FicWad

Nine years. Nine long and wasted years.
Elena finished up her makeup and sighed. She had counted down the days in her head endlessly.
It had been nine years since she had walked out of the place of her captivity. Nine years since she had been let go but her heart had remained locked away. It had felt longer than that. It had felt to her like an eternity that had no intention of ever ending. Oftentimes she would cry the lonely nights away, trembling with the pain that love always seemed to bring. She had no one to talk to about any of this. How was she supposed to tell anyone that she had fallen in love with the man who had taken her captive? How was she supposed to explain that he was also the man who had set her free? She wasn’t sure she could make anyone understand but to her it didn’t matter. She knew it and that was all that mattered.
She had called her family after the rigorous hours she had spent mapping out the events as they had taken place to the detectives. She had broken down in tears remembering how weak she had been, how helpless and without strength she had abandoned herself to being. They had given her breaks but nothing helped her to recover. Finally she was allowed to leave, calling her family to tell them everything. Of course they had wanted her with them, wanted her to heal where they could help. She had been able to stay until the trial was over.
Samuel had fought, defending himself and even going on the stand but the evidence against him as well as testimonies was much too overwhelming. Sophia had remained silent most of the time until it came time for her to sit on the witness stand, her tears coming as she tried to play the victim alongside Elena. She wanted them to believe that she had been under Samuel’s control the entire time but that story was not one many took to.
Jared was the only one to have pled guilty, he had asked that she not be present at his sentencing, it had happened without her knowledge. When she had heard she hadn’t been able to believe it. Couldn’t she have helped in some way? Couldn’t she have offered something that would have gotten him off? No. A plea of guilt was enough to squander any chance of him walking without a single day spent in jail. And that was how their fate was sealed, she was lost without him and she had been unable to do a thing about it.
After awhile she had agreed to go live with her family. They didn’t live far away but it was far enough to make visits to the prison difficult. She often called Jared, trying so hard not to fall apart at the sound of his voice. He told her to stay with her family, that they deserved to see her after all this time. And after every phone call he would promise her that they would see each other if that was really what she wanted. He told her that he also counted the days until he was out, until he could see her again. She could hear the ache similar to her own in his voice, the pain that seemed to echo her own in the words he chose to use. Hearing him suffer wasn’t something that she wanted but knowing that what she was feeling was shared, was mutual was what she had needed. Love didn’t need to be mentioned, the future held no reason to be discussed. That would all come in time, all that mattered was the time when their moment came.
And now today was that day. She had been looking forward to it for so long that now it was here she wasn’t quite sure how to react to it. She was face to face with the result of all her wishing, of all her waiting and the nerves that built up inside of her, that rooted deep down were getting to her.
She had gotten off of work early if only to prepare herself, if that was at all possible. Was there anything she could really do to help her with seeing him again? Nothing would calm the overwhelming emotions coursing through her. Nothing at all was enough to tell her what she should say, what she should do.
The one question that had been on her mind all day was where they would begin. They had gotten off to such a horrible and frightening start that the thought of starting new was nearly impossible, or seemed to be. It was what she wanted though and she hoped that it was also something that he wanted. She would work at it no matter the effort it would take.
She barely knew him. She knew nothing of who he was, what he had done, what life he had lived before he had fallen for Sophia’s story and before Elena had met him. She prayed they had time for that now.
She glanced at herself in the mirror, fixing the blue skirt of her dress. She tried to avoid looking at herself in the mirror but her eyes caught sight of her face anyways and she almost sighed in displeasure. Nine years hadn’t aged her much but she could see changes, mostly from the relentless distress that seemed to burden her. She had shortened her hair, feeling somewhat liberated from how Samuel preferred her hair. She wore less makeup and had stopped the form fitting dresses he had liked so much. She was slowly beginning to look like herself again. She had gotten a job awhile back, about a year after she had come home. A magazine had decided to give her a chance despite her baggage that she no doubt carried with her and they had told her they were glad they had. She couldn’t have been more proud of herself, being able to slip back into the freedom of her past. Her family celebrated with her, never once telling her that they had told her so. They were so happy that she was home, again the daughter that they had always known. She couldn’t have been more thankful for the love they so freely gave her, loving her so much it was almost incomprehensible.
