Prologue

White.

That was the first thing she registered as the brunette awoke from her slumber. Everything was white, from the bare white walls to the white sheets beneath her exhausted body. Even the blinding lights penetrating her eyes were an awful shade of white. It seemed the white engulfed her in its unwelcome presence as she sought out a hint to her surroundings.

In the end, it was the pungent aroma of bleach and chemicals that cleared her head, making the brunette girl frown as she discarded her dazed stupor.

Blue eyes sought out the faint pops of colour, briefly lingering over the mahogany door frame. For a moment she considered dashing for the door, but the girl knew her assailant wasn't daft enough to leave it open.

Thus she turned towards the insipid yellow curtain around her bed, noticing how the yellow material's floral pattern was old and faded, leaving the room devoid of beauty as she was of hope.

It occurred to her that the room seemed identical to the one she occupied a year prior to the incident, but the thought was nothing more than wishful thinking.

After months of mental and physical torture, she was certain he wouldn't set her free due to trivial things such as pity. No, this was merely another test in his sick game, and she refused to fall for his fraudulent freedom.

His appearance was faceless, person nameless, yet something so vague was able to flip her world upside down and have her hanging by the edges.

With her predicament eating away at her sanity, the girl couldn't do much except turn towards her physical condition, examining the various injuries scattered across her body. In her distressed state, she didn't notice the IV cord pierced into her arm, subconsciously yanking it out in fear of being drugged.

Stray drops of blood trailed down her arm as she examined her wounds, wincing at the new injury.

Burns and bruises covered the greater part of her forearms, the marks covering any sigh of her olive skin. A sigh fell out of her mouth as her gaze travelled towards the harsh red line across her wrist, making her reminisce on her weakest moments in captivity.

She chose to ignore her arms in fear of a flashback, allowing her blue eyes to lazily travel towards her legs. While her arms remained the same as before, her legs were another story.

Band-aids and stray wads of cotton littered her calves, covering the most severe injuries.

That was a red flag, one that made the brunette shiver as she curled into a ball. Her assailant was many things, but kind wasn't one of them. He had only interfered with her healing process if the wound was severe, but even then, he never tended to the injury with such care.

Her palm reached up to caress her abdomen, the several rolls of gauze making the brunette gasp and retreat her hand.

Something was wrong, and terribly so.

He would have never expressed such kindness towards her, much less take the time to use an IV cord and fetch the rest of the equipment around the room.

The sudden realization made her enter a dazed stupor of contemplation, her mind so indulged in mulling over her kidnapper she didn't notice the door opening and a woman walking towards her.

For a moment all was quiet, then something screamed just as she felt a hand on her elbow.

It took her a minute to realize she was the creator of that raspy, chalky sound but she didn't hesitate to repeat the scream as the woman attempted to make her calm down. The older lady seemed tired of the brunette's mannerism and simply tightened her grip as a threat, one that wasn't received very nicely.

She would've liked to think she fought long and hard to shrug off the hand, but the teen gave up without any remorse, too tired and drained to bother trying to fight against her assailant.

"You shouldn't have done that, now I need to replace your drip! The doctor won't be glad to hear that, this stuff isn't cheap, you know."

A woman clad in a nurse uniform chastised her as she walked around the bare room, approaching a cupboard the girl had previously overlooked.

The woman's white uniform contrasted against her almond skin and the material seemed awfully uncomfortable, yet the middle-aged nurse didn't seem to mind as she continued rambling while searching the cupboard.

"I go out for one unsupervised break, and ask the policeman to watch, and come back to this!"

It took her a moment to register the words, but when she did the girl suddenly didn't care about the woman's presence, what was important was her words, more specifically, the supposed policeman somewhere out there.

A spark of hope pranced through her heart as the girl let out a grin, adjusting her body to face the nurse.

"Miss, I've been kidnapped, the policeman-"

The young girl's frenzied words died in her throat as the nurse glanced her way, a smile coated in pity painted across the woman's face. She took a moment to collect a new cord before returning by the teen's bedside, replacing the IV cord as she spoke.

"You were found by the police, dear."

It wasn't enough, yet the blue-eyed brunette couldn't do much except expectantly wait for the nurse to finish her job. When she was done, the older woman gave the girl a warm smile and sat beside her torso.

"What's your name?"

"Cassidy."

Her name felt foreign after not hearing it for so long; as if her ears were accommodated to the vexatious pet names her kidnapper would use.

"Well, Cassidy, I'm your nurse, Julie."

Julie didn't seem to catch onto her distress as she once again got up and moved towards the cupboard, returning a few moments later with a glass of water and several pills.

"These are for the pain and headache."

Until she mentioned it, Cassidy hadn't registered the dull throb at the back of her head, yet she couldn't help but remain sceptical. What if this was yet another game to him? A sick test to see whether she would fall for this fraudulent freedom.

Julie seemed to catch onto her patient's worries as she once again sat beside the teenager, green eyes meeting ocean blue as she spoke.

"Look, I don't know what that boy did to you, but he's gone. You're free and in safe hands. They'll be contacting your family shortly, but the police just wanted to be certain you were in a stable condition. Now, do you want your family to come here and see you with these injuries and a terrible headache?"

Cassidy was unsure how to reply, but she couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face at those golden words. She was free.

Her smile widened as she gestured towards the medication, silently accepting the pills and water. When she had gulped down each of them, the teen timidly decided to ask a few questions, attempting to decipher the situation.

"So, this is it? I'm finally free and he's rotting behind bars?"

At this, the nurse frowned down at her, turning away to start the drip's steady flow as she spoke.

"You were found on a roadside dear, I don't know much-" her body turned, meeting the poor teenager's gaze as she continued.

"-But the police came straight here, and there was no chatter of any boy being with them."

Cassidy felt lost.

No, it was worse than that, she felt as if she had woken up to find out it was merely a dream, only to realize she had migrated to a nightmare. She was wrong to presume that her kidnapper had been caught, that he would pay the price for all his sins. One mere sentence, one she should've been glad to hear, was all it took to put out the spark of hope rushing through her veins.

Water coursed through her ears as Julie continued speaking about the case's information. Cassidy's mind seemed to take up a path of its own as the only thing she could think of was that he was still out there.

And he would be coming for her.

Several images briefly flashed through her inner eye as Cassidy laid back on the bed, visualizing the notes, deaths, kidnapping and traumatizing events. Would she be ready when he came for her?

More importantly, could she out-manoeuvre him, or would he win yet again?