"Caged birds accept each other but flight is what they long for." -Tennessee Williams- *** Phoebe's P.O.V I have been here for a week now. I'm tired, scared, and feel like I'm losing my energy. I mean, all they truly feed me with is plain oatmeal in the morning and a toast at night time. Who can survive on that alone? The man who I know is called "Edgar" has always come here every morning and night, just to bring my food. I still don't want to talk to him, and he doesn't care about it as well. But I'm still questioning, as of why they don't just kill me now? I mean, no one is going to look for me anyway, so why even bother? But honestly, rather than dying from hunger, I think I'll probably die out of boredom because there is nothing I can really do here. This morning I woke up, and he comes in like usual. This time, he is bringing a bowl of fruits and some peanut butter and jelly, which takes me by surprise. "Here, your food." He says in his usual low and husky tone. I stare at him with a hint of confusion showed on my face, and he stares back at me and opens his mouth. "What?" I gulp and gather my courage to speak. "Are you, okay?" I innocently ask him, because if he brings something this 'nice' to me all of a sudden, I'm afraid that he might have hit his head or something, He surprisingly, chuckles on that question, and this is the first time I've seen him chuckle. His gray eyes look a bit lighter than usual, which implies he is not really on a bad mood. I sigh in relief, then he puts on his usual poker face once again. "Let's just say, I decided that it would be better if I, no, we, treated you a bit better, since you will be staying here for a long time anyway." Those words are like storm on my ears, I move closer to the cell bar and I slowly wraps my hands on those. "You can't do that! I need to go home as soon as possible!" He remains cold looking and turn his head at me. He gives me a cold glare, that sends shivers to my spine, but then he turns away and quietly speaks again. "Don't worry, we've got you a room here, so you don't have to stay in this cell, now with that, you're staying, and you're moving there tonight." With that, he slams the door shut. Oh gosh, that thought is worse than this. *** It's night time and after I've eaten the dinner which is a plate of pasta (I know, surprising), Edgar and some of the men I recognize as Victor and Matvey, are talking outside of the door, but they are talking loud enough for me to hear some of their conversation, "Are you sure you want to do this, bro? I think you're a bit too soft on her." Matvey speaks to Edgar. "What are you saying Matvey?" "Well, you know, it's kind of, unusual for you to... ehm... being nice, to a hostage on this matter." "She is not exactly a hostage, and also, until we find out what to do with her, she's staying, and I can't risk her dying in that filthy place, if she gets sick due to the condition, who is going to take care of her anyway?" Both of the men remains silence with his words. "Well, I guess you're right." Matvey speaks again, and at this time, I hear the door opens, but I'm pretending to be asleep. I hear the cell lock being opened and the chains being removed. Then, I hear his footsteps coming my way, and he stops a few inches away from me. There is a brief silence before I hear him kneeling down, and I don't exactly open my eyes, but I can feel it, through my senses, that he is staring at me, in doubt of whether he should wake me up or not. But he decides to do so, and he slowly touches my shoulder to wake me up. "Wow, he's like a wolf trying to wake a kitten up." I hear Viktor slowly whispers from the door, which makes Edgar turns around and sends him a glare first before turning back at me. "Hey, wake up." he slightly moves his hands toward my shoulder which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. So I decide to slowly wakes up and looks at him. He is like, really close to me the moment I wake up. I can even smell his minty breath. Not good. "We're going to take you to your room." My room? Hah, funny. He stands up and I stand up along with him. He walks out first and I slowly walk out as well, and it feels good to get out from that small cell space for once, and I know that I won't be sleeping on the cold floor again. Matvey and Viktor are following from behind me. Great, now I have to be watched over to even walk to my so called 'room'. I don't have any kind of high expectations to be honest, I mean, no matter what Edgar says, I'm still just a hostage here, well, it was their fault to begin with, but playing the blame game certainly doesn't help at all at this state. We stop in front of a brown room in the corner of the hallway. I don't like the fact that this room is on the corner, not to mention it's kind of dark, because I kind of believe in a certain superstitious, but I have no choice now, do I? He opens the door and when I take a glance at the room, I am immediately ashamed of my own thoughts. This room is no hostage room. It's an actual bedroom with a deluxe sized bedroom, a vanity place, and an actual TV, and it has its own bathroom, it's small, with only a shower and a toilet seat, but good enough to compare with a three-star hotel bathroom. I'm kind of ashamed to the fact that his room looks better than my apartment room in France. This room is pretty tidy and doesn't really look used at all. I mean, this is a huge place, so of course they would have a lot of room. But then again, I couldn't ask for more, can I? It has an overall white theme. But it has a little bit of gray here and there. I think this place is mostly inhabited with men, with an exception of a few maids, so of course they wouldn't care to feminize this room. I take a step in, and the floor is fully carpeted with a gray carpet, which makes it warm. This room looks cold and warm at the same time, depending on which situation you want me to put it in. "I think she likes it." I hear Viktor say teasingly to Edgar who I know is watching me from behind. "Better than that shitty cell, I bet, it's even better than her old apartment room." Matvey speak in sarcastic tone. Please, Matvey, I don't need you to read my mind. My sub conscious speaks within me. "Come on, Edgar, you even bought her nice clothes on the wardrobe." Matvey speaks again. He did what? "Yeah, you even picked the underwear yourself, the pink underwear set was nice, but I'm kind of disappointed you didn't pick up that black lingerie on Victoria secret's store earlier." Viktor speaks so casually as if it's nothing big, but I'm sure he does that to piss me off. Oh my gosh, I can't believe these men. Edgar ignores that remark, and just stare at me with his usual flat poker face. "Your belongings will be sent to your room later, except for your phone." Edgar says as he closes the door. Well, I think it's nice that they are leaving. At least I have time to enjoy my own space now. "Gosh, this is unbelievable." I sigh as I walk toward the bed. This room is way cleaner compared to the cell, it makes me feel slightly more alive. Working at a hotel has made me understood that taking care of rooms like this is a hard work, so the person who takes care of this place must be a strong person. At least this room has a bookshelf with some English books on it, so I won't die out of boredom. It's not that I don't like watching TV, but I'm in Russia, how am I supposed to understand a word that they are saying? Well, I only speak English, French and slight Spanish, so I'm completely lost in Russian. I'm tired, and I can't believe how the treatment toward me changed in just a day, I wonder what triggered that, but it doesn't look like I'm going to find the answer soon enough. Should I be grateful? I mean, I'm still living with a crazy mafia groups, and even though I'm no longer in prison, my status here is still a hostage. But it's kind of funny, how true it is, that you can still find a thing to be grateful of, even in the midst of despair. This room is lavender scented, which is surprising, and relaxing at the same time. Did they do this on purpose? Well, but now, that I have shower, I guess I should just take advantage of that. I haven't taken a shower in a whole week, and I'm still wearing the same clothing from the party. Gross. I probably smell bad as well, I better take a shower soon. That is exactly what I do. I enter the bathroom and take off my clothes, then put them away. They are already dirty and I guess I can just wear something on the wardrobe later. I turn on the shower and when the water flows, I feel alive again. It feels good to feel clean again after a long time, I grab a vanilla scented shampoo and conditioners and clean my hair with it, then I take the soap and begin cleaning my body. In the middle of brushing my skin, I hear the bathroom door creaks open. When I turn around, I see Edgar standing there. His gray eyes meet mine, and all my mind can think of is, Trouble.