Lindsay was drying off dishes, and putting them away. She hummed, and didn't notice me as my timid steps brought me into the kitchen. The kitchen was fairly large, and I could see how the wall on one side dipped in to another room. On the other side of the kitchen, a plastic shower curtain was wrapped around part of the protruding wall. It was surrounded my cracked and broken white tiles. It looked like some home renovation that never got finished. It was like they had tried to transform part of the large kitchen into a bathroom.

Lindsay put the last plate away, and turned to see me. Her lips spread into a smile, and she turned to grab a bowl off of the counter.

"Good morning, Leah," she said. "I saved you some breakfast."

"I'm not hungry," I said.

My stomach had not untangled itself from its tight knot since I woke up in Jared's bed. Lindsay's smile dropped for a second, and she shook her head.

"No, you have to eat," she said. "Jared will not be too happy to hear that you aren't eating."

"I'm going to be sick if I eat," I said.

"Nonsense." She waved her hand at me before forcing the bowl into my hands. "Go have a seat in the dining room."

Lindsay put her hand on the small of my back, and she guided me into the room attached to the kitchen. There was a long wooden table that surrounded my chairs. An old woman was sitting in one of the chairs. Her long white hair was twisted up in a clip, and pinned to the top of her head. Her skin sagged with winkles. Her bony fingers were running along the scratches in the table. She knocked her fingers on the table every once in awhile.

Lindsay sat in the chair next to the woman. She placed her hand over the woman's. The woman looked up at Lindsay. A deep crease had formed between her eyebrows as she scowled. Lindsay was not worried by this look and place a kiss on the woman's temple.

"This is Jenny," Lindsay said. "She is Jared's grandmother. Mom this Leah. She is Jared's girl."

The woman did not look at me. Her gaze with fixed on Lindsay.

"You'll have to excuse Jenny," Lindsay said. "She's not always quite there. I think it is Alzheimer's. I used to work in a nursing home after I dropped out of nursing school. I saw a lot of it, and I think our poor Jenny has it. We don't love her any less though."

This was Jared's grandmother? That poor woman must have been kidnapped too when she was young. She had to spend her whole life cooped out in this house, and now she was going to die here.

I looked down at the bowl in front of me to see that it was oatmeal. I stirred it, and watched the oats clump to the spoon.

"Where are you from, Leah?" Lindsay asked.

I kept my gaze down on the bowl. "Alaska."

"Alaska? That is so interesting. My birth mother always wanted to go there."

"Your birth mother?"

"Yeah, the family I was born into. This is my family now though, and this is your family too."

Jenny pulled her hands out from under Lindsay's and started to trace her fingers along the table. I watched as Jenny stayed fixated on the table.

"Eat your oatmeal," Lindsay told me.

"I'm really not hungry," I said.

"Jared is coming in early," she said. "I don't want him to see that you're not eating. I don't want you two having a rocky start."

"Can't you just throw it out?"

"We can't afford to waste food."

I took a small bite of the cold oatmeal. I had to force myself to swallow it. I ate it one small bite at a time while Lindsay watched me. Jenny continued to scratch into the table with her long jagged fingernail.

The screen door in the kitchen opened up. Lindsay leaned forward to see who had come in. She grabbed my bowl, and brought it into the kitchen.

Jared walked into the dining room. His fingers, nose and cheeks were red from the cold. He had on his faded baseball cap, and a flannel jacket over his hoodie. Jenny stopped her scratching when she saw Jared. He walked around my table and hugged her. Jenny took her hands off of the table and patted his arm.

"I see you met Leah, Grandma," he said. "She's a really beautiful girl."

My hand covered my mouth. The vile oatmeal that forced me to eat was threatening to come back up. I looked down at my lap. I took in a deep breath and tried to push the nausea to the side.

I couldn't see Jared, but I heard him moving around the dining room. He kneeled down next to me, and put his hand on my back. I shuddered, and did not look over at him.

"Let's go upstairs," he said.

My head filled with the memories of Jared forcing himself on me. His hands roamed all over my body while I could not move. I could not let him do that to me again.

I shook my head, and the tears pricked at the back of my eyes. Jared's cold fingers grabbed my chin, and pulled my head up so that I was looking at him.

"I got to come in early so I could spend more time with you," he said. "We're going up to our room."

I bit down on my lip to try and hold back a sob. Jared intertwined our fingers, and held my hand in a crushing hold. He snaked his arm around my waist as he pulled me up onto my feet. Jenny returned to scratching into the table.

