"... I knew you were trouble when you walked in so shame on me..."
~ Taylor Swift

...♛...

I wake up to the sound of my own heartbeat.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

My hands are tied to my sides, my butt is sat on a cold concrete floor, and my back is leaning against a rigid brick wall. Judging by the amount of difficulty I'm having just to move my back off the wall, I think I've been in this position for over hours.

Sitting in this position, I decide to open my eyes. With all my force, I peel open my eyes and I'm greeted with more darkness.

Nothing.

I might as well had kept my eyes close because even with them open, I can't see anything. My eyes are useless, so I decide to use my other senses.

The room feels spacious and cold. My legs are bare and full of goosebumps along with my arms because Kai's t-shirt only covers me up to my thighs. My upper, right side is in less pain. I can tell the infection is mostly gone because every time the inside of my arm brushes the wound, the swollen skin feels smaller than before.

My thoughts are interrupted by a blinding light appearing from behind a creaking door. A silhouette of Kai stands in the doorway and slowly it moves closer to me.

"You're finally awake," Kai says as he crouches down to my level. It's him, who stands in front of me, but fire is what appears in my mind. The fire that he set to burn my whole family alive. "Not in the mood to talk I see."

"I-," I try to reply, but the dryness in my throat breaks my voice.

"Water?" Kai holds up a water bottle, I had no idea he carried in with him. My eyes are glued to it, but I know better. I'm not going to beg for it. Without another word, he unscrews the cap and holds the bottle above my head. I tilt my head back, opening my mouth as he pours in the cool water.

The water calms down the burning sensation within me. It helps my heartbeat return to normal and moisturizes my dry throat.

"Better?"

"I hope you're not waiting for a thank you because clearly, you're not getting one."

"At least we know Summer's still in there," Kai responds.

"The only reason I'm still here is because I'm tied to this damn wall, but the second you untie me, I hope you know I'm going to ruin you in ways nobody can even dream of. I'm one person you did not want to double cross Kai Black. You made a mistake and you'll regret me for the rest of your life," the rage spewing out like an active volcano. Nothing but hate and regret clouds my mind. I should've killed him the second I thought I could.

"It's a good start. I really expected you to scream at the top of your lungs or cry your eyes dry." I wait quietly for him to continue," I accept the challenge. I accept you Summer White. I'm going to work on you until I watch you cry yourself to sleep, until you scream in agony and beg for me to stop. I will make your life miserable. That's what the deal was about."

"Plenty have tried. Endless people have tried, but only one has ever exceeded. You can never top what he made me go through, never in a million years could anyone ever make me beg like he did. No one has seen my eyes as swollen as he has. No one has ever been so cruel and demeaning to me as he has. No one can be worse than him, that's why I'm not scared. I'm not scared of you Kai. I can't be scared of you," my voice full of force. Flashbacks from my childhood appear in my mind as I speak. Nick is definitely a part of it, but who's coming to mind, is a whole different person. One, more cruel than Nick.

I'm given no response as Kai get's up and exits, leaving me in the dark yet once again. I thought I was going to be alone for a while, but I'm proven wrong when only minutes after, Alec enters the room.

"Time to get up," Alec squats down and unties my hands. With nothing holding me up, I fall forward onto Alec.

"Hey hey hey, look at me," Alec helps me sit up again. "Hey, open your eyes."

I peel them open and look into his eyes. My mind numb begs for sleep, but I know I have to stay awake.

"Bring her food."

I look past his shoulder at an unfamiliar face exiting the room. A few seconds later, he returns with a tray of food. Alec gets up and puts it down in front of me.

"Eat, or else you won't survive what's in store for you tonight."

I look at the tray that contains a chicken sandwich and a glass of orange juice. I extend my right hand out. I hesitate when I see the red bruise around my wrist on top of my scars, but shake my mind clear. The scars are my past. The bruise is my present.

Once the glass comes in reach, I curl my fingers around it and pick it up. The cold juice stings my sore throat, but I drink until there's no more left. After I'm done, I put the empty glass down and look up at Alec.

"You have to eat the sandwich," he says.

"Not yet," I reply.

"Take it away," Alec says to the guy who stood by the door. He walks in, picks them up and exits.

"That's it, you're just going to leave me?" I question. My mind has five hundred different ways I can escape this room with just my fingernails now that I'm not tied to the wall. Is Kai being stupid, or is he trying to get me to do something?

"That's it. I'll be back in a few hours," Alec says and leaves. The light in the room goes out with him leaving me in complete darkness.

With the help of the wall, I stand up. I stand, with my side against the wall, until I can start feeling my legs again. When my legs regain their blood circulation, I take slow steps towards the door.

I reach it in fifteen steps and then back to my original spot in fifteen again. My speed increases every time I pace back and forth becoming comfortable in the dark.

