The first thing I became aware of was how comfortable I was, and how good the blankets smelt, like citrus. I snuggled further into them, content to just lay here half asleep and listen to the birds outside my window. I was just so relaxed, more so than I’ve been in a long time. I never wanted to move. But then my stomach growled and I became aware of how hungry I was. With a sigh my eyes fluttered open and I sat up, and then froze. I had no f*ing clue where I was.
My eyes slowly scanned the room, which was pretty nice actually, even though it was kind of plain as far as colour went. The walls were storm cloud grey and the wood furnishings were a soft beige. There was a two door wardrobe and a small vanity covered in bottles on the left side of the room. There were two small tables on either side of the bed, one with a lamp and one with a pile of magazines and a clock on top. There was also a desk with a black rolling chair and a bookcase to my right.
My eyes strayed to the door that was directly in front of me, I slowly slipped out of bed and had made about two steps before the handled turned and the door swung open. I let out a surprised squeak and jumped back into bed. The man that entered the room made me blush at the sound I made, but my embarrassment was quickly wiped away by my confusion. What was Max doing here?
But then I remembered my sudden sickness and how Max was the last person I saw before I passed out.
“Hey you’re awake, good. I figured you would be hungry so I made breakfast,” he said holding up a tray of pancakes and fruit. My stomach growled again at the sight of food, to which Max smiled at.
“Well would you look at that I was right.”
“Where am I?” I asked looking up at him.
“Oh well you’re at my house-”
“Maybe I should rephrase that. What the hell am I doing here.”
“Well you passed out before you could tell me where you lived so I just brought you here. Figured it would be better then leaving you on the side of the street,” he told me smiling, but there was something in his eyes that told me this was a lie.
“Well that was very nice of you but I should be getting back home, my parents must be wondering where I am,” I almost laughed at this, my parents probably didn’t even realize I never came home.
“You should at least eat something first, don’t want you passing out on me again. And you shouldn’t move a lot you were really out of it last night, you could be really sick.”
I felt perfectly fine now, accept for my dry cotton mouth and the hunger I didn’t feel any lasting effects from my sudden spell of sickness. I looked up at Max to see him handing me a glass of orange juice, and that brought back the memory of him handing me my coffee back at the café. It’s weird, it wasn’t until after I finished my latte that I started feeling dizzy.
“I really should be getting home, I can call a cab so I don’t impose on you any further. My cell is in my pant pocket.” I said before realizing it wasn’t there. “Do you know where my phone is?”
“How about we talk after you’ve eaten something, I can show you around the house too.”
“Max, can - can I just go home now,” I said in a small voice.
“Belle you don’t really want that and you know it.”
“What are you talking about of course I do-”
“No you don’t, why would you want to go somewhere that you don’t feel like you belong.”
“How, how do you know that?” I asked suddenly feeling like I was in trouble, big trouble.
“Oh Isabelle I know more than you think, that’s what happens when you know someone for seven years; you learn things,” he said sitting down on the side of the bed.
“Seven- seven years? But I’ve never met you before, the first time I saw you was last night.”
“I mean know as in I’ve been watching you. I knew you weren’t happy with your life so I decided to take you away from all that, take you to a place where you’ll be happy.”
“What do you mean take- oh my God you drugged me last night, you put something in my coffee. That’s why I suddenly felt sick, you did that so you could - could kidnap me,” I whispered, the word getting stuck in my throat.
“Well you wouldn’t have come if I just asked you. I admit it was a bit extreme but I knew once I got you here things would be better.”
“Better, how could things possibly be better. I got kidnapped by some f*ing psycho who clams he was just doing what is best. Please explain the good part since I’m clearly missing it,” I said backing up against the headboard.
“I see you’re upset, its to be accepted. But don’t worry you’ll come around the longer you’re here,” he said getting up off the bed.
“How long are you planning to keep me?”
“Undecided, but awhile though,” he said smiling walking towards the door. “I’ll leave you to eat, and don’t worry you’ll come around eventually.” And with that said he walked out the door, shutting it behind him.
I sat there on the bed for a few minutes trying to wrap my head around everything happening. But really who could wrap their mind around the fact that some guy kidnapped them because, according to him, I wasn’t happy at home. Not that that isn’t true, I’m not happy, but that isn’t a reason to just up and take someone.
And he’s been watching you for seven years, ever since you were ten, a voice in my head said, reminding me of that other creepy fact. I can’t believe I never noticed him, how could someone go seven years without knowing they were being watched?
My stomach growled again, reminding me that I was still starving. I looked over at the plate of pancakes and my mouth watered at the sight of them. But then my stomach clenched as I thought of the drugged latte, who knows what he could have put in the food.
I took a deep breath and went back under the covers, turning my back towards the tray. I lay there listening to the birds sing and inhaled the sent of the air as it brushed across my face. My eyes slowly began to close and I hoped that when I woke up again this would turn out to be just a dream.

