have something handy in my bag. Unfortunately, I was right with my restlessness, so I search, and surprisingly, it is still there.
But the notebook isn’t.
I take the penknife and try to cut the rope without injuring myself. But with me being so careless, still daydreaming, I whimper when I slit the place on the wrist next to the veins. The drops of blood rapidly spread on my hand. Some of them even reach my dress, accentuating the red colour of the flowers.
When I look up, I see Lucas frowning at me with a raised eyebrow, looking at the fresh cut.
“I hope you don’t wanna do that to me, too.”
“You already made it worse. You won’t even feel it,” I smile.
I take one of the ropes that is holding his hands captive and exhale with relief when I notice they are already eased. I cut both of his strands, succeeding in not hurting him at all.
“Ok, so what are we going to do? We continue, leave, eat, sleep? I don’t even know what time it is,” he sighs, making our guts rumble when he talks about food.
Our gazes go over the colours left behind by the sun that couldn’t wait to get lost. A sign that it is already getting dark.
They kept us out all day. I’m hungry, but the only place I can trust eating in is my hotel room, after a long, hot bath.
My luck will surely not be by my side with all I wish for. The danger around us feels stronger, along with the last rays of the sun from behind the trees.
“Let’s go back to the hotel, and we’ll see what we’re gonna do from there.”
I was about to get up, but the exhaustion won. I was close to lying on the ground if Lucas hadn’t helped me.
I try to survive the gravity by taking a few steps, helped by Lucas, until he sighs and lifts me high like a bride. My gaze goes from his beautiful emeralds to his bloody hands and the way they are staining my dress even more.
He carries me up to my apartment door. When he sees that I can stay on my own feet without collapsing, he turns around and goes to his room.
The plan was summed up to a quick shower, contradictory to my high expectations, some comfortable clothes, and a push of a button. We are to meet in my apartment and make a plan for what we’ll do without getting caught again.
But, before that, we both need to regain our strength. We don’t know what we will be up against in this strange little town, which creeps me out even more with every passing second. So, a tasty meal will be exactly what we’ll need.
At least for the moment.
Chapter 5
Find me
I am lying in bed, staring at an inexistent dot on the ceiling, waiting for Lucas and the food I told Blake to bring, when I get startled by a strong voice.