After a while, once I feel my muscles start to tighten, I take a seat at the back of the room and do some static stretching. I have no idea what kind of torture Kai has in store for me: mental, emotional, physical? I don't know, but if I can prepare myself for them then I will.

...♛...

A bright light peeks through my closed lids making me squint. I don't remember falling asleep. The last thing I remember is hearing some sort of mist go off in the room. It must've been a sedative. My hand reaches up to cover my eyes as I open them.

I stand up and look around. It's like an arena, but I'm trapped in the middle of a square with two exits and on my left, in a cage, are three attack dogs. Barking loudly, their mouths drip with saliva hungry for the taste of my skin and their eyes full of anger.

"Summer, the attack dogs are being let out in one minute. You have to find a way out of this maze if you wanna live," Cole's voice echoes through the open arena.

"Honestly, fuck you guys!" I yell at the top of my lungs. I'm not in Kai's shirt anymore. I'm now in a sports bra, Nike shorts, and running shoes. My stitches are covered by a thick bandage so the bra doesn't affect it that much.

"Ten, nine, eight..." A voice starts counting down. My heart begins beating against my chest and I know I have to start running. With no strategy in mind, I take one of the exits and take a right.

Attack dogs are smart, fast and only listen to the commands of their owner. In this case, I'm guessing their owner is one of the guys. The only way I'm going to survive this is with speed and instinct.

As the turns come, I take them. I can hear the dogs now, gaining on me. With every turn I take, the more confused I become. My legs starting to ware out as the barking starts to increase in volume causes me to almost lose my composure.

Running seems useless. With a right turn, I find myself trapped in a dead end. I turn around to go back, but instead, meet eyes with the three savage dogs.

I look around for help, but I can't find anything. The walls are almost nine feet high, so there's no way I can climb over. I look back at the dogs who slowly surround me. My chest visibly pumping up and down, yet it doesn't feel like I'm breathing. It feels more like I'm dying and I only have ten more seconds until I lose all my senses.

I look around again hoping to find anything that can help, and that's when I find a hole. It's deep enough for my foot to fit in it. I take one last look at the dogs. The canine's saliva dripping from their mouths; I can tell that they're ready for their food. Not wasting another second, I run to my left. I turn right and jump. When I'm high enough, I push myself higher by inserting my foot in the hole and push myself up from there.

My hands curl around the edge of the wall and I pull myself up in time, saving my legs from being bitten. The ledge is thin so I stand up and balance myself. I shut out the barking and concentrate on what I can see now.

The maze is large, but at the opposite side of where I was heading before, I can see cars. I can see the exit and I can see my way out, so I jump off, onto the other side, and run. I run until I find my way out.

With the three boys in sight, my feet start moving faster. At a distance of three feet, my feet glue together and I flip over the three boys. I've been highly trained in parkour, so jumps like these are easy for me.

When I land on the ground, I don't look back. I keep running until I'm inside the hallways. Heavy footsteps follow behind. One turn after the other, it feels like I'm in the maze again. When the footsteps fade away, I slow down a bit.

I take a left and I can see the exit. I'm about to to exit but Brody walks in, blocking my way. A smile stretches out on my lips and I run up to him. He wraps his arms around my waist and the warm feeling sends relief throughout me.

"I missed you so fucking much," I sigh. When I don't hear a reply right away, I know something's wrong.

"I missed you too," he says almost three seconds later with nothing in his voice to support his words.

He did something.

When I feel his right hand lift off my back, I knee him and he let's me escape.

Both of his hands grab his goods, in one, is a needle, "What the fuck Brody. Are you involved with them?"

"You can't run away Summer. They'll find you."

"They killed Alice and you're helping them? What the fuck, Brody! Move and let me go before I kill you."

"Then you'll have to kill me," he stands tall. My teeth grit against each other. I know I have to do what will help me, so with a swing of my right arm, I nail Brody right in the jaw. He comes back with a punch to my gut pushing me back.

I take another swing, but miss. Brody grabs my right arm in the motion and twists it behind my back.

"I taught you most of your defence skills."

"I know," I reply taking my left elbow up to his temple. He lets me go, but my right shoulder blade rubs up against another bone delivering unnecessary pain. I roll my shoulder and kick Brody on the side making him fall landing on all fours. His jacket lifts up revealing the gun tucked under his belt, and I quickly snatch it claiming it as mine. I release the safety and point it at him.

He looks up from the corner of his eyes and curses under his breath as he puts both his hands up in surrender and stands up.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire the gun?"

"I have none."

"Well, I do," I say turning around and firing the gun. The bullet hits Cole's right side and he falls to the ground just as I feel a pinch on my neck.

Fucking Brody.

The sedative takes over my body and mind making me fall back in Brody's arms.

A/N:

Ivy: Took me a long ass time to write this, but after four tries, I finally wrote something I actually kinda like. Hope you guys did too!