Stay (2 page)

I saw a silhouette coming towards me and
before I could blink, he was back and he had me by my wrist once
again. He pulled me gently toward the light, slowing occasionally
to help me over some rocks or debris.

“What do you want with me?” I managed to
choke out. He did not say another word. He just led me through a
tunnel off the back of the cave. It had slick, inky walls with
jagged edges that scraped and tore at my skin as I was led through
it.

I let out an “oomph” as a sharp point gouged
into my right bicep. I tried to fight back the tears that wanted to
spill out of my eyes. I did not want him to think that I was
weak.

He stopped again. I think that he was looking
at me, though I could not even tell because of the darkness.
“Almost there.” He said in that rich velvety voice.

“Uh huh,” was all that I could manage to
stammer out. First, it was his eyes and now it was his voice. Maybe
he had drugged me or something. Why else would I be acting like
such a complete idiot? I should be fighting for my life, not
drooling over the guy.

We moved forward through the tunnel and it
finally opened up to reveal a vast cavern. I noticed a small fire
burning in a makeshift pit in the middle of the floor. Close to the
walls of the room it appeared that he had stowed a few supplies.
There were a couple of old blankets tossed about, and a worn dark
green backpack was leaning against the wall in one corner. He must
have been planning this for a while.

“What are we doing here? What is going on?” I
demanded.

This time he spoke in a low desperate tone.
“I am taking you home.”

I jerked my head up to look at him. I
squinted my eyes as confusion settled over my face. “What are you
talking about? You just ripped me from my home!” I yelled.

He held my gaze for a moment with those eyes.
Then as if I had not asked anything at all, he turned away. He
began to gather some of the old blankets from across the room. He
spread them out on the floor close to the fire.

“Here. Sleep. We still have a long way to go
to before we can get you home and you need to rest.”

I just looked at him in bewilderment. Slowly
a single tear started to make its way down my cheek, betraying my
fear. He reached out as if he were going to wipe it from my face,
but I jerked away and shrank back from him.

“What do you want from me?” I said in
whisper. “Just take me back to my house, please. You do not have to
do this.”

He looked into my eyes pleadingly. It was
almost as if tears started to well up around his own sapphire
blues. Why did he always look so sad? He is the one that did this
to me! I just could not understand.

“Callie, please.” He sounded desperate. “I am
trying to bring you home. To your true home. Where you belong.
Please do not be so afraid of me. I would never hurt you.”

How did he know my name? Was he some sort of
deranged stalker?

“Who are you?” I demanded.

“Callie, you know me. You must remember. You
must feel it.” He pleaded.

I am not sure what he was talking about, but
the truth is that I did feel something. I did not know how to
explain it, but it was as if I were drawn to him. I really could
not even be afraid of him, or even that angry with him, although I
should be.

“All that I know is that you kidnapped me
from my bed in the middle of the night. Now you have me here in
this cave.” I gestured at the space around me. “You are probably
about to do god knows what kind of evil things to me. You know my
name and now you are telling me that I should know you, when I have
never seen you before in my life!” I yelled.

I wrapped my arms tightly around myself as if
I were trying to keep myself together. He moved toward me, and this
time when he reached for me, I did not move away. What would be the
point?

He wrapped his long arms around my shoulders
and pulled me into an embrace. My cheek rested against his chest
and he put his chin on the top of my head as he spoke.

“This will all be clear to you soon. I know
that you are afraid of me, but I would never hurt you. It is my
duty to protect you, Callie. I will protect you until my last
breath. I swear to you. Please Callie, come and rest. Tomorrow you
will see. Tomorrow things will be better.”

He pulled me down onto the blankets and I let
him. What else was I supposed to do? He held me there, wrapped
tightly in his strong arms. I breathed in deeply, he smelled so
good. He smelled of earth and pine, mixed with something sweet,
like honeysuckle.