“You can’t catch me, you can’t catch me,” Sarah shouted as she ran through the park. I ran behind her laughing as I raced to catch up to her, grinning when my hand smacked her arm.
“I got you, you’re it,” I said before running off in the direction of the playground. I just reached the swings when I heard my mother calling for me.
“Isabelle you have to come home now, you need to get ready for the party tonight.”
“But mom I don’t want to go, all your parties are boring and my dress itches,” I said pouting. “I want to play with my friends.”
“Isabelle that’s enough, you will come with me now and that’s final,” my mother said grabbing my hand. I sighed and turned around to Sarah.
“I have to go now, I’ll see you tomorrow though,” I said as my mom pulled me out of the park. Sarah waved me goodbye and then ran towards the slide. I wished that I could do that to and not have to be shoved into dress after dress and made to go to endless parties where I was the only kid.
I let out a sigh as my mom and I got into our car. As we drove towards our house I looked back at the park once more and saw a guy standing by the road with a sad look on his face, watching as we drove away…
I sat up with a start, my heart frantically beating inside my chest. I have seen Max before, he has been watching me. A shiver ran through my body and I wrapped the blanket tighter around me.
The sun had gone down as I slept and twilight was settling in, casting shadows around the room. I fumbled with the lamp beside the bed and breathed a sigh of relief when the warm light spread through the room, chasing the darkness away. I turned to the other table and let out a little squeak when I saw that the tray of pancakes and fruit were gone.
He was in here while I was sleeping, he could have done anything. But he didn’t. I shook my head clearing my thoughts and gingerly stepped out of bed, careful on how I walked so I wouldn’t make to much noise and alert him. I made my way to the door, not really expecting it to be unlocked but it was worth a try. I was surprised when the doorknob turned easily in my hand and the door swung open revealing a long hallway.
I strained my ears listening for any sounds of movement but the house was silent. Why didn’t he keep the door locked, why risk me getting out? I knew I could stand there forever thinking of reasons for his actions but I was wasting time, he could appear at any moment.
I stepped out of the room and made my way down the hall, passing door upon door but I didn’t stop to see what was behind any of them, my goal was the staircase at the end of the hallway. When I reached it I looked behind me expecting to see Max coming out of one of the rooms, but all I saw was the opened door to mine and the light that illuminated it. I turned back to the stairs and started down them.
When I came to the bottom I stopped and listened again for sounds of Max, but just like before all I could hear was silence. Where was he? I quickly realized that what the hell did it matter where he was, as long as he wasn’t anywhere near me I could care less. I made my way to the front door and was surprised again when it swung open. Why wasn’t it locked, didn’t he care if I got out? When I stepped outside though it became clear why I wasn’t locked in the house. I was on a farm, in the middle of what looked to be nowhere.
My heart starting pounding in my chest as I looked around the porch and at the vast space of green I saw, the way the setting sun was splashed across the green canvas made it look beautiful. But the spell was broken when I heard a voice to the left of me. I quickly spun around to see Max walking across the porch.
“I see you’ve come out of your room, this is a nice surprise. Come to enjoy the view?” He asked strutting closer towards me. I didn’t answer him though. Instead I bounded down the steps and ran across the lawn. I heard him shouting behind me but I didn’t look back, I just kept looking ahead of me. When I hit the driveway I raced down it, not caring that I didn’t have shoes on and the rocks were digging into my feet. I prayed that once I got to the road a car would drive by and see me, but I never made it that far because Max finally caught up to me and grabbed me around the waist.
I screamed and kicked my legs trying to wiggle free of his hold, but he just tightened his grip.
“Belle calm down, just stop this please,” he said his mouth close to my ear. Despite my fear I couldn’t help the shiver that passed through me at the feel of his warm breath on my neck, and I went limp in his arms.
Max let out a surprised grunt at the sudden weight and eased up on his hold, that’s when I kicked my leg back and broke away from his arms. I smiled at his small moan of pain as I again made my way down the driveway. When I hit the road I stopped, trying to decide which way to go; that was a mistake because Max got a hold of me again.
I let out another scream and this time he put a hand over my mouth, silencing me. I twisted in his hold shouting at him, which was useless since my words were muffled. He stared walking backwards up the driveway, back towards the house. Panic flared in my stomach and I bit down on his hand.
“What the hell,” Max yelled tearing his hand off my mouth and wiping it on his pant leg. “Did you just bite me?” He asked, but instead of sounding mad it seemed like he was trying not to laugh, and that pissed me off. I kicked him in the knee and spun around to face him. He was still gorgeous, and that made me hate him even more.
“Yes I f*ing bit you, and I’ll do a lot more if you don’t let. Me. Go.”
“Oh feisty, I like it,” he said giving me a cocky smile. “I’m not letting you go, haven’t you realized that?”
I had realized it, I just hadn’t excepted it.
“What do you want with me? Are you going to kill me? Rape me maybe and then kill me? Just tell me, please,” I said as I felt tears fill my eyes.
“No, I’m not that kind of person. I would never do any of that to you, that’s not why I brought you here. I already told you. You weren’t happy with the way your parents were making you live, I could see that. So I decided that I would bring you here and give you a chance to breath, be the person who you always wanted to be. I’m doing you a favour Belle, I’m setting you free.”
“How is kidnapping me setting me free? You just took me from one cage and put me in another. Sure I’m away from my parents but now I’m stuck here.”
“You’re not stuck here, I’m not locking you up. You have free rein of the house and the grounds.”
“But why, I don’t understand why you’re not locking me up. I could just run away again when you’re sleeping,” I said.
“I know you won’t get far though, you have no idea where you are and we’re miles away from any other person. You aren’t going anywhere.”
All the fight evaporated from my body and I felt my legs suddenly give out from under me, I would have hit the ground if it wasn’t for Max catching me around the waist.
“Whoa there, lets get you back inside okay,” he said swinging me up in his arms and carrying me towards the house. I didn’t even have enough energy left to care he was touching me. We didn’t say a word to each other the whole way back to the house and when we got inside Max carefully stood me on the floor.
“You’re okay now. You should probably eat something, you haven’t all day and your blood sugar is most likely low,” he said.
“I don’t want anything, I’m going back upstairs,” I said turning away from him and making my way to my room. I was halfway up the staircase when I heard Max’s voice.
“You’ll soon realize that I’m not going to hurt you and you’ll come around. You can’t avoid me forever.” I wanted to laugh at that, because that was exactly what I planned on doing.

When I awoke the next morning it was to sun shinning through the window. The weather was mocking me. I turned onto my side and was surprised to see a tray of food sitting on the desk. I pushed the blankets off me and stepped out of bed and made my way towards it. I knew Max could have put something in it, but for some reason I knew he didn’t. And even if he did I was too hungry to care.

It was after I finished eating that I noticed a note laying on the desk. I grabbed it and sat down on the bed, curious as to what Max had to say; even though I knew I shouldn’t be.
Belle

I know there’s a chance you’re not even reading this, for all I know you could have ripped it up, but in case you didn’t here’s what I have to say. I made you breakfast, as you probably already know. You really need to eat something, you can’t go another day with no food so I really hope you don’t throw it away. I didn’t put anything in it if that’s what you’re worried about, I’m not going to drug you anymore, it was just a one time thing. I hope you believe me.

If you haven’t already figured it out the second door in your room leads to a bathroom, and all the clothes in the wardrobe are yours to wear. You’re free to go anywhere you like in the house, and I encourage you to do so, it would get pretty boring staying in your room all day.

I know you’re upset and angry with me and I’ll respect your privacy, I promise I won’t come near you until you’re more comfortable being here. Please understand that I’m not going to hurt you, I only brought you here to get you away from your parents.

I’d love to talk and get to know you but I’ll wait until you come to me at your own pace, I look forward to that day.
I re-read the note twice before crumpling it into a ball and throwing it across the room. There’s no way I would be coming to him on my own terms, I wanted nothing to do with him. I let out a sigh and flopped backwards onto the bed, but then I remembered the part of the note about the bathroom and became aware of my full bladder.

I jumped off of the bed and made my way to the bathroom door, I also decided that I could go for a shower, it might make me feel a little better.
An hour later I was standing at the sink brushing my teeth wearing nothing but a towel, my hair making small puddles on the bathroom floor. Once my teeth were cleaned I grabbed the hairdryer from the wall and spent a few minutes on my hair, drying it just enough that it wasn’t dripping all over the place. I then made my way to the wardrobe for a change of clothes.

When I entered the room I instantly became aware of the fact that Max had been in there. The tray of dishes was gone and the bed was made. He had been in here while I was in the shower. I had been naked just a few feet away from him, that thought made me blush. I groaned and threw open the wardrobe doors, grabbing the first articles of clothing I touched.

I really needed to stop this insane crush I had on him, wait no I didn’t have a crush on him I just thought he was good looking. That really had to stop, I couldn’t think my psycho kidnapper was hot that just wasn’t a good idea.

After I was dressed and my hair was thrown into a messy bun I kneeled on the bed and took a look outside the only window my room was decorated with. I could see acres upon acres of green fields and densely packed trees, it really was beautiful. Living in the city I never saw a whole lot of vegetation, and I could see myself exploring the wooded area for hours. If I was here under different circumstances that is.

I was studying the barn which was stationed a few feet from the house when I saw Max come out of it, leading a chocolate brown horse. He caught me watching him and waved. I scowled down at him and quickly turned away from the window and flopped back down on the bed. Why was he being so nice to me?

I have been stuck in this house for a week now, and to tell you the truth I’m starting to get bored. Which is crazy because I’m not here on vacation, I shouldn’t be complaining about having nothing to do. I should be finding ways to get out and overcome Max.

I did try to escape again two nights ago. It was around two in the morning and the house was dead silent, I new Max was asleep because I heard him come upstairs three hours ago. This time I grabbed shoes and a jacket before heading down the stairs and slipping out the front door, which again was unlocked.

