Only You Sweetheart

Charlotte felt the car begin to slow down, she didn’t know whether she wanted the journey to finally be over so that she could get out or whether she wanted to stay in the car so that she didn’t have to face him but she *would* have to face him eventually better now whilst she had the energy and enough wits about her as opposed to some other time when she was tired and didn’t have the energy to fight. She had noticed his reaction in the car when they had that, well not really a conversation but when they were talking. He was listening he dismissed everything she had said but he was listening maybe if she could talk to him, convince him to take her home … she was kidding herself if she thought she could talk him out of anything but if she lost faith in everything then maybe she would unintentionally make it easier for him.

She felt the sun shine down into the boot of the car as the bonnet opened, she squinted as it caught her eyes, it was blocked out by his head as he leaned in towards her and pulled her out of the car whispering “home sweet home” into her ear. Charlotte turned her head to take in the surroundings, trees … they were in the middle of nowhere and the house they were about to enter was almost the same size as her own house, Charlotte flinched as she turned her head back she’d gotten a stiff neck from being crammed into the car for so long and now it started to throb.

He grabbed the bags from the back seat and cheerfully brought her into the house, Charlotte felt the dread collapse onto her like a tonne of bricks, they were the only ones around … even if she did escape, where was she supposed to run? She took one more glance at the trees, her safest bet would be through there, at least then as she looked for other civilisation she could also hide if she were and very well probably being chased.

“Lets go inside babe, I can show you around your new home” Charlotte darent not look into those black eyes that were beaming at her as she stepped through the doorway. The house hadn’t that long been lived in she noticed as she took in the kitchen and lounge, there was newspaper on the table and still some cutlery by the sink. How could he afford this place? Perhaps she didn’t want to know, she didn’t want to find out that a friendly old couples lives had been taken so that he had a place to keep his hostage. As if reading her thoughts he spoke “This was my dads house, at least the bastard gave me something useful before he pissed off and left me, I was here recently, a few weeks back … I knew I would be bringing you here eventually I had to make sure everything was safe, acceptable and non – escapable”
Charlotte shivered, he’d sorted everything out before she had arrived, he leaned in and whispered in her ear “It was hard you know”
Charlotte moved her head away just a bit “What was?” she asked quietly
“I didn’t see you for four days, I don’t think you will ever realise just how painful those four days were for me” She knew not to answer, she could think of things to say but none of them he would appreciate very much and she would be the one to regret them, not him.
“I’ll show you upstairs”
Once they got to the top they entered the bedroom “This is our room” Charlotte shivered at the word ‘our’ just like she did the first time he had said it back at his old apartment, the bed was large, it reminded her of an old Victorian bedroom you would of found once upon a time in historical England, a big contrast to the rest of the house that was reasonably modern. She watched as he un-padlocked a cupboard on the other side of the room; he motioned for her to come towards him. She took a few steps forward and peered into the cupboard, it was small and empty.
“I don’t want to scare you but if at any point you … misbehave, this is where you’ll be spending a lot of your time, I say if honey, its up to whether you fancy being stuck in there … cus I don’t want to throw you in there but I might have to”
Charlotte didn’t answer, she just stared at the cupboard fearfully, it would be dark when the door was closed, cramp and cold. She trembled as she wondered what other ‘secrets’ were laying around the house of horrors, infact Charlotte was trembling so much that she though she might faint “Where’s the bathroom?” she woke herself up from her terror, he smiled at her and led her to a room opposite the bedroom,
“I’ll wait out here … we’re upstairs babe, even if you could fit out of the window you’d plummet to your death” charlotte closed the door on his grinning face that needed a good smack. She splashed her face with cold water; it felt good and brought her to her senses. She used the toilet and stood in the middle of the room for a few seconds to gather her thoughts and to try and get rid of some of the fear that had doubled ever since she had entered the house. She opened the door and found him exactly where she had left him, had she ever been out of his sight for more then three minutes ever since he had landed her in this horrific situation? No was the painful answer.
His fingers gently gripped her arm and took her back down stairs, they entered the lounge, there was a television facing the large couch, which he set her down on, for a few tear filled moments she thought she was going to feel his weight on top of her again but thankfully she didn’t, he just sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, kissing her gently on her cheek “We’ll be happy here, you just wait and see” They sat in silence for a good ten minutes, he was enjoying just being in her company whilst she stared at the switched off TV wondering if her face was on the news, he smiled as he stroked her face, “We’ll have to christen our new bed later on” Her face drained, she couldn’t cope the rest of the day knowing what was to come. “I’m going to make us some lunch, make yourself comfy honey … watch some TV if you like” he strolled out of the room and into the kitchen. Charlotte glanced at the front door and then at the television. She couldn’t remember any of her thoughts, she didn’t even remember getting up off of the couch, the next time Charlotte began thinking again she was out of the front door and heading for the trees.

