Page 10 of Scream for Me

I take in my surroundings, and of course, I squirm in my sudden arousal from my fear of the noise, hoping he doesn’t sense it. Luckily, I’m wearing the makeshift undergarments I finagled together with the floppy but sturdy leaves he brought back. Never thought I’d use the origami I learned from state summer camp to make myself undergarments, but it was finally the time to be thankful for the useless skill.

“How did I get into your arms?” I ask once my blood pressure evens.

“You were slipping off my back, so I pulled you to my front.”

“Damn, I thought I’d have better survival skills than that. I’ve never been a hard sleeper.”

“You can sleep as soundly as you want with me. I’ll keep you safe.”

I roll my eyes. I believe him, but it’s still pretty ironic coming from the monster who stole me from my bed.

I’m not sure how long I was asleep. Everything looks subtly different now. It’s still as dark as ever, but there's more foliage around—odd papery bushes and trees that must not need sunlight to survive. “Where are we?” I ask.

“We’re closer to the light now. About two more days' travel.”

“I don't know how you can tell. Everything is just dark and depressing.”

He shrugs, looking down at me. “It’s my home.”

“Do you enjoy living here?”

“I haven’t enjoyed much in life, at least not that I remember, until I met you.” I don’t know if he means he is remembering things more since being with me, or if he enjoys things now that he’s with me, but I won’t let my fluttering heart ask him to clarify.

“Do you remember where you came from? Your parents?” I ask.

He’s silent for a moment, as if searching his brain. “I remember someone gave me my name, someone soft and kind, but nothing else. Perhaps more will come back to me.” I wonder if he’s referring to another woman he kidnapped. Maybe I’m not the first victim to bring back his reasoning. There could have been someone before me who fell for him and even gave him a name. It stings a little. Mainly because there’s no human woman here now, so obviously whoever gave him his name had an untimely death. Another small part feels a little jealous, like maybe I’m not special. I stuff the stupid morsel of myself away.

“What about you?” he asks, surprising me.

“I came from Earth. You know, the place you stole me from?” I lay my head back against his muscular yet surprisingly soft biceps, flashing a tight-lipped grin up at him. His golden eyes stay focused on the path before us. He doesn’t register the jab, his face remains neutral and he continues with his questions. “What was growing up there like?”

I sigh, allowing myself to get more comfortable in his arms. “I didn’t have a normal childhood. I never knew my parents. My birth mom gave me up to the state when I was a baby. Someone had me for the first few years, but then I think something bad happened because I got taken away, and for the rest of my childhood, I bounced around from different foster homes to group homes.”

His eyes soften, the brightness dulling. “I do not know what most of your words mean, but it sounds like a hard life for you.”

I chuckle. “Yeah. It wasn’t easy, but I aged out of the system and was starting to make it on my own. Growing up, most people in my life—for the short time they were there—assumed I’d become an addict and end up in jail, or on the streets. The system loves to recycle.” It feels good to tell him all this, although I know he barely understands what I’m saying. Maybe that’s what makes it easier.

He sighs. “Your world sounds awful. It’s a good thing you’re here.”

I sit up in his arm, climbing his chest to study his expression. His eyes move to mine, and I catch the mischievous sparkle. I can’t help but laugh. “Yeah, thank God I’m here and don’t have to work a dead-end job. I just have to live in total darkness, run from monsters trying to kill me, and deal with you.”

He tsks, grinning. “I thought I was just a big kitten?”

“Yeah, a kitty that stole me, locked me in a cage of human remains, and is constantly trying to rip me in half.”

His lips scrunch around his fangs. “I seem to remember you begging me to rip you in half.”

I slap his chest, my cheeks heating. “Clearly your memory isn’t sharp.”

“Maybe if you scream for me some more it will help.”

I laugh, throwing myself down in his arms and turning back to the woods before us with my arms over my chest. “You’re a menace.” Are we flirting? I should not be flirting with my captor. Although, everything else I’ve been willing to do seems like it’s more of the issue.

Scully chuckles and a comfortable silence passes over us. I focus on the woods around me to ground myself to reality. Maybe Scully’s charming and maybe he makes my body sing like a church choir, but it doesn’t mean my situation is any less dire. I sigh. “I’m just ready to get out of these shitty woods and into the light.”

He doesn’t respond, and his body tenses. I wonder if it’s because he’s scared of the light, or if I hit a nerve by insulting his home. The tension between us is much worse than the filtration before. For some unexplainable reason, I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I also don’t want him to second guess his decision of taking me to the light. I search for another topic of discussion and luckily, it comes to me like a sweet bird’s song. “Do I hear water?”

He listens for a second, his downcast ears twitching under his horns. “Yeah, there must be a stream nearby.”