Shadows In Durango

*****Sofia's POV*****

My eyes flutter open, but I'm met with darkness.

For a moment, I'm suspended in a state of half-consciousness, drifting somewhere between dream land and reality. The room around me is unfamiliar - and far too quiet, too still. It's not the cafe, not Emma's house...

I shift slightly, trying to push myself up when a sharp tug holds me back.

My wrists... they're stuck.

Panic begins to bloom in my chest, like icy fingers creeping up my spine. I try to move again, this time jerking my arms harder, but it's useless.

My heart starts to hammer in my chest as I twist my head, trying to make sense of my surroundings as I blink profusely.

The bed beneath me is soft, too soft. The sheets are cool against my skin, but there's something wrong. My pulse races as I finally make out the feeling binding me - it's plastic, biting and digging harshly into my skin. A cable tie. I'm tied to the bed!

A wave of nausea hits me as the panic fully sets in, my chest tightening painfully as my breath comes out in short, frantic bursts. My hands are restrained, tethered to the wooden post of the bed, and the more I struggle, the more the cable digs into my flesh.

Where the hell am I?! What is happening?!

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to calm the rising hysteria, but flashes of memory come back to me in disjointed pieces.

The dinner... the gut-wrenching betrayal of Vincent... meeting his parents... the marriage trap that had twisted so deep I could barely breathe afterwards. Then, leaving his house, leaving the cafe, walking alone in the cold towards Emma's house...

And then Ashton.

I freeze.

Oh my god.

I remember now. The car pulling up, the window rolling down, Ashton leaning out, his face lit by only the streetlight. He'd looked concerned at first, his voice soft as he asked why I was out alone. He'd insisted that I get in his car, said he was just trying to help...

I didn't want to believe that he could be trusted. I had hesitated, hadn't I? Something about him being here in town had felt off... yet, instead of running from him, I had still stood there and engaged in the conversation with him... all before I remember becoming dizzy.

I must have passed out...

And now, here I am. Tied to a bed, with my wrists bound like some kind of captive.

My body trembles as fear surges through me, cold and unforgiving.

He must be behind this...

Where was I? Where would he take me? Was I back home? No, I didn't recognise this room. But what if he called my father and he was on the way to get me?!

I viciously pull at the tie again, growing all the more frantic, desperate to get free and to find a way out. The plastic rubs into my wrist, the skin raw and now burning, but it doesn't matter.

I need to get out of here. I need to escape...

I try to steady my breathing, forcing myself to think, to focus. How did this all happen so fast? How did Ashton go from faux concern to... this?

In the dim light, I look around, trying to make sense of my surroundings. The room is small, plain — white walls, a nightstand, a door that's slightly ajar. There's nothing distinct about it, nothing that tells me where I am. No windows, no noise from the outside. Just an eerie silence that presses down on me.

I swallow hard, trying to hold back the rising wave of panic threatening to drown me.

"Ashton...?" I whisper, my voice trembling. The sound is pathetic, barely more than a hoarse plea.

I don't even know why I'm saying his name.

Tears sting the back of my eyes as I pull at the restraint again, the plastic biting harder with each movement. My throat feels tight, choked with panic as I scan the room for anything — anything that could help me get out of this. I have to get out. I have to figure out how to get free before things get worse...

"ASHTON!" I force myself to yell louder, irritated that he had brought me here against my will.

Now I regretted leaving Vincent's place, despite everything he had done, I had landed myself in a far worse situation this time around...

A shuffling sound comes from somewhere outside of the door, faint but unmistakable. My heart leaps into my throat as I stop breathing for a moment, straining to listen.

Footsteps were approaching. Seeming slow and deliberate.

"Ashton? Is that you?!" My voice cracks as I call out again, louder this time, but it's laced with fear.

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The footsteps get closer, and my stomach clenches with dread. I instinctively pull at the cable tie again, yanking so hard that the plastic digs deeper into my skin. I grit my teeth against the pain, trying to free myself, but it's useless. I'm trapped. The door creaks open. My breath catches in my throat as I see a shadowed figure step into the room.