I made it down the driveway and quite far down the road before I saw headlights coming from behind me. At first I was thrilled, but that was until I saw who was driving it. I started running again and heard Max getting out of the car, chasing after me. I don’t know how long we ran for before Max grabbed my arm and we tumbled to the ground.

I was trying to get out from under him, kicking and punching. But then I felt a sharp poke on my arm and I became limp. I was helpless as Max lifted me in his arms and carried me back to the car. He drove back to the house and carried me back to my room where he laid me down on the bed.
He looked sad, like he hadn’t wanted to use sedative on me but was left with no choice. He told me that it should wear off by morning and then left, taking one last look at my useless body before closing the door.

That was two days ago and I haven’t left this room since. I didn’t know if I was going to try fleeing again, I really didn’t want another needle. Being unable to move was just plain scary. I’ve been reading the books that were in the room to pass the time, I’ve also been thinking about what was happening at home.

I’ve been gone for a week, people must be looking for me now. Were my parents worried or were they glad that their brat of a daughter was gone? I hadn’t exactly been what they wanted, I didn’t do what they wanted with a huge smile on my face. And I was never happy around them. Who was I kidding they weren’t looking for me, they could care less where I was.

I could feel the tears flowing down the face as I laid there thinking this over in my head, but I didn’t bother brushing them away. I hadn’t cried since I got here, guess it was about time. It was then that the door opened and I sat up startled, Max never came in here when I was here. He usually came when I was asleep or in the shower, he would even knock on the door and leave the food in the hall sometimes.

He was carrying a tray of steaming food and smiling, but when he took one look at my face he stopped.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, concern lacing his voice. I hated when he did that, if he really felt sorry for me he wouldn’t have taken me in the first place.

“Isabelle please talk to me. You’ve been here for a week and you’ve hardly said two words to me.”
“Well what did you expect me to do? Did you think I was going to love that some starnge guy took me to god knows where. That I was going to talk to you and act like everything’s okay? Well sorry to burst your bubble but that’s not going to happen,” I said brushing my tears away.

“I know you’re sad and still confused as to why you’re here, but you have to believe that I’m not going to harm you in-”

“You keep saying that. That you’re not going to hurt me-”

“And have I?” Max asked setting the food down on the desk and sitting in the chair.

“You sedated me,” I said folding my arms over my chest.

“I know and I’m sorry about that, but it was the only way to get you back to the house.”
“Then just let me go, if you were really sorry you’d let me go.”

“Belle I can’t do that. I know you don’t like that answer but it’s the only one I’m going to give you. I want to give you the chance to be you, but the only way you’re going to find who that is is if you get out of this room and move around the house, the grounds. Maybe even talk to me. You could have fun here Belle if you’d just give it a chance,” Max said staring at me with wide green eyes. And I suddenly felt my breath catch in my throat because I new that look, it’s the look I’ve been giving my parents all my life. It’s the look one gives someone else when they’re trying to be seen, really seen.

“That’s not going to happen. Please just leave,” I said turning away from him. I heard him sigh and then listened to his footsteps as he left the room.

He was confusing me and I didn’t like it. This wasn’t how a kidnapper was supposed to act, I’ve seen enough shows to know how they are, and Max didn’t fit any of them. He was nice and caring, made sure I had food and I wasn’t locked in a cell. As far as kidnappers went he wasn’t so bad. And I hated that.

This whole situation would be a lot better if I hated Max and wanted him dead, but the truth was I didn’t. And that scared the hell out of me.
It was the end of my second week there that I had a nightmare. I hadn’t tried running again and the only contact Max and I had was when he brought me food throughout the day. We didn’t exchange much words, he would usually try to start a conversation and I would cut him off by thanking him for the food and telling him to please leave. He always did as I asked, never forced me to talk or leave my room. And for that I was grateful. But this night something changed in our relationship, and it all started with a dream.

I was walking through the rooms of my house looking for my parents. I knew they were there even though everything was silent, the house usually was. It was when I entered the living room that I found them, but they weren’t along. There was a girl, my age, sitting on the couch inbetween my mother and father. She was wearing a lace covered dress and sipping tea out of a china cup.

“Mom, dad who is this?” I asked stepping further into the room. But they didn’t answer. I called to them again, but like before the didn’t hear me. I could see their mouths moving but I couldn’t make out what they were saying, I moved closer towards them until I could finally pick up their comversation.

“Isn’t she just perfect darling, the perfect child for the perfect family,” my mother said looking at my dad.

“Yes she is, she’s just like us.”

“And to think we wouldn’t even have her if Isabelle hadn’t gone missing. Greatest day of our lives that was,” my mom said smiling down at their daughter. My legs grew weak, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. They replaced me, with her.

I tried yelling again, desperate for them to hear me, to know that I was back. But they didn’t even look my way. Then the walls started to spin and I could hear someone calling my name: Isabelle, Isabelle! Then all I could see was green…
I awoke with a start breathing heavily and quickly sitting up, only to end up smacking my head against Max.

“Ow, fucking hell,” I yelled rubbing my forehead, knowing that there would be a bruse there later. “What are you doing!?” I said glaring at Max, who was also rubbing his forehead.

“You were yelling, I just came to wake you up.”

“Oh, well thanks I guess,” I said pulling the blankets around me, the dream still fresh in my mind.

“You’re welcome, I guess I’ll leave you to go back to sleep,” Max said slowly getting off the bed. I don’t know what possessed me to say what I said next, I guess I was still wary of the dream.

“Wait, umm. Could you maybe stay, only till I fall asleep again,” I asked in a small voice. Surprise flashed across his face, but it was quickly replaced by a smile.

“Yes of course,” he said sitting down on the desk chair. “I’ll be here, nothing will hurt you Belle.”

I couldn’t believe that I asked my monster in real life to protect me from the monsters that haunted my dreams. But if I was being honest with myself I no longer really considered Max a monster.

I awoke the next morning to see Max asleep on the desk chair. I almost fell off the bed at the shock of this, but then remembered how I asked him to stay with me last night.

I sat up in bed and moved a little closer towards the chair, he looked really peaceful; as I guess we all did when we slept. His hair was messy and was covering some of his face, a part of me wanted to reach out to fix it but the reasonable part of me stated that that would be a bad idea.

I had to get control of this insane attraction to him. I’ve read books on how in some cases people who get kidnapped sometimes develop feelings for their kidnapper. Something to do with the heightened emotions or something. But I just laughed at this, thinking how it was insane and couldn’t really happen. You’d have to be crazy to feel something for someone like that. Now I wasn’t so sure.

I was just climbing off the bed when Max shiffted in his sleep and almost ended up falling off the chair. He awoke with a start and gave a little yelp, which I couldn’t help but laugh at. He got up off the chair and stuck his tongue out at me while running his fingers through his hair.

“Guess I fell asleep last night, sorry about that.”

“It’s okay, you’re kind of adorable when you sleep,” I quickly closed my mouth as the words left. “I’m umm going to shower,” I said before running into the bathroom and slamming the door behind me. What did I just do?
When I came out of the shower and hour later Max was gone and breakfast was waiting for me on the desk. I smiled at this as I sat down. While I ate my thoughts drifted to Max. The way he always smiled at me, how he brought me food throughout the day so I wouldn’t go hungry. He’s left me alone and hasn’t harmed me in anyway, he just wants to give me a chance to be me away from my parents.

But why does he want this? Of all the kids in the world who are unhappy at home why did he choose me? And why does it bother him so much that I didn’t like my life?

