Threatening (Chapter-18)

He unlocked the cage and threw it open. I stared at it. Where are we going now? I asked myself. That was the only time that he would open the cage up for me. 

"You want something. Then go and get it." He pointed at the door and I turned my head on the side. I was confused because he locked me up inside the cage for three months. Erm, Mr Confusing I don't know what you want me to do. Do I just sit here or move I was asking myself over and over again inside my head until he told me his thoughts. 

"Don't let anyone tell you what you can and can't have. Me included. You want to know the reason why I took you hmm?"

He looked me up and down as I nodded my head. Was he going to tell me? Finally I thought to myself. I was happy inside that he was ready to tell me the reasons why he had taken me all of those months ago. It was closer to one year and I had wanted to know the reason why for seven months. That was a long time for me so I was ecstatic. It's like breaking a criminal case. 

"Yes please."

He nodded his head and I moved closer to the cage door invested in what he was about to tell me. 

"Because you needed me. I came to help you."

My eyebrows knitted together. I was mortified by his statement. How dare he say that! I thought to myself as my blood started to boil. He made my life hell! I was the one keeping myself happy and entertained after months of boredom. 

"How? You've made my life a misery."

"Have I though. Really?" He glanced over at me smirking and I gave him a stoic expression. Yes he had. 

"Yeah. You hit me." I played with my fingers as he laughed. Once again, it was a game to him. "Because you let me."

How? He had destroyed who I am because he wanted to laugh at my internal wounds and exterior scars. 

"You were emotionally unstable. Your confidence was an issue, your mental health wasn't good. You've gained pounds, I no longer hit you because you stand up for yourself. Piece two and two together." He gave me a malicious smirk as I shrugged my shoulders. I did look innocent in that moment, I could vision it from his point of view. I was the innocent victim and he was the crazy, evil monster watching me. 

"I still don't understand."

"How long did you go without a shower?" Darren stood up and crossed his arms. His smirk altered to an amused smile. 

"A month."

"What did you ask me when I got back?" Raising his eyebrows he waited for me to answer. I looked down his clothes and showed him narrowed eyes. 

"Can I get a shower."

"And what was my reply? Come on, tell me. What did I say to your question?" 

"Yes. You told me that I could." I moved over to the door of the cage and let my legs dangle off the edge. I jumped when he started shouting. Staring down at my hands I listened to what he had to say. 

"If you want a fucking shower then get it. You want clothes then get them. Food go and get it. Don't let any man or woman tell you what you truly deserve. The only way that you was able to feel happy was by you helping yourself and keeping yourself entertained. You didnt want me to hit you so you stood up for yourself. You found the potatoes bland and you asked me for an alternative. I gave you that. Still. You need to demand it. Stop being stupid."

I raised my line of sight slowly through angered eyes. Pushing myself forwards to stand up I crossed my arms. "I am not stupid. Stop calling me that. "

"But you believed it because your mother called you it so all I was doing all along was saying what you were thinking. You thought that you were bad at drawing so I told you the lines were uneven. I showed you what your vulnerability was leading you to. Misery. Your the only one who can make yourself happy. If you look for it from others then you will be left disappointed. I just gave you what you wanted. You wanted everyone around you to see your innocence and pain. I did and look where it lead you. I have taken what you thought that you felt and I made it become a reality." Darren shrugged his shoulders and opened up a fridge that was next to the door. Throwing a bottle of water over to me, he opened his own. 

"You took me to save me from my own self destruction?" 

I looked up at him through sad eyes and he nodded his head. 

"Bingo." He winked smiling. I shook my head. 

"I got you there quicker. It would have taken many more years, a possible sexual assault, a drug addiction and prostitution before you would have noticed what was happening. I was where you was on that very first day once in my life. I was just helping you get out because you were in deeper than you realised and to top it off I knew what your mother said about you. I watched you day in, day out. As for your father. He's dead. Narcissistic. Don't let anybody tell you what to do. Don't let anybody tell you who you truly are. Don't let anybody make you feel worthless or down, unwanted, unloved and uncared for. Don't let anybody stand on you and finally don't let a man you don't know destroy your life because you don't know what he's capable of."

"You've just described yourself."

"I have. I am not the man you've been living with for the last seven months. It has been hard for me to be the man I despise the most but it was for a good cause. I am a man who was once standing in your shoes for the exact same reasons. You go through the bad to become stronger and you are one strong fucking bitch. Show everyone who you truly are and be the best version of yourself. Don't lie about what you have been doing to make others accept you for who you are. Tell them straight and if they dislike it then they will leave your life because they aren't supposed to be in it. It's the end of my work here. As for your mother, drop her. She doesn't love you. All you were to her was an income for her addiction. Those friends need to be gone. They don't deserve you because they couldn't give two fucks about you. It's just sad that the man who you should love for the right reasons had to be the one who had to break you so that you could see your very own potential. He will now have to leave your reality. Still, at least you know that I talked the truth and never lied about who I am. Those girls do that every time they speak. I've given you your way out of your miserable lifestyle, it's now upto you to decide if you want to go back home or be free. I have a couple of thousand here for you to start your life again."

He picked up a box off the side and placed it down on the seat giving me a sorry smile. 

"You did it the wrong way."

My eyes were streaming. He did all of that to make me change direction. Who even does that? I didn't know what to do or say because I didn't expect him to kidnap me for those reasons. 

"Did I? You really think that I went about it the wrong way?" 

I nodded my head. 

"Yeah. You have treated me like a piece of dirt. Then you would laugh at me and make fun of who I was. "

"You would have been kidnapped by a gang of men and used for the wrong reasons. You had a big red arrow pointing at your fucking head. Hello, here I am, come and fucking get me. You had no one to back you up when you needed it the most. I've just proved that when you ran back home to your worthless mother. None of your friends even had the decency to file a missing person's report. Doesn't that tell you it all? You need to look around you love because I saved your ass that day. I would have gone about it the wrong way if I left you at the cafe that day because the hit on your head came through the pissing system. I was the one who picked you up. If you would have been collected by any of the others then your ass would be in a trafficking ring as we speak. There again, you may be fucking dead but yeah, I went about it all the wrong pissing way didn't I! Just tell me this, did you feel intimidated by me?"

"Yes."

"Do you feel intimidated by me now?" 

"A little bit why?" 

"Not as much as you did earlier. The reason why you feared me was because I could see your fears. I knew what you were afraid of and made you face them. The first two weeks you wouldn't even speak. Now you barely shut up! You were sacrificing your own happiness for others. Your own goals and ambitions you threw out of the window to please other people. Fuck them and what they want. Show them the bad bitch who has been hiding in the shadows and at the same time you made yourself the innocent target. Your head was in the books and every man wanted you. I did you a favour. As I say, your choice. Go back home or be free with me. I won't let you out of my sight because men outside these walls are looking for an innocent girl. Unless you can handle them all. That's your choice to make."

Lighting up a cigarette, Darren threw the packet down on the side and puffed out smoke waiting for me to answer him. I started loosening up. 

"No locked rooms or being hurt?" 

"If you let me then I will. Be that bad bitch and I'm sure you will be perfectly fine. If I do see you go backwards then I will bring the old Darren back. That is fair warning. I don't like seeing strong people become weak."