"Ashton..." I whisper, though the hope in my voice dies the moment his face comes into view, confirming that he was behind this, like I had suspected all along.

His eyes are cold, his expression unreadable. There's no warmth, no sign of the concern he had shown when he'd first pulled up next to me on the street.

He looks, insane...

"Ashton, what the hell is going on? Why am I tied up?" My voice trembles, panic bubbling up again as I wince slightly feeling a pain rush to my head - reminding me that I had bumped it.

I tug at my wrist, desperately trying to show him that I was tied, as if he wasn't already aware. "Let me go!" I demand.

He watches me silently for a moment, his gaze unreadable. Then, with unsettling calmness, he steps forward and shuts the door over behind him, flicking on the main light.

My eyes slam shut, the harsh brightness nipping me like a laser, as I take a second to adjust to it.

"You need to calm down Sofia," he says quietly, his voice eerily soothing, as if this situation was completely normal.

"Calm down?" I nearly choke on the words. "You took me and tied me to a bed! How the hell am I supposed to calm down?!" I wheeze, as he sighs heavily in irritation.

I can hear the hysteria rising in my own voice as I speak, the dread creeping in around the edges of what was yet to come from this.

My wrists felt like they were bleeding by this point, and my mind races with worst-case scenarios.

"You weren't safe out there, what was I to do? Leave you passed out on the sidewalk?!" Ashton says, ignoring my struggle. "I was just trying to help. You're better off here, with me. I'm keeping you safe." His voice is measured, almost too calm for what's happening.

I stare at him, disbelief and fear battling in my chest. "S-Safe? You think this is keeping me safe? Ashton, this is insane! You didn't have to tie me up! You need to let me go-" I reiterate, reminding him that he still had me bound to the bed. He cuts me off, stepping closer, and I instinctively shrink back against the headboard. "You don't understand what's going on, Sofia. I want another chance." He states, catching me off guard as I gawk at him.

Another chance?! As in he wants me to consider being his girlfriend again?!

Is he crazy?!

After acting like this?!

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I shake my head, my pulse racing. "What are you talking about?! Untie me and we can talk about it properly?" I plead, knowing that he must have officially lost his mind.

He can't honestly be sane.

Where is his grandmother? Maybe she would hear me if I yell loud enough?!

Ashton's eyes harden. "I seen you getting in to that guy Daryl's car after school the other day. Is he your new boyfriend? Is that it?!" He rages, a fierce jealousy flashing across his eyes, one that I couldn't comprehend. How does he even know Daryl by name?!

He hadn't seen me in so long until the other day...

I had buried any feelings that I had for him In the past, but I couldn't say the same for him... he was clearly still attached to me, in his own fucked up way!

This was the same guy who joked about my father marrying me off back home - instead of trying to 'protect' me then!

"He's not my boyfriend!" I state, feeling the sweat build on my head, realising that he wasn't willing to set me free any time soon.

I need to do something...

"Then why did you get in his fucking car Sofia?! I find you in the storage room, hopeful that we could work to fix things, and then I see you running off with another guy!" He sneers, as I can't help but stare at him as though his brains were hanging out.

He was being completely and utterly delusional!

"Ashton p-please!" I beg, as he shakes his head, looking furious.

I don't know what else to do, watching him face an inward battle with himself, fearing that he was genuinely psychotic as he glared down at the floor in silence for a moment.

And so, I do the one and only thing that I can think of, I scream out as loud as I possibly can for help.

"HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP ME! HELP!" I begin, before Ashton lunges at me, landing a heavy slap with the back of his hand across my face, knocking my head back against the headboard.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP SOFIA!" He yells, fully enraged now.

I instantly go dizzy, my vision blurring once again, knowing that hitting my head for the second time tonight can't possibly be good.

I'm trapped... and nobody even knows where I am or who I'm with...

I'm a lost cause.