“I’ll tell you what I know, but if I think Eric should be the one to tell you, my mouth is sealed.” I nodded to him, twirling a lock of my black hair around my index finger. I couldn’t meet his gaze. Why did I feel so damn guilty? I wasn’t doing anything wrong! There were butterflies in my stomach scaring away the hunger pains that had been there not ten minutes earlier.
“That seems fair.” Devin rested his chin on his hand as he watched my movements. Maybe he was reading my body language. If so, he knew how guilty and anxious I was feeling. It just made no sense to me! Eric was a no good, dirty, rotten kidnapper and yet I simply couldn’t stop myself from liking him just a little; maybe more than that.
“Then you may proceed.” I thought a few seconds before I met his green-eyed gaze.
“Why did Eric kidnap me?” Devin blinked at me as if he hadn’t comprehended what I had said to him.
“Eric didn’t tell you?” This wasn’t going to end well… All I wanted was the answer to that question for the gods’ sakes and yet no one was giving it to me!
“He dodged the question when I asked him.” The boy was silent for several seconds, contemplating his answer, I would guess.
“I don’t think I should tell you that.” I couldn’t help but heave a sigh of defeat.
“Let me guess what your answer will be. ‘Eric didn’t tell you, so I don’t think I should be opening my mouth either.’” Devin chuckled at the exaggerated male voice I used to mimic him.
“That’s about right. I really think he’ll tell you when he thinks he should.” Well, that was awfully helpful…
“What if I asked how long I’ve been here?” Devin chuckled again before he answered me.
“You’ve only been here a couple days.” At least that was an answer, but a couple days were still too long a time for me to be away from my house!
“I really need to get home. I don’t know what day it is, I have my garden to take care of, my poor snake is probably mad at me…” I simply kept listing things until Devin clapped his hand over my mouth to keep me quiet.
“I think I get the picture. You have to go home. Unfortunately, I can’t do anything about that either. You’ll have to ask Eric, but I wouldn’t mention the snake to him when you do. He has this odd fear of them.” What had that boy just said? Eric was afraid of snakes? The great and terrifying Eric was afraid of something, period?
“Why is he afraid of snakes?”
“His dad was an Australian, so he brought Eric to see family in Australia. Eric found a snake in the yard, was bitten, and has been afraid of them ever since.”
Our conversation was cut short when a girl walked through the room with a book in one hand… and a jug of paint in the other. My throat closed so quickly that my hands grabbed for my collar a full minute after I started gasping for air. Why did my lungs react to a sealed can of paint before the open ones where I could actually smell the fumes?
Devin hopped off of his stool as I toppled off of mine and collided with the floor hard, arching my back and writhing about just as I would have done during the first attack in this place had I not been tied tightly to a chair. “Love, what’s wrong?” Devin was trying to keep calm, of course, but I could hear the hysteria in his voice despite the pounding in my ears.
“A… Asthma… at… attack… C… Can’t… breathe…” I felt Devin’s hands on my waist as he, no doubt, tried to think of a solution to my little… dilemma while keeping me down and making me incapable of hurting myself too badly in the midst of my struggling.
“Do you have an inhaler?” I could only shake my head at him. My vision was starting to spin… Ye gods, where was Eric?
“E… Eric…” I couldn’t say anymore. My air supply was practically out at this point. Tears were welling in my eyes from the pain in my chest. Why had I not asked Eric for my inhaler back after the incident with Icarus? There was no more reason for him to have it now… Were the lights dimming?
“Love, stay awake.” I was falling asleep? Sleep sounded good right about then actually. Besides, my eyes were half closed already. What was the harm of just resting them for a bit? I heard more mumbling, but I couldn’t discern any of the words. They were quickly followed by frantic footsteps as if someone were running away from me.
Was I alone? I wanted to reach out and find someone’s hand. The contact of warm skin would be nice in this world without air. I didn’t want to be alone…
“How long has she been like this?” Disembodied voices over my head… They sounded so far away…
“A minute before she said she couldn’t breathe and I ran off to get you.” The voices sounded familiar… Something was placed into my mouth. It took me a few seconds to realize it was my inhaler, but even once the realization struck, I couldn’t move. I was just so tired… I heard the sound of the medicine being released from the device a few seconds before I felt air rush down my throat and into my lungs. I gasped and coughed a bit violently as I rolled onto my side. I’d never been so happy to breathe!
