Cave

Chapter Twenty-Six

“I won’t do that.” Eli warned looking only at me. “Even if you do try to kill me I won’t defend myself.”

“You have to.” I whispered, “Please.”

“No.” He warned.

“Then I’ll take care of it myself.” I snapped and went into the woods. Just as I was finishing my stake Eli walked into the meadow.

“You aren’t using that.” He whispered.

“Yes I am.” I nodded and quickly stabbed myself in the chest. I woke up and the moon was high above. When I looked beside me Eli was sitting there and I frowned. “Why?” I finally whispered when he saw that I was awake. “Why wouldn’t you just let me die?”

“Because I love you.” He said simply.

“If you loved me then you would put me out of my misery.” I snapped but suddenly noticed he wasn’t the only one there. I started to sit up and flinched at the effort.

“It will take a while for you to heal. Luckily you missed your heart.” Austin said and I looked beside him to see Elizabeth with tears falling down her face.

“You promised me that you’d always be there for me.” Elizabeth whispered, “Do you remember that?”

“No.” I whispered and then I said, “I don’t even remember my favorite food.” I felt the tears fall and Eli moved down wrapping me in his arms.

“You will get past this.” He promised me.

“The only memories I have are the ones that Keithton used against me.” I whispered, “I don’t know anything else…”

“No.” Daniel shook his head, “You know everything it’s just… you are too scared of the memories that they messed with and brought to the front of your mind to push past them into your happy memories.”

“That’s all she has to…”

“It’s not easy.” Daniel snapped at Dad. “This isn’t as simple as when they messed with Eli’s mind.”

“They messed with your mind?” I whispered looking at Eli.

“Yes.” He whispered, “I remember the fear that I held for Moore. I also remember you breaking through all of the lies though.”

“You won’t be able to do that with this.” Daniel told him, “It’s time for all of us to admit that what Bree is dealing with will be a lifetime struggle for her. I still have times where I struggle to keep reality.” I turned my face into Eli’s chest at that wanting to hide. I felt a memory push up though and struggled against him.

“Let her go.” Austin said quickly. “Let her go now, Eli.” He stressed and I knew he recognized my look. “Something is happening in her head. You need to let her go.”

“I’ll take her.” Daniel promised Eli and he slowly let me go as I bit my tongue. Daniel got me away from everybody and then made me open my mouth. “I thought so. Get the cuffs off you so you move to another part of your body. Hold your tongue together. It should stitch itself back up soon.” I nodded and just held it together praying quietly that if I followed the directions they’d give me back my cuffs.

“Here.” Austin whispered joining us a few minutes later. I held my hands out for him and he quickly put the cuffs back on. They were loose enough for me to slip on and off if I tried but tight enough that I could dig my wrists into them.

“Are you okay enough to head back?” Daniel asked and I nodded.

“Bree?” Elizabeth asked and I shook my head.

“She’s gone back to silence.” Austin whispered and I could feel Eli and Elizabeth’s fears.

“She just needs to concentrate.” Daniel promised them. “Now everybody off to bed. That includes you Eli. For her own safety I don’t want you around until she asks for you again.” Eli looked at me for a few seconds and then nodded. We sat up waiting and then finally when we were sure everybody was asleep Daniel spoke up. “I know you are going to make a run for it.”

“Do you blame me? Everybody I love… Keithton made me a threat to.” I whispered.

“I understand. That’s why all I’m going to ask for you to do is to let me go with you. I can make sure that you don’t hurt yourself then and I can help you learn to control the fears.”

“Okay.” I whispered and we left the camp. We walked the rest of the night changing directions constantly but I still made sure that there was no trail in which to trace us by. We would stop every time that I needed to concentrate on not having an episode which was a lot since everything in the woods reminded me of something that Keithton had shown me.

“Let’s stop for the night. They shouldn’t be even close.” Daniel whispered and I nodded walking with him into a cave. I slept better than I had since Keithton had taken me and I knew it was because they hadn’t given me any memories of Daniel.

“I hate you.” I whispered in the morning when Daniel woke up, “True or False.”

“I’m not sure.” He shrugged, “You don’t trust me.” He explained, “I’m not sure about hate though.”

“I love Eli though?” I whispered.

“True.” He promised softly. We spent the next month in that cave each taking shifts on watch and every night when I woke up screaming Daniel would pull me into his lap and let me curl up under his chin and just cry myself back to sleep.

“True or False.” I started, “I loved my daughter.”

“True. You loved her more than any mother has ever loved a daughter.” I shook my head confusion covering my brain with fog. “They changed everything you remember about her because you were still mourning when they took you. They were the easiest memories to change in order to make you hate yourself and fear Eli. They will probably always be foggy.” He told me.

“I used to call Elizabeth Bug.” I whispered one morning.

“True.” He smiled though and lifted me up into his lap. “No nightmares all week and your first memory that they wouldn’t have changed to a nightmare.”

“Thank you Daniel.” I whispered kissing his cheek. “I don’t hate you.” I promised him and he chuckled. “Can we go home now though?”

“Are you sure you’re ready for that?”

“No. I need to go back though. I apparently promised Elizabeth that I wouldn’t ever leave her.”

“Then we’ll go back. I left them a note saying that we would come back.” He promised.

“How long have we been gone?”

“Almost a year.” He sighed. “I got word a couple months ago that the vampires are free.”

“How?” I looked up at him accusingly, “You told them where we were. They’ve been here. You put them in…” I forced myself to grip a branch off one of the trees surrounding our cave and just clung to it until my fingers were white and I had control.

“They haven’t been close enough for you to get to.” He promised, “I made sure they stayed past the furthest tree you’ve gone too.”

“Let’s just go.” I whispered but suddenly a completely natural fear came, “What if I lose control again, Danny?” I whispered.

“I will be close to you until you order me away.” I nodded and he took my hand keeping it tight in his as we walked knowing that the pressure helped keep me out of my thoughts and in reality.