• Belle sat on the edge of her bed staring out the window. Well it was not really her bed, it was her captors bed, but she was forced to share it with him. How long had this been going on now? Five years? No, it had to have been longer then that. It felt closer to ten years since Adam had whisked her out of her bed that night. But was whisked the right word? Again the word “No” rose in Belle's mind.

    When a girl thinks of being whisked away in the night, its romantic. Being held in the arms of your beloved as he leans in to give you a kiss on the cheek. Then the two of you ride off into the sunset. That is some fairy tail bullshit that never happens in real life. Why she still associated being whisked away with all of that was a mystery to Belle. She was not whisked away, not by any stretch. She had been abducted, then brutalized and treated like a piece of meat. The last thing that happened was that Adam had raped her less then three hours after being taken from her warm bed.

    She still remember the feel of the ground in the forest that night. The feel of the tears as they coursed down her cheeks. That night was only the beginning. She had then been brought here, to this house. Belle did not know where it was or even what the surrounding land looked like for she had never been allowed to leave the building. Every night the hell of that first night was repeated until, in time, Belle realized that she no longer hated Adam. She was falling in love with him. When she realized that she knew she had snapped.

    She tried to control herself but she just fell more and more in love with him. She had heard about this before, what was it called? Ah yes, now she remembered; it was Stockholm Syndrome. After realizing that seven years ago, it slowly ate away at her resolve and her will, and in time she no longer cared about everything that had happened to her. None of that mattered, all that mattered was Adam. She was not even a captive anymore; the doors were never locked and with nails had been removed from the windows. People even visited them at the house and Belle presented herself as Adam's girlfriend and no one ever knew.

    This day had not been any different from the others. Belle had woken up with Adam next to her, the two of them had eaten breakfast together, and then he had left for work and Belle had the run of the house. The sun was now setting and Adam was going to be home any minute. When he walked through that door Belle had plans of jumping into his arms but before that happened she heard another voice as well as Adam's. There was something familiar about it but Belle could not quite place it.

    The door opened and Adam stepped through. He waved Belle over to the door and she obligingly got up from her spot on the bed and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his body.

    “Belle, the is Gaston. I met him in town recently and we are thinking of going into business together.” Adam said as he wav
    ed one hand at the man outside the door and pulled Belle closer with the other hand.
    “BELLE?!” Gaston yelled the instant he laid eyes on her. Belle gasped when she saw it was her old boyfriend; they had been together for almost a year when Adam had abducted her. Less then two seconds later, Gaston had realized what was going on and who the man in front of him was as well as his old girlfriend. With a shriek, Gaston leapt at Adam and wrestled him to the floor. Belle was knocked to the floor in the process and when she looked up at the two of them, Gaston had his hands at Adams throat.

    Belle was frozen. She could only watch as Adam was slowly dying. Finally her vocal cords thawed out and the scream that had been frozen in her throat was released into the world. For a second Gaston looked up at her and Adam took advantage of the distraction and punched Gaston's left ear as hard as he could; then hit him again and again till the stunned man fell to the ground next to Adam.

    Adam rolled over and crawled over to the stand next to his bed. As he was gasping for breath, he pulled himself to his feet and yanked the drawer open and took out the gun he kept in there. When he turned around with the intention of shooting the man in the head as he lay on the ground, he was stunned to find Gaston standing behind him. Gaston reached for the gun with one hand and elbowed Adam in the face with the other.

    Adam stumbled backwards with the impact and was able to break Gaston's grip on the gun but it went off and the glass door to the balcony was shattered. Gaston ran at Adam and reached for the gun again. Gaston managed to get his hands around the gun and he gave a harsh yank to try to wrest it away from the man that had taken his girlfriend form him ten years ago. There was a flash of light and an explosion. The gun jerked in his hand and Adam gave a slight shudder. Gaston looked down at his hands and the gun that was encased in them. Adam had been shot and the bullet had pierced his lung.

    Gaston was silent and did not move, all he could do was stand there and holding Adam and the gun; but Adam was under no such restraints. With the last of his quickly waning strength, he pulled Gaston forward and threw him against the railing and then threw his own body at Gaston before he could recover and Gaston was sent over the side to fall three stories onto the concrete below. The man did not even scream as he fell and the only sound was wet sound of the back of his head hitting the ground.

    Silence descended and the world became still. After a minute Belle could hear Adam's breathing as it became more ragged. The second she realized that is what she was hearing she scrambled to her feet and ran to the balcony only to collapse once more on top of Adam. As the tears started to course down her cheeks and the broken glass bit harshly into her flesh, she was reminded of the pain she felt that first night as it once again returned, but for a different reason this time. Slowly she lowered her ears to Adams mouth to see if she could hear his breathing.