Captured by a Demon

V Chapter - Someone from the past

Rachel woke up at the sun shining through the drapes. She stretched sleepily. She smiled at the sun and yawned. Then, all of a sudden, she jumped out of bed as if a bee had stung her under the covers. She could not believe her eyes, when she saw the time. 

8.30! And she even forgot to take the sleeping pills.

She had slept for eight hours and woken up with the sun. No nightmares, none at all. This was unprecedented and Rachel would have gawked at her alarm clock longer, cherishing the moment if she hadn't remembered the previous night and realised she had agreed to meet Sebastian at 10 o'clock. 

Not that an hour and a half wasn't enough time to get ready, but she was rather anxious abot it and had so little time to prepare for all the things she wanted to ask him, to tell him. Confess to him.

Yesterday seemed like a dream. A good one.

She had hugged Sebastian and when she came to her senses, she had quickly stepped back. He released her as well and - although, she might have imagined it- he did it quite reluctantly. Before either of them could utter a word, a laughing Fiona came and dragged him to meet her friend. She had smiled at Rachel sweetly and, for some reason, at that moment, that smile almost made Rachel gag.

She spent the rest of the night mingling with Ella and Simon as well as Margaret, Ally and Henry. The last two were almost clued to the hips now. She didn't know if Margaret pretended to be oblivious to the fact, but she sure didn't show anything. 

She constantly felt Sebastian's eyes on her and, to her own surprise, she liked it. It was nothing like the stare of the Demon, whether the real one or fruit of her imagination. She felt her cheeks grow red and was excited by the thought of turning around and seeing his eyes on her. But she never looked, she didn't dare, because another part of her was afraid that all of this wasn't real, that he wasn't there, that her psyche had concocted some sort of a tool to make her feel better, more hopeful. The light at the end of the tunnel, if you will.

Only once, when a balloon had exploded, did she flinch badly and make eye contact with him as a consequence. He seemed confused by her reaction and she turned around quickly not wanting him to think she was weak or damaged somehow. She didn't want him to know her feeble mind, while he seemed to be doing great. No flinching, no wary behaviour at all. He was very much at ease.

When it came time to leave, she got pulled to the corridor and found herself face to face with him.

"Let's have breakfast together tomorrow. Sunday pancakes?" Sebastian said smiling, but seeing Rachel unable to say a word, he added simply: "I think we should chat, Satchel."

Satchel. The unusual nickname he used to call her whenever he was trying to make her laugh. She couldn't help, but nod and give her phone number,  when he asked, so they could agree on the details. He didn't say anything else and went back to Fiona and their friends. There was something scraping at Rachel's throat even then, when she looked at Sebastian so carefree, so confident laughing and interacting with people. 

Rachel dismissed the odd feeling and Henry drove her home. It was well below freezing without the sun up. And the children of this town had been taught since infancy to never let a friend go to the cold alone.

And now, coming back to this morning, Rachel only had an hour or so to pull herself together. She took a shower and washed her hair. She put on a white sweater, pale blue jeans and skin tone knee-high boots. She barely applied any make-up, just a bit of concealer and lip gloss.

She took a taxi as it was still rather cold and the cafe Sebastian had picked, was on the other side of town. It must have been close to where he was living. Rachel wondered, where it might be, what it looked like. If she ever gets to see his place. If she ever gets to find out, what happened and how he came to be in this town. Did he look for her? Did he worry about her well-being? Did he have nightmares that made it hard to go to sleep every night?

When she walked in the cute little cafe with high ceilings, Sebastian was already there, looking out the window. He looked very serious and deep in thought as if he saw something outside in the cold air that took all his attention.

He had a cup of tea in front of him, hot vapour coming out of it. He must have just gotten it. 

He was wearing a light grey v-neck sweater and ripped black jeans. He looked very handsome. Rachel couldn't believe she had never noticed his Greek features before. But I guess, a person looks very different when injured. She tried not to think about that.

She sat down opposite him, mouthing "hey" and saw how his whole body tensed up for a moment before he sat up straight and the serious look on his face changed completely. He had a big smile on his face now. Before either of them could say anything, the waiter came and put a big hot cup in front of Rachel. It looked very appetising. Warm brownish and reddish liquid with foam, and a tea bag thread extending out of the cup. Rachel looked up.

"You remembered," she said.

Sebastian's smile widened.

"Of course, one bitter dark chocolate cocoa with cherry syrup, a black tea bag and maraschino cherries on the bottom like you always wanted. Enjoy." He looked at her like it was the most natural thing in the world. His voice was so warm. The beacon of light in the darkness, Rachel recalled.

She had to shake off the effect his voice had on her. She couldn't show how it affected her.

Instead, Rachel met his gaze and furrowed her brows. "Where on earth did this place get maraschino cherries - they've never had them before?" She knew. None of the cafes in this town did. Only some bars and there weren't many.

"It's a resourceful place," Sebastian winked at her. 

She couldn't believe it. She used to go on and on about this ridiculous drink and how it was gonna be the first thing she wanted when she got out from that hellhole. Away from the Demon. Weirdly enough, this drink had embodied everything warm, desirable and good for Rachel in that place. Well, after Sebastian that is. But, she had never gotten around to actually drinking it after being set free. She had forgotten to pursue her little naive dream in hell.

But Sebastian remembered the drink. Very accurately so. 

Rachel couldn't believe it as she sipped the dark drink with reddish dots. A bit weird, but all in all, Rachel thought it was the best thing she had ever tasted. After a while, she took out the tea bag and continued on sipping, small smile on her lips.

