"How did Carmen take it?" I ask as the water shuts off in the bathroom.

"How... What?" He asks confusingly, hearing things drop and fall all over the place. I giggle to myself, sitting on the bed. The bathroom door opens and he speaks out, looking at me. Once again he blushes, walking out.

"How do you know my mother?" His light ash brown hair looks black as he wipes the water off his hair with the towel. His shirtless torso shows his well-framed body.

" Carman and I grew up together. She was 12 and I was 10, somehow we always were together. But, when my grandma died when I was 15, I had to leave. We tried to stay in contact with each other but... we got into a huge fight..." I start remembering what exactly what happened to me after my grandma died.

*****

I was stuck in a frigid basement and they had taken my watch, along with everything else I was carrying when they took me on the way back from school.

In front of me, was a table piled with assorted instruments of torture. A blowtorch, a drill, a stun gun with two of glaring floodlights. A man had removed my blindfold temporarily so that I might have the privilege of staring directly into those floodlights. Behind the floodlights was nothing but darkness, and a voice.

I knew how to keep a poker face, all those Christmas Eve's spent gambling potato chips with Christopher had paid off after all. So long as I appeared nonchalant, no pinkness in my cheeks to betray myself, everything would be just fine.

" Your Beatrix LeAnn Robertson... Ceader's granddaughter. Do you know who she was?" A man's voice rumbled like a storm.

"I do..." I respond in an annoying manner, only pretending what I knew what I didn't know.

"Than tell me." He says I could just imagine him smirking behind that bright light.

" Who are you?" I ask, my voice almost trembling. 'Stay strong don't cry' grandma's voice lingers in my head. I bite my lip and repeat myself, louder. "Who are you?" My voice echoes.

"Don't you dare raise your voice to me."

-------

The scream tore through me like a great shard of glass. I felt my eyes widen and pulse quicken, my heart thudding like a rock rattling in a box. Tears burn my cheeks as they fall. My hands form fists and my arms shake intensely as I feel the burning electric currents through my body.

The three men laughing at my screams and pleads. A sense of relief spreads through my body, trying to catch my breath I choke on my tears. Being strapped in a chair all I could do was lean forward and cry.

" What do you want from me!" I shout, with enough of breath to form the sentence.

" Your humanity..." He says as he turns on the blowtorch. Fear triggers every nerve in my body. Pain sears through my thigh worse than a branding iron. The pain radiates from my leg to my abdomen.

*****

"Velondra... Velondra...? Are you okay?" Mavericc says my name over and over again bringing me back to reality. My stomach burns, sympathy pains.

" Yeah just remembering." I say walking away, ignoring his question, 'Remembering what?'

I go to the kitchen and open up a cabinet. "Your too young for alcohol right? How about some tea?"

" Sure, I-" he's interrupted by a knock on the door. Looking at the peephole seeing Alexa, I mess up my hair and undo my clothing. I open up the door out of breath.

"Where the hell were you today? You missed our lunch!" Alexa shouts but than pauses and looks at my undone clothing. "Is there someone else in there? It's been so long... let me in."

" No, I will not, I will not let you scare him like the last one." My mouth forms a straight line trying to show my seriousness. Once again she finds her way through the door seeing the shirtless and wet Mavericc sitting on the semi ruffled bed.

He freezes like a scared chihuahua.

"Hey! Miss. Aura of the Mafia, you're scaring him with your face." I pour whiskey into a regular drinking glass and give it to her.

" You're the one wh-" she says but my glare stops her sentence. "Okay then... I'm Alexa, you are?" She says taking the glass and waves to him. She looks at her wristwatch, and plops down on the couch and turns on the TV.

"You must be confused. That's Alexa, a close coworker. Bi-weekly we're supposed to have lunch  and talk about my companies business." He nods then looks at his own watch, then at the clock on the wall. He rushes around his stuff, looking for something.

"Are you al-" I start to say but he cuts me off, jumping up.

" I'm sorry I have to head to work I'll be late! He puts on his white button up quickly, then the dark navy blue blazer. And he runs out, knowing that he'll be on time I'm worried about his health.

On the ground, there was an Immunosuppressive bottle for Porphyria. My heart just sinks, I put it back in his spilled bag and I sit on the couch. Alexa punches my shoulder and she smiles.

"He'll be alright, you'll take care of things. It may not be all that serious..." She says, I nod and look at her empty glass.