—Leda's POV—

"How'd you like that? Ha!" I laughed evilly, kicking him again in the ribs, he groaned softly, as if he was trying to repress it. He pleaded but I ignored.

"Come on, Lee that's enough" Sam grabbed my arm, pulling me away. I refused to leave though

"Leda, you'll get in trouble come on" Sam hissed but I knew he wasn't really concerned about whether I got into trouble or not, he was worried for the pathetic boys well being.

In all honesty, I didn't know why I was beating him up. He just intruded on my friendship with Sam, ruining all our fun, always appearing. Sam liked him and I didn't like that. I kicked him again in the stomach but this time he didn't groan he just clenched his eyes shut. I wondered what he was doing but then as the tears slipped out of his eyes I realized, he was crying. And yeah, of course, I laughed.

"He's crying Sam! He's actually crying!" I cackled standing on his hand, he screamed in pain, the high pitched squeal of an eight year old girl and not that of a thirteen year old boy. Ironic that, isn't it? A thirteen year old boy getting beaten up by an eleven year old girl. What's that thing about women being the weaker sex?

"Hey! What are you kids doing on my property!" A tall guy shouted heading towards us at a rapid pace, my stomach knotted, oh shit shit shit.

"Run run" I shouted and shoved Sam in the opposite direction that the man was approaching us from, leaving the pathetic kid on the floor in pain. Luckily for us there were some bushes yards away from where the kid laid almost motionless. We scrambled behind them and hid, the man ceased to pursue us and stopped at the kid.

"What are you doing on the floor?" He didn't sound sympathetic or concerned, if anything he sounded angry, I looked at Sam and his eyes were wide, I could see right through him, he felt guilty and ashamed. I searched myself for some sort of remorse or shame but came up short — nope nothing.

"Get the fuck up, seriously, you're fucking pathetic" the man growled. When the kid didn't get up or move the man grabbed the back of his shirt at the collar and hauled him to his feet, the kid didn't look the man in the eyes, he kept his gaze on the floor, his cheeks soaked in tears.

"I'm sorry, dad" he whimpered, visibly choking back more tears. That surprised me, I'd thought the man was a stranger, an unkind stranger but to find out they were related, the mans hostility surprised me. I looked again at Sam and he shook his head and looked away, mad at me, clearly.

"Get inside" the man shouted exasperated, slapping the kid over the head, the kid winced and hobbled in the direction of the house.

"As if the poor guy doesn't have enough on his plate, getting beaten up by a girl goes down really well with parents like that" he jerked his thumb at the house.

"I-I didn't know" I stuttered, slightly stunned at what had just unfolded in front of me.

"Like it even makes a difference to you." He snapped, I opened my mouth to defend myself but he cut me off by raising his hand and turning his head away from me in an uninterested manner. "You're evil" and with that he stood up and walked away.

"Aw c'mon Sam we only just made up" I shouted after him as if that was a big deal, which compared to everything else going on, it really wasn't. Dammit, when would I learn?

I lifted my eyelids as something, or more like someone, stroked my cheek—Mike. I'd been doing that a lot lately, falling asleep randomly, its like exhaustion had settled in my bones, building its nest there and planning to inhabit me for a long time. I felt the exhaustion, constantly, and it was obvious by how often I spontaneously fell asleep.

"Leda...I found it" he whispered, his hand moving to cup my cheek instead of stroking it. It felt comfortable there, definitely a nice way to awake. It took me a moment or two to realize what he was talking about. Found it—found what?

"The key" I breathed as realization rained on me. He nodded, I heard the movement more than I saw it in the almost pitch-black darkness of the shady room. "B-but..." I was speechless. Flabbergasted. I slammed my jaw shut, words couldn't begin to explain the whole feelings inside of me.

He didn't explain how he found it or where, instead he took my left wrist in his hand—my cheek becoming cold from the absence of his warm hand—and I heard metal on metal and then just like that the restriction was gone. My mouth formed a perfect 'O' as I sat in stunned silence, I rolled my wrist anti-clockwise a few times, enjoying the small freedom. He took my right wrist and did the same, metal on metal, a faint click and freedom, I rolled my right wrist clockwise, repeating the motion I did with the left. My jaw was literally on the floor.

And oh how I prayed this wasn't a dream, I couldn't handle waking up and realizing it wasn't real and I'm still a prisoner.

"Wow" I whispered and a single tear adopted gravity and traveled happily down towards my chin. Before I could stop myself I launched myself into Mike's arms, knocking him backwards onto his back, my arms wrapped tightly around his neck. My arms slammed slightly against the floor but the pain couldn't setback my pure joy and excitement.

He chuckled slightly, caught off guard by my kind assault, he wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging back and chuckled again as he said "You're welcome" I couldn't even speak so I was glad he knew I was thanking him, my vocal chords were beyond malfunctioning, along with my brain.

Then I suddenly realized something completely and utterly embarrassing. In all my excitement, I hadn't put the shirt on he'd brought down for me, which meant I was still shirtless, which meant we were hugging and my bare breasts were pressed against his body—one layer away from being skin on skin. The thought made me blush as I quickly withdrew from the hug, feeling clumsily around for the shirt.

I found it and pulled it on—bra less—and he sat up again and pretended he'd never even noticed I was shirtless. I was grateful for his politeness.

"You're free to go" he said, just like in my dream and ever so briefly my stomach dropped, hoping and praying this was real life. It was scary how I could never tell the difference.

He stood up and held out his hand to help me to my feet, I gratefully took it and got shakily to my feet. Once I was stable on my feet and not like Bambi, I expected him to let go of my hand but he didn't and I wasn't sure whether that made me happy or not. We walked across the room and out of it in silence, I desperately wanted to look back and wish it farewell with a middle finger and a big smirk, but I didn't want the image burned into my memory, I wanted it as far from inside my head as humanly possible. I kept waiting for someone to jump out and stop us, I kept waiting in anticipation, my stomach in knots, my heart in my throat, just waiting for the ogre to speak up in a menacing voice and challenge us. He led us towards the front door and let go of my hand as we reached it, I subtly wiped the sweat that has formed from the tight contact onto the sweatpants I was wearing.

"I'll go get the car keys okay, stay here." He whispered and then put a finger to his lips, telling me I need to be as silent as I can possibly manage to be — I nodded. I decided to just look towards my feet while I waited for him to get the keys, that way I wouldn't have to watch him walk so far away, honestly I was afraid he wouldn't come back or that he'd start to blur and fade out and my eyelids would open and I'd wake up and be back in that god awful room.

"Oh, Leda" he whispered startling me, I realized he hadn't even gone to get the keys yet.

As I looked up I had no time to say or do anything because something soft connected with my lips. It only took me a few seconds to realize that something was his lips, warm and soft, wanting and hungry but still gentle and chaste, as if he was scared of damaging me. I was stunned, but without me even deciding too, I began to kiss back. It was a kiss you wait years to come, and that some don't experience, ever. A mixture of lust and love, a crave and a desperate need, taking and giving, hot and beautiful all at once, however that was possible. I was breathless and fuzzy by the time he pulled away.

"I can't tell you how long I've waited to do that" he said his eyes closed and a smile that represented a content and satisfied feeling inside him. And then he turned and walked away, returning to his mission of finding the keys while I was left trying to locate my equilibrium.

I shut the passenger door as quietly as possible, praying that it hadn't woken the ogre up. I still felt giddy from the kiss, a ghost of a smile still hid behind my fear of being caught out and dragged back into the nightmare I was desperately escaping from. Mike's smile matched mine as he put the key in the ignition, making sure he kept the headlights turned off for now as he backed out of the driveway without checking for traffic first, the car radio clock told me it was just past four am so who would even be out at that time? Except escapee prostitutes and guys that help them escape.

By the time I'd emerged from my own mind the house was as big as a speck of dust in the rearview mirror. I felt my chest lighten, and my shoulders squared as if a weight had been kindly lifted from them, in fact, I felt like the heavy cloud that had hovered over me the past two weeks had vanished completely. And I assumed Mike had a small part of the reason it had.

"You're awfully quiet for someone who has freedom in the palm of her hands" Mike spoke, it was strange hearing him speak at a normal volume instead of a hushed whisper.

I sighed and looked out of the window, the yellow glow from one street lamp merged into the next one and then that one merged into the next one, and soon there was a whole stripe of yellow as the chain carried on, I decided there and then that I liked yellow, it's a nice warm, happy color and that's what I'd attempted to be my whole life. Happy — yellow.

"I'm still trying to convince myself that this isn't a dream" I replied without looking at him, still watching the dance of the street lamps, mesmerized by how they blurred into one. I was glad my voice sounded smooth because inside I was spaghetti of emotions all muddled and tangled, both happy and hollow.

He reached over and tucked a strand of my red hair behind my ear. I liked it being at the side of my face, it hid it away from him, hid what I was really feeling, if it was showing visibly on my face, but I didn't stop him or untuck it.

"I promise you it's real" he comforted and I turned to face him for the first time since we'd gotten in the car. Something in his expression told me to believe him, the way his eyes were deep with an uncountable amount of truth, he turned his head back towards the road and I studied his features while he drove.

I was free, really free. That thought lifted me up high, I smiled to myself, I was free. I brought my bare feet up onto the seat, hoping Mike didn't mind but feeling too exhausted to ask if he did or not. I leant my cheek against the cold glass of the window, returning my attention back to the yellow dancers of happiness against the black night. Something inside me twisted.

I had this awful feeling that I was forgetting something.

Notes

SORRY THIS TOOK FIVE DAYS.
COLLEGE IS DRAINING THE SHIT OUT OF ME. UGHHHH.

For once I am actually proud of a chapter I've wrote! Haha.
I thought it was about time for some cuteness and fluff :)

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Thanks for reading :)

Enjoy your day/night <3