28 Chapter 24

The warnings for this chapter include manipulation, self mutilation, a small amount of emetophobia and dissociation. You have been warned.

-------------

Sydney saw nothing in her dreams this time, just a soft grey and then she was awake. She sat up, feeling arms around her hips move a bit as Nikki stretched. Sydney looked down at Nikki, blinking tiredly. She quickly sat up, gently helping Sydney to her feet as she pulled her along. They exited the room, Nikki pushing Sydney toward the table, and Sydney stumbling over to it to sit. Nikki smiled lightly, looking at Sydney's sleepy face as she rested her head against the table. Nikki hummed as she watched her from the kitchen, feeling her throat vibrate before she realized what she was doing. "I'm glad I got you over those horrible people. They would've ruined you, taken you away from me." Nikki could feel her anger growing, although she knew it was irrational. "Honestly I think if I hadn't removed them, you would've gone with them too. I would've never seen you again." Sydney froze again, her eyes going glassy as she resaw the nightmarish images of her friends. 

She whimpered softly, feeling her mind warp and she began to lose herself yet again. Silent tears falling down her face, she broke, her mental state shattering to bits as she slowly dragged her nails down her arms repeatedly, she felt blood begin to pour and then felt someone pull her arms away. She looked forward at Nikki, almost seeming to be looking through her and not at her. She saw black, then the bathroom, then was back in the soft room, she couldn't tell how much time had passed, all she could tell was the world around her was spinning and she had no control. She heard the door open and moved her eyes over to it, moving would have taken too much energy and she barely had enough to hold open her eyes, much less move towards the door. Nikki stood at the entrance, her face red and blotchy, holding a bowl of soup in her hands. She set the bowl down on the bedside table, then helped Sydney sit up, her hands sat limply in her lap as she stared off into space, the only true sign of life in her being the soft in and out noise of her breath. Nikki picked up the spoon in the bowl, gently blowing on it then holding it up to Sydney's mouth, who stared at it for a moment then ate it slowly. Once Nikki managed to feed her the whole bowl of soup, Nikki helped her lie back down, Sydney's body slowly curling into itself as another round of crying started.

She tried to drag her nails down her arms again, but discovered her nails had been clipped, so she began to bite at them. Nikki moved quickly, moving her hands away from her mouth and placing bandages on them as Sydney weakly struggled. Eventually, Nikki let her hands go, and Sydney quickly brought them back to her chest, curling in on herself. She quickly left the room, feeling it was unbearable to watch Sydney this upset. Hours passed, Nikki leaned against the door, Sydney silently crying and holding herself. They both fell asleep, the soft creaking of the house and the pitter-patter of rain on the room lulling them both away from consciousness. 

Sydney awoke first the next morning, she felt drained and exhausted, simply lying there until she would be required to move around and do something. Nikki stood up after waking up, stretching and rubbing her lower back as it ached something fierce. She walked down to the kitchen after making sure the door was locked, and began making food. She left one plate on the table, and covered the other one in plastic wrap. She put the one with saran wrap in her fridge, ate her plate of food, then waited. She waited for Sydney to begin moving around a little, patiently waiting for the doorknob to turn with Sydney's little amount of hope fluttering in her chest before realizing she was trapped and that the door was locked. The doorknob never turned, and Nikki continued to wait. 

Morning turned to afternoon, and finally a whisper of a voice rang out, "Nikki…?" Sydney called, slowly sitting up and winced feeling her back stretch and her shoulders pop. "Hello?" she called again, feeling hope rise into her chest with nerves raising bile into her throat, she stood up slowly, feeling herself stretch and walked to the door. She hesitated, hands shaking as they reached for the doorknob, and grabbed it. She turned it, but paled when she heard the click of the lock when she tried to pull. Sydney pulled again, and again, breathing faster and faster with each click the lock gave. She turned her head, letting go of the doorknob and felt herself empty her stomach contents on the floor, wincing afterward at the horrible sting in her throat and the terrible taste of bile in her mouth. Nikki heard her, yet only moved afterward to get water, and stuck it through a small sliding door in the wall. Sydney snagged it away, drinking the whole thing in one go and when feeling it creep up her throat again, swallowed hard to keep in down.

Nikki then walked away, going to the fridge, then gave her the food from earlier. She then shut and locked the small door, and walked out of the house, locking the door behind her. She stayed out for a while, it being late at night before she returned, then walking into Sydneys room after unlocking it, and locking it behind her. She shook Sydney awake and sat her on the bed. They sat in silence for a moment, before Nikki produced a bucket, mop, and bleach. She handed them to Sydney, "Clean up your mess please, and if you feel like vomiting again, the bathroom is over there", she pointed to a door in the room, "I was hoping to speak to you as well." Sydney tensed up, nerves rising again. "Why do you want to leave? Am I not good enough?" Sydney opened her mouth to reply, then shut it again, stunned to silence. Nikki stood up, clearly upset, "I'll be back every hour to check you're cleaning that up", then left.

And she did come back, once, even twice every hour to check on Sydney. Nikki found her asleep a few times but shook her awake again every time. The process repeated until dawn, where Nikki took the items back and allowed Sydney to sleep for a few hours. She locked the door behind her, and left a protien bar and a bottle of water behind her. She didn't talk to Sydney again until late afternoon, where she left a sandwhich and another bottle of water, telling her she was going out again, and leaving.

It was about two weeks later of the same routine that the begging started. Sydney would beg to talk to her, to see her face to face and touch her, but Nikki stayed solid, not allowing either. It was another week later that Nikki finally allowed Sydney to touch her, it being a reward for being so good and not causing trouble. Nikki had entered the room, sat down, and allowed Sydney to cuddle into her lap, she even fell asleep there, but after about 15 minutes of her sleeping, Nikki moved her away and out of her lap. When Sydney awoke, she felt cold and nervous, craving touch from Nikki again and resolving to herself that she would be good as long as she would get touch and would be a good girl in order to get that. From then on she was a model person for Nikki to love, to shape, and to hold, Nikki told her that she hasn't been able to find the key, but that once she did then Sydney would be allowed to roam the house freely. She would babble to Nikki about what they would do together once Nikki could find the key again, sometimes snagging her hand through the slat in the wall to hold onto it for a moment.

Five days later, the lock clicked, and Sydney was on her feet in a moment. Nikki opened the door, and motioned her out, but hadn't expected Sydney to barrel into her and hug her. Sydney clung to Nikki any moment she could, and Nikki loved every second of it. Loved how Sydney shook and held onto her like she could lose her any moment and be put back into that room again.

---------

So uh, its been four months and im sorry. I lost a lot of motivation in about March, and i couldn't write something and publish without putting my whole soul and full knowing that you would like it. I will be re-writing some of the older chapters since looking back on them, they aren't exactly the best. I will be making more chapters as well, and will be creating an ending to this eventually. I apologize to my poor editor Bug, who has had to deal with my lack of writing for a while now. I hope you all can forgive me for just abandoning this story. I promise I will try to be better, and not lose motivation as much. I will be keeping the original death scenes and such for Casey, but I need to fix up some of the more OOC deaths.

avataravatar