"Follow me".
Finley heard him speak.
'Oh, God, please help me'.
Finley prayed in her mind as she slowly got up from the bed.
Rowan turned around and left the room.
Finley slowly walked out, her eyes darting around in alertness as she followed behind him.
Rowan walked into the dining room and took a seat in front of the food on the table.
On the dining table were two dishes.
One of the first ceramic plate was a reddish-coloured steak looking piece of flesh with some greens around in it.
On the second plate was a freshly baked cookies.
Finley stared from from a distance looking intimidated.
Rowan just stared directly at her from his seat as he held his cutleries. Finley looked like a mess.
Her hair was a mess, her face looked that of a bereaved widow mourning the death of her husband for days.
She looked lean and sickly as a result of not eating for days.
The patient gown, she is putting on made her look more pitiful.
"Come on, take a seat". Rowan spoke softly.
Finley didn't move or reply, she didn't act like she heard him, she just stared at the piece of meat on the plate in front of Rowan.
"Is that human flesh?". Finley asked suddenly.
"I said, Take. A. Seat!".
Rowan replied with a low but firm tone this time making it sound like a command.
Finley sighed internally, there was nothing she could do now, is it to fight?
She definitely doesn't stand a chance around him not even when she is in her strongest not to talk of now that she will fall face-flat with a single push.
To run? Run to where and how long can she run?
Rowan's firm tone tells her that there is no more room for her stubbornness.
Finley started inching closer, her small footsteps made Rowan furrow his brows but he didn't say anything.
Immediately Finley took her seat, he stood up and attached a chain to one of her legs from the table to prevent her from running or doing something crazy.
He went back to his seat and acted like nothing happened as he started cutting into the peice flesh on his plate.
Finley stared blankly at the meat.
"You want a bite?".
That question brought Finley back to reality as she tensed up with her pupils shrieking in fear.
"Huh".
"Eat". Rowan said.
Finley turned to the cookies in front of her that was oozing out a delicious aroma, it was inviting and from the way it looked, it would taste great but this was made by a cannibal, she won't eat it.
Finley turned to face Rowan but she met his gaze, he was already staring at her, he watched as she gulped down her saliva, her throat movement was very visible because of her leanness.
Rowan stood and walked to the kitchen, he came back a few seconds later with a cold bottle of water and a glass cup.
He poured out water from the bottle into the glass cup.
"Take".
He said as he held the glass cup in his hand and stretched it to Finley.
Finley Shaked her head in refusal.
"Don't worry, I am not gonna drug you".
He said smiling.
Finley contemplated for some seconds before she raised her hand to collect the glass of water.
She needed water if she wants to survive and escape this nightmare.
Finley took a gulp of the water, she felt a little bit at ease as the cold water slid down her throat.
She looked at the empty glass cup in her hand as she held it tightly.
"When did you first try it?".
Finley asked still staring at the glass cup she was holding.
"When I was nineteen".
Rowan answered, which actually shocked her as she wasn't expecting an answer from him, she turned to him again and this time with curiosity in her eyes.
"And how did that make you feel?". Finley asked with a shaky voice.
"Horrified".
Finley scoffed as she let out a wry chuckle.
"Then explain this ?".
Finley asked with tears falling from one of her eyes as she increased her grip on the glass cup.
"I hated the fact that I did what I did but I couldn't stop thinking about it". He answered sincerely.
"I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth, I liked it, I liked the way it made me feel".
Finley lost it, she picked up a cookie and threw it at him.
"What I hated most at the time was that I had to deal with this thing, something I couldn't share with anybody, not even Colt".
Rowan said as he picked up the cookie, stretching his hand to give it back to Finley.
"Who is Colt?".
Finley said as she snatched the cookie from him.
"My friend, you have met him".
"The weird guy, the one I met before you brought me to this slaughter house?".
Rowan smirked and nodded his head slowly.
Finley had a flashback to when Colt told her that he was Rowan's partner in crime, it all made sense now.
"Is he a Cannibal too?".
"No".
"But he supports what you do, right?". Finley asked like she knew the answer to the question.
"Yeah, you could put it that way, 'support', I guess that's...".
"So how did you become like this ?". Finley interrupted him.
"After some thinking, I felt that there's more people like me, you know, I can't possibly be the only person that feels this way and I wasn't, there's a whole community of people that are devoted to this and that's when my life started making sense, knowing that I am not the only one".
"And that made you happy? Making people's life traumatic made your life make sense, what a pathetic lie".
"It's a powerful thing, if you only knew, Its about giving".
"Giving?".
Finley asked with furrowed brows.
"Yeah, giving yourself over to somebody, becoming one with somebody else forever, that's a beautiful thing".
Finley started shaking and turning her head from side to side, muttering to herself repeatedly like a chant. "That's false, a lie".
"That's surrender". Rowan continued as he brought his face closer to her's, looking directly at Finley's eyes as he held her shoulders.
"That's love". He said.
Finley froze in place immediately she heard those last two words.
~~~~
"Hey, my name is Klein, nice to meet you". He said politely stretching his hand for a shake.
"You heard everything I said?". Shane asked rudely ignoring the gesture.
Conrad tapped Shane's hands lightly as he smiled at Klien.
"Yeah I did, isn't it obvious?". He asked back rudely.
Shane stared at him with an annoyed face.
"My name is Conrad, nice to meet you too".
Conrad stretched his hand for a shake, which Klein received.
"Pleasure is mine". Klein said smiling.
"Yo, I knew you would show up". A guy with golden hair said as he walked towards them.
Shane turned around recognizing the voice.
"I am only here because of Conrad".
"Yeah I know that". The golden hair guy replied.
"So don't get your hopes high". Shane said chuckling.
"I didn't know that you would be celebrating your birthday at this bar, of all places". Conrad said as he shook the golden haired guy's hand.
"Well, this is more economical". The golden haired guy laughed.
"That's what a broke guy would say". Shane commented as she took a sip from her drink.
"Don't say that, I am richer than Conrad". The golden haired guy refuted jokingly.
"Ha! Dreams". Shane joked with a wild smile.
Klein turned back to the counter, he gestured to the bartender to order a drink, when the bartender delivered his drink, he turned back to the group.
They were talking and laughing completely ignoring his presence.
He fixated his stare at Shane as he took a sip of his drink.
'Laugh all you want, girl, because I will make sure you cry before your death'. He said in his mind as he stared at her with determination in his eyes.
"Rude b*tch".
He muttered quietly to himself.