Adam pulls the car to a stop and I finally allow myself to look up and see where he's taken me. To my surprise, he's taken me back to his house.

Where is the logic in that? For one, we won't be alone. His mother is always there in his business. It's not like he can hide me from her. This will be the one time I'll be so genuinely relieved to see her. There is no way she'll let him get away with this.

Second, when everyone comes looking for me, they're sure to come and question my only real friend. They'll come and save me if it even makes it to that point.

Third, I know that house like the back of my hand. If I ever have the chance to escape on my own, I won't have to spend a bunch of time trying to find my way out.

So, all in all, this is one of the best places I could've been brought to.

The car door next to me opens and I startle. I look over to see the driver's seat empty. In my daze, I didn't notice Adam go around the car and open the door for me. He leans down and unbuckles me from the seat.

"Are you ready to go, Raiden?"

I lower my head and glare up at him. "Fuck you," I spit out.

He sighs deeply, obviously making a show of restraining himself. He grabs my elbow and pulls me from the car. He slams the door shut and pushes me toward the house in front of him.

He calmly enters the house with my elbow clutched in one hand and locks the door behind him before turning around and calling out, "Mom! I'm back!"

"So soon?" Her voice drifts in from the other room as she comes to join us.

Now. This is it, I think.

She turns around and takes in the sight of me, unfazed.

I pull at Adam's tight grip. "Please! Help me! Something's wrong with Adam! Please..."

She gives me a hurt look and turns to Adam. "I've prepared everything for you. I'll be in the den if you need me." She turns to walk away.

My heart nearly drops. "No! Please help me! What's the matter with you? Answer me!"

She stops in her tracks but doesn't turn to face me. "I thought I made you uncomfortable..." Her voice takes me by surprise, weak and hurt.

I think back to what I said to Adam a couple of days ago. He must've already told her what I'd said. "That's not what I meant. Please-"

She refuses to listen and leaves me alone with him.

"You should be careful what you say about her," Adam warns. "She's very sensitive." He coaxes me up the stairs without much of a fight. I only have a little balance with the control of my arms and want to avoid accidentally falling down.

I note every turn we take as we walk through the upstairs hall. As long as I know the general area of the house where we're going, I should be able to make it out.

We suddenly stop short in the middle of the hall, several feet away from any door. He reaches up to the ceiling and feels around for something. I don't understand what he's doing, or what he's looking for. After a little more searching, he somehow pushes his fingers into a hidden space in the ceiling and pulls down.

I jump back, startled, but he grips tighter onto my arm as if he's expecting me to try and run. He jerks on my arm and I falter forward into him. He doesn't seem to mind and holds me against his side as he pulls down, what I can now tell are, retractable stairs.

"Let's go," he chides once he realizes I'm not moving.

I shake my head. "No. There's no way you're getting me up there." If he hides me up there with the use of the hidden door, I'll never be found.

"Raiden, behave yourself," he warns.

"I'm not walking up there," I repeat.

He sighs and lets go of my arm. "Fine." He bends down in front of me and pushes his shoulder into my legs as he stands back up. When he straightens, he somehow pulls me up with him. I'm nearly too shocked to do anything. There's no way he could throw me over his shoulder so easily and with such little resistance.

"Wait! Put me down!"

"Lower your voice," he growls. He started walking up the stairs with me limply over his shoulder.

I squirm in his grip. "Let go!"

"Knock it off!" he yells. "Do you want me to drop you?"

I consider it. On one hand, I don't like being manhandled by him (let alone being touched in general). On the other hand, if he drops me and I get hurt, it'll make it that much harder to escape.

I don't stop struggling to save face, but I calm down enough so he won't drop me. We make it all the way up the stairs without incident and he pushes me off of his shoulder and onto a worn-down mattress.

The moment my back makes contact with it, I start to panic. "No! Don't do it! Please!" As he pulls himself on top of me and pins me down, I feel myself start to cry. "Adam, please..."

"Calm down," he mumbles. He reaches around me and grabs ahold of something, pulling it down to my leg. I feel the cold metal being clamped around my ankle before I see it.

