Her yelling died in her throat with a choking sound as hestepped forward with one heavy stomp of his boot and a look of black ice. Hewas done arguing with her.
Alessia pressed herself as flat as she could into thecushions of the sofa as she stared up at the bearded man looming over her athis full height. She wasn’t sure when, but at some point, his long thick brownhair came loose from whatever tie that held it back and it fell thickly aroundhis face, giving him a somehow even more wild look.
Jabbing his finger in midair towards her, he spoke so deeplyshe could feel it rattle her chest. “Those are the options when idiots run intothe woods expecting to survive through an Oregon winter in a cheap plastic tentinstead of going to a city shelter like a normal person.”
His words found their mark and the last wall of defenseinside of her crumbled. It was the only thing keeping her together up untilthis point. The last bastion of willpower that pushed her through her doubts ofleaving her home and coming out here. It was what kept her from turning the cararound when she crossed the state line. It was all she had left inside of her.
Alessia wasn’t sure if the stranger could see the break inher or if maybe his eyes widened only due to the tears falling down her face.She didn’t know nor did she care anymore.
"Shelters are not an option," even her voice feltdrained and hollow now. "Unless, of course, you don't mind your thingsbeing stolen or you don't care if you're nearly assaulted by other peoplestaying there. And before you ask," she stared off at the last glowingember through the wood stove's grate. "Yes, I tried telling the staff.Hell, I tried to sleep next to the night attendant but they made it real clearthat I was a nuisance to them and that it was most likely my fault I was eventhere in the first place." Tears clouded her vision and she swiped at themwith her bound hands. "How is it my fault?" She whispered, lookingback up at him, his hard expression unreadable. "Should I have stayed?Should I have stayed when my mother's boyfriend tried to walk in on me everytime I took a shower or when he whispered, ‘I’m going to fuck you.’ Shegave a dry laugh, missing the man’s fists tighten at his side. “No, Iapologize, he actually said ‘I can’t wait to fuck you in that pretty littleass of yours, I bet no one has fucked you there before’.”
“Fuck,” the stranger pulled at the hair of his beard inagitation.
“So, you know what?” She continued, the tightening of herthroat made her voice rise in pitch as the battle to resist breaking down andcrying was lost. “I have a better idea, how about you just kill me now and getit over with because I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
Turning away, she didn’t want to see his expression at herconfession. The words shocked her, even as she said them, but sadly they werethe truth. Alessia couldn’t stop the overwhelming tide of emotions as she criedinto the arm of the sofa. She didn’t want to do this anymore. It was too hardand she was just so tired.
~*~
Eventually, the crying stopped. Looking over at her fromwhere he stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter, Jax could see howstill she had become. Silently, he moved from his open kitchen to the livingroom area and stopped just behind the couch. Still half leaning against the armof the sofa, the girl slept.
Her shocking words still echoed in the one-room cabin.
Scrubbing both hands over his face, Jax suppressed a groanas he looked up to the rafters while his mind worked. How in the hell did heeven get to this point? He should have just called Garrett, Gaulding’s one andonly sheriff and let him take care of it. Turning back to the kitchen, Jaxgrabbed his kettle and filled it with water as he recalled the frightened,stark expression on her face when he mentioned the authorities earlier.Clicking on the gas pilot, he lit the burner with a lighter and watched theblue flames envelop the bottom of the kettle. Anger as bright and hot as theflames in front of him, struck to life inside of him as her words replayeditself in his mind.
The slow-building whistle from the boiling water eventuallyinterrupted him from his escalating thoughts. Grabbing the kettle, he pouredthe hot water into the metal mug with the awaiting teabag. Opening the nearbydrawer, he grabbed one of his old pill bottles. There was once a time when hekept the bottle next to his bed, never forgetting to toss one back before helay down. When was the last time he needed to take one? Dumping one pill ontohis counter, Jax crushed it into a fine white powder before dumping the powderinto the steaming hot tea. Stirring the powdered granules until they dissolvedand adding some honey, Jax carried the cup across the room and stopped in frontof her.
“Hey,” he watched her startle out of her sleep, giving him aconfused blank stare before recognition quickly settled into place.
He ignored the faint whisper of guilt at waking her andhanded her the mug. With both wrists bound to one another, she awkwardlyaccepted the cup. No argument, no cautious sniffs of the liquid, no suspiciousglances—absolutely nothing. The bright spark of light that had shined in hereyes earlier was gone. Tilting the cup mechanically, she sipped her tea with noresponse.
“Try to get some rest,” Jax nearly winced at the gruffnessin his own voice. He meant for that to sound a bit gentler than it came out.
Casting one last glance at her blank expression, he wentoutside to his porch and grabbed an arm full of wood. Coming back in, he filledthe wood stove and stoked the flames. She said and did nothing. Even when heput the heavy metal poker, a perfect weapon in her situation, back on itsholder next to the woodstove, she didn't spare it a glance.
