(Warning: Cringe)

[Previously: “This is where you apologize and say you won’t do it again.” He growls.]

I nod slowly, shuddering. Licking the split again. “I won’t.” I flinch as he moves. “Please d, don’t hurt me.” 

He laughs, “Too late for that kid.” Getting up he goes to buy the new motel room.

When he comes back he looks calmer but I know that’s not the case. I’m surprised when he tells me to grab my stuff, including my blankets and pillow. After a brief hesitation I leave the bird in the car, hidden underneath the seat with an opened cereal bar near it in case it wakes up and is hungry. He guides me to a room and opens the door. I say nothing standing in the corner with my blankets and pillow. He looks around briefly and then starts going through one of his bags. 

“Lay down.” He orders.

I don’t move just looking at the disgusting bed from where I’m leaning against the wall. Numbness starting to creep into my chest.

He watches for a second and then slowly approaches. “Are you really going to be defiant with me right now?”

I feel his hand on my throat gently pushing my head against the wall. He looks confused at first that it ended up there then like he’s considering something. I grit my teeth coughing as he squeezes a little bit. I'm completely frozen and slowly a flip switches he didn't want to do what I was worried about, he wanted to kill me. I unfreeze a little as I feel the panic to survive take over.

“P, pull all the bedding and pillows off.” I gesture, wincing, “Would you want to lay on that?” 

He stands, towering over me for a long second, looking down at me, eyes the darkest I've ever seen them and then actually listens. I move far away hurriedly. Shoulders twitching. He makes a disgusted noise at the stains on the mattress. 

“I’ll be right back,” he mutters. Should I have been surprised by the fact he had a large enough plastic tarp to cover it, no. He was possibly using it for making blood and other things disappear easier. 'Like me.'

“There,” he says, smoothing it out.

I crawl cautiously onto the plastic tarp, leaning against the covered headboard. I wrap myself tighter and more comfortably in my blankets.

He throws a bag on the bed looking at me and then pulls out some restraints. I tense up.

“I wouldn’t have to do this if you didn’t sneak around while I’m sleeping.” He says. I quickly calculate the risks of resisting. He’s still pissed at me and he will probably enjoy hurting me while forcing me into them. If I live, I still need him to protect me.

I offer one of my wrists, as he gets closer, “I’m sorry.” I say again looking away this stops him in his tracks for a second. 

“If I knew, I would have waited until you were awake and maybe busy packing up things to let them go.” He considers my apology and then shackling my wrist to the headboard makes a noise of acknowledgment. 

“I’m still going to punish you.” 

I wince and look up at him frightened. I exclaim, “You’ve barely explained to me what it is we’re running from, how would I know if you didn’t tell me it was dangerous? Why would you expect me to just know? I’m not able to read your mind!”

He puts a finger up to his lips and I open and close my mouth before grinding my teeth a little. “What are you going to do to me?” I whisper.

“I underestimated your intelligence. I see now how I’ve made a mistake, I won’t be making the same one again.” He tells me while going through one of his bags. 

“Maybe you’ve underestimated your own intelligence.” I say breathily, “You’re dealing with a kid. All you have to do is explain something properly. I’m pretty sure if you told someone not to open a window or they’d get attacked by a freaky looking owl anyone would have listened.” I see this makes him pause. “At this point you’re punishing me for your bad parenting.” I laugh humorlessly. 

He narrows his eyes at me. “So I have to explain everything to you?”

“Anything that’s not common sense or knowledge but important, yes.” I roll my eyes. 

His lip twitches a little. “You’re pretty cocky, you forget you also went through my things and released the “mice.”” He mocks me smirking, “They’re Bwbachod by the way.” For a second I feel like my hearing went out. “Brownies?” He asked to see if I knew what he was talking about. “Or hobgoblins.” He finishes.

“Goblins?” I make a face, “You’re crazy they don’t-”

He waits for me to finish my sentence but I can’t. Things start to make a lot more sense. “You’re crazy.” I repeat quieter.

“This is why I didn’t tell you anything.” He laughs. Then he shows me his apothecary box, “Remember this?”