I sighed and leaned back in the chair. I knew I could sit here for hours trying to come up with answers that weren’t going to get me anywhere. If I really wanted to know the reasons for his actions I would have to talk to him. But the thought of being near him didn’t put me at ease. But it wasn’t fear of what he would do, it was out of fear of what I would do.
I got up from the chair and began pacing the room. I was going stir crazy in here, that’s why I was having all these insane thoughts in my head. I’ve hardly done anything in the last two weeks so I was just occupying my mind with thoughts of Max to give me something to do. Maybe I could move around the house, there must be somewhere I could go that had something interesting to do. And if Max has been leaving me alone while I’ve been in here there’s no reason to think he’d do anything different if I was somewhere else.

With that in mind I threw open the door and stepped out into the hallway. There were mulitiple doors on either side of the hall, one must hold something that would take my mind off Max. So what could be behind door number one?

After door number five I was starting to loose hope of anything hiding upstairs. So far I’ve seen closets and empty bedrooms, nothing of interest in any of them. There were only two more doors up here and I knew one of them had to be Max’s bedroom, so that only left one more. Which ended up being an office. Which made sense, Max was in school so he would need a place to work.
With a sigh I closed the door and turned around to head back to my room when Max appered from the staircase.

“Hey, I thought I heard movement,” he said walking over to me. “What are you doing?”

“Oh umm nothing really, just thought I’d look around that’s all,” I said giving a small smile.

“Oh finally ready to come out of your room are you,” he said smiling. “Well there’s nothing of great value up here, but there’s something downstairs I think you’ll enjoy. I’ll show you if you want.”

“I,” this could be a trap, he could be leading me somewhere to finally kill me. But he would have done that a long time ago if that was his plan. I knew I could trust him. “Yeah okay,” I said following him down the stairs and further into the house.

We went through a dinning room, kitchen, and living room before entering a room at the back of the house. When I stepped through the doorway I couldn’t help my mouth dropping open in amazement. We were standing in a library.

The room was huge, something that had had to have be built onto the house, since the dimensions were different from the rest of the place. There were dozens of floor to ceiling shelves housing hundreds of books, and plush armchairs placed near windows that looked out onto the vast acres of land.
“Wow this is just - wow,” I said looking around in wonderment.

“I’m gald you like it, I figured you would,” Max said smiling. “Oh and over here there’s an old movie projector and every classic you could think of,” he said running over to a small door in the wall that did indeed hold a vast collection of movies.

“This is just so cool,” I said looking over his shoulder at the names of some of my all time favourite movies.

“Well you’re welcome to come here any time you like and read or watch movies. The projector is easy to use. You just place the movie you want on the reel then flip the switch. The screen comes down and the movie starts, simple as that,” he said motioning with his hands.

“Thanks, I’m definitely going to have to try this out tonight,” I said smiling, actually excited for the first time since I got here. And then I froze, grin fading from my face.

“Hey what’s wrong, did I do something,” Max asked confused at my sudden change in emotion.
“No it’s just that this isn’t how it’s supposed to be,” I said groaning in frustration. “You’re not supposed to be nice and there isn’t supposed to be a room filled with books and movies for my pleasure. I’m supposed to be scared, which I still am but not as much as before. I’m supposed to hate you, and-and I don’t and that terrifies me,” I said running my fingers through my hair.

“Well where does it say that? I’m not a monster Belle, I know you think I am because I took you away from your life but I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I’m glad that you’re warming up to everything, but I understand that you’re also confused. You’ve seen movies where the kidnapper is horrible and hurts who they take but I promise you that I’m not going to do that to you-”

“But that’s just it, I know you’re not going to hurt me. I believe you because you’ve given me no reason not to. I’m just so confused about everything I’m feeling and I don’t like it. It’s not normal-”
“Belle there’s no deffination of what’s normal. What one person thinks to be normal another doesn’t, that’s how the world works. I know you’re confused and you can ask me anything. We can talk about this if you want to, that might help,” Max said.

“You mean I can ask you anything and you’d give me an answer, to why you took me anything like that,” I asked.

“Anything you ask I will do my best to answer.”
“Okay, I’d like that.”

“Would you like to do it now, or would you like time to think about questions and have a chance to breath.”

“That would be nice, I am curious as to what books you have in here,” I said smiling at him.

“Well okay then, we can talk tonight then,” Max said grinning, happy that I was finally letting him in a little. “And I have every book imaginable. You’ll love it,” he said walking out of the room; letting me have time to clear my head for tonight.

“I made pizza for dinner,” Max said a few hours later, walking into the library with a tray filled with two plates and cups of soda.

“Oh thanks,” I said as he handed me a plate. So that’s what I’ve been smelling for the past hour. I sat the book I had been reading on the table and crossed my legs on the couch to make room for Max to sit down. We ate the pizza in silence, both aware of the tension and ackwardness that filled the air; but neither pointed it out. Once the plates were cleared and our stomachs full I jumped into the reason for us being here.

“Can you explain to me why you had to take me, I just want to understand what you want from me?”

Max placed his empty glass on the table and then turned to face me, also sitting cross-legged on the couch. “Belle I don’t want anything for you, I did this to help you.”

“But why did you think this would be in my benefit. How did you know everything going on at home?”
“As I told you before I’ve been watching you since you were ten. I saw you in the park once playing with your friend when your mother came and took you home, you had to go to some party or something along those lines-”

“I rememeber that, I had a dream about it my first night here. I can’t belive I never noticed you watching me.”

“Well you were just a kid, kids don’t really pay much attention to the people around them. As you got older I didn’t hang around as much, but I was still there,” for some reason I wasn’t as creeped out about that as I was before. It was still a little unsettling, but it didn’t bother me as much.

“But why me? There must be hundreds of kids who are unhappy at home and you chose me, why? Was it just because I was the first you saw.”

“You reminded me of myself. You were just a little kid who longed for slides and shorts but got stuck with dresses and tea parties. I was you when I was younger. My parents treated me the same, they were from the same social background and treated everyone else around them like they didn’t matter. I didn’t have anyone to explain what was going on with me, I went through every day feeling like I was suffocating and all I wanted was to get the hell away from them, but I couldn’t. Not until I turned eighteen that is, I couldn’t leave faster-”
“Then why did you take me? I would have been gone in a few months anyway-”

“I knew that. I kept telling myself to keep my distance and forget about it, but then I saw you go into that café looking so hurt all I could think about was getting you out of that house and away from them. I truly am sorry.”

“But not sorry enough to let me go,” it wasn’t a question since I already knew the answer.

“No, at least not yet. Not until you can have a chance to be you for once without having your parents breathing down your back. I want you to be free, if only for a little while. Have that break that I never got to have. And who knows, your parents may even change. They might realize what its like not having you there and that they don’t like it. Their whole perception on life could change from this,” Max said to me. I just laughed.

“I doubt my parents even care, they aren’t looking for me. They’re too busy drinking champane at some club gathering with all their other highclass friends. They wouldn’t change their outlook on life just because their daughter went missing, they aren’t the type to care,” I said looking down at my hands. Tears filled my eyes as the words I just said rang through my head, what if it really was true; that they truly didn’t care I was gone.

“Belle-”

“Can you just go, I want to be alone,” I said willing myself not to cry, not in front of him.
“Okay,” Max whispered as he got up from the couch. I listened as he collected the plates and walked out into the hall to another part of the house. Once he was gone the tears I was holding back broke free and ran down my face.

I cried myself to sleep that night. After my body exhausted itself from sobbing I crashed into a dreamless sleep. I was so out of it that I didn’t hear Max come in late that night, or feel the blanket he put on me.

I woke up the next morning to the smell of cinnamon in the air, I smiled at this and snuggled futher into the fluffy blanket that covered me. It took a few minutes for my brain to fully wake up and notice that I wasn’t in my room, but in the library on the couch, and that when I fell asleep last night I didn’t have a blanket with me.

I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes surveying the sunlit room. The smell of apples soon joined in with the cinnamon making my mouth water, and I pushed the blanket off, determined to find the source of the aroma; even if Max was at the end of the trail.

I slowly made my way to the kitchen looking around the house as I went. I realized that even though I’ve been here for almost three weeks I haven’t really gotten a good look at the place. It really was quite beautiful. It was the typical country farm house, but with something enterly itself. I had stopped walking when a picture caught my eye. It was one of a little boy smiling at the camera with a ballon in his hand, and was standing in front of a Farris wheel. He had to be no older then seven and was the cutest little boy I had ever seen. I couldn’t help smiling fondly at him and move closer to the photo.

“That’s the only picture I’ve kept from my childhood,” a voice behind me said.

“S***!” I yelled spinning around to face Max.

“You have quite the mouth don’t you,” he said with an amused smurk.

“You almost gave me a heart attack, don’t sneak up on me like that,” I said trying to get my breathing back to normal.

“Sorry I didn’t know you were in here, next time I’ll narrate what I’m doing so you’ll know where I am,” he said.
“Oh shut up,” I retorted. “Is whatever’s making that delicious smell done?” I asked hopefully.

“Yes it is, I was on my way to get you from the library. But you ended up being here instead.”

“Well come on then, I’m starving,” I said moving towards the kitchen. It wasn’t until I was setted at the breakfast bar that I noticed the look of puzzlement on Max’s face, it was hard to notice because it was almost concelled by his smile.

“What?” I asked.

“Huh?” Was the only response I got from Max as he began filling our plates with food.

“What’s with the look?” I asked again. “You seemed confused a few moments ago.”

“Oh it’s nothing, you’re just acting…different,” he said as he handing me my plate.

“Different in what sense?” I asked, spreading jam on my scone as I waited for his answer.

“You just seem more comfortable, and you’re talking with me,” he said.

“I’ve talked to you before.”

“Yeah but not really, not with this relaxed air around you. What’s changed?” I gave a sigh at this and sat down my fork, but then picked up my coffee cup to bide some time while I thought of how to begin.

“I guess after our talk last night, after you told me why you took me and about your own childhood, I began seeing you in a different light. I still don’t really forgive you for taking me, at least not fully, but I have come to accept that you’re not going to hurt me. You took me because you saw a part of you in me, no one helped you with your family problems so you decided you would help me with mine; even though your way about that was so unbelievably wrong,” I explained to him shoting him a glare. “You have taken a great deal of care for me, and you haven’t pushed me to be around you. You haven’t done anything of what I first thought you were going to do to me-”

“Yes I remember getting “rape” and “murder” yelled at me a few weeks back,” Max said, half amused and half serious.

“Well that’s the first thing a girl thinks when they get kidnapped by a guy. What else would he want her for?” I told him. “But I know now that you’re not going to do anything along those lines. I’m not totally glad to be here, I still feel that you should let me go. But I don’t hate it as much as I did when I first got here, I guess. I figure that since I’m not leaving any time soon it wouldn’t hurt to get out of my room and spend some time with you,” I said to Max, and I couldn’t help but love the smile that grew on his face when I finished my little speech.

“Well Isabelle I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you’re semi-warming up to me. Now lets finish eating before everything gets cold.”

Max was upstaris finishing a paper for school, he said he’s doing online classes for now since he can’t really leave because of me. But the online stuff is apparently the same things he’d be learning if he was actually there, so he said he wasn’t missing out on anything.

We hadn’t done a whole lot today, mostly talked and he gave me a tour of the grounds.
He showed me his horses and promised we’d go for a ride the next morning, which I was really looking forward to. I was just in the library waiting for Max to be done so we could start on dinner, he finally agreed for me to help after I bugged him about it all day. I’ve missed cooking, it was something I always did at home whenever my parents were out or I was having a bad day. There was something about cooking that made me always feel better.

With a sigh I shut down the movie projector and got up from the couch, aimlessly walking around the shelves of books. I didn’t really know what to do with myself, and I knew that going to find Max wouldn’t be a good thing. He’d be down once he was done. It’s funny how now I wanted to be around Max when just yesterday I would have cringed at just the thought of spending more time with him.

I was pushing one of the ladders around with me, entertained by the sound the wheels made as they rolled across the floor. I pulled the ladder to a stop and started climbing up to the top shelf, seeing if maybe I could find a book there that would hold my attention and stop it from driffting to Max. Closing my eyes I let my hand skim over the spins of the books before randomly taking one off the shelf. Looking at the cover at a title I didn’t recognize I shrugged and started back down to the ground. I wasn’t paying much attention though to the placement of my feet, my thoughts had strayed back to him, and I ended up missing a step. This caused me to fall the remaining four feet to the hardwood floor, it wasn’t a far landing but I managed to fall quite hard of my ankle bending it in a way that it shouldn’t go.

I bit my lip as a whimper of pain moved up my throat and tears stung my eyes. It was in my brief haze of pain that the ladder, distruped by my fall, detached itself from the shelf and fell to the ground. It was the loud crash it made that cleared my head from the fog of pain it was under. I sat there stunned from everything that happened in that short time, staring at the ladder as if it were some unknown creature. It was the shout and footsteps running down the stairs that shook me out of my trance.

“Belle are you alright, what happened?” Max shouted as he ran into the room. He took one look at the fallen ladder and me sitting beside it before rushing to my side.

“Oh my God what happened, are you hurt, did you break anything. What did you do, how did this-”

“Max calm down,” I said cutting him off. “I’m alright, I just fell off the ladder while I was getting a book. No big deal.”

“No big deal, gezz Isabelle you scared the hell out of me. I heard the crash and every horrible thing imaginable rushed through my mind. Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked, concerne filling his eyes. I couldn’t believe how worried he was for me, I wasn’t used to this.

“Yeah I’m fine, well umm except for my ankle-”

“What’s wrong, did you break it?” Max asked looking down at the ankle that my hands were wrapped around.

“I don’t know, I landed on it funny and it really hurts.”
“Can I look at it?” He asked sitting down. I nodded my head and watched as he carefully set my foot in his lap and peeled off my sock. My eyes widened when I saw how swollen it already was. He began moving it, testing to see what hurt.

“Well the good news is that it’s not broken, just a little sprained. You should stay off it for a few days to let it heal. It might be best if you stay down here, you can sleep on the couch. This way you won’t have to be concerned with stairs, and it’s more interesting down here anyway,” he said smiling. “I’ll help you over to the couch then I’ll get you some ice,” he said standing up and grabbing my hand.

Once I was setted on the couch and my leg was proped up Max left to get ice. When he came back he sat down on the table and fiddeled with the ice pack on my foot until he was satisfied with the arrangment of it.

“Looks like I won’t be able to help with dinner,” I said, sad that my cooking would have to wait a little longer.

“Didn’t know you hated my cooking that much,” Max said grinning. I just stuck my tongue out at him, knowing he was joking.

“We also won’t be able to go horse back riding tomorrow either,” he informed me, disapontment clear on his face.
“Oh right I forgot about that, but we’ll just go right when my ankle is healed.”

“Yes, it shouldn’t be too long before you’re walking again. Well I better go start dinner, you sit here and I’ll be back soon,” he said getting up. I just sighed and let my head fall back on the pillow.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just I was bored before and was looking forward to making dinner since it would have given me something to do. Now I just have to sit here again,” I said pouting.

“Oh don’t start with that, I’ll make something quick so I’ll be done faster. You just sit there and look cute and I’ll be back before you know it,” and with that he was gone. But my head was still reeling. He thought I was cute?

“Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” I said smiling as Max handed me my plate.

“Yeah they’re quick to make and delicious- but if you don’t want them I can-”

“Max it’s fine, I love Pb&J sandwiches,” I reassured him taking a bite.

“Okay good,” he said smiling. We sat in silence for a few minutes both content with just eating. My gaze strayed to him a few times, sitting in the chair beside the couch lost in his own world. A part of me wanted to know what that world was all about, where he went when he wasn’t with me. What his life was like before he started watching me, his life apart from his parents.

“Max,” I began, sitting up more on the couch and moving my foot to the coffee table.

“Yes,” he said his eyes following my moments.

“Tell me about yourself,” I said looking at him.

“Why?” He questioned.

“Because I want to know about you. I want to know what makes up Max Alder. Why you wanted to study psychology, what your life was like with your parents. Your life before you took me. Your likes and dislikes, just tell me about yourself,” I said.

“But why are you interested, there’s not a lot to tell you-”
“Of course there is, there is so much about you. You may not think so but I might. Can you just tell me about yourself, please,” I pleaded. Not really sure why I wanted him to talk so badly, just knowing that I needed to hear about him, needed to know that what I saw wasn’t all there was to him.

“Okay,” Max said, putting his plate on the table and moving to sit beside me on the couch.

“Where to start. Well okay that picture you were looking at this morning, with me at the fair-”

“Yeah you said it was the only photo you kept from your childhood.”

“Yes it is, all the other ones were too posed and perfect. Ones that my parents hired professionals to take, those were the only kinds of pictures we ever took as a family. But the one at the fair was different, and that’s because my parents weren’t there. They wouldn’t have been caught dead at a fair, too dirty with too many kids running around.

“One of our nannies took me there, it was my seventh birthday and my parents forgot. When I woke up that morning they had already left for work, I found the nanny- I can’t remember her name, we had so many and I could never keep their names straight- in the kitchen making pancakes. She gave them to me with whip cream and a candle in the middle. I asked her where my mom and dad were and I remember her looking at me with this sad exspression on her face, she told me they were off somewhere secret getting something for my birthday. I knew it wasn’t the truth but I let her believe that she fooled me.

“After breakfast she asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and I told her about the fair. We spent all day there and it was the most fun I ever had. Going on all the rides, playing the games and eating everything I could get my hands on. When we got home that evening my parents were there and I told them about my day, expecting them to be happy, but they weren’t. They fired the nanny because she took me somewhere without their permission. She sent me the enlarged picture the next day and I’ve had it ever since,” Max revealed to me.

“Wow, my parents might be high up in their own worlds but they’ve never forgotten my birthday. They might not always be there for it, or make it as an excuse to have another one of their “parties” but they never don’t remember,” I said.

“Yeah well it was a long time ago-”

“But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still hurt a little,” I said, resting my hand on his shoulder. He smiled and patted my hand with his. We stayed like that for a few moments before Max spoke up.

“Okay your turn. Tell me something from your past.”

“Wait what, no. This was about you telling me about you not the other way around,” I stated.
“Well we can take turns. Please tell me something.”

“What could I possibly tell you that you don’t already know?” I asked. But I immediately regreaded it at the look that passed across his face. “Wait Max I didn’t mean-”

“No you’re right-”

“No I’m not,” I said. I couldn’t believe that I was trying to reassure him. “You didn’t start watching me until I was ten, I had a life before that. Please just let me think of something, don’t run away.”

“Funny, you telling me not to run away,” he said.

“Yeah well this whole situation isn’t normal, why not add funny to the list,” I said.

“Okay,” I announced a few minutes later. “I thought of something,” I said smiling.
“This happened when I was six. I was really into fairies, I watched only fairy movies, read fairy books. Fairies decorated my whole room, I wore costumes; I was obsessed with anything fairy. Having rich parents who tired to buy their kids affection was a bonus on this occasion. I asked for fairy everything and they bought it for me.

“One day while I was playing outside in our yard I found a ring of mushrooms and was convinced it was a fairy ring. I was so excited that I stayed out there all day in hopes of seeing one. I even made them peanut butter sandwiches-”

“Why peant butter?” Max asked amused.

“Well that was my favourite food so I figured the faries would love it also,” I explained. “Anyway they never showed up, I was sad for a while but soon got over it; as any six year old would. A few days later my mom took me to the park, yes I know shocker,” I said in response to the shocked look on Max’s face. “I played in the gardens, claiming that I was playing with my fairy friends. The Flower faries, I was watching over them from the bad things, I don’t remember what they bad things were. But I remember someone coming over to me and saying that fairies weren’t real and that I should stop living in the make believe world. I was so upset that I ran to my mom and asked her if that was true, if faires really weren’t real.
And I remember her picking me up and saying that as long as I belived they were real then of course they were. That’s the only time I remember my mother being a mom, assuring me that the magical world I belived in was indeed real. After that though she started pulling further away from me, but I’ve never forgotten what she said to me on that bench,” I said to Max.

“Well maybe your parents aren’t really the heartless people I thought they were, maybe there’s hope that they’ll someday change,” Max said to me.

“I don’t know, I think I’ve lost them to the world of success a long time ago, and I don’t think they’re ever coming back,” I said sadly.

“Well I think that’s enough story telling for one night. How about I make some popcorn and we watch a movie?” Max suggested getting up from the couch.

“Singing in the Rain,” I called after him, laughing as he moaned in fake agony.
That was how the next two days past while my ankle healed. After breakfast we would tell each other stories from out childhood. I came to realize that Max’s life was a lot worse than mine. He told me about the time when he was twelve and he hide for the whole day hoping that someone would notice he was gone, but his parents never did. One of the maids ended up finding him, she was the only one that noticed he was gone. I told him about my friends, and how they’re the ones that have helped me get through everything with my parents. Max didn’t have a lot of friends, everyone thought he was weird at school. He told me that it was because of his parents that he decided to study psychology. He wanted to know how the human brain worked so he could understand why his parents acted how they did, I told him to come find me when he did so he could inform me why some parents really shouldn’t be parents.

I told him about my writing and how at first I used it as an escape to get away from my life, but then as I grew older I realized that I was actually quite good at it. I asked him about his love life, which he found amusing. He’s only ever had two girlfriends, neither one lasting very long. He then asked me about boyfriends, even though he already knew I’ve never had any. Which he found crazy, this caused a warm feeling to settle in the pit of my stomach.

We also watched a lot of movies. And he promised that the minute my ankle healed we would go riding.

“You sure you’re up for this?” Max asked me as I made my way towards the barn.

“Yes stop asking. My ankle is totally fine. I’ve been sitting on that couch for three days and I’m bored as hell, I’m going ridding wether you like it or not,” I said to him as we entered the barn.

“Okay no need to be sassy,” he said smirking. I just rolled my eyes as I watched him get the horse out from their stalls.

“This ones name is Star,” he said pointing to a beautiful chestnut mare with a white mark on her forhead that looked like a star. “You’ll be on her. And this ones names is Charlie,” he said. Charlie was jet black and with white feet, his colour matched Max’s hair.

“So do you know how to saddle them or should I do it?” He asked smiling.

“I can do it, just show me were her stuff is,” I said sticking out my tongue.
“So where are we going to ride?” I asked Max once we were on our horses.

“Well this land is plenty big, but I have the perfect spot to ride to to have lunch. Just follow me and try to keep up,” he called as he troted away.

“Oh it’s on,” I yelled pushing Star into a gallop. I let out a sigh and breathed in the rich scent of the brezze as Max and I raced across the field. I’ve missed being on a horse, feeling the freedom that comes with riding.

We rode for hours, changing between racing each other to a slow walk side-by-side. I couldn’t make up my mind on which one I liked best. When we rode fast the wind would fly through his curls and turn his cheeks red, but when we walked I could feel his leg brush against mine.

“It’s beautiful here,” I said to Max later that day once we stopped for lunch. We were sitting in the middle of a meadow with a creek running through it, there were purple flowers all around us. It was breathtaking for lack of a better word.

“It is isn’t it. I come out here all the time to think, its quite and the air always smells good,” he said smiling. I finished the rest of my orange and layed down beside him, listening to the sound of the bubbling water, feeling the breeze on my face, and inhaling the scent of the Earth. For the first time since I got here I was completely calm.
Race you back,” I announced later that afternoon as we got back on our horses.

“You’re on,” he said, laughing as he took off.

“Hey no far, I wasn’t ready,” but I was smiling as I raced to catch up to him.


“So I think the winner, that would be me, should get to choose what we have for dinner,” I said as we entered the house.

“Yeah okay I guess that could work,” Max mumbled sitting on one of the stools.

“Maybe we should have a cake as well,” I said grinning.

“Now don’t get ahead of yourself here, I let you win.”

“Oh really now, sure you did,” I said.

“I did,” he said pouting, but I could see a grin emerging.

“Don’t be a sore loser, no one likes them. Now where were we with the whole cake thing.”

“You make dinner I’ll make the cake,” Max said smiling.

“Yay,” I exclaimed clapping my hands with glee. “How does pizza sound?”

“Good. You like vanilla cake right?” I nodded my head at this and went in search of pizza ingredients.
“Well if you don’t make it as a psychologist you could always become a baker. That was the best cake I’ve ever had,” I said licking the last of the icing off my fork.

“Well I’m glad you approve,” he said smiling. “Now after we clean the dishes I have and idea of what we can do.”

“Oh I’m helping with the dishes am I?” I asked, already gathering up the plates. “What are we going to do?”

“You’ll find out once the dishes are cleaned,” he teased.

“Fine,” I huffed.

Once the kitchen was cleaned Max lead me into the living room, after we pushed the couches against the wall he went over to the stereo and turned it on. The soft sound of the piano filled the room.

“Dance with me?” He asked biting his lip. Was he nervous?
“I’d say I don’t know how, but you know that’s not true,” I said moving towards him.

“Yep, can’t lie to me,” he said smiling and taking my hand in his and twirling me around. I giggled and he did it again. Soon my arms were around his neck and his were settled on my waist as we swayed to the music. I shivered as his cheek grazed mine, loving the feel of his stubble. But then it was gone as he dipped me low to ground, causing me to shreak in surprise which he laughed at. He then proceeded to spin me around the room, my laughter wrapping around us.

“I love the sound of your laugh,” he whipered in my ear. This brought on a new wave of shivers. “Are you cold?” He asked looking at me.

“No,” I breathed as I stared into his emerald green eyes. Then my gaze dropped to his lips. Without thinking about it I moved towards him, and soon my lips were grazing his in the softest of kisses. But then he was gone, pushing me away from him. I just stood there and watched him run his hands through his hair, groaning to himself. My head still reeling from the brief taste I got of him.
“Isabelle you, I can’t, we can’t…” this was like a knife to my gut. Of course he didn’t like me, I was just a kid. There was no attraction, it was only coming from me.

“Right yeah,” I said backing away. “I’m just going up to my room.”

“Belle wait we should talk-”

“No, that is the last thing I want to do right now. I get it, you don’t feel like that for me and I completely understand. I’ll just…” I trailed off as tears clouded my vision. I hated that I was upset. I turned and ran from the room and up the stairs. Closing the door to my room behind me, I would have locked it but there wasn’t one. But I knew he wouldn’t follow me.

I collapsed on the bed and tried to stop the tears from falling. I couldn’t believe I was up here crying that my kidnapper didn’t like me back. But to tell you the truth, I hadn’t seen him as my kidnapper in quite some time.

When I awoke the next morning it was to clouds and rain, which fit my mood perfectly. I sat in bed and watched the rain as it trailed down my window, leaving tracks of tears in its wake. I sighed and flopped backwards onto the bed, I couldn’t believe I was comparing the rain to tear tracks, what had my life become?

I was deciding on whether or not to have a bubble bath when the door opened and Max entered carrying a tray of scones and jam, I frowned at this; it was his way of making peace.

“Hi I umm brought breakfast, incase you’re hungry. If not I can just leave it here,” he stammered. I rolled my eyes at his awkwardness as I got up from the bed and took the tray from his hands.

“I’d never pass up on scones. Thanks.”

“Your welcome, I’ll just leave you to eat-”

“You can stay, there’s plenty,” I suggested.

“Oh okay, are you sure?” He asked.
“Of course, just sit down,” I told him, trying to get back to how we were before I screwed everything up. Breakfast passed by in a kind of strained silence, only broken by our chewing. The thing that neither one of us wanted to talk about was hanging over our heads slowing sucking away the air, and I just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Lets just pretend that last night never happened okay, after we ate cake we just watched a movie then went to bed,” I blurted out. Max looked at me for a few moments before slowly nodding his head.

“Okay if that’s what you want-”

“It is.”

“Okay then, nothing happened,” he said smiling.

“Good,” I said moving to sit crossed legged on the bed. “So what can we do today?”

“I was thinking we could bake today since it’s raining.”

“Great idea, I’ve missed that. And you can show me some of your secrets.”

“A great baker never reveals his talents,” Max said.

“Well maybe you just got lucky last night and you actually suck.”

“Oh it was no luck, I’m fantastic. Get dressed and I will show you how great I am, you’ll be left crying in a corner from my awesomeness,” he said grinning.

“We’ll see,” I said getting off from the bed and moving towards the bathroom. “See you downstairs.”
“So, cookies, cupcakes, pie, cake, brownies. Where should we start?” Max asked me and hour later, ingredents spread out on the counters.
“We should each make something different, that way more things can be made. I want to do brownies.”

“Okay, I’ll make a pie,” Max said gathering up what he’ll need and moving to the other side of the kitchen. The next few hours went by fairly silently. Ocassonily broken in favour of talking, but for the most part we were focussed on that task at hand. Once the baked goods went into the oven we took a break to clean and eat a small lunch, and then it was back to baking. We made so much food it was unbelievable. Dozens of cookies, plates of cupcakes and brownies, two cakes and pies to match.

“I can’t belive we made so much stuff, we’ll never be able to eat all this,” I said staring in amazment.

“Well we can deffinatly eat most of it,” Max said sitting on one of the stools.

“Maybe,” I said lifting up a bag of flour. “Are you going to help clean up?”

“Looks like you’ve got a handle on things, think I’ll just sit here and rest if you don’t mind,” he said closing his eyes, a grin on his lips. I smiled and set the flour back on the table, I grabbed a handful of the cool powdery substance and dumped it in his hair. His eyes flew open and I couldn’t help but laugh at his expression.

“Oh you think so do you,” he said moving towards me.
“What?” I asked innocently, then shrieked when he grabbed the container of cocoa powder and pounced. I ran around the island shrieking with laughter as he chased after me, throwing brown powder along the way, hitting me in the back with it. I then grabbed baking soda and threw it in his face, causing his to gag in disgust and stop in his tracks.

“Oh it’s on,” he declared grabbing a cartoon of eggs and throwing one at my shirt, then back of the head. This continued on for a good twenty minutes, the kitchen, and us getting dirtier by the second. Eggs flew, powder hung in the air and streaked the floor, and our laughter filled the room.

“Okay okay, I give,” I said as Max grabbed me by the waist.

“Smart idea,” he said laughing as he twirled me around. “We made quite the mess.”

“We really did,” I said looking around at the wreaked kitchen. “But I think we actually look worse.”

“Well you sure do, hey!” he exclaimed after I smacked him on the arm. “I can’t see myself so I’m only going by what you look like,” he said letting me go in fear of more abuse.
“Trust me, you look terrible too,” I said laughing at his hurt exspression. “Oh you’re still handsome just a little dirty,” I said smiling at his shock at my words. “So you going to help me clean up so we can shower and eat dinner, I’m starving.”

“Well considering what happened last time I refused to help I think I will,” he said turning on the tap. I smiled at this and started putting away what was left of the ingredents, also putting the baked good in containers, glad that they were spared from our war.
Once the kitchen was back to it’s gleaming self we showered and then sat down for a simple dinner, both to tired to make anything. We went to bed early that night and I was glad that the awkwardness that greated us that morning was gone. But confessions of attraction couldn’t stay forgotten for long, could they.

The next few days went by quite fast, filled with horses and walks, movies and tales of the past. And after a while I got pretty good at pretending I didn’t notice the lingering looks Max gave me, or the way he’d stiffen every time I brushed up against him. But I couldn’t live like this for long, with the tension always hovering in the room. I was a teenager for God’s sake, my hormones were running wild, it’s no wonder I exploded one night.
We were in the library watching a movie, or more like Max was watching the movie and I was watching him. The way the faint glow from the projector lit up his face, or his exspressions to everything that happened, I was more entranced by him then whatever was playing.
“I can feel you watching me you know,” he suddenly said turning to face me, catching me staring. “What’s on your mind?” What could I tell him, that my mind was only filled with thoughts of him and what he was doing to me. Ask him why he kept looking at me like he never wanted to let me out of his sight, why my touch left him breathless; how could he think I didn’t see all this? And suddenly I got angry, really honest to god mad. Max must have seen the change in my face because he moved a little back on the couch.
“Whoa Belle whats wrong?”
“Oh don’t all Belle me, you know very well whats wrong. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice Max, all your staring, and how you practically have a heart attack ever time I brush up against you. Like what the hell!?” I shouted.
“Belle I don’t-”
“You better not say you have no idea what I’m talking about because you do. Is this just a game for you, seeing how long it will take to drive me crazy. Can’t you just come out and say that you like me, or are attracted to me. Casue I know you are, what’s so f*ing complicated-”
“I shouldn’t like you!” Max yelled jumping from the couch. “I can’t like you, I didn’t bring you here for that. I brought you here to get you away from your parents, nothing more. But.. F***,” he groaned running his hands through his hair. “You’re just absolutely perfect, you’re smart and funny, and when you laugh, it’s the greatest sound in the world. And you’re beautiful, but it’s not just your looks. I can talk to you for hours and not get bored, and…” he trailed off looking at me. “Say something please,” he pleaded.
“I like you too, I also think you’re perfect and amazing, and everything you said about me is the same for you. I just don’t understand, if you like me then why did you push me away when I kissed you?” I said moving towards him.
“Because on your first night here you said that rape thing and-”
“Seriously that’s what you’re worried about. Kissing me is not rape, for one rape means I don’t want it and you’re doing it against my will. And I was the one that started the kissing, and trust me I defiantly want it,” I said lightly grabbing his hands.
“Belle I can’t,” he whispered as I wrapped my arms loosely around his neck.
“Yes you can. You just said that you like me, and you know I like you, so what’s stopping you from kissing me?”
“I’m twenty-five, you’re seventeen. In the eyes of the law this is illegal,” he breathed.
“That’s only if we have sex, I’m only suggesting you kiss me,” I told him, trailing my fingers in his hair.
“Belle,” he whinned, pressing closer against me.
“Just kiss me, please,” this was broken by a moan when his lips finally brushed against mine. At the contact of his mouth on mine, moving agonizingly slowly a dam broke inside me. With a growl I pressed my mouth more firmly against his while my tongue traced the seal of his mouth. He moaned and allowed me entrance. Caution was thrown to the wind as teeth and tongue battled together and we became a tangle of limbs as we moved backwards to the couch. It was when I was laying down with Max ontop of me that the oddest sound broke through our haze of lust for each other, it was a few moments before we registered what it was. There was someone knocking on the door. We looked at each other in confusion, but then Max got up from the couch.
“I’ll go see who it is, stay here I’ll be right back,” he said winking as he went to the door. But I didn’t listen, I wanted to know who disrupted us from making out. I hated them already, and that was before I knew who it was. After I found out I hated them even more.
I entered the hallway to find Max talking to some guys on the porch, it wasn’t until I was at the the stairs that I saw the uniform. What were cops doing here?
“Sorry to disturb your night sir. We’re looking for a missing girl, we just started in this area and your house was first. She was taken a little over a month ago, we have a photo we can leave here of her if you see anything,” one of the cops said handing over the picture.
“I’ll be sure to call if I see anything,” Mas assured them. I knew I should get the hell out of the foyer, get out of possible view. I quickly turned around and was about to run back to the library when one of the cops said.
“Who’s that, she looks a lot like… holy s***.” I stared in horror as they grabbed Max and ran towards me, assuring me that everything was okay now. I couldn’t tell them that it wasn’t though.
Calls were made to my parents who, to my surprise, made it there under thirty minutes from being contacted. They were frantic with worry, hugging me and crying. They kept asking is I was alright and what happened, but I was to numb to speak. The cops said it was shock, but really I was just sick with worry about where Max was. I hadn’t seen him since the cops grabbed him. I asked them were he was, and they assured me he was being kept far away from me. They must have thought I was asking because I was scared.
The cops wanted to ask me questions, but my parents wanted to get me home. Saying that I shouldn’t have to stay in that house any longer. So it was agreed that I would go home and cops would be around the next day to take my statement. So I was pushed into my parents car, with my mom sitting beside me while my dad drove.
My mom kept telling me that I didn’t have to worry about him any longer, I was safe and everything would be okay. But I couldn’t help but think that she was wrong. How could things be alright when I could still feel the lips of someone everyone hated lingering on mine, and feel his hands on me. I loved him and everyone would only see him as my kidnapper. Could things be alright when I was being lead back into a world that I didn’t feel like I belonged in? How could I go back to living in a bubble after being shown what freedom was like? These were the thoughts that flew through my mind as we drove futher and futher away from wide open spaces, laughter, and the man with green eyes.