Despite my fears and frustration, exhaustion
overcame me. The warmth of his arms, the sound of his heartbeat,
and his scent filling my nose were all more than any girl would be
able to handle. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep.

Chapter 2

I woke to find that I was still lying on the
blankets on the floor of the cavern. My captor was no longer lying
next to me. I felt a strange longing deep inside of me for him.
Maybe it was just fear. Like the fear of realizing that I was alone
in the darkness of the cave and far away from home. I rolled onto
my back to look around, but he was not there.

The fire still burned but it was starting to
fizzle out. I glanced toward the ceiling only to realize that it
must have been really tall, because all that I could see in the
glow of the fire was darkness.

Sitting up was difficult. My ribs ached from
being clutched so tightly for so long the day before. I struggled
to get to my feet. I had no idea what time it was but my stomach
was definitely growling at me.

“Hello?” I called quietly into the darkness,
but all that I heard in return was my echo. I was not sure what I
should do, but I knew that I needed to do something. I searched the
cavern walls until I spotted the entrance and slowly I walked
through it and out into the tunnel.

The darkness of the tunnel was disorienting
and I thought hard trying to retrace my steps from the day before.
I walked a little at a time with one hand trailing gently across
the rocky wall.

I stumbled and nearly lost my balance when I
stubbed my toe on an outcrop of rock. I cried out briefly, sending
echoes of my stunted scream throughout the darkness. The pain shot
through my foot and up my leg. A dull throbbing settled into my big
toe. I slid down the wall onto my butt on the cold floor, clutching
my foot.

How far did I really think that I was going
to go with no shoes? I was leaned back against the cool stone
waiting for the throbbing in my toe to pass when I heard a low
rumbling growl.

I froze, not even wanting to breathe. The
growling echoed around the cave walls and slowly seemed to be
getting closer. It felt as if it were right in front of me and
getting more ferocious. I clamped my eyes shut tightly, afraid of
what I might see if I opened them. Suddenly, I felt what I was sure
was the creature’s hot breath on my face. I could smell the rot and
decay of its last meal filling my nostrils. I wanted to gag at the
thought of it.

Fear ripped through me. All that I could
think about was that I was about to be ripped apart by some crazed
animal in a cave, in the middle of I had no idea where, and no one
would ever be able to find me.

“Callie!” The sound of my name rang loudly in
my ears and I flinched for fear that I was about to be torn to
shreds. The noise must have distracted the beast because he turned
away from me to see who was making such a commotion.

“Callie!” I heard again. Then, all that I
could see was the flash of a blade as it sunk down into the animals
back. There was a grotesque crunching sound and then a gurgling as
it fell onto its side with a thud. Soon it was flying across the
tunnel away from me. I continued to hear a lot of loud strange
noises, mostly grunts and slashing.

All of a sudden, my captor was bent over in
front of me. He was frantically searching my body for any sign of
injury. His face was smeared with blood, and fear had shown
brightly in his eyes. He grabbed my face in his blood soaked hands
and stared into my eyes.

“Callie.” He said in a trembling voice.

“I’m alright.” I said breathlessly as he
pulled me to my feet and wrapped me tightly in an embrace.

“I am so sorry that I left you like that,
Callie. I knew that you would need some food when you woke up and I
went out to find something for you to eat. I should never have left
you alone. Callie, I hope that you can forgive me.” He said in a
shaky voice as he buried his face in the crook of my neck and
wrapped his hands with my hair.

I could feel him trembling as he held me. We
stayed there like that for several minutes. I could not imagine how
one minute he could be a crazed kidnapper and the next be so sweet
and vulnerable. What was with this guy? I needed some answers and I
needed them now.

“Please, tell me who you are.” I whispered
into his ear as his head was still pinned to my shoulder. “I just
do not understand what is happening to me. At least tell me what
your name is.” I pleaded.

He lifted his head and those pleading blue
eyes locked with mine again. He reached up and embraced my face in
both of his hands. For just a second, I thought maybe he was about
to kiss me. Would it be so bad if he did? I was beginning to think
no.

