Immortal Part 9

            “What do you want with me?” I finally asked.

            We had been walking for quite some time. Since I wasn’t carrying on like a banshee anymore, we merely got side glances and some whispering, but just like before nobody really seemed too concerned. Even my distress had dissipated somewhat. If Tavian really wanted to hurt me, he would have already. Especially considering my pathetic escape attempt and since he hadn’t bound and gagged me or anything, I was feeling a little bit more secure that he wasn’t going to kill me. At least not right away.

            When he didn’t answer I tried another question, “What, exactly, do you think you saved me from? All you’ve done, really, is prevented me from doing my homework.”

            He seemed to be ignoring me so I went back to sighing and he concentrated on getting us to some unknown destination.

            I tried to keep track of the street signs so I would know precisely where I was but my mind didn’t work very quickly in upside down writing. Tavian was holding me tight enough that I couldn’t really squirm around to get a better view either.

            I watched as we went, the sun sinking lower and lower in the sky until it disappeared completely.  It was dark now and the nights this time of year are on the cool side. My teeth started chattering and that’s when Tavian finally stopped walking again. He set me down on my feet, took off his jacket, wrapped it around me and then picked me up again.

            “I promise I’ll be good,” I said irritably.

            “I don’t trust you,” he said, “Besides, we’ve got quite a way to go.”

            “Aren’t you tired of carrying me?” I said and I felt my cheeks go hot. Even though I aspire to be an actress, and even though I have quite a bit of talent in that I can sing and act, I wasn’t anorexic thin like many of my female colleagues. In fact, I was a bit on the robust size. Not to say that I’m so heavy that I’m unable to dance or perform. I just am aware that I don’t fit in the typical stereotype that people envision in an actress. I was a size 14… not a size 2. Needless to say, in the world I thrust myself into every single day, I was very self conscious about my weight and size. Admitting, even to a kidnapper that I might weigh more than I should, caused me to feel very embarrassed indeed.

            It obviously went above his head though, “No. I don’t mind at all.”

            “Well I do. Please, let me walk.”

            “You’ll just slow me down. Are you warmer?”

            “Where are you taking me?”

            “I promise, I’ll explain everything once we get there.  Now that it’s darker, I’m going to go a bit faster so… just hold on.”

            I thought that statement was a little bizarre. Faster? If anything you would think the guy would be slowing down. He’d been carrying me for hours. He had to be tired, even if he refused to admit it. But now I couldn’t see the street signs for a reason other than that I couldn’t read fast enough upside down. They blurred by. Everything rushed by. I also felt the increase of pressure in my head. I could feel Tavian’s big strong hands wrapped around my waist and I knew that I wasn’t going to fall, but instinctively with the inertia I grasped wildly at something to hold on to. I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist and then so that I wouldn’t get sick, I closed my eyes.

            I could feel the wind on my cheeks and hands. He smelled like Old Spice and Tide. It wasn’t all fear that made me bury my head in his back.

            And then just like that we stopped. The world was shaking and crazy as I opened my eyes, then it occurred to me I had been hanging upside down for quite some time and that I was dizzy and slightly disoriented when Tavian finally set me on my feet once again.

            I knew I wasn’t in Boston anymore. The city, that I had grown to love, had a sound and a smell and a buzz. The sound of cars and ambulances in the distance is something that I had a hard time with at first. But after awhile it is comforting. After awhile it is home.

            This place was totally different. It was eerily silent. I glanced around, searching for something familiar but there was nothing. Six little homes made up a little section of a suburb.

            “Where are we?”

            “Home.  Come on in.”

            “Your home?”

            Tavian reached out and took my hand. I didn’t have much of a choice but to follow him up the little walkway. His house was tan, with red shutters. The bottom half was made up of bricks but the upper half wasn’t even sided. It had the original wood paneling but it was very well cared for. I thought it was kind of funny that his porch light was on. I felt like I was going to one of my friend’s houses, not the house of a thug that had kidnapped me. Those kind of people lived in dilapidated, falling down shacks out in the middle of the woods, didn’t they?

            “Mom?” Tavian cried as we stepped into the house, and then he looked at me and barked. “Have a seat.”

            There was a couch under the window right by the door. Directly across from the couch sitting against the far wall was a love seat and in the corner, kitty corner was an easy chair. I elected to sit in the easy chair that way Tavian couldn’t sit by me.

            He glanced nervously at his watch and mumbled to himself, “She should be up by now. Mom!” he cried again.

            “You promised you would explain,” I said impatiently settling into the easy chair.

            “And I will,” he said distractedly, his brow furrowed with concern. “Mom!”

            “You need your mommy to hold your hand?” I spat bitterly.

            “It will help explain things, at least. If I uh… go check on her… you’ll stay here… right?”

            Was he serious? I wouldn’t be surprised if my mouth dropped open with shock. Of course I wouldn’t just sit here. But I smiled, batted my eyelashes and nodded in the affirmative. “Where would I go?”

            But he must have realized how stupid of a question that was. He narrowed his eyes and then once more called for his mother.

            “Up in a few minutes!” came the reply. I don’t’ know what it was about her voice, but a chill ran up my spine and the earlier fear that had consumed me returned with full force. I glanced unsurely at Tavian but the fact that she had responded to him, had somehow set him at ease and he plopped down on the couch, closest to me.

            The silence was uncomfortable and awkward. He refused to look at me, although, I couldn’t seem to NOT look at him. Now that I wasn’t terrified of being killed by him, though the anger of being kidnapped by him was still fresh, I wasn’t afraid of him. He wasn’t quite the thug I had assessed him as before.

            He was very clean cut. And while he did have dark hair, it was nicely styled. A very modern, popular style. It was short on the sides, but the top was a little fuller with lots of little spikes. He also didn’t have the dark bushy unibrow that I had given him on first glance while I was afraid I was being attacked by a mass murderer. While he did have dark eyebrows, they weren’t bushy or thick. They were actually very nice. His eyes, it turned out, weren’t black and soulless either. They were a Hershey chocolate brown.