Somewhere deep in my mind, I am sure a part of me still dreamed of an unlikely rescue, of Eli crashing through the doorway and taking me away from here. Looking out the window at the falling snow, I wondered how tiny that piece of me was these days, as well as how much longer it could survive.

Resting my hand on my stomach, I felt the minor twinge of nausea quickly come and go at the thought of carrying a child born from something other than the love I had for my Elijah. But then again, that love wasn't able to protect me anymore. It was stolen from me and locked away, far out of my reach.

Turning my head away from the window, I slowly blinked at the site of Leon sitting nearby watching me with a smile on his face. I could feel the false smile he had trained me to wear for him stretch my lips into an awkward curve, the tiny tremble of my fingers going unnoticed as he got up and walked over to me.

"How are you feeling today, Shina my love?" His soft whisper made me close my eyes to hide the fear that would have shown in them, only opening when I knew they would show nothing of what I truly felt.

"It's cold..." I spoke the words that would ease any suspicion he might have if he noticed my trembling hands, the mild chill in the room adding enough truth to my lie that he would be more likely to accept the half-truth I gave him.

Resting a hand on my rounded belly, he soon tucked the blankets around me and stood, turning to add more wood to the fire that attempted to warm the room. Grabbing another blanket from the couch, he was swift to add it to the ones already covering me. If only things could be different, this situation wouldn't be so bad.

Perhaps if I had never met Elijah, if I had never fallen out of love with Leon, if he had never ended up so completely insane in his feelings of twisted love for me... Perhaps if he was still the loving young man he used to be, then this would be a situation I could name as sweet and adoring, instead of the twisted prison that I felt it to be.

Looking out the window again, I allowed myself one last tiny shiver before the warming air of the room made it necessary to hide behind the mask of quiet indifference I had built to keep myself alive. If you could call this living.

Somewhere deep inside my mind, a quiet voice let out another unheard prayer for someone, anyone, to come and rescue her.