In Between Seasons

Chapter 52

I blinked the dryness from my eyes as my head swayed freely. My shoulders burned and as I tried to rotate them I realized why. My eyes shot open towards the light shifting and blinking ominously at me as I breathed in the damp air. I yanked at my bindings as the metal of the chair bit into my back. I tried to move my legs, but then the whole chair moved.

"Hello?" I yelled into the darkness before cursing to myself.

This was a scene from one of those novels I had started reading—the ones where people were beaten into submission for information they didn't have.

I swallowed back the gasp of air I wanted to take in.

This was what truly being kidnapped felt like. I stared at my surroundings, squinting as I tried to see if there was anything in this room besides me. There was, but it wasn't going to help me. I stared at a metal chair across the way. It must have been identical to the one cutting my circulation off. My head shot up as I heard movement behind one of the four walls trapping me in.

A space in the wall opened and light flooded into the inky black of the room before a tall frame broke the light and sent it shattering in a million directions that hurt my eyes. He closed the door behind him, and then moved the chair into the light, turning it backwards.

I gazed up at him as I tried to keep my breathing even, but in truth, he didn't look scary. He completely disarmed me with the warm smile he cast at me as he settled into the chair and placed his arms on the back of it.

"Sorry about all this," he said as his arms made a broad sweeping movement. "But it's protocol when someone is found at the border."

"I swear I had no clue whose border we were on. We were just looking—"

"Looking for what?" he cut me off, and his eyes were genuine in their curiosity.

He wasn't scary at all.

This was just bizarre.

"Something I'm guessing doesn't exist from this," I replied, wiggling my cramped fingers as the thought sunk in.

"What is it that you're looking for?"

"Freedom." I clenched my teeth as I waited for a haughty laugh as a response. It never came.

"That must be a novel thought to you and your boyfriend," he said, and his eyes were unsurprised by what I said.

My breath hitched in my throat at the mention of Hunter.

"Where is he?" I asked, struggling against the binds again. "Is he okay?"

The man sat up, holding his hands up for me to stop. I froze, afraid my reaction would make them do something bad to Hunter.

"Relax, he's in much the same state you are, so quite fine I'd say," he explained.

"Thank you," I whispered as tears began to fill my eyes. I didn't know if I could believe this man, but the thought of Hunter being okay relaxed me.

"Now, let's get to the nitty gritty. Who are you?" he asked as he settled back into his prior position.

My eyes drifted around the room as I struggled to figure out who I was.

"Kate Ericson," I finally replied with a sigh, my head dropping to my chest.

"Ericson?"

I lifted my head, my chin trembling as I nodded.

"Are you going to kill me now?" I asked as I tried to keep my eyes steady on his; as I tried to look fearless when I felt like puking everywhere.

He shook his head, his hand cover his mouth as he wiped his lips. "So you are Juliet."

I blinked at him as I struggled to breath. "Juliet?"

"Two different sides of the track fall in love."

I pulled my lip into my mouth as a sad smile came to my lips. "I was hoping it wouldn't end the same way."

The man gave a soft chuckle. "I think that you two will be the determinants of that."

I swallowed.

"What do you think of war?" the man asked, and his eyes studied my face with a scrutiny that made me want to disappear.

"War?" I repeated and the man nodded. "There was never a war for me until now. I never knew I was right in the middle of one. Hunter kidnapped me, and in that moment everything changed. My mother sent my boyfriend to kill me, not to save me—to kill me— someone who said they loved me held a gun to my head with every intent of blasting my head in. To add another twist my father is just a puppet for my psychotic mother. Everyone in this God forsaken world is after Hunter and I—our families hate each other—hate each other, and they've come together to kill us both. The war our families made up in their heads has taken everything away from me. I have no family, and I guess I never did, but what I did have—do have is Hunter. He's all I have left, he's all the matters," I finished, my voice breaking as I said his name.

The man smiled sadly before nodding and standing. He took one last look at me before nodding towards the darkness behind me. I sucked in a breath of air as I prepared to scream.

There was someone behind me. God, there was someone behind me!

The scream never left my lungs as a hand reached around my face and covered my mouth with a sick smelling damp cloth. If I was able to keep my eyes open for more than ten seconds after the smell overtook me I would have vomited, but now I was wandering in the blackness inside my head.

The numbness sunk into me, weighing down my body and pressing me deeper and deeper into the darkness until only one thought remained.

Hunter.