I watch as he purposefully picks out a few things. “Look.” He demands. I wince as he shows me the small decayed bodies. “These are pixies, or sprites.” He lifts them up to his face, not sure yet.” 

I think of the beautiful little birdie in the car. “What are the bird-looking ones?” Then remembering how the brownies reacted to them, “Do they all get along or do they have little rivalries?” 

He tilts his head at me with intelligent eyes searching for why I asked such a specific question. “I can’t believe it.” He says slowly. “There’s another one isn’t there?” Excitement looks terrifying on him. He tilts his head back letting out a long breath. “A bird one too.” He comes closer and I pull away, shivering a little bit at how quickly he picked me apart. “Where is it? In your backpack? He opens it seeing no reaction from me. Not in your hoodie.” He muses, “Unless it was and you had to hide it somewhere else… in the car?” He grins as my expressions give me away. 

“Ah, well this changes things.”

“Please…” I start begging.

“You don’t have to cry. I'm not going to kill it.” He shrugs, “I want to keep one alive for now. Its blood is also very useful.” He leans in and grins in a much better mood. “Besides, it'll be so funny watching you care for it.” He stands grabbing the cage previously meant for the mice. “I’ll be right back.”

I stare at the door, panting, messing with the shackle, terrified someone would break in while he was gone. He comes in and looks at me. “Good.” He says in response to my distress. I look as he takes the cage over and I can barely make the bird out. I go still. It's brought over to the tiny table and he blocks my view doing something with his tools and I notice him pulling multiple things out of the apothecary box.

“Please.” I whisper.

“Good thing I found out you had it when I did.” He says without turning, “You would have killed it by leaving it out there in that hot car.” Guilt hits me.

He puts it in the cage and I notice that it’s finally awake but terribly weak.

“To answer your question.” He shoves the cage in my face. “It’s a fairy.” I watch the tiny humanoid creature glare at me with completely dark eyes where it’s laying on the cage floor. I try to keep my expression unreadable as I look up at him waiting to see what he was going to do.

“Y, you owe me one as a pet f, for not destroying your work.” I try.

He chuckles. “Yes I do, don’t I.” He messes with the cage for a second, “But I also have to make sure you never break a barrier endangering me again.”

“I won’t.” I gasp, “Please don’t kill it.”

“I already said I wouldn’t kill it, hurt it though…I can’t promise I won’t torture it all night for your mistake.” 

I jerk forward, “Wait please!” I watch the little birdie shaking, “What if I promise I won’t mess with the barrier again?”

The man looks thoughtful, “You won’t mess with my things either?”

I nod. 

“What about if I catch more fairies and want to grind up their bones to use as ingredients for a protection barrier?”

My mouth falls open. The fairy lets out a pained squeak. I clench my teeth. “I…I won’t stop you.” I look away slumping weakly against the bed. He smiles cruelly. “Yes you better let me do all the hard stuff like killing and grinding up bones.”

He stops.

I look up in horror.

“Actually.” He picks up a mortar and pestle and brings it to me. “Grind up the little helpless fairies to keep us safe tonight.”

I feel my eyes tear up, teeth grit as I struggle to hold some dignity. Little gasps wrack my chest as he pops the cork off the bottle pouring the bones into the mortar. He forces my hand and makes me grind up the bones adding some other things in. I feel sick. He takes it and tells me, “Good job, maybe you’ll appreciate the protection barriers more now.” He then sprinkles it on all the window sills and the doorway. 

I hide under the blankets sobbing. He offers me some water and I notice he’s already opened it. “Is it drugged?” I ask. He nods, “I want you to sleep, otherwise your crying will keep me up all night.” I hesitate. Taking the water knowing he’ll just force it down my throat I sniffle as I sip it. He looks at my lip. “I’m going to treat it so it doesn’t heal like that.”

He gets his medical kit and pulls out what he needs.

I tense as he returns. He freezes when I flinch heavily as he reaches for my face, eyes closed tight. 

“I told you I was going to treat it, not reopen it.” He says.

I make an unpleasant noise as he touches me, shuddering in disgust. I keep my mouth closed and squint. He looks at me shaking and wary then lifts his hand. I lift an arm hiding behind it. 

