Birdcaged

Robin awoke from his stupor, head throbbing and neck feeling like it’s on fire, otherwise he shakes off the dizziness to assess his situation. Looking around, gathering his bearings. He finds out that he’s in a girl’s bedroom. Walls painted a pastel pink, a table with makeup supplies strewn about on top of it, a wooden ornate drawer and a single chest of some kind in the middle of the floor.

Robin flinched when a door opened, but he soon relaxed a bit when a girl, of about eighteen walked in carrying a box of bandaids. They notice each other, but stay silent as the girl puts a bandaid, adorned with cartoon characters, onto a cut on Robin’s neck. She then pulls up a nearby chair and sits down.

Struggling to find the words, Robin simply smiles. “Thank you.”

“You are so adorable when you sleep...I-I mean smile.” Robin’s smile fades when hearing this and he slowly tries to get to his feet. Taking off the comforter reveals a thick rope tied around his left ankle into a sophisticated knot. The other end of the rope is securely fastened around one of the legs of the table, where the makeup is, tied up the same way.

“I’ve been in scouts for four years. I doubt you’ll get out of that. Now we can play together.” The girl smiles hungrily.

“What’s your name?” Robin asks, flatly.

“What?”

“I need to know if I were to escape and call the authorities...or worse.”

The girl laughed off the possibility that Robin would escape. “My name is Stephanie Brown.”