Momentary Freedom
OPAL
The days are all starting to blend together and I completely forget what it’s like to genuinely feel happy.
This whole situation seems endless. I’m exhausted from staying in this room and doing nothing but waiting. Waiting to die. Waiting to live. Waiting for something I’m not even sure I want anyway.
Kyle has been delivering the food to me himself, and sure enough, it’s been clean. After his neurotic girlfriend hit me, he noticed the bruise. There was no way he didn’t. Though he didn’t tell me anything, I could tell that the sight of it upset him.
Not that his reaction makes much of a difference anyway.
Though I’m no longer tied up, I have to admit that being locked in a room with no window and no natural light is really starting to take its toll on me. I’m more depressed than ever.
I feel like crying all the time even when it’s been proven time and time again that my tears do nothing.
The sound of the door opening behind me makes me turn my head to look. It’s the second meal of the day—lunch. It’s probably Kyle bringing it to me.
I’m not wrong.
“I thought you’d want to eat outside today,” is the first thing he says as soon as he enters the room. “What do you say?”
I’m in no position to be arrogant or even stubborn. I rise from the bed slowly, ignoring how fast my head is spinning, and make my way to the door. He moves away from me so I can walk past the door, and then I hurry through the small house, eager to make it outside. The living room is empty and so is the kitchen.
The front door is wide open, and I can smell the fresh scent of pine and moss from where I’m standing.
I stop and take a deep breath. Hell, I never appreciated any of this when I was free. It was just another scent blending in with everything else.
But now, it brings tears to my eyes.
I walk outside and close my eyes as soon as I step into the sun. The warmth is delicious. It’s a perfect day. I walk a few steps forward, then sit right in the middle of the grassy field.
I look at the trees all around me, and the wildflowers growing in the thick grass. Again, I have this urge to cry. By the goddess, liberty tastes so damn good.
Kyle sits down beside me and his presence makes me flinch, mostly because I completely forgot about him. He hands me the steaming plate of food—steak and potatoes—and I dig in.
It’s the best meal I’ve had in a long time.
He watches me eat. I don’t care that I’m making a mess. Hell, I don’t care about anything that might seem embarrassing. I just want to live in the moment and make the most of this.
It aches my soul to think that I have no idea when I’ll have this again.
I’d give anything to experience this. Anything.
“You’re really hungry.”
I nod, opting to say nothing else.
“This can happen more often,” he comments. I find it uncanny because it’s like he can read my mind or something. “I just need to trust you not to run.”
“I won’t run,” I say quickly, meeting his gaze. “I wouldn’t even dream of it. Where would I go?”
“I want to trust you.”
“You’re free to do that. I won’t run.”
My cooperation is a small price to pay compared to what I can get if I just play along. I need this fresh air. A week ago, I would have told him that I’d much rather die. Now that more time has passed, I can’t find it in me to think that way.
I don’t want to die. I have no clue what’s waiting for me on the other side, so why would I want to give up the life I could have right here?
“Well, then. We have a deal. If you run, all of this comes to an end.”
I nod and look around with the empty plate on my lap. Goddess, it’s all so beautiful. The forest. The cool air whipping my hair.
I’ve been locked up for so long that I forgot what all of this was like. Is this part of his torture plan? Will I wake up tomorrow and find that all of this has been snatched from me?
Is this all designed to break me?
It’d be a damn shame because I don’t have the answers he needs.
“I grew up here?” Kyle suddenly says. “With my father. Before he was cruelly taken from me.”
“I’m sorry.”
His eyes meet mine. “Your people took him from me.”
“I had nothing to do with this. I didn’t even know who he was.”
Kyle smiles at my words before lowering his gaze. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “So you keep mentioning.”
“I’d help you if I could,” I admit. “I don’t want war. The thought of it sickens me. So many countless lives lost for nothing.”
“I wish your husband felt the same way and stopped attacking my people.”
Disappointment swells inside of me like it does every time that Bruce is brought up. “I do, too.”
I keep quiet after this. I haven’t told him about Bruce not loving me and just marrying me because I’m the alleged daughter of some rogue leader, and there’s a very low chance of that ever happening.
Kyle glances at me. I expect him to say something to me, but he doesn’t. I keep quiet, too. He then silently takes the plate from me and gestures for me to walk around. I stand up, ignoring how shaky my legs feel, and start walking. I take one step after another slowly like I’m getting reacquainted with my body.
Even as he sits on the grass, watching me from a distance, it doesn’t occur to me to ever run.
He’d catch me and I would end up losing what little I have.