“That’s enough!” He says. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

I laugh warily, “I can’t help it, if you really think I can control it you're crazier than I thought.” He narrows his eyes and I widen mine a little in fear. I look away. He hands me the ointment, “You do it then.” I shakily apply the ointment to my finger rubbing it in the open wound. He watches and then offers me a weird, almost glue shaped-like object. I look at him confused. “Seal it back together.” He says. Pointing to his lip.

“Is this super glue?” I laugh.

“Medical version of it, yes.” I press my split lip back together and he takes the glue from me as I’m struggling, drawing a line over the spit. “Might still need a bandaid,” he mutters. “Hold it there for a while.”

I wait until he’s satisfied before letting go. He then pulls out a special band aid made for holding together skin. I let him apply it, starting to get woozy. I continue drinking the water for a few minutes and then lay down passing out.

I wake up with a gasp looking around nightmares still clinging like spiderwebs. The madman is in the bathroom apparently showering and the rising sun's light pours in the windows. I look for the birdie/fairy and am shocked when it’s on the bedside table. It looks like there's an uneaten granola bar in the corner of the cage too. Immediately I open the cage. The fairy bares sharp teeth at me. I move further away so it can get out if it wants to.

“It's okay.” I coax.  “The metal makes you tired right? You can come out and take a break from it before-” The fairy launches itself out flying a few feet before collapsing exhausted on the bed. I adjust as I wrap the blanket around myself awestruck. Poor thing. I look at my snack bag and then attempt to grab it straining against the wrist restraint.

Grabbing the bag I open a chocolate cake and take a little nibble. The fairy holds itself shuddering watching as I pretend not to see it staring. I look up in shock as the fairy suddenly flutters in my face, startling me. It goes for my eyes so I jerk away closing them. 

I feel it land on my bent knees and when I peek I see that it goes for the cake. I continue to watch as it pulls a sizable crumb from the cake and bites into it, starving. I smile and carefully lift the cake to my mouth to take another nibble. The fairy looks tense like it could attack again. Eyes drifting from my shackled wrist to the cake it desired. It looks so angry and scared. I pull the cake in half going to place it down on my knee and the bird attacks my hand. I jerk it back, wincing looking at the blood on the stretchy part between my thumb and pointer finger. 

“Vicious.” I watch as it seems to perk up, licking the blood from its lips. I suck the blood off and finish the cake. The fairy continues to hiss, baring its sharp teeth but then spreads its wings. I watch the shimmery blue and green feathers as they catch the light. I jump when the fairy goes for my throat next. It takes everything in me to not smack it out of the air. I wait until it lands again and then try to brush it off gently.

I cry out cursing as it bites me again. I cage my fingers around it. “Fine.” I whisper to it as it pushes surprisingly strong against my hand continuously biting me until it exhausts itself. I lift it to look at it closer to be met by hateful eyes. 

“I’m going to do everything I can to protect you,” I whisper. “I’m sorry I forgot you in my pocket.” For some reason that seems to get a reaction. “I’m sorry I essentially made things worse for you by saving you.” I lower my voice even further, “I want you to escape the first chance you get but I think he’s going to kill me if I let you go myself.” I feel my vision blur and voice shake. 

I wince when I feel its tongue press against a cut. I wipe my eyes with the same arm and look as it seems to genuinely enjoy consuming my blood. I remember what the madman said about how I wouldn’t want one of these things at full strength. Are they like mini vampires?

I slowly open my hand, “I’m not the one that wants to torture you. I think it’s going to be my job to feed you and take care of you so please.” The fairy doesn’t look so convinced but continued to lick the wounds it created becoming as though drunk on my blood.

I hear the shower turn off and gasp shoving the barely conscious fairy back into the cage then looking at the wounded hand clench it in the lame attempt to hide it. I flinch when the door opens and the madman comes out drying his hair. Dressed in a new outfit. He looks at me and then at the half eaten cake on the bed. 

“How much of that did the fairy eat?” He sounds monotone again. I shrug, “A crumb or two.”