I had never kissed a boy before, but I bet
this stranger’s kisses would be tender and full of passion. I found
myself glancing down at his soft full lips, as I bit my own bottom
lip in anticipation.

I had to shake myself so that I would snap
back to reality.

“Callie,” he whispered. “I’m Brokk. I know
that you say that you do not remember me but, you belong to me.” I
pulled back, raising my eyebrows in shock.

“At least you did once.” He said as his head
dropped and his chin rested on his chest.

“I do not know you and I do not belong to
anybody.” My voice was fierce and he looked up again. “You are
truly crazy.” I whispered.

He dropped his head back down and stared at
the floor. He released my face and his arms fell to his sides in
defeat.

“Brokk, listen. I don’t know why you are
doing this, but it’s not too late. If you would just take me back
home.” I pleaded. “I promise that I would never tell anybody or
call the police or anything like that. You can go back to where
ever you came from and I can forget this ever happened. You do not
have to do this.”

He just stood there shaking his head as it
hung toward the ground.

“We need to get you some food.” He said
quietly as he pulled himself together and walked away.

I ducked back into the cavern and walked over
to warm myself by the few remaining embers in the pit. They were
glowing a bright shade of red and snapped and crackled as I stood
watching them. I just could not seem to sort out all of the
different emotions that were running through my head. I was
actually feeling bad for this guy. He looked at me like I was
breaking his heart when I talked about wanting to go home. So
strange. What was even stranger is that I was not really sure that
I wanted to go. At least not without him.

He finally came back to the cavern, his arms
were full of wood for the fire, and some sort of meat and what
looked like roots. He did not even look at me. I felt a pang of
regret rip through me once again. I was compelled to say something.
To say anything, just so that he was talking to me again.

“What is all of that?” I asked softly, trying
to break the mood.

“Food.” He said simply, still not willing to
look at me.

I was afraid to ask what kind of food. It was
probably some poor forest creature and I was too hungry to think
about that right then. I was not sure what else to say so I just
stood in silence, watching him.

He set about building the fire back up. It
started to blaze beautiful orange and yellows. Once it was burning
to his satisfaction, he situated the food around it. The smell of
the cooking meat filled the room and smelled wonderful. My mouth
was beginning to water as I watched him slowly turning the food
from side to side.

I watched him as he kneeled on the floor in
the fire light. He never looked back up at me and I wondered what
he might be thinking. I still could not shake the feeling that I
got when he looked at me. I knew that I should be afraid of him.
That is what a normal person would be feeling, but somehow I just
was not. I never could be. He could kill me right now and I was not
afraid.

I continued to stare at him for a long time.
I noticed the rippling of his strong arm muscles as he worked the
fire. The way his tight shirt pulled across his rigid chest. The
way the fire made is face glow with its warming light. Just
watching him like that had my body tingling from head to toe.

I dropped my gaze to the floor. I was
embarrassed by what I was thinking and feeling. I should not have
been reacting to him like that, but I just could not seem to help
myself.

I believed him when he said that he would
never hurt me. He had plenty of opportunity to do something if he
really wanted and he had not even laid a hand on me. I thought
about the way that he trembled after the animal nearly attacked me,
it really had scared him.

What was it about this boy? What did he mean
when he said that I belonged to him? He did not even know me, did
he? He keeps saying that I should remember him, but I had no idea
what he was talking about. I did not remember anyone like him from
school, and I think that I would certainly remember those eyes. I
definitely felt something though. I just did not know how to
explain it. Maybe it was just the after effects of the adrenaline
in my body from nearly losing my life. That would be enough to
scramble anybody’s brain, wouldn’t it?

Brokk finally turned and stared up at me. I
glanced back at him and searched his face for some kind of
understanding. It only lasted a moment. It was as if he sensed me
looking at him, like I had called to him or something. He met my
eyes briefly and then he quickly turned away and went back to
preparing the meal.