Act 18, Fawn.

Kacper had been left for... who knows how long, Emily said she was getting food and drink for him. It was so.. ominous, not her words but rather the situation at hand.

To him, a weird sense of love and duty brought them together, not insanity or anything of the sort.. because he, too, had felt this feeling eating at him. Would it had lead him down the same road.. no. But clearly Emily was worse off. She had no one to keep her balanced, she lived alone, did everything alone, did everything for herself. His means of going forward was to make his family proud, her means.. was just survival, he supposed.

Kacper couldn't help but feel bad for her, this fawning type of puppy love had fizzled out to the bare basics: She loves me, I love her, We love each other but now they had hit a wall.

The longer he was alone the more he got to sympathize with Emily, sure he'd.. kidnapped him.. pretty much, but the gnawing feeling he had also felt was gone, he was close enough to her that it didn't feel as if he was being tugged along by feeling flowing through his veins, causing him to shudder where he stood.

He'd please her, he'd make her happy. He wasn't going to be hurt.

A whisper beyond the door, then a creak and it opened to reveal Emily, a plate of fruits in one hand and a steaming cup in the other, his vision had improved since the drugging, he was thankful for it.

Since said kidnapping it was like his brain chemistry had changed.

He didn't want to leave anymore.

He wanted to rot in the warmth Emily supplied.

"I'm back.. sorry I took so long, your parents kept calling your phone." Emily said casually, as if this wasn't a big deal, it caused fear to grip Kacper's chest - were they upset at him? It felt like the earlier calm had shattered, the glass shards embedding in his chest, catching on his skin when he breathed.

"Oh.. sorry, um, I was supposed to be home by now-" Kacper replied, shrinking away from Emily's gaze "But it's ok!" He quickly followed up with "I..i don't mind- well, I do- but.. but.." He laughed awkwardly "I want them to know i'm ok, so they don't worry.. but it's ok staying here.. too.."

Emily was looking at him like he was some sort of prey animal begging the hunter for his life, she only let out a cut-off laugh.

She finally came forward, holding a piece of apple to his mouth, he leaned forward to bite but it dropped between them, he flinched like he hit, a hoard of 'sorry's pushing out of his mouth.

"I-i didn't mean to drop it, Eve. I'm sorry, i'm really sorry- i just.. it's hard to think down here? I think.. but- but it's ok!" He was practically a keening dog

"I'm going to get rid of the tape, okay?" Emily placed the plate and cup on a stack of boxes, before pulling out a small box cutter from her pocket, ever so carefully cutting away the tape, Kacper could smell her. A faint smell of dandelion and fresh fruit, he swallowed, remaining still, fawning.

Fawning. Appeasing. Mirroring what he hoped she wanted to see in him.

"Sorry," Kacper mustered once she had finished the cutting and was slowly pulling the tape away, causing him to wince, his eyes remained pinned to her face, constantly checking how SHE felt about the way he was reacting.

The energy in the room should've felt sinister, really, but Kacper felt he was being embraced.

She helped him up, situating him on a box and placing the plate and cup - which he now realized was tea - nearby.

"I got the kind you like, I saw them in your house.." Emily offered, wringing her hands and taking a step back, she knew this was wrong but she couldn't afford to let him go now.

Kacper nodded slowly, beginning to eat. It felt like he had leeway now, things would go back to normal as soon as Emily was in a state of calm.

The room was silent, minus the fizzing of the light above.

Kacper finished his food with a small sigh, placing his plate aside and slowly drinking, he finally worked the effort to speak once more: "I'll stay for as long as you want, Eve. Then when you let me go I won't tell a soul! I-i mean my parents think i'm having a sleepover, anyway... i think." He couldn't really recall the note he had left, not anymore, all of the stress had shredded the memory.

Emily's expression shifted, her hands coming together, gripping each other.

"Back in the chair," Emily spat, taking a hasty step forward, Kacper flinched back, his cup dropping to the floor and shattering, the hot liquid splashing on his legs but he didn't wince, he stood up

"What? No-" Kacper whimpered, backing off "I- i can't, Emily- Please?" He begged, tears pooling at the corner of his eyes

Then Emily lunged forward-

Scrambling about the concrete like an animal, flashes of black, white, and then black again blurred between them - a fight for life, a fight to the death.

Kacper, no taller than she, ducked behind a support and lunged at the door separating upstairs from the basement, but he was scruffed by his hoodie and yanked back, causing a pained rasp to flutter out of his throat as he stumbled back, only just catching himself on his elbow, scrambling backwards now - the motion felt like it wasn't happening due to adrenaline.

Back, back and back as if pushing himself away from the threat would make it disappear.

The girl looked crazed in her mania, she didn't want to kill him, she wanted him to stop fighting, but he was terrified.

If you felt as if you were prey, being hunted by a predator, would you not, too, fight for your life?

"Please!" He tried, voice sounding infantile despite his age, she didn't respond, he felt a shiver run up his spine.

This was the same girl who was all smiles in school, the same girl..

She came down atop of him.

His vision was black when she thumbed over his Adams apple, before squeezing, "please," he tried once more, but it sounded all chewed up now. She squeezed, and squeezed, knees digging into his ribcage, her hands sweaty.

His lungs felt like they were fizzing, pulsing in time with the black spots in his vision, at the very teetering edge of consciousness she released him, ducking down and down until her ear was nearly flush with his face - checking?

His heart was spasming violently, pumping more and more blood through his system, he acted before his brain could tell him not to, his hand coming out and pushing her away, shoving her to the floor and stumbling upright, the lack of oxygen had caused him to be dizzy, however, so he stumbled on something that lay on the dark floor.

He could feel his jeans become damp as he scrambled forward, the material ripping and a dull ache spreading through his knee, adding to the bruises and bumps he had gotten from the altercation, said injuries littering his whole body.

"Just-.. quiet!" The girl almost huffed, she was annoyed. Like she was rounding together boisterous cattle or something of the sort..

She didn't feel like "Emily 'Eve' Florence" anymore, she felt like a threat. He didn't pick up in the way she was looking so disgusted at him, touching her own neck, rubbing it, her breaths shallow.

Their expressions had swapped, she looked so infantile, so scared, and he looked full of rage.

With a sudden burst of strength he lunged, knocked her onto her side, mirroring her motion, pushing down and down on her throat, his hands shaky - he just wanted to go home, he was just trying to defend himself, he was just trying-

Tears dripped down his cheeks and onto her face, then, a pinprick fuzzy feeling bloomed at the back of his head as he choked the life out of the girl.

He...

He couldn't breathe?

He let go as if her skin had burnt him, slumping off to the side, they stared at each other, panting, not understanding what the hell they had both just experienced...

That's why she stopped.

Then it clicked..

When he had hurt his knee at the river, she had winced like she had felt it.

When she had hurt her thumb, gotten a paper cut, he had felt the pain blossom on his thumb pad.

They were linked.

Emily continued to pant, pushing herself up and leaning against one of the concrete support beams of the dingy basement, she let out a shaky breath before muttering: "We were made for more than this, Kas', way more... we were made to go out with a blast, not a... pathetic whimper."

With those words she left, locking the basement door, leaving Kacper shaking and confused.

His whole body throbbed with pain.

He started full-on sobbing now, huddling his knees up to his chest.

He wanted his mama, his papa, his siblings. He wanted to go home, he wanted to see their pet snail and he missed school.

Continuing to sob, he wore himself out, falling asleep on the floor, cheeks damp and eyes reddened from the tears.

Poor boy.