Week 458 – Sasha heard the men rush out of the room and, in the back of her mind, wondered what had happened

Right before she sank too deep inside her own mind that she lost her connection to the real world, there was some sort of loud sound, and then Sasha heard the men rush out of the room and, in the back of her mind, wondered what had happened.

Did it really matter?

Even if something had distracted them, they’d be back.

So she allowed herself to fall deeper into her mind, let everything else fade away. Blackness seeped into her, not like darkness, it was like an emptiness you couldn’t full explain. It was like allowing yourself to die even if you were still alive.

Then just when the blackness settled over her and she was about to disappear for good, something stopped her.

No. Someone.

“Come on, Sasha, hang in there for me,” a voice urged and she felt something tugging at her wrists and ankles.

The voice … it was familiar in an unfamiliar sort of way. It wasn’t Dylan, or one of the others, wasn’t one of her family members or friends either. Yet she had heard it before.

“Come on, honey, don’t give up on me, I am getting you out of this house, I swear I am.”

Sasha laughed at the ridiculousness of that statement. She wasn’t getting out of this house. Ever. He would never allow her another opportunity to escape, no matter how long he kept her body alive.

“Snap out of it,” the voice insisted. “I need your help getting out of here. Come on, Sasha, I know you’re still in there somewhere.”

Whoever was preventing her from slipping away completely shook her hard, and it was enough to jar her, send the blackness retreating. Against her will her eyes popped open and she saw who was standing before her, hands on her shoulders, one knee on the mattress by her hip, a mixture of guilt, anger, and concern in his eyes.

It was him. The man who had found her in the forest and then returned her to Dylan. Graham.

What was he doing here?

“I’m sorry I let him take you back, I’m sorry I didn’t do something, I will spend the rest of my life trying to make that up to you,” he said in a rush when he saw her eyes were open. “But right now I am getting you out of this place.”

Those words were so ridiculous there was only one thing Sasha could do. Laugh.