CHASE
36

BELLA—

I groaned into the silence as I lifted my head, only to face Chase's living room. He had really got me again but I didn't remember how he brought me here except.. in his hand was a cloth when he wrapped it around my mouth and nose. He had sedated me. Yet again. I felt sick to my stomach as I stared at the all too familiar room. My panic was lurking around somewhere and I knew it was bound to attack me anytime soon.

Trying to do something, anything, I jumped up, finding myself unable to move. Studying my situation, I realised that I was tied to a chair. I couldn't even throw up if I wanted to due to the fact I had a tape covering my mouth. I closed my eyes and breathed through my nose, calming my unsettling heartbeat before it rose to a dangerous level but I couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact it was so quiet. No sign of Chase, no sign of life.

I'd come to the conclusion that trying to rip free from the restraints just wasn't going to work so I tried to distract myself from all of the thoughts that were running loose around my head. I was really here again.

I wanted to laugh at the irony, all that time I thought I was driving to my freedom, turns out, I was driving to my awaiting cage. I thought that I could ease down some of my anxiety with the obvious dark humour but it only managed to make it worse as I sat there trembling in dread.

The walls, the walls were reminding me of the many, many weeks I spent here, recalling each and every single torture that I went through. How had I been so stupid to even for a second feel some sort of guilt towards him? He didn't deserve it. He'd hurt me enough so what did he want from me?

My thoughts came to an abrupt stop as I heard heavy footsteps nearing me. Every step he took felt like an eternity. It was strange, I could sense a change in him as I listened to his footsteps. Had he completely lost his mind? Was he going to kill me?

I didn't get to overthink that as two large hands gripped my arms along with the chair. I closed my eyes with the hopes of opening them to a different scenery in a different situation, a situation where I was happy and not drowning in hysteria as I bided my time till the worst came to me.

I felt the chair move along with the sound of the legs scraping the floor, the scratchy sound way too loud for comfort. I finally opened my eyes when he stopped turning the chair and for a second I completely became paralysed at the sight before me. My lungs tightened up and my air supply shut down, my entire mind went blank, finding it hard to motivate myself to breathe as I stared at the man before me.

Tied up to a chair, just like me, the only difference was, he was beaten and bruised, and unconscious. I wanted to believe that this was a dream but I knew I couldn't keep trying to fool myself. Tears escaped their home in my eyes and cascaded down my face because the man passed out before me, he was no other than..

Chase.

I stared at his beaten down feature for a long while before I fell back into the room and realised that if Chase is tied down to that chair, barely alive. Then who exactly was the man stood behind me?

To my luck, I no longer had to question that as the all too familiar voice broke into the depths of my agonising thoughts.

'It's nice to see you again, Bella.' He whispered into my ear and instantly I wanted to die. I didn't get that option though as he walked in front of me, crouching down so that I could see his face all up close and personal. My mind was a scattered mess as I tried to make sense of things. It was not Chase who took me, it was..

Luke.

But how? I thought he was in jail? Nothing made sense and all the pressure of trying to figure everything out was making my head hurt.

He brought his hand to my face, caressing my cheek while he smiled down at me, not a soft smile no, a sinister smile that made you have nightmares for months.

'I bet your curious little brain is wondering what, how, when, who, why, right?' He smirked, his hand reaching for a strand of my hair now, holding it in between his fingers, he seemed more than amused by it. I pulled my head away, not wanting him to touch any part of me. That earned me another awful smile, making my insides churn with nausea.

'Mummy and daddy didn't tell you about my escape?' He rose to his feet, straightening himself up.

'It looks like your boyfriend over there isn't the only one who knows how to escape.' He turned and walked towards Chase. My heart melted in my chest as I thought about him doing something to him. I couldn't bare the thought and it pained me to see him like that.

'Speaking of your boyfriend, I think I like what I've done with him, don't you?' Why was I surrounded by psychopaths? I felt trapped. It's like no matter where I went, I was bound to attract a crazy person and the thought made me feel dizzy.

'You didn't think I'd come back for you, did you, Bella?'

'I was there the night he took you to the hospital. I had been watching your parents for a while in hopes of finding you. Then they drove to the hospital, I watched from the sidelines but what really caught my eye was him.'

'He waited there a while before he left so I followed him back. I think I'm getting good with crashing into people. First you, and now him. Unfortunately for him, I didn't call the ambulance, instead, I put a gun to his head and told him to drive to where he had kept you.'

'I must admit, he had some balls denying a guy who was minutes away from blowing his brains out but when he heard your name, when I told him I'd kill you if he didn't do as I said, he became my little bitch.' He laughed out loud as he poked Chase in the chest, entertaining no one but himself. I felt like I was sinking further into the darkness with every word that came out of his mouth.

'You know you have to be more careful Bella. I followed you from your house to that lakeside and you didn't even notice me. Although I had to park up quite far from you so you didn't notice my car but still, that's reckless of you, don't you think?' He shook his head at me as if he was upset at the fact that I hadn't been more careful to prevent this from happening. Which I really shunned myself for, I had been so stupid and oblivious.

'Oh and that phone you had. Yeah I noticed it while driving here, I'm afraid I had to chuck it away. Sorry about that.' I punched myself internally, dad had put a tracker on that phone, it could've been our way out. My hope decreased further into the nothingness. I just wanted it to end, I wanted it all to end.

'Now now, where to start?' He looked from me to Chase, rubbing his chin as if he couldn't make his mind up. I wanted to talk, to ask him what he wanted from us but my voice came out silent, the tape blocking any form of communication between me and the maniac stood across the room from me.

I yanked on the ropes as I tried to break free. He had a hold of Chase's hair and was slapping him in the face. I assumed he was trying to wake him up. It hurt to watch this play out right before me, I didn't know how long I could take this before I completely broke down.

'Come on now, wake up, your girlfriends here.' I shut my eyes as he landed a punch right into Chases face. When I opened my eyes again, he was awake. His eyes lifted up as he looked at Luke, he was covered in blood and sweat. His grey shirt barely kept its colour and it was eating me alive that I couldn't do a single thing about it.

'Look at her, doesn't she look pretty?' Luke grabbed Chase's head, turning it towards me. When his eyes landed on mine, he blew up. Yanking on the ropes and pushing his chair, he tried to move towards me as he growled into the tape. I couldn't feel my heart anymore and I didn't know if that was a good thing.

'Woah, settle down there hulk.' He laughed out as he watched Chase fight to get to me. I could see the war that was burning deep behind his brown orbs. He was aching and I was too, but not for me this time, I was aching for him.

'I think we're all going to have a lot of fun together.' Luke clapped his hands as he closed the distance between us. Leaning down so that he was staring right into my eyes, he grabbed my chin and pulled my face towards his.

'Aren't we sweetheart?' He whispered into me right before he crashed his mouth onto mine. I was more than grateful for the tape that was holding a barrier between our lips as he devoured me.

Chase on the other hand, he was burning inside as he growled into the tape, I didn't need to take a look at him to know the he was about to explode.

I knew he was.

I closed my eyes once again, not wanting to accept my reality. I was here once again, not by the hands of the psychopath who had torn me apart..

but by the hands of the maniac that was about to break me apart.

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