She hoped that Jared would recognize her after knowing her as that vulnerable and broken woman who had been so helpless. Would he like her this way? Dressed in her best peplum dress, her heels making her legs appear longer than they were. Her hair done up perfectly, her makeup subtle and yet able to enhance her features. She was her own woman now, living her own life, trying so hard to shake the demons that followed her around constantly. This was the woman who she had left behind and who was alive once again.
She picked up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. She made her way out of the house with a couple of goodbyes. They thought she was going to work. She would have enough time to introduce them slowly into this but now she just needed this moment to herself without the questions and confusion. She got into her car and made the long trip to the prison. She almost couldn’t believe that she was doing this. Going all this way to pick up a released inmate. Would she have ever pictured her life being this way? Her love life? It was crazy but she knew she wouldn’t have it any other way.
After a long drive she saw the prison come into view. Her nerves began to race, her heart was beating rapidly. All of her strength seemed suddenly lost to her, she was already speechless and she hadn’t even seen him.
She got out of her car and leaned back against it. She wasn’t able to let her eyes look up, she couldn’t keep her gaze on the door knowing that in a few moments he would be there. She wondered what he was like now, what sort of man prison had made him. Hearing his voice hadn’t given her any indication into who he was after nine long years. How could it? That was too much time to really get a feel of a person and who they had become. She was nervous, unsure if this was right. But that was just ridiculous. This was all she dreamt of and it was everything she wanted.
Finally the sound of the doors came and soft voices drifted towards her. Harshly she swallowed, straightening herself up and nearly laughed at her nervousness. Here she was, like one of those girls in a movie waiting outside of a prison for a man she can’t live without. But their road was much more complicated than that.
The familiar sound of his boots called for her attention causing her to look directly at him. Her breath was lost to her, her thoughts a blur in his presence. He stood there nearly frozen, a bag in one of his hands and overwhelming emotions in his eyes. The nine years had done little to age him but it had seen him through a trim of his beard and the shortening of his hair. He didn’t look much different, nothing about him seemed to say that he had earned a hard prison stay. He was wearing the same coat he always wore with a white shirt and faded black pants. He was the same man, that same person who she found inexplicably beautiful.
“Elena…” He whispered, his voice as low and soft as before. He dropped the bag he was holding carelessly to the ground.
He didn’t need to say anything else, the very sound of her name coming off his lips gave new life to the breath she breathed, to the rhythm of her heart. His eyes went over her as if studying her with admiration. He seemed to be unable to believe that she was there with him, waiting all this time for this exact moment.
She had nothing to say all she could do was close the distance between them. Her tears fell rapidly as she buried her face against his chest. He let out a long held breath, his arms wrapping around her bringing her as close as he possibly could. He ran his fingers through her hair, breathed in the sweet scent of her body and closed his eyes on how close she was to him.
After a moment she looked up at him remembering everything they had been through. She could see it all replaying in his gaze as he tried to blink it away and focus solely on this one moment. She lifted her hand touching the side of his face with her fingers. He placed his hand over hers, bringing it down and interlacing her fingers with his. She glanced down at their hands, swallowing back the darkness of the past she was eager to let go of.
In the middle of her thoughts she felt him crush her against him, pulling her up so she could reach him and he burned his kiss to her lips. It was like the very thought of this one kiss had been on his mind the entire nine years. He took from her every emotion they had forged within one another’s words. He stole the very pulse that quickened at his touch. He made her belong to him in one single kiss, in this one sole moment that proved to be the most important of his entire life. She surrendered it all to him, her hands clutching at him almost weakly as she lost herself in him. She deepened the kiss, knowing that soon they would leave this God forsaken place and go somewhere for the both of them to find a place in the others life.
She didn’t care about any of that now. She just wanted this moment. This moment where he wasn’t far away or close. Neither hero or captor. This one moment where he was standing there, holding her, engraving himself forever on the barriers of her soul. This was where she was meant to be. Imprisoned forever to the love she had never expected and had never tried to escape from. She was captive now to the intoxication of love and she hoped to never find the key.