Jared pulled me out of the dining room. My feet shuffled along the floor as he push his chest against my back. Lindsay passed by us, and sat back down next to Jenny.

"Leah, what's wrong?" Jared leaned down and whispered into my ear.

"Please, don't hurt me," I said.

"I don't want to hurt you," he said. "Just do as I say, and I won't have to hurt you."

I nodded my head, and started walking. Jared wasn't pushing me anymore, but he still kept his hold on me. We walked up the creaky staircase, and down the hallway. I pushed myself away from Jared when we got into his room.

"Sit down," Jared said, gesturing out to the bed.

"You have to let me go," I said. "If you let me go I won't say anything. People are probably looking for me now. Your family seems nice, and I don't want them to be split up. If you let me go then you guys get to stay together."

Jared chuckled as he listened to me beg. He grabbed my shoulders, and forced me to sit down on the foot of the bed. He sat next to me, and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. His body was pressed against mine. Jared took off his cap, and tossed it on the other side of the bed. He ran his hand over his short dark hair.

"Leah, you don't have to worry about anyone looking for you," he said. "No one cares about you, and it is dangerous out there. We are the only ones who love you. That's why we are protecting you."

"My family is looking for me," I said. "They must know I'm missing by now."

"Were they with you when Dad found you?" he asked.

"No, but they will be wondering why I haven't come home," I lied.

Jared raised an eyebrow at me.

"Isn't your family all the way up in Alaska?" he asked. "Don't lie to me, Leah. If you lie to me I will have to punish you."

I pushed Jared's hands off of my body, but his fingers curled in tighter into my arm. Gabe has probably told Jared everything he learned about my life. I can't remember how much I told Gabe, and I didn't want to be caught in a lie. I started sobbing again. I leaned forward and buried my face into my hands. My tears burned my eyes and nose. Jared's grip on my arm loosened.

"Why are you crying?" Jared asked.

What a stupid question, I thought.

I opened my mouth to tell him that his family kidnapped me. They were abusing me, and trapping me inside this house. I was going to be in this house until I'm old, just like Jenny.

Jared got up off of the bed. He kneeled in front of me, and grabbed my wrists. He pulled my hands away from my face. I squeezed my eyes shut, and a few more tears slipped down my cheeks.

"Stop crying," he told me.

I took in a deep breath, but it was followed by a series of short sobs. I never cried this much before. When I would get in fights with Owen I could usually prevent myself from crying. I would get mad and scream, but now I seem to be reduced to tears.

Jared gripped my wrists tighter.

"Leah, stop crying," he said.

I shook my head, and the tears continued to flow from my eyes. Jared let out a deep breath. He got up off of his knees and pushed me back on the bed. He pinned my wrists above my head. He had his legs on either side of me, and was towering over my body.

"Get off me!" I yelled.

I kicked my legs out to try and tried to push him off of me. He somehow managed to tighten his grip even more into a bone-crushing hold. I screamed. One of his hands let go of my wrist and covered my mouth.

"Be quiet," he said. "Mom and Grandma are downstairs."

His hand muffled my cries. He let go of my wrists with his other hand, and pulled something out of the pocket of his jeans. I swung my hand forward and punched him in the chest. He sat up straighter so that I was out of his reach. His hand over my mouth was pinning me down to the bed. With one hand, Jared pulled out a pocket knife and flipped open the blade.

"I didn't want to have to do this Leah," he said. "But you need to learn to listen to me.

His hand came off of my mouth, and snatched my wrist as I went to punch him again. He held my arm down against the bed, and pushed the blade across my skin. I screamed as I watched the blood pool against the knife.

He made three more slashes against my arm. My skin was on fire. My warm blood was rolling off onto the side of my arm and onto the bed.

I thought about Lindsay's arms that were laced with thick white scars criss-crossing up her skin. Gabe had no problem "punishing" her, and Jared was going to be the same way.

When Jared flicked the blade close, he shoved it back into his pocket. I cradled my arm to my chest, and the blood seeped through my shirt.

Jared got up off of the bed. He went into the bathroom, and I heard the water running. I looked at my arm to see four deep slashes across my forearm. Jared came back into the bedroom with a towel and gauze in his hands. I pushed myself to the back of the bed. Jared rolled his eyes, and sat down beside me. He grabbed my knees to stop myself from getting off of the bed.

"I never want to do this to you," he said. "I love you."

I bit down on my lip to stop myself from crying. Jared cleaned my arm before wrapping it in gauze. He kissed my temple before getting off the bed and going back into the bathroom.