A castle in an unknown world

In a small apartment planted deep in the city of New York held a young girl, she believed to be imprisoned there, but at the moment had no idea what that word really meant. Sighing, she rose from her undone bed and tip-toed quietly to the window of the small bedroom. The glass out looked nothing but the shadow of a taller, and greater building. Suddenly a noise struck, the sound of laughing and stomping from outside of her door. Instantly, she ran from the window to lock the door, but it was too late. Her roommate, a son of family friends. He was quite a bit older than the innocent sixteen year old, possibly around the age of twenty-one, and he was far from ‘innocent’. He stood in the doorway, a grin playing across his lips. She could feel herself begin to shake, he was drunk and she knew exactly what happened next. She watched as his hand raised and squinted waiting for the pain, but was surprised when a thud re-opened her glossy blue eyes. Completely out of it, he lay on the cherry-wood floors knocked out. Now was her chance. Without packing a single thing, she ran. After minutes of nonstop sprinting, her lungs screamed for air, her feet aching already. She decided it was best to take a rest and catch her breath, but only to find out she had no idea where she was. She had only moved her nearly a year ago, and didn’t know the city like most. She stood hopeless in the shade, silent and trembling. As she was close to escaping, she had given up and crumbled to her knees sobbing softly into her tiny hands. Her strawberry-blonde colored hair fell over her face, curtaining her expressions. It was close to 3 a.m., not a person in sight, and in the middle of an empty street you could see a girl, curled up tightly forming a ball. In the middle of the street laid Emilia Rose Davis, an innocent sixteen year old girl who ‘s story was only beginning.

Nick watched the girl in her apartment. He had been watching her for close to two weeks. Her roommate would come home, often drunk or high on drugs. It displeased Nick. He didn't care much for the girl's emotions, but had wanted her for himself. This was the day he would actually take her. He had spent enough time watching.

Emilia's roommate came home. She tried to lock the door, but he got there first. Nick watched as the man came in and was about to hit her, but he stopped the guy by hitting him hard in the back of the head. The guy fell to the ground, unconscious. Emilia wouldn't be able to see Nick until he made himself visible to her. He followed her as she ran away. He waited until she was alone in the street and miserable before he finally appeared to her. "Emilia," he said, having learned her name by watching her for all that time.

Shocked now, Emilia sat up, eyes widened. The color drained from her face as she stood slowly, knees shaking making her tremble. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation, but lived in the city long enough to know not to trust strangers. And NOT strangers that knew your name. Emilia inhaled deeply before turning directions and sprinting as fast as her legs could take her, a thousand things racing through her head now.

Nick smirked and followed Emilia. There were only so many places she could go and he was capable of keeping up. As she ran, he took a different route to go around a different way. The back alley he took went up the street and to the right. He picked up his speed and ran even faster. He came back out to the main street and blocking Emilia's path. "Don't be scared. I'm here to help you," he said, not taking his eyes off of her. Nick didn't want to keep up the chase here. He would grow bored of it quickly.

She skidded to a stop and stood about three feet from the stranger. Emilia's face suddenly filled with a slight color of pink as she blushed of embarrassment. "Wait...you're a friend of my-" She stopped for a few seconds before finishing "brother's?" She had to think quickly, so she lied. It was far too dark to see what he looked like, not even what he was dressed in. Only a dark figure stood before her. She now had two choices; run for her life, or trust the stranger. Now, she would recklessly choose the wrong, and make the biggest mistake of her life.

Nick stood where he was. He didn't want her to start running again. "No. I've known your roommate for quite a while. I know how he treats you," he said, hoping this was good enough for her. Nick figured it would be easier to get away with saying that he knew the roommate since he had been observing them for close to two weeks.

He took a step toward her. "I know that he hits you, yells at you, abuses you... I want to help you get away from him." Nick thought the words sounded good enough. Maybe they would work or maybe she still wouldn't trust him. He stood there and waited for her to respond.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Dani watched as her mother scooped the macaroni and cheese onto her plate. She gave a grateful smile. "Thanks, mom," she said as the plate was handed to her and sat at the table. Her parents took their seats on the couch in the living room to watch their shows. It was just a typical evening in the Leiber household.

Dani quickly scarfed her dinner down and put her plate in the sink. "Goodnight, mom. Goodnight, dad." Her parents turned their heads so they could see her and told her, "Goodnight." With a nod, Dani head up the stairs and brushed her teeth. Then she crawled into her bed and laid down to fall asleep. She laid there for a while, staring at the ceiling. Something wasn't right. Maybe it's too hot. Dani sighed and got up out of her bed to go open the window. Then she crawled back in bed and stared at the ceiling again until she fell asleep.