I did wonder if she blamed me too, for making a stupid and reckless decision to meet up with Daniel and falling into his trap.
But perhaps not. It seemed that she was being friendly towards me, arranging to meet up.
Ben didn’t contact me after the funeral. Our time together was obviously too good to be true. I felt so stupid believing that Ben would be happy to take things slow with me. Did he just want to take my innocence from me, after all?
‘I’m never looking at guys again,’ I blurted out to Natalie as soon as I saw her.
She just giggled at me, it was nice to see a smile on her face again. She had such a beautiful smile.
‘C’mon, tell me about Ben then.’
‘He is there to protect me whenever Daniel’s about, well mostly. We’ve kissed a couple of times but then since that day he dropped me off at the hospital, I haven’t heard anything from him.’
‘Well girl, take your grandmother’s advice and stay away from the wolves’
Jenny brought us BLTs and peppermint lattes. I quickly changed the topic.
‘So, how do you feel about changing colleges?’
‘To be honest, I am freaking scared as I don’t know what to expect. I’m not going to know anybody either. At the same time, I’m super-excited for a change of scenery and a new town.’
‘I’m totally gonna miss ya, girl.’
‘I’ll miss you too.’
‘I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but you are very dear to me.’
‘Oh shucks girl, stop or you’re going to make me cry!’
We giggled and had a few tears.
‘What are we like?’ she laughed. ‘Come on,’ she said, ‘let’s tuck in.’
The food was so good. I made a pact to myself to visit here at least once a week. I was used to my own company, so I didn’t really care if I had to come alone. And I could always bring Gran.
Deep in thought again about my Gran being a powerful spellcaster, I hadn’t realised Natalie was trying to talk with me. She playfully reached over the table and tapped a couple of times onto my cheek.
‘Hello, Earth to Grace. Come in.’
I snapped out of my trance and knocked over my latte. It was still pretty hot it scolded my hand.
‘Oh shit, I’m so clumsy.’
Jenny rushed over with some ice in a cloth and another clear up my mess. She then brought me another peppermint latte.
‘Thanks, I’m sorry for making such a mess,’ I said, embarrassed.
‘It happens to the best of us,’ Natalie assured me.
‘Just don’t knock this one over!’ Jenny joked and soon, seeing my hand go red she dashed off to get a cold compress to try to reduce the hot swelling that was forming. I felt really embarrassed but both Jenny and Natalie assured me all was fine and to not worry about it. These things do indeed happen to the best of us.
-------------
I felt restless, not wanting to go back to my grandparents just yet. My hand was still hurting, and I contemplated going to A&E, but I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time on a minor burn. This was where I needed Ben to show up, but he was still avoiding me. I’d seen neither him nor Daniel since the funeral.
The evening air was gradually getting cooler, Halloween was not too far away, the dead leaves were falling to the ground. As I walked along the pavement in a daze, deep in thought in a world of my own, the sound of leaves crunching beneath my trainers, I hadn’t noticed I was being followed again. I had my ear pods in, listening to the music for my winter show dance.
The clouds in the sky had formed swirls of red, pink and orange with the night sky drawing itself over the falling sun. I shivered. The sense that there was someone closing in on my personal space broke through my thoughts of the show. I glanced over my shoulder to nobody being there and carried on, trying to clear my head. Then one of my earpods fell out and landed on top of a pile of dead leaves. Kneeling to pick it up, I heard my name being called. It was a deep, masculine voice.
‘Piss off whoever you are.’
I was having none of this bullshit right now between Ben and Daniel. I grabbed my earphone and started marching away, stomping my feet. I reached for my phone from the pocket of my red coat to check the time; it was already gone half six and I knew my Gran would be serving dinner in half an hour. Just as I slipped my phone back into my coat pocket, I was grabbed from behind and then everything went black.
I woke to a blacked-out room. My wrists and ankles were tied to what I believed was a chair. I try to move but I was restrained too tightly, and I couldn’t scream out as I’d been gagged. This time Daniel had got me and there was no one around to help me.
Chapter 18.
I had no idea how long I’d been trapped in this blacked out room. I felt powerless and had no ideas of how to escape. I couldn’t move and I was not able to shout out for help. Was I to be enslaved to Daniel for the rest of my life? It was Ben I wanted and loved but he didn’t seem to really care about me anymore. If he did
