I sat in the dimly lit room, head hung ashamedly and picking at my nails. I didn't like being talked about when I was right in the room, and that's precisely what they'd done for the past... something hours. There was no clock in the run down little kitchen, just a few modest things and a fire jumping in the grate and so I couldn't tell the time. Outside, that may have indicated the time, was blocked off by heavy curtains that were, like everything else, covered in a fine layer of dust. It didn't matter if I couldn't estimate how long I'd been here, listening to them discussing my imprisonment. I just knew I couldn't stand it anymore. 

"I'm going...just to my room" I stand up suddenly, drawing the attention of the table. My mum can't even look at me, but one of the policemen - the younger one - has stood up too, presumably to order me to stay. 

"Let her go," the other man puts a mollifying hand on his arm, making him sit with an almost testy look, then a spiteful glance at me. "It's not like she has to be present for this; she knows everything already." Like a master calming his half-wild dog. I scoffed to myself with silent satisfaction. I see the young one is clutching a document, probably with all my details. He holds it almost protectively, and I suddenly feel like provoking him further. 

"Do you mind if I see those documents?" 

He looks as though he is about to object, but the other policeman speaks before he can, "Give them to her." 

I take the papers, then retreat out into the corridor and up the stairs. It's a good thing my mum hadn't enough money to get transport to the police station, meaning we came to her instead. Though still slightly awkward, it was a lot easier to be at home, again. Even if things had changed. 

As I tread up the cobwebbed stairs, I trip over my undone shoelace. I curse quietly, righting myself and bending to retie them. But something I see stops me.

The boarding of the stairs has moved. You would think it was just because of the house's state, but I spy a hollow dark space beneath. I lay on the dusty stairs, peering through the gap. 

The darkness is not empty. 

I stand up, shaking the creepy feeling off. How ridiculous - there's no one there. 

A hand shoots out to grab my ankle.  

I stifle my scream, a hand flying to my throat in fear. I kick ferociously at the hand with my other foot. 

"Argh," a man's voice, "ok, stop stop." He withdraws his hand but I don't stop kicking. 

"Hey, stop that," the person hisses. 

"Who are you," I hiss back, backing down the stairs to peer through the gap. "What are you doing here? I'm calling the police, in fact they're right here."  My voice is hoarse and dry so the words are hardly discernible, but I can't stop the stream of words as I ramble on. It must be the shock. 

"Sh, come in here," he beckons to me, and I freeze. There's something so inviting...and dangerous. "There's a door in the side of the stairs." 

I hesitate, backing down the stairs and still wondering whether I should just go back to the kitchen. 

"Come on now, don't be scared," the voice is desperate this time and turning impatient. 

I hurry to the door in the stairs, marvelling for a second at how I never noticed it before. Then it opens just as I lift my hand. A masculine arm reaches out to grab me, and snatch me inside the space beneath the stairs. 

I squeal, but his hands close over my mouth. He waits as I stop struggling then releases me.

 I turn to face him. 

He watches her with cool interest as she paces the small, dim space in distress. Her feet brush gently against the wooden planks and she clutches some documents to her chest.

"I don't know," she finally stops pacing and looks at him with pleading eyes. 

"What do you mean you don't know?" He had given her the best option to get out of this mess and he had been certain she would agree straight away. But then...ah, the pleading look dawned on him. Women never said what they meant, it was as if the men were meant to interpret things through subtle glances. He smiled knowingly, noticing the slight widening of her eyes - she must've seen his dimples - and spoke slowly, "You do wanna go, don't you?" His smile turns to a slightly crazed grin as she nods. 

"But I don't know ㅡthis seems, wrong, like I shouldn't have met you," she admits quietly and he contemplates her words for a second but then dismisses them. 

"Do you want to or not?" He speaks with a hardly restrained sigh, knowing that she will be prompted to decide quickly.  |She nods firmly. Before she can change her mind, he grabs her slim waist and slings her over his shoulder. Like she weighs nothing. She struggles slightly, but he grips her tightly, "Hey, I thought we had an agreementㅡgood. Stop that then."

And with that, he exited the way he entered, and walked out into the winding network of alleys.

A/n: Just want to inform you that I won't write whose POV it is in unless it seems necessary. And I don't write for lazy readers, so the storyline and characters may not be clear all the time; you can work it out yourself...