Embracing the Abyss

Chapter 7

I woke up to the sound of thunder. The room was filled with darkness. What time is it? I searched the desk for my phone and nearly toppled out of bed. What happened to my desk? As my eyes adjusted I saw that this wasn’t my room. I forgot that I wasn’t at Anne’s house anymore. Getting out of bed I carefully made my way to the light switch. Not wanting any more bruises than what I had.

The light was blinding for a moment. On the desk across the room was a water bottle and a plate wrapped in foil and a note with my name written on it.

‘You were sound asleep so I thought I’d bring your dinner to you. Let me know if you need anything. -Liam’

Beneath the foil was a few carefully wrapped sandwiches with condiments on the side. My smile grew. I grabbed half a sandwich and my water bottle and sat on the edge of the bed next to my bags. I picked up my phone that was lying on top of the bags and went to open up my messages when I realized it was dead.

Things were eerily quiet. I finished my food and was starting to search for my charger when lightning struck somewhere outside and the lights went out. Heart racing, I began to panic. I slowly opened my door, hoping that no one else was roaming the halls.

Would Liam be angry if I woke him up? He’s been really nice to me so far. Mustering up my courage I decided to go to his room. I was trying to remember if he said left or right, either way it was a 50/50 chance of ending up in the right room. I walked through the dark hall, running my hands across the wall, feeling for the third door on the right.

I opened the door slowly.

“Liam?” I whispered.

A small grumble came from what I assumed was the bed.

“The power is out”

A muffled ‘come here’ came from under the covers.

I walked over to the other side of the bed.

“Liam?” I asked again.

“Get in,” sleepiness evident in his voice.

I got under the covers and tried to stay as close to the edge as possible.

His breathing evened out and he was fast asleep. I soon found myself drifting off into the night.

***

“Wake up,” a stern voice sounded, “wake up,” some was shaking my shoulder.

Someone was in my room. I jolted out of bed, but was entangled by the sheets. Landing on the ground with a hard thud I rolled in agony. My ribs sent a shocking reminder of the events that transpired yesterday.

“What the hell are you doing?” It was Leo.

He lifted me onto the bed so I was in an upright position, then kneeled next to me. My hands clutched my side where the pain was.

“Are you alright?”

What I stupid question I thought.

“I’m fine,” I said mentally hitting myself.

An even dumber answer.

“What are you doing in my room?” He stood up, his brief moment of concern vanished.

“The power went out last night”

“So you thought that would be the perfect time to sneak into my room?”

“I didn’t know this was your room”

“So you just came into a stranger's room?”

“Liam said his room was the third door on the right. You even answered when I said his name so I thought-”

“What were you doing going into his room in the middle of the night?”

I didn’t want to say that I was scared. He probably already thinks I’m pathetic so what’s the harm in telling him the truth.

“I was scared”

He scoffed at me. I could feel my anger boiling in the pit of my stomach.

“Figured since Liam comes from money you might as well trap him? I’ve had girls sneak into our rooms plenty of times before and your excuse is the worst one I’ve heard so far”

I stood up, the pain I had was slowly fading with the amount of anger coursing through me.

“I could care less about your money. I’ve shown you that before. Maybe you shouldn’t be so willing to invite people into your bed”

“Next time don’t accept,” he smirked, “unless you’re ready for the consequences,” he went to touch my cheek.

I slapped his hand away scowling at him. He laughed and headed into his bathroom. Leaving the room I walked into the hall and went back to my room. There was Liam, sitting on the bed.

“There you are sleeping beauty,” he smiled.

“You!” I was furious.

Storming to him, he rose from the bed.

“You set me up!” I poked his chest.

“What are you talking about?”

“You sent me to Leo’s room! Third door on the right!” I kept poking his chest.

He grabbed my hands and burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“I said the third door on the left. Why didn’t you just call me?” He wiped tears from his eyes.

“My phone died”

“And you never thought to charge it?”

“The power went out. What?”

He was smirking. He shrugged his shoulders.

“You better get ready. We’re late”

He tossed me a phone. It was a new model and when I tapped the screen it was the exact same screensaver as the one on my phone. I typed in my passcode and it opened. A picture of Liam, making a kissing face at the camera was on the screen.

“What the hell?”

“Yours seemed like it was in bad shape so I thought I’d give you my old one?”

“Old? This one just came out a month ago”

He held up his phone in one hand and gave it a small shake.

“This one came out last week. I was just going to chuck that one. I’m glad I held on to it”

I looked at the time and nearly dropped the new phone.

“It’s 10!”

I rushed to the bathroom. Began brushing my teeth while simultaneously getting undressed while the water heated up. Taking a tremendously quick shower I quickly dried and wrapped the towel around me.

Only thing I forgot was that Liam was still in the room. I expected him to be in a hurry as well, but he was laying on the bed with his hands behind his head.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“Not really. When we couldn’t find you in here the rest were sent to school. They thought you might have gone back home, but I knew you were around here. Just didn’t know what you were up to,” he made a kissing face at me.

I walked to the bed, picked up a pillow and threw it down hard on his face.

“Hey, watch the goods,” he rubbed his nose.

“Could you please get out. I need to get dressed”

He looked me up and down. A look of anger and worry etched on his face. I was very aware of the situation and the marks all around my body. He shook it off and his boyish grin came back.

“I see. Already showing favoritism here. Just so you know. We’re all really competitive here”

I picked up the pillow again and before I could toss it, he shut the door. Looking through my bags I tried to find something that would cover the marks on my neck and arms.

Only finding a pair of black jeans. I pulled them on and without thinking I dug through the dressers and found a white turtleneck and yanked it over my head. I caught my reflection in the mirror.

The room was arranged in such a manner that everything in it seemed to have a purpose. Everything except me. Pushing these thoughts to the back of my head I rapidly finished getting ready.