I sat up, feeling a bit dizzy. I wobbled and would have fallen back down again if Eric hadn’t caught my shoulders and steadied me. I needed contact… Warm, human contact… If I had been in the right state of mind I never would have gone near this man, but as it was, I felt really detached from the human plane. I just needed contact…
As if he were reading my thoughts, Eric pulled me into his chest and pressed my face into his shoulder. He held me so tightly I almost had to ask him to let go, but he loosened his hold just enough for me to breathe once he realized. “Je suis désolé ainsi, l'amour! Je devrais avoir su mieux que vous laisser la paix sans votre inhalateur! Il n'a pas même traversé mon esprit que vous pourriez en avoir besoin pendant que je suis parti!” I am so sorry, love! I should have known better than to leave you without your inhaler! It didn't even cross my mind that you might need it while I was gone! Eric was talking so fast in French that I was shocked I heard everything he spoke. I glimpsed Devin sitting beside Eric completely and utterly confused. I could only assume he didn’t speak French. However, I understood every worried, French utterance that came from his mouth.
Was Eric actually worried about me? It just wasn’t possible, yet I felt this strong urge to… to comfort him. What was wrong with me? I pushed him away gently and moved to my feet a bit too fast for my already dizzy head's liking. My vision spun for a few seconds, and I probably would have fallen back to the floor if Eric hadn’t gotten to his feet and caught me first.
My hands automatically grasped the lapels of his sleeveless trench coat while his arms wrapped tightly about my waist. I could feel the heat in my cheeks. Why was I blushing? This was all wrong!
“You… You don’t need to worry, Eric. My attacks are pretty frequent even without you to help them along.” Gods, what was I saying? Why was I bothering to say anything to this horrible kidnapper?
I glanced up at his face and saw a smile on his lips that actually made my heart lurch from how sad it looked. “Je ne peux pas m'empêcher l'inquiétude de vous.” I can't help but worry about you. I was dumbfounded. Why would he worry? I wasn’t worth that kind of stress; I knew that much.
“Why?”
Without missing a beat he said, “Parce que je me soucie de vous.” Because I care about you. I opened my mouth but nothing came out… What? I shook my head and ignored that statement for now. I was stressed enough as it was. I moved my gaze from his face and simply stared at the buttons of the shirt beneath his coat.
“Why are you talking in French and calling me ‘love’ instead of ‘like’ now?” He shrugged and stroked my hair.
“Quand je suis trop insisté, j'ai tendance à oublier comment parler l'anglais.” When I'm overly stressed, I tend to forget how to speak English.
“And why do you keep calling me love?” I looked up into his face again when he didn’t respond right away. He looked a bit sheepish and… Was he blushing? There was no way he was blushing; I was just delusional, right?
“Je n'ai pas voulu vous faire vous sentir inconfortable...” I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable...
“And that makes any kind of sense?”
“It did at the time, yes.” His accent was so entwined with the English words that I wasn’t sure whether or not he wasn’t still speaking French.
I placed my hands on his cheeks and made him look down at me. He was kind of cute when his face was such a bright… No, no, no! He was not cute and I was not attracted to him in the slightest! He was a horrible man who had kidnapped me…! But I couldn’t help but feel bad for causing him so much worry.
“Eric, take a deep breath.” He did as I told him a bit shakily. “And another.” I made him continue breathing slowly yet deeply for the next minute before he was calm again.
“Thank you, l’amour.” I felt my face heat up as I released him and stepped out of his embrace. Devin had vanished at some point during the episode and the girl with the paint can had gone as well. What was wrong with these people? Didn’t they know it wasn’t a good idea to leave me alone with this psychopath? I glanced back at Eric who smiled at me as if we were children again. That was why leaving me alone with him was such a bad thing… I kept thinking I liked him.