Chapter Four

Layla.

"Breakfast," grunts the short man who has been bringing me food the last 3 days. I have kept track of the days based on the timings of meals. I haven't seen the sunshine sense the day I was originally captured and the lack of vitamin D is really starting to take its toll on me mentally. I feel sluggish and my will to live is slowly slipping by. 

The tray with food on it is handed to me through a slot that is just wide enough for the food and a bottle of water to fit through if it is set on the tray on its side. I stand up and walk over to the door and grab the tray with both hands before it crashes to the floor. I bring it into my cell and place it with the other uneaten trays of food off to the side. I wish they would collect those, the flies have started to accumulate in here and it has started grossing me out. Other than announcing when a meal is being served, no one speaks to me. Not that I mind, I am a bit of a loan wolf anyways. I enjoy my solitude and hermit lifestyle. I never had a family to enjoy holidays or wild dinner nights with. I never went out and dated, it was such a scary idea for me. I was worried someone would abduct me. Jokes on me, I guess. 

These last 3 days I have really sat and looked back on my life. I never did anything risky. I stayed away from the other kids in school for fear of being noticed, for the most part it worked. I would eat my meals in the library with my nose in a good novel. I didn't get into the drugs and partying, and steered clear of anything that could produce drama. I bounced around from foster home to foster home because my parents had either died or abandoned me when I was an infant. Inside my foster homes, I also stayed out of sight and out of their ways for fear of backlash. One of the homes I was in, there was another girl. She was wild and a trouble maker and I watched as the foster "dad" would strike her with a belt. There was an entire weekend where they didn't feed her a drop of food because he claimed that "If you are hungry enough you can't talk back" and the following Monday I never saw her again. 

My world has always been lonely and isolated, but it was always safer that way. That's why I became a writer, or was trying to be. I could get lost in the fantasy worlds and feel like I belonged. I didn't have to deal with outsiders and I could live with the people who were outcasted by society, like me. 

I haven't been bothered here by the beast sense my first encounter with him and I was so thankful for that. He scares me so much with his ferocious yelling, but he frightens me even more because I am so intrigued by this man. He has been in my dreams from the first night. They are very strange dreams and depict me running through a field of wild daisies with my long hair blowing in the breeze, I look happy as I run free with the bright moon showering me in its full glow. There is always a huge black wolf running next to me, but he doesn't frighten me. We roll around in the grass and then run some more. At some point the dream turns dark and I see Brady and Jace start to chase me, the stars start to fall as if the moon is crying. The tears of the moon crash around me starting fires in the field. I become trapped in a fire ring with Brady and Jace as they stalk towards me. I try to run but the fire is spreading. Then, just when I think all hope is lost, the big wolf jumps through the flames and shifts mid-air turning into the giant man from the jail cell. He is naked in all his glory as he scoops me up bridal style and dashes through the fire back into the starless night. And that is how the dream starts and ends, night after night. What does it mean?

"Good evening, Layla," comes a womans voice from outside my cell door, "Mind if I come in? I have some stuff for you and was hoping we could talk. My name is Emma, and I mean you no harm." I can see a small young woman through the bars but can only see half of her face. She has dark brown hair, almost the same mocha shade as the beast. Her eyes are also equally as dark but her facial features are soft. Smooth skin, perfectly sculpted brows, heart shaped lips. She is probably 6 inches taller than me, and is breathtakingly beautiful. 

"Hi. You can come on in," I whisper back to Emma.

Emma enters my room and the half of her face I couldn't see before, is still hidden but this time by her hair instead of the bars of the cell door. She drags in a metal chair behind her and on the chair is a basket with stuff in it. I can't make out what all is inside the basket but I can see a towel. Maybe I will finally get a shower!

"I have brought some care products, I hope you don't mind. I have some shampoo and conditioner, a new brush, some new clothes, toothbrush and paste, a towel of course. I also brought some deoderant." Emma concludes as she pulls everything out of the basket to show me. Tears well in my eyes at the kind gesture. It is the first one sense that awful day that has reminded me that there are humans in this world that care.

"Thank you so much," I choke out as I grab the soft plush towel and bring it to my nose and inhale. I look up at Emma as she tucks her hair behind her ear to show off a huge ugly scar. There are 3 jagged lines running parallel to each other going from her forehead all the way down to her jaw. They are raised and harsh and looked like the remains of claw marks from a bear or something. I try not to gawke openly as it must be a sensitive subject for her.

"You're very welcome. I tried to tell my brother that you couldn't possibly harm a fly and he should not be treating you like some wild animal down here. If he knew I was taking you out of your cell, he would probably lock me in the one across the hallway. So if I am going to take you to shower, we have to be fast and quiet. You can't breathe a word of this to anyone, am I clear?" Emma explains with much more authority than I would have thought she could muster. She seems so strong and confident, I hope to be like that someday. 

"You have my word, I won't try or say anything, I promise," I nod my head affirming that I understand the rules completely. 

"Good. Because I am helping you, Layla, then I need you to help me with a few things after your shower. It's nothing hard, just answer my questions as best as you can. Do you think you can do that for me?" Emma is speaking very gently with me once again. 

"I will do my best. Thank you again," I respond as I look at all of the items as if its the first time.

Emma grabs the basket of goodies and leads me out of the cell and down a long dark hallway. There is not a soul in sight and I breathe out a sigh of relief at the quiet empty hall. There are five cells on my right, my cell was the last one on that side. There are five cells on the otherside of the hall. Once we get past the last of the cells, Emma takes a right and we pass what appears to be a break room of some sorts on the right side of the hall, and on the left side there is another room that has videos of various cameras of the jail playing on multiple screens. I hadn't even noticed a camera in my room, I wonder where they hid it. Nobody is in either of the rooms, making me wonder how Emma knew that no one would be here. We take another right and enter a locker room with several shower heads inside one giant community shower. The walls are tiled in white with several tall gray lockers on the far wall. Three wooden benches seperate the showers from the lockers. Emma sets my stuff down on the benches and directs me to one of the shower heads. She brings over the shampoo, conditioner, and then stands back holding the towel waiting for me to complete my shower. I strip my dirty shirt and toss it to the floor and step inside.

The first drops of water are hot and feel like heaven against my skin. I lean my head back and let the water cascade over my dirty and acheing body. I quickly wash up with the shampoo and conditioner as best as I can. The dirt rolls in rivers down to the drain and washes away any trace of me being here. Once I am satisfied I turn off the water and graciously take the towel from Emma. She holds onto my elbow as she carefully guides me to the benches where she sits be down.

"Can I brush your hair for you?" She questions quietly from behind me.

"Sure."

"While I do this, close your eyes and try to relax. I won't hurt you. But, it might be easier to answer the questions I have for you if you can just focus your mind, and not so much your eyes. It's a trick my mother used to do to me when I had a hard day."

"Ok, I will try," I reply as I close my eyes and tilt my head back for Emma to have better access.

"Let's begin at the beginning."