Beautiful Disaster

Facade

I felt like I was suffocating. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't hear anything. I felt like I was encased in nothing but darkness, swallowing me up and making it harder to breathe with every moment that passed. I'd never felt so terrified in my life.

I tried to move my hands, but hissed in pain when I felt coarse rope rubbing against the sensitive skin of my wrists, making the skin raw. My fear only seemed to ratchet higher as I realised that my hands were tied and when I tried to move my legs, I discovered that they were tied too, preventing me from moving at all.

I heard the sound of a door opening and before I could collect my thoughts, light flooded into the room, making me squeeze my eyes shut desperately. It took me a moment for my eyes to adjust as I blinked them repeatedly, trying to re-acclimatize them to the light.

When my eyes had refocused, I immediately saw the man standing a few feet in front of me. Everything about him screamed danger, from the way he held himself right down to the razor-edged knife he held in his hand.

It took everything I had to stop myself from screaming at the sight of the knife. From that moment, I knew that I was in real danger and that I had to be smart and extremely careful if I wanted to get out of this in one piece.

As the man walked towards me, twirling the knife between his fingers, I fixed him with a defiant look that I hoped was believable because the only thing I felt right now was terrified.

As he stepped closer, I noticed that he was wearing a mask to cover his face, which depicted a grotesque clown that only made him more terrifying.

With every minute that passed, my fear only grew.

He kept walking until he was right behind me, so close that I could feel the heat emanating from his body. I braced myself for what he was going to do, but nothing could have prepared me for the pain that ratcheted through my scalp when he slid his hand into my hair, tangled his fingers in the strands and yanked my head backwards roughly, making me bite my bottom lip hard to prevent a whimper of pain from escaping my mouth.

"I see that you're finally awake, Princess." He said, his voice harsh and full of malicious intent. He punctuated his words with feeling as I felt the cold edge of the knife trail along the hollow of my throat, causing my breath to escape in a harsh gasp that almost made me flinch.

I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was hurting me or scaring me in the least. I refused to let him win.

I flinched before I could stop myself when the knife trailed along the edge of my collarbone as the man chuckled into my ear, making me shiver with revulsion as his breath washed over my neck.

I kept telling myself over and over not to let him see how terrified I was, which was the only thing keeping me strong right now. If it wasn't for the fact that I refused to let him win, I would break down and I didn't know if I'd be able to put myself back together if I did that.

"Who are you?" I asked after a moment of silence, surprised when my voice came out strong and steady, completely devoid of any fear.

His fingers tightened in my hair, causing my scalp to scream with pain, which I struggled to hide.

"You don't need to know that, Princess. All you need to know is that you are a means to an end. We need your father to know that we mean business, which is the only reason you're here." He hissed, his voice harsh.

Everything suddenly made sense. They'd taken me to get to my father. This had nothing to do with me.

I found myself laughing, the sound harsh and humourless.