Chapter 3 Fear

Aiyana's P.O.V

The fact that this was the second time I was gaining consciousness in such a short time was shocking to me, especially knowing that not once in my life have I fainted.

A thick, damp heaviness pressing against my eyes long before I opened them.

This wasn’t the bright, sterile hospital room.

This wasn’t anywhere close.

A slow, shuddering inhale pulled itself into my lungs, tasting of cold stone, metal, and something faintly bitter, antiseptic?

I couldn't quite put my finger in it but I knew right now that confusion swallowed me whole

My fingers twitched and the sound of chains scrapping snapped me awake.

My eyes flew open into complete blackness, as if the world had been drained of all light, and panic immediately shot through my chest like a lightning bolt.

I jerked upward, or tried to, but the restraints yanked me back, cold metal biting into my wrists.

Still chained.

Still not free.

Still… his.

My breathing grew loud in the silence, embarrassingly loud, echoing softly around the room. It sounded like the darkness was breathing with me.

Then a voice.

Smooth. Low. Too close.

“You’re wake.” The voice said. ‘No shit Sherlock’

My heart stopped so violently that I physically jolted.

A shadow detached itself from the deeper shadows.

A figure standing only a few feet away.

No light illuminated him, but I didn’t need to see his face to recognize the shape of that presence. The atmosphere shifted around him the way air shifts around fire, subtly but unmistakably.

Jerome Black.

The nightmare that wasn’t a nightmare. The man whose name equated to terror.

The monster I foolishly thought I hallucinated, until he spoke to me.

Caged me.

My pulse hammered wildly, so loud it drowned out the faint dripping somewhere in the room.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t speak.

Just watched.

Watched me breathe.

Watched me panic.

Watched me exist and every second that he said nothing had me panicking even further.

“Why…” My voice cracked, barely audible. “Why am I here?”

No answer.

He was still, too still, like a predator waiting for its prey to exhaust itself.

They definitely were not exaggerating when they said that all you can feel in his presence was deep fear.

A tremor raced down my spine, and I folded into myself, knees pulling up as far as the chains allowed. My hospital gown shifted with the motion, the thin fabric brushing against goosebumped skin.

What did he want?

Why wasn’t I dead yet?

Why move me from a hospital to wherever this dungeon-like place was?

His silhouette hovered like a phantom.

My mind spiraled.

Was he saving me just to break me?

Was this where he tortured people?

Was he going to make an example out of me?

Was he deciding how long he wanted me alive?

Was he going to sell me?

Use me?

Dispose of me?

The possibilities crashed through me like waves too strong to fight. I bit my trembling lip, trying to hold back a sob.

He stepped forward.

One step.

I recoiled instantly, spine slamming against the cold wall behind the bed. Pain shot through my back, but fear swallowed it whole.

“P-Please don’t…” I whispered, voice shaking. “I don’t know why I’m here. I don’t…I didn’t do anything” I pleaded as he came closer.

I felt like those were the exact words that got people killed. I should say something different. At least beg that my death was quick.

He cut me off with silence more brutal than any words.

Then, without looking at me, he lifted a hand slightly, barely more than a flick of his fingers.

A knock sounded at the door.

I hadn’t even realized there was a door until it opened, spilling a harsh rectangle of light into the pitch-black room.

Three guards stood there. The same men from before? Possibly. They all looked carved from the same mold, stone-faced, cold-eyed, immense.

They stared straight ahead.

Jerome spoke without turning.

“Bring her food.”

The silence that followed was explosive.

It felt physical, like the entire world paused.

The guards’ heads jerked toward him, with genuine shock cracking through their rigid expressions. One even blinked rapidly, his composure slipping for the first time.

Feed her?

Me?

My confusion warred with my panic. Food meant… he wanted me alive.

But why?

Why keep me alive?

Why move me to a dark room and guard me?

Why chain me but not kill me?

Why give me medical treatment if I was going to die anyway?

Why watch me like this?

Unless—

Unless he wanted me to be healthy before whatever came next. He is probably trying to eat me!

My stomach twisted viciously. The nausea crawled up my throat.

The guards exchanged uneasy glances. One finally dared to speak.

“Boss?”

Just that one word.

Jerome’s head turned slightly.

Enough to silence the entire doorway.

The guard swallowed and nodded quickly, disappearing from the frame like he’d been given a death sentence for questioning.

The other two followed, the door snapping shut, throwing the room back into suffocating darkness.

Only Jerome remained.

And me.

The chains around my wrists felt heavier, like they pressed into my bones. My fingers curled tight, nails digging into my palms. I couldn’t stop shaking.

“Why… food…?” I whispered.

Jerome didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

Didn’t acknowledge the question.

The silence stretched, thick and terrifying.

Finally, he spoke. His voice low and deadly smooth.

“You fainted again.” He stated sharply with eyes that studied me.

“Your body is weak. If you starve, you’ll collapse once more.” My breath caught as I knew this was not concern, not kindness.

Just… an observation. A calculation.

“You don’t get to collapse” he added softly. “Not unless I decide you can.”

The words slithered into me like ice.

My breathing hitched painfully, and I felt something wet drip down my cheek. Tears. Again. Pathetic and uncontrollable.

He didn’t react.

He stepped closer, and the darkness shifted around him like it bent to make way. My heart pounded so loud it drowned out everything else.

He stopped right beside the bed.

So close I could feel the faint warmth radiating from his body. So close his cologne, sharp, cold, and intoxicating, reached me again. It made me shiver.

He stared down at me with unreadable eyes.

“You will eat.” He said.

Not a request.

Not a suggestion.

A command.

One I didn’t dare disobey.

But my body recoiled anyway. The instinct to survive fought the instinct to appease him. My breath came fast, shallow, shaking.

He watched every tiny movement.

Then he leaned in slightly, just enough for his voice to brush the shell of my ear.

“You fear me.” He murmured, making a whimper immediately escape me from the proximity and fear build up.

I could have sworn that I had more balls than this but here I was like a chicken

“Yes” I whispered.

“Good.”