Eventually, she slumped back against the arm of the sofa andfell asleep. Closing the front door of his cabin, Jax stepped down his porchsteps and into the rain. Throwing his hoodie over his head, he fished the keysto his four-wheeler out of his pocket. He needed this trip to be quick so hecould be back before the worst of the storm hit. Igniting the engine, he guidedthe machine to her camp. Though if he was being completely honest with himself,Jax wanted to get back for the blank-eyed girl sitting quietly on his couch. Itwas as if she had been holding on by a thread this whole time and that threadfinally reached its limit— because of him.
Stopping the four-wheeler near the tent, Jax hopped from themachine. Quickly, he grabbed the large camping backpack and a few other itemsin the tent. Strapping it to the back of the four-wheeler, he cursed under hisbreath as a loud clap of thunder sounded above him. An absolute idiot, that waswhat he was. He should have just called the sheriff or hell, he could have justlet the pure magnitude of the storm run her off if she survived it. Avoiding aditch that was now filling with water, he thought about the girl in his cabin,out here huddled in that pathetic tent.
Parking the four-wheeler back in its shed, he stood there inthe doorway of the shed for a moment and stared out into the rain towards hiscabin a few yards away. Gray and darkening by the second, the dark horizon madeit feel late in the evening rather than early in the afternoon. He had plannedon finishing his screened-in porch today, but he didn’t see that happening now.Grabbing the bag, he bent his head to the rain and ran back to the cabin.
Chapter 5
It took her a few moments to remember where she was when shewoke up that next morning. High wooden rafter ceilings and a toasty fire fromthe wood furnace to her right certainly wasn’t the qualities of her meagergreen tent. Sitting up, Alessia pushed away the heavy quilted blanket. Vaguely,she could recall blurry snapshot memories of the man who abducted her handingher something last night. Grimacing, she worked through the images. Sheremembered drinking the bitter tea as he quietly loaded up the wood heater onthe wall in front of her. She could vividly remember the comforting warmth fromthe heater pour out of the grate and steal the last of her remaining energy.That was the last of her coherent memories, the rest were disjointed and piecedtogether. The sound of his rough voice woke her again sometime later,commanding her to eat and another hazy memory of him pointing to the bathroomafter that. But it was the memory of him bending over her in her sleep that shetried desperately to fully recall.
It was dark when she woke up that last time. The light fromhis open kitchen no longer illuminated the living area. Only the faint orangeglow from the wood furnace next to her offered any sort of light. She was sotired, she could barely blink. Each time she did, it felt as if minutes wouldpass by before she found the strength to open her eyes again. There wassomething next to her hip, that was what she was waking up for. Alessia wantedto know what that something was, it was so warm and solid, and when she movedagainst it, it wouldn't budge. Forcing herself to open her eyes and actuallylook, she was confused by the dark shape the suddenly loomed over her. Alessiacould remember her heart skipping in fear, but she could also remember the deeptone that calmed her immediately. It was him, she thought, he was leaning overher doing something, saying something. But what?
Swinging her feet down to the floor, she stared for a secondat her sock-clad feet as she winced at the ache in her head. Though she sleptlike a rock, her head felt like a pile of crap. The temptation to lay back downonto the comfy worn sofa was turning into a physical pain of longing. Did shetake her shoes off? Looking around, she found them sitting neatly next to thecouch next to her backpack. Something warm and tight coiled in the pit of herstomach as she stared at the bag.
Her shoes were off, her bag was here, and she rememberedlast night that he gave her a sandwich. Looking down, she realized her handswere untied. For some reason, all of these facts only made her more nervous.Yesterday, he was harsh and demanding, and now she wasn’t sure what to think.
Turning on the sofa, she looked around the wood cabin forthe first time. It wasn't huge, but it was a surprisingly large space. Theceilings were high and gabled,with two loft spaces at either end of thecabin. On one side was the kitchen and the front door, and on the other end ofthe large room was a bed shoved against the wall. The only thing separating thekitchen area from the bed was a small living area she was sitting in now. Anoise from behind her made her turn all the way around in her seat. On theopposite wall from her were two doors, in one she knew for sure was thebathroom. Light at the bottom of the door flickered with movement.
He was in there—this was her chance.
As quickly and quietly as possible, Alessia grabbed hershoes and put them on. With her bag in hand, she carefully made her way to thefront door. Her hands were clammy as she made it off the porch. Looking back atthe cabin, she remembered the tall man yelling and pointing to the wall in thesupposed direction of her tent.
The ground was wet and slippery at points as she steppedthrough the piles of dead soaked leaves, with every step she took, she had anunshakable feeling she was heading towards disaster. Last night, she admittedthings to that man she had never even admitted to herself. The hopelessness shehad been pushing further and further down into a locked portion of her hearthad burst free. The words she said to him, those terribly bleak and cowardlywords scared her. It was terrifying to know she could easily talk of wanting todie and thoroughly mean it.
