Dark Wish

“This will only hurt for a second.” I reach inside my pocket and take out a syringe. Her eyes widen at the sight of the huge needle, but it’s too late for her to register what I’m doing until it’s already pricked her skin.

She shrieks, but the sound quickly dies out after the drugs course through her system.

She might not know me, but she’ll know the real me soon enough.

I’m the one who’s going to make her beg.

Amelia

When I come to, my head feels as though I’ve been hit with a hammer when I know that isn’t true. My ears are ringing, and my eyes are stuck together. I’m so groggy I don’t even know how much time has passed since I fainted.

Since I was … drugged.

It all comes flooding back into my brain. The man who followed me and watched me in the library. The man who made me tell him a secret … a dark wish that had been looming in the back of my mind …

Punish me.

My eyes burst open, and my lungs fill with oxygen as I lean up to peer at my surroundings. I’m in a huge room that I’ve never seen before on a luxurious red velvet bed that’s too cozy for my own good. None of this feels right.

How did I get here?

Then it hits me. That man …

I grab my arm.

I can still feel the puncture wound from the needle. There is a bandage covering it.

My stomach suddenly does a one-eighty, forcing me to throw the blanket off and hurl over the edge of the bed. Fuck. I’ve never felt more nauseous in my life.

Suddenly, the door opens, and in walks a girl with a tray filled with pill bottles and a cup of water. She immediately puts it down on a dresser near the door.

“Oh, no …” she mutters. She grabs a towel hanging from a hook near the door and walks toward me. I lean back against the bed and crawl away from her, curling my knees up to my chest in order to appear small. Meek. Not worthy to start a fight with.

This is what I’ve always done to ward off any attackers. I am not the proud lioness fighting to defend herself. I’m the roadkill that pretends it’s dead so it doesn’t get caught.

But so far, that strategy has failed. Big time.

So I grab the nearest object I can find, a lamp, and hold it up like some sort of shield.

The girl raises her hand in surrender. “I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

I stare at her as my heart races out of my chest. I don’t know who she is or if I can trust her. I don’t even know where I am or how I got here.

“I’m just gonna clean this up,” she says, still moving slowly as though I’m some kind of animal that could attack at any moment.

Maybe I am. Right now, with all these drugs leaving my body, I don’t know what I’m capable of, and neither does she. All I know is that guy drugged me, and now I’m stuck in some bed. God only knows where I ended up.

The girl cleans up the carpet with the towel before spraying it over. Not once does she raise a brow or wince at the fact that I soiled the floor.

I peer over the edge of the bed to look at how meticulously she works, rinsing every nook and cranny. “Don’t worry about it,” she says as she looks up at me. “This always happens.”

Always? As in … this has happened to other people?

Oh, God.

“The drugs should be wearing off,” she says, and she places the pills and some water on the nightstand beside me. “You should feel better in a couple of minutes after you take these.”

She sounds as if she knows exactly what she’s talking about, and I don’t doubt that for a second. But I won’t take these meds, not even if my life depends on it. It’s not worth the risk of getting poisoned.

She rinses the towels and tucks them in a bin. “I’ll come pick up the dirty laundry later, okay?”

I don’t reply, don’t even move an inch. I just stare at her as she smiles and then leaves the room. Finally, I allow myself to breathe again.

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!

I put the lamp down and throw the blanket off, stepping over the stain I just made. I don’t even care about the mess. All I care about is finding out where the hell I am and why this man brought me here.

Suddenly, the door opens again, and I stumble into the bed, trying to grab ahold of something in order not to fall.

It’s that same girl again, and she clears her throat. “Sorry, I forgot to mention something important.”