"What the hell?" the man says, coming toward the window, I think. Then I hear a crack, a grunt, and the man shouts something. There's a crunch of wood as he's thrown to the ground, and the next thing I know, Sebastian is bursting out of the shack, his hands untied but his gag still on.
Relief washes through me as soon as I see his face, and I want nothing more than to kiss him then, just hold him and hug him and cry, because we've survived, at least for now. Sebastian rips the gag off of his mouth as he bursts outside. "We have to move, angel," he says immediately, getting right down to business. "Marco will be coming here any second now."
I nod and follow him down the road. "And the man in the shack?" I call after him.
Sebastian pauses. "Unconscious. Won't bother us again."
I open my mouth to ask another question, but he's already taking off down the road, off past the shack and the car wreckage, past the calling of birds in the maples trees beside us, down the totally empty dirt road until we reach civilization. My legs burn as I run, and my muscles feel so sore from the crash, but I just keep pushing, following Sebastian. We run for several minutes until we make our way back onto the main road, periodically checking to make sure we aren't being followed--we weren't. My lungs are heaving and I gasp for air by the time we slow at an abandoned car on the side of the road. Sebastian punches open the window and reaches in and unlocks the car in one fluid motion, and I watch him, wide-eyed. His suit is beat-up and covered in dried blood, but he still looks great in it, and I find myself wanting to touch him some more, to put a pause to all of this and go back to those Wednesday nights when it was just me and Sebastian, and nothing else mattered.
Sebastian motions me inside. I snap out of my thoughts and follow his lead, climbing into the passenger door as he settles into the driver seat. We both shut our car doors at the same time. Sebastian reaches beneath the car's steering wheel and expertly presses the wires together, brushing them against one another until the hum of an engine sounds.
I smile despite myself. Here we go.
"Not going to cuff me this time?" I joke as soon as Sebastian starts pulling the car off of the side of the road, then speeds down the street, but the bitterness in my voice is obvious.
Sebastian cringes. "I'm sorry. I was just trying to save you. I can get… overbearing at times."
I laugh, annoyed. "No kidding," I mutter as we gun down the maze of roads, heading to who-knows-where.
We don't speak for another hour or so.
As Sebastian drives, looking almost as focused and determined as he was when we were being chased, I find myself relaxing. My muscles ache and the exhaustion seeps in. I drink some water from a water bottle left in the side door, and I offer some to Sebastian but he refuses to drink any. We head in silence all the way there, and I close my eyes, letting sleep take me away. But before I slip into unconsciousness, I find myself thinking about what the man had asked Sebastian. "Where are they?" he'd asked. "Where are they hiding?"
Distantly, I find myself wondering who this 'they' the man is talking about is, and if I am soon to become one of them.
When I wake up, the car is parked. I take in a deep breath and look around. It hits me how I was, once again, so close to dying just hours earlier. It's twilight now, and the air is dark and thick and hazy, sending shivers throughout my body. Cool wind slips by me through the open window, and I hear the sounds of crickets chirping, then the slam of a door beside me as Sebastian steps outside.
"Where are we?" I ask him groggily as he comes around and opens my door for me. I step out, barely able to stand, but I force myself to nonetheless.
"The one place we have left to go," he says under his breath, more to himself than me.
I don't have a chance to ask what he means.
The house this time looks much more lived-in than the others. We walk up a long, swirly driveway until we reach a large house atop a hill, so that one can see any intruders from all sides. Giant maple trees surround the house, enclosing it in a protective shield. As we draw closer, I notice that the grass looks freshly cut, that the blue paint isn't fading and no windows are shattered. It's like someone has been here, and recently. I wonder if this someone is Sebastian. I wonder if this is his home.
I follow him around the backyard and through a stone path to the front steps. The front porch lights turn on because of our presence, illuminating the darkness. Sebastian fishes into his pocket and pulls out a key when we reach the front door. There's a click, and he pushes the door in, revealing the interior of the mansion.
The lights turn on automatically, filling the room with a bright yellowish color. The house is large and grand, with chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and silky rugs spread across the floor. The walls are painted a perfect white, and the floor is marble, cool at the touch. Heat pours in from the house, warming my skin, and as I step inside, I feel instantly at home. I have no idea why or how, but something about this place feels familiar, almost like I've been here before.
Sebastian follows me inside, closing the door behind me.
A large dining room table is positioned at my right, complete with a bowl of fake fruits and freshly lacquered wood. The scent of cinnamon fills the air, and as I look in front of me, I notice a winding marble staircase stretching to a floor above. The whole room is full of color, with old paintings hanging from the walls and a brown leather couch and flatscreen TV positioned off to the right.
"Welcome to hell," Sebastian says without a trace of humor.
I look around the house, my eyes shining. "It's beautiful, Sebastian," I breathe.
He grimaces. "Not to me," he says to himself, and then he disappears into the kitchen before I have time to ask why.
I drift over to the couch, relaxing my sore muscles as soon as I collapse onto it. I close my eyes for a while, flipping through the TV stations and just listening to the different actors and their voices, letting the total normalness of the sounds and their laughter calm me, make me feel okay.
When Sebastian returns, he's carrying a glass of milk and some pre-heated pasta. He sets it down on the little table in front of me, then pulls out a match and lights the three candles surrounding it. He pours me a glass of wine and dims the lights in the room, and, finally, he takes a seat beside me. His warm body feels nice this close to mine, and the touch of him is so inviting and relaxing all at once. I turn to Sebastian, who stares blankly at the TV. I notice the dark circles chiseled beneath his eyes, see the stress on his face he's trying so hard to hide. And it hurts. It hurts to think how much he's going through to save me. How he may be going overboard with all of this, but it's all for one reason: me. He's just a man in love, I realize. He's just lost in translation. He needs guidance, needs healing, needs me as much as I need him.
We lie there for a while, breathing heavily, looking at the TV and recounting everything that just happened, thinking about how close we were to death, but how, even now, we still have each other. We're still just pieces of what we once were, but I can feel the pieces of my heart coming together, and they're here for one thing and one thing only: him.
I love Sebastian.
I love everything about him.
Even though I shouldn't.
Even though I know it's wrong.
I love him.
I love that I'm his prisoner.
I love everything about our setup.
After a while, Sebastian sits up and brings me a small dinner, saving only a small portion of it for himself. "Eat up," he says quietly, offering me the plate. I take it with a thank you.