"So?" Sebastian said. "Aren't you gonna tell me the origin story?"

"The origin story?" Rachel was confused.

Sebastian then pointed at the drink she was holding.

"Oh!" For some reason, Rachel was disappointed. 

"Maybe another time. Why don't you tell me how you came to be at that party?" 

She didn't want to talk about her brother with Sebastian. Not now. 

This was one of the few topics they had never gotten to while in captivity. Right now, she wanted to know about him. His thoughts and theories, maybe he had even found out something that could shed a light on why it happened. Why? She wanted to know how he got out and what happened. She wanted him to share his struggles, so she could share hers. She wanted him to share his fears so that she could share hers. So that she wouldn't feel so alone with this burden, these memories. She wanted to know everything, but she didn't know how to start.

Sebastian seemed slightly disappointed by the change of topic, but then shrugged. "A branch of my company opened here a couple of months ago. I decided to be here to get it up and running. Some time after, I met Fiona and then we get to this week, where she just asked me to escort her to the party. She wouldn't let me buy party hats for everyone, but at least I got to bring a cake that trumped all other cakes. Simple-pimple." He shrugged again and took a big gulp of tea.

Rachel didn't say anything, just sipped her drink, which was still awesome. Sweet and sour and bitter at the same time with a little texture from the cherries. However, Sebastian tone was less pleasing. The shrugging, the light voice...

"You looked great, by the way, Satchel. Very hot. All guys were staring. All of them." Sebastian teased, referring to the party.

Rachel fidgeted on her seat, almost spilling a bit of her cocoa.

"Thanks, you looked less blue than I'm used to. That's why I wasn't staring." she hummed looking down at the little pastry menu she had taken from the table and remembered all the bruising, she had associated with his appearance so far. She knew guys didn't like the "so don't I look great now?" question, which women often posed, so she left that unasked. In fact, she didn't feel comfortable with that topic with this particular person. She felt it was artificial somehow, unnecessary. Like they were way past that kind of talk. She didn't want him to complement her. Suddenly, she would have preferred that he was indifferent towards her. Because the more he smiled, the more he shrugged, the more he teased...

"Didn't I look hot and dreamy?" he asked c*****g his eyebrow, when Rachel hadn't said anything.

Suppressing her frustration and taking another sip of her drink, Rachel dodged the question.

"Since when do people call you Bash?"

"Since always," he said, surprised by the question.

"Should I call you Bash as well then?" Rachel asked with a serious face as she was no longer able to smile. She looked at the man sitting opposite her, black hair dishevelled, body relaxed in the chair, and remembered the pain he went through due to the beatings. How he got a bad infection, how Rachel had thought that this was gonna mean the end of him.

The fear, the pain, the beacon of light slowly falling to the shadows. Her lips trembled.

It was a miracle he got recovered from that infection.

Meanwhile, Sebastian laughed at the question.

"Hell to the god no, in fact, I forbid you to. I am Sebastian. Alternatively Babastian, Bastian, Astian, " he joked babbling. "You name it, Satchel. But not Bash. Sebastian. Like I always have been for you. Only for you and you alo...Rachel?"

Rachel had stood up, flinching at her own sudden action and looking at Sebastian warily. She was upset. She felt her lips tremble harder as her frustration started to leak out.

"Why are you talking like this? Why? Like, like, we met on a camping trip in Malta or something. Like you were some random guy who hit on me and now is trying to pick up, where he left off? Like we didn't experience the most horrible of months, that scarred us for life probably. At least it was like that for me and I'm still struggling to have a normal view on things. You didn't even tell me who you were when you saw me. How long were you gonna wait before telling me? Everything is challenging for me. Everything! And you thought you were gonna make a little game of this as well? You probably never thought to look for me. You never...  Do you realise I thought you were dead this whole time?  That I looked for you, that I was devastated thinking that you didn't make it out.  And you, you... act like this is some kind of a superficial get-together. Why are you acting like this?"

Although, her voice wasn't that loud, many people had turned to see, who was making a scene. But she didn't have the ability to think about that now. She just tried to contain the emotions that were bubbling up inside of her. 

"Rachel, I..." Sebastian seemed shocked by her outburst and just looked at her with wide eyes and some... fear? Why should he be afraid of Rachel? Did she look angry? Did she mean to look angry?

Rachel felt she was being harsh and completely unreasonable, but all of a sudden she just felt so overwhelmed. 

He had been there, in the dark little cell, hurt and barely healing. He did joke, but often Rachel had caught a climpse of his worried face contorted in pain, his anxious way of walking silently back and forth when he had thought that she was asleep.

Now he was here, healthy, laughing, like the past was of no consequence to him. Like it had been just another experience in his life.

After Sebastian hadn't managed to say anything for only two seconds, Rachel took her bag and left the cafe. She heard him call out for her, but she just couldn't stop running until she had reached a taxi that took her to her front door.

There, she threw her bag in the corner, walked to the kitchen table and sat down with her head in her hands. 

She shouldn't have done this. She overreacted. Big time.

He had always made jokes. He had always been so optimistic, warm and teasing. Putting Rachel's mood above everything else. And in that god forsaken place no less. Today, he had gone to the trouble of getting that silly drink for her. That delicious drink no place would serve. And now, he probably never wanted to speak with her again. She felt tears coming to her eyes at the thought. 

Why was she so ungrateful, when he was so nice? And why, why was it suddenly so unbearable for her to be near him... as well as away? There was only one conclusion she could think of. She was really messed up.