Matt had realised leaving her in the lounge by herself was a stupid idea a few seconds before he heard the front door being flung open, he made a mad dash after her and caught view of her running body just before she entered the mass of trees. He spat mouthfuls of profanities as he chased after her, how stupid could he have been, he should of realised his beautiful tearaway wasn’t going to just sit around and be quiet.

Charlotte dashed through the trees, she tripped up over a log but continued to run, she was a good runner, she always won at track at school, maybe something was finally going to bode in her favour. She heard him yelling behind her, he wasn’t too far away, tears streamed down her face as her legs continued to slam down onto the floor at an incredibly fast rate, she had to get away. Maybe she would come across another house, or a road? Or more trees. She still heard him yelling at her as she continued to sprint dodging each tree that got in her way by bare inches, he was catching up to her, his yells were getting louder, his shouts of her name were ringing in her ears as jumped over a ditch, she wouldn’t turn around though … she wasn’t going to make that mistake of turning her head to see where he was only to be knocked out by an on coming tree, her breath became soar from her heavy breathing, it felt like sharp knives swiping at her neck as she ran like a maniac.

Her hands felt the force of her body as she fell to the floor, tripping over a growth of weeds, she picked herself up. She’d blown it, she kept running knowing he was right behind her, it didn’t take him long to catch up with her. Her legs hurt from the fall, she had taken her mind off of the run for a mere second and she had tripped. He threw her to the ground, they were both out of breath, she didn’t get back up, she was too tired and her legs and arms hurt and breathing tore at her throat.
“You stupid fucking idiot” he roared at her as he stood next to her, his eyes stabbing into her furiously “You’ve really done it now” His hands gripped her arms roughly and pulled her up, he pulled at her powerfully back to the house, she tried to struggle but his grip was painful and she could barely breathe from tiredness. With what felt like miles running, they reached the house pretty soon making her escape feel pretty feeble “I’m sorry” she breathed as he pulled her up the stairs, he was furious she could tell. “It’s too late” It dawned on Charlotte where he was dragging and she began to fight back, what an idiot! He had only just warned her about that fucking cupboard!!! She felt her head hit the back wall as he forcefully threw her in, she pounded on the door as she heard him padlock it up, the bolts clicked. She was screaming, begging him to let her out. She couldn’t see a thing and it had been too short a time from being stuffed into the car.

Matt stormed out of the room, her screams droned into his head. He turned the TV on to drown out the noise; the more he listened to her scream the more tempted he was to let her out.

Once Charlotte’s voice couldn’t scream any longer and her hands ached from the thumping she slid to the ground and cried into her knees that were bent so close to her face because of how small the cupboard space was, she desperately needed to stretch them, they throbbed in pain. It was truly a nightmare now, who knew how long it would be until he let her out, what if he went days??? Charlotte couldn’t bear to think about it, she sobbed quietly as she sat uncomfortably in the dark confined space.

Matt turned the TV down and listened, she had stopped screaming. Good. He sat misey ony on the couch; he couldn’t let her be able to escape again. He would have to make sure that she remained here with him, for good. She would see that there was no escape from him; she needed to be taught a lesson.

He fell asleep on the couch, he watched some more TV, he made something to eat, he repeatedly turned to the clock … six hours, she had been in there for six hours. He skulked back up to the cupboard and slowly opened the door to find her crouching down, her hands wrapped around her head. He wanted to stand her up and hug her, kiss her face and make her misery go away. Except he knew he was about to make it worse, much worse. But it was for the best; he knew it would be for the best in the long term.

“Go and lay on the bed” his order was quiet but stern, Charlotte slowly got up and moved towards the bed, her legs trembled so much she almost collapsed onto the floor. She reluctantly lied down on the bed, dreading what was coming but just wanting to be able to stretch out her body and let it relax, he approached her, noticing how much she was trembling, her fear was obvious.
“Please Matt, I can’t … I can’t …”
“Ssh” he whispered but he was avoiding eye contact, if he looked at her he might reconsider, he handcuffed her hands to the bed, she tried to twist out of his grip but she was crying to much. His hands ran down her body gently and he left the room, leaving her sobbing, every second he was away her fear shot through her like it blood.

He came back in a few minutes later, holding a cricket bat and a penknife. “Have you ever read ‘Misery’?” lottlotte didn’t answer, she just cried, “I’m sorry Matt, Please don’t I wont try and run away again”
“I know you won’t sweetie but its for the best, you can close your eyes if you want”
“No please …”
“Don’t cry, I’ll make it up to you afterwards … but you need to learn that running only leads to pain”
“But I’ve learnt my lesson I promise …”
“You can show me how sorry you are afterwards when we make love OK?”
Charlotte didn’t answer, her voice disappeared as soon as he undid her jeans and pulled them off, she closed her eyes tight. Please disappear Charlotte, make your mind disappear. It didn’t.