The words clanged against my head. I had to get out. Now.
My leg throbbed and swelled, but I had no time for it. Not when he was so near to me, questioning me. That open door taunted me more than ever as i stared out of it into the depths of midnight beyond.
"Escape is impossible, little Liza..." He shoved his face to mine until our noses touched. "Impossible. Now, no more about Jean Harrison, my old friend. Please... I do not wish to hurt you." I heard genuine emotion in his voice. No taunting? it was so unlike him not to taunt. Crystal eyes burned mine.
I almost gasped as he looked at me, so gently.
He embraced me, warm hands and arms covering my broken figure.
Then I saw in his eyes what I could not see before and that was the fires of falseness. He was tricking me, as I knew him to do. why had I trusted him for a second?
'the book!' my mind screamed as the hands hit my back, squeezing almost all the breath out of me.
As if he could read my thoughts his hand came to rest on the cool leather cover. Fingers snaking over the spine, feeling the ridges of the paper.
"Ah, Eliza..." his breath blew against me ear. "You've been hiding it all along, my sweet... dear... girl..." with each paused he applied more and more pressure to the story behind my back, making it all but impossible for me to breathe.
"No..." I said disbelievingly. He couldn't take it. Not now.
He yanked away from me, his callused hands taking the book with them.
"NO!" I screeched.
"Little Liza..." he flipped through the pages absentmindedly, smirking to himself. He kicked me in the gut, making me fold to the floor. "You shouldn't be hiding such dangerous books, now should you? You'll get in terrible trouble..."
A steel-toed shoes hit my head.
It all went black.