The Hut
Evan woke up the next day tied to a chair. It was comfortable enough, but he felt strange sitting in the middle of a run-down hut. He could see a small kitchen in the corner, paint chipping off the cabinets. There was a door to his left, one to his right, and one in front of him. The front door, Evan thought. He’s teasing me with an escape route.
He tried to turn to see what was behind him, but his neck was too sore. He caught a glimpse of a figure during his attempt, and soon enough his kidnapper walked over to face him. He was holding a cup of tea.
“Morning, Prince”.
This was the first time Evan could get a good look at him. Yesterday he was too panicked to pay attention. He was still terrified now, but the man wasn’t holding a weapon.
He wore black cargo pants, a black button up and a black vest. Dramatic, Evan thought. He had a silver snake ring and multiple other pieces of silver jewellery on him.
“I said morning. Do they not teach princes manners?” he repeated.
“Did they not teach you? You haven’t introduced yourself”.
“Hi I’m Barty. I kidnapped you and killed two other Royals. Introduction enough?”
“Fine. Good morning”.
Barty smiled and walked over to the kitchen.
“Do you want some tea?”
Evan glared at his back.
“How would I drink it? I’m tied up”.
“Ah, right. See, I’m not comfortable letting you walk around yet, but I could help you”.
“Why would you help me?” Evan scoffed. “You kidnapped me!”
“I didn’t want to take you, I had no other choice. Do you want the tea or not?”
As much as Evan didn’t want this madman anywhere near him, he really did want tea.
“Yes”.
Barty flashed a smile at him again as he turned around with another cup of tea. Pretty smile, if not for the fact that he was a criminal. Barty walked up to him and put the cup under his lip, slowly tilting it up. They sat in silence for a few minutes as Evan drank.
“Is your ankle okay?” Barty finally asked.
“I don’t know. It hurts”.
“Can I take your shoe off to see?”
“Do I have a choice?” asked Evan.
“Yes, you can kick me and mess up your ankle even more” Barty kneeled down. Evan tensed up as the man unlaced his dress shoe.
“It’s swollen, probably a strain, I’ll get you some ice”.
He returned from the kitchen with an ice pack, then went to the room to Evan’s left and came back with an ottoman. He untied Evan’s left leg from the chair and put it up on it and put the ice pack on his ankle.
“Tell me if it’s too cold”.
“Why are you helping me?”
“I told you already. I was not supposed to kidnap anyone. I don’t want to hurt you”.
“Then why am I tied to a chair?”
“Because I told you my name! I shouldn’t have done that”.
Evan sighed, closing his eyes.
“So I’ll never see my family again?” He immediately regretted saying that. He shouldn’t show any signs of weakness.
“I don’t know,” answered Barty.
“Who do you work for?”
“Sorry?”
“Well, this definitely wasn’t your plan, because you don’t seem to know what you’re doing. Whose plan was it then?”
“A friend of mine. I sent him a letter asking what to do next”.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I don’t want you to be scared of me”.
“You’re a murderer!”
“You don’t know what these people did. I will not repeat this again, Evan”.
“So we’re on a first name basis now?”
“I told you my name”.
“I’m the prince!”
“So entitled. You’re tied to a chair in a hut in the middle of nowhere and you still think that matters? You’ll never change, will you?”
Evan fell silent. Of course he was spoiled, entitled, everything of that sort. He was the Prince. It would be stupid to pretend otherwise.
***
They spent the next few days like this. Barty untied Evan when he needed to go to the bathroom. There was no window in there, and Barty stood at the door with his knife so there was no way for him to escape.
His ankle was slowly healing. Barty didn’t receive a letter from his friend as far as he knew. They started to create a mundane routine.
“How much longer will I have to sleep tied to a chair?” Evan asked one day. “Everything hurts”.
“The other option is to sleep on the bed with me,” Barty replied, raising a brow.
Evan scoffed in disgust.
“Well, chair it is” said Barty.
“No! Fine, I’ll sleep on the bed”.
It still wasn’t comfortable, his hands tied to the bars of the backboard and his healthy ankle tied to the leg of the bed, but it was better. Evan positioned himself on the edge, as far away from Barty as possible. It was a double bed, but Barty had a tendency to sprawl himself out across it in his sleep.
The first night, Evan couldn’t fall asleep. He laid there, watching his kidnapper. His black hair was on his face. He almost looked cute. Evan wouldn’t have guessed that he was a murderer.
“Do you want the truth?” Barty asked the next morning.
“About what?” asked Evan.
“Everything. Why I’m here, who I am, everything”.
“I want to know if my sister is safe”.
Another sign of weakness, Evan thought.
“Alright. She is. To my knowledge, at least. No one to do with me has harmed her”.
“An the other stuff?”
“My name is Barty Crouch jr.” he said.
Evan audibly gasped.
“Barty Crouch senior, the Prime Minister, is your father?”
“Yes”