Once it's secured, Adam backs away a couple of feet to give me some space.

I warily sit up and look around. It's a pretty decent-sized area. There's almost no furniture and one window that lets in a lot of light, even close to dusk. Both help to make it appear bigger.

Adam silently walks over and sits down next to me. "Nice place, huh?"

I pull my knees to my chest and rest my head on top of them, trying to look like I'm not paying attention.

"I've actually only been up here a couple of times, myself. It's built pretty amazingly though." He stands and paces the room, pointing out everything to me. "The walls and the floor are all insulated. It keeps it nice and warm during the winter and absorbs almost all of the sound before it leaves the room. Then there's this miniature bathroom. It's pretty small, but it works. Oh! I almost forgot!" He walks back to me and grabs onto the chain.

I turn away more because he obviously knows I'm still listening.

"This chain has been here for generations. My father used it, and before him, my grandfather. Before him was my great-grandfather, and so on. It's never rusted or broken from the floor."

He jerks it towards himself and pulls one of my feet out from under me. I gasp as I violently fall onto my side and hit my head against the wooden floor. Once I recover, I turn around to glare at him.

"Are you listening to me?" he asks, his patience obviously wearing thin.

"Yes," I reluctantly admit.

"Okay." He stands up and looks down at the length of the chain. "It's about five feet in length, so you should be able to move around a decent amount." He reaches down and pulls me to my feet. "But the window is one of my favorite things."

He pull me towards it and I do my best not to fall as I learn how to cope with the added weight around my ankle.

"This is the window, babe. The one I've told you about. You can look out all you want, but no one ever looks in. It's actually made of one-way glass. Like, the stuff they make those mirrors out of."

"Stop calling me that," I growl.

He gives me a warning look and pushes me back to the mattress. "Don't talk back to me."

As I sit back up, he slides over next to me and pulls me against his side.

"How're you adjusting so far?"

I push him away and kick him as hard as I could. "I'm not adjusting! I'm not staying here! Don't touch me!"

He stands and walks just out of my range until I stop kicking him. He looks down at me sternly. "What do you want, Raiden?! I've done everything you asked for! You said you wanted to run away with me! I came and got you, but you're so ungrateful! What do you honestly want?"

"I want to go home," I whimper. "Please let me go back home..."

His face softens and he bends down in front of me. "You are home, babe. Our home. We're going to start a life together. And it all starts here, in this attic. It's how everyone in my family started out. You'll get it eventually..."

He walks back over to the stairs and starts to walk back down. "Your attitude had better be gone when I get back," he calls up.

The door slams shut behind him.

"Fuck you..." I mumble after him. He can't hear me, but it feels good to rebel a little.

I throw my head between my knees and count my breaths to calm down. After I'm as relaxed as I'm going to get considering the circumstances, I start making a plan, only thinking out one step at a time.

So before anything, I need my hands free. I twist one of my wrists around and pull against the knot. It's tied very poorly, as I had thought, and comes apart quickly.

I pull my arms back around to my lap, slowly so I won't hurt the tense muscles. I rub my wrists as I looked around, finally settling on my feet. That's the next thing.

I try prying the metal off with my hands, but to no avail. Then I pull against the chain with my foot. After I tire myself out, I let my foot drop with the same end result as my first attempt.

There is no way I'll get out that way.

For a brief moment, I consider roaming the room, testing my distance limits, and seeing what I can reach and see. But after little thought, I decide there isn't much use.

Apparently, he and his family had some experience with this situation, so I doubt they would leave me any weapon, tool, or escape route. As for testing the distance, there isn't actually much distance to test. And my ankle is already starting to become chafed, so moving around and roaming unnecessarily would be unwise.

So, as much as it bugs me, I decide again that the best action is inaction. There's nothing I can do at the moment, so I'll have to find an opening somehow when Adam is with me.

But with any luck, someone will find me before I need to do anything myself.

Or, with even more luck, I will wake up any moment in a cold sweat and the nightmare will be over and slowly fading from my memory.