Song Bird

[CalmCaster1408]

I suppose it started in high school but to be honest, I'm not even sure. I never stood out, was in the background for most of my school mates. Don't get me wrong though, I had a healthy amount of good friends but I suppose we lost touch somewhere, maybe around the time I left for college. Now, I say leave for college because I fully intended on going there but I never actually got there. This will become clear to you very soon, though I do not actually plan on letting anyone read this. I might just burn it.
As I mentioned, I didn't really stand out in school. I was not a part of a team, received average grades, and kept to myself and my friends. How ever, I did join chorus. I loved to sing and I liked to think I was exceptional at it but I knew that there were those who were better.
There were also crushes. They were momentary things, always kept to myself and nothing became of them. Then, there was Him. He was new. In my eyes any way. How I had not noticed him before is beyond me because he was, is, beautiful. I first noticed him in gym class when we were learning archery. His arrows pierced the bulls-eye every time. He never missed. How could he with such a focused gaze as he aimed? His facial expression would change as he turned to his friends, to one of smug amusement with a self-assured smirk tugging at one side of his full lips. His dark eyes sparkled in a playful, yet challenging way as if daring any of them to do better. When he passed me it was easy to see that I was a head shorter than his six-foot frame and just as invisible to him as I was to the people not in my inner circle.
My thoughts never strayed far from him but life still went on and like the rest, nothing became of this crush.
Soon it was graduation and then I was packing for college. There were tearful good byes and then I was off. I don't really remember much of what happened during the trip but I must have gotten into an accident because I opened my eyes to find myself in an unfamiliar room. My suit case was in a corner and it wasn't a bad room. It was possible that this was the bedroom in my new apartment and the trip just tired me out. The only odd thing was, the room had a very small window, like one you would find in a basement.
I heard the click of a latch and the door opened to reveal the young man I had been crushing on during school. Now I was really confused.
"Good, You'r awake. I had hopped to explain things to you sooner but you were so tired." he said in his soft baritone voice. He swept some of his thick, ebony locks out of his eyes.
I asked the questions any one else would in my situation. Where am I? What am I doing here? Ect, ect. He walked over to the bed I was on and sat close enough so that our arms almost brushed.
"You were leaving." he explained, as if it were the most obvious thing. "I wouldn't have been able to see you again. You know how college makes people drift apart and I couldn't have that happening to us." He brushed a strand of my hair away from my face.
The dim light in the room created shadows on his face which accentuated how hollow his cheeks looked and his square jawline.
"No, I really could not have that happening. So now you will be living with me. My parents helped me find this place. Isn't it nice? I think we will be very happy here."
I won't bore you with all that happened next. You can imagine the fuss I put up at first. How hysterical I was and how I tried to get away and screamed myself horse.
I feel that I must explain that he never forced himself on me and he never harmed me. Not once. He of course had to restrain me by giving me a bear hug from behind but that was only to keep me from harming myself, like how you would cover a bird with a cloth so that it wont bash its head into a window while trying to fly outside.
He did punish me after that though. He turned off the light and locked me in the room. There was a bathroom attached to the room and he would slip in food and water to me but it was always dark and quiet. He had to punish me like that a few times and once he left me like that for six months because I had made it outside. Six months in the dark, without human contact or any kind of sound. Just my thoughts. I tried killing myself with a razor once but he got to me before I bled out and stitched me up. Turns out he was attending classes to be a doctor. He confiscated the razor. I tried drowning myself the next week but I couldn't handle how tight my lungs became and naturally panic set in.
When he decided my punishment was over and unlocked the door, I ran into his arms. I was so starved for any kind of attention that I was desperate for human contact. His arms wrapped around me in a protective embrace and it was then that I realized that I NEEDED him! He was my life line. My safety. I needed to be close to him, to have him just hold me. I would be good now. No more running away. It was a week before he felt I would not try to run away again and showed me the rest of the house. It really was beautiful. He did not show me the basement though but I did not think anything of it. We started sharing the same bed, and I would always curl into him as we slept. He was strong and he kept me safe. I needed him. We did not own a television or a computer, he did all of his school work at the college, but we had a lot of books that I could read and an indoor gym so that I could stay fit. I was not allowed to go outside. He said that I was His song bird and he did not want others to see me. I thought it was because he was ashamed of me, maybe I was ugly. He always assured me I was beautiful though.
Weeks later I woke with a start from a noise coming from down stairs and I was alone in bed. I headed towards the noise, to find out what was going on. I found him, about to go into the basement with an unconscious woman on the floor next to him. Her face was bloodied, perhaps a broken nose. It also looked like she had not showered in a while due to her hair being matted. She had cuts on her arms and bruises on her neck. Tears welled up in my eyes as I began to cry, afraid of what was going to happen. He came to me then. He wrapped me in his arms and shushed me.
"Did I wake you? I'm sorry. Everything is okay. Calm down, my little bird." he cooed, soothingly.
"Is that going to happen to me?", I sobbed, "Are you going to find someone else and throw me away?". I was trembling then.
He gently held my face in his hands so that I was forced to look into his dark eyes.
"No no no no no! Don't you ever think that!," he said urgently but a soft smile still played on his lips. "That never meant anything to me. Not a thing. No one will ever harm you, let alone me." he said with a chuckle.
I looked back at the still body of the woman and could not help but notice quite a few similarities between us.
"She looks like me..." I trailed off with a sniffle. I did not want him to leave me for another person.
His eyes hardened and his jaw clenched, I had never seen him look so angry before. "That thing could not even compete with you. Don't compare yourself to it.", his tone softened then, as did his facial features. "You are mine and I will never toss you away. You are my song bird.", he said as he held me closely in his arms.
I clung to him then. I just needed to feel his presence and be close to him. I needed to hold him. I didn't want him to disappear. I held onto him tightly and took in his scent, mixed with the woman's blood.
I now know that about once a month he will bring someone home and after a week he will get rid of them. Sometimes I see them and I still think they look a little like me but I know nothing is going to happen to me. He will never leave me and he will always keep me safe. He says he needs me but I know that I need him more.