For Him

I finally gained consciousness by spotty, drug-delirious intervals, and realized that I was completely engulfed in darkness. It was a bleak, crippling darkness so close to tangibility that I felt my lungs should be black just from breathing it in.

            Stay calm. I unraveled myself from fetal position and attempted to crack every bone in my petite body, mostly to make sure everything was still there. Check. By my ability to do this I noticed that I wasn’t restrained in any way, which surprised me to a level of real concern. What are they trying to pull? But upon feeling around in vain for my phone or any method of communication, I felt thin ropes behind where I originally lay and felt a degree better. Until I started thinking about how I got them off by myself. How out of must I have been?

            I attempted, also in vain, to take in my surroundings. The dirt floor and the air around me felt heavy and cold. Must be outside. And I felt a steady draft whisk gently across my face. How late must it be?

            But wait! My eyes really opened for the first time in seemingly an eternity. As my senses began to heighten, I noticed that the musky air was also dusty, as if that of a basement. The damp floor I had originally taken to be dirt now transformed into concrete immediately. The breeze, I now understood, was air conditioning, carrying with it the faint scent of coffee from above.

            Am I seriously in. . . .a basem-              

            Lanky arms wrapped around me so suddenly I felt faint. I couldn’t have possibly defended myself again successfully at that moment, I realized, and panicked. One warm hand stifled my scream with the potential to split ears.

            “Liz,” he whispered so quietly I wasn’t sure it was a real voice or my imagination, “they don’t know I’m here. Let’s keep it that way, darling.” Now positive it was him, though more startled that he was with me than I was to be in a strange basement, I couldn’t contain the tears that streamed down my cheeks. I cried more realizing I was allowing myself to cry in his presence. So much for taking care of myself. But his voice sounded so sweet that I didn’t care. I allowed myself to collapse into his arms, then chest, and then melted into his reassuring voice like things were back to normal.

So. elated. he’s. here. I don’t even care how.

            I savored this short time, not really thinking about leaving, or the danger we were undoubtedly in. We spoke in whispers of my condition, then his condition, and, inevitably, he described to me the passage we could take to escape. He surprised me once more by taking out a tea cake from who-knows-where. I laughed at the subtle joke. He knew I loved eating these to relax during really long, stressful hours of writing. Relaxing. I laughed. No time for that now, love.

            He then attempted to show me the rope dangling from the ceiling that led to a closet in a hidden room directly above us. All I wanted to see in that darkness was his face. Priorities, Liz. However, it was there, because after a few seconds of me waiting while he jumped to try to reach it, a hint of light streamed into the room and a quiet creaking sound told me he had opened it. Tall people are a hoot. My hero then allowed me to step on his shoulders so I could crawl into the unfamiliar closet, so cramped I felt I might suffocate. I reached down to pull him up. His legs ungracefully flailed to give him momentum to swing himself up, which he eventually did. I pretended that my arms didn’t hurt.

            With him next to me in body and spirit, the closet felt like home. On my tip-toes, I wrapped my arms around his neck and the kiss that ensued made me feel more than at home. I felt so at peace in that moment, kissing him harder. To my delight, he didn’t resist. To my further delight, I knew this was having as much of an effect on him as it was on me. “I love you, Christian,” I whispered in his ear.

            In response, he kissed my neck, which made me forget about everything all at once. But the subtle light from the adjacent room allowed me to see his beautiful face, revealing a raised eyebrow and a wry smile. I smiled back, reading his thoughts. “Let’s go,” I breathed.

            He moved more quickly through the room than allowed me to gather my bearings, nonetheless keep up. I hid it well, though, keeping just on his tail for fear of discovery: a very daunting, real fear. We moved from this room, an office room, I had been able to surmise, that had been vacant for a long time based on the musky odor similar to the basement I had once called home, into a dim hallway. A hallway just perfect for a bloody horror movie.

            We inched along the cold, marble wall of the corridor, heart pounding out of my chest. Hush. I won’t have you ruining this. Hush, please. I’m begging you. But, alas, it didn’t. My only consolation was Christian’s presence. And his warm hand in mind. How could I still feel so freezing cold?

            The hallway seemed to go on forever and then some. I spent the time scanning our surroundings as he guided me forward, hoping, praying that nothing would give us away. Our footsteps were light enough, but I didn’t know who we could come across. I wasn’t about to take that chance. I was ready to sprint at any moment. I hoped Christian was, too. He’s never let me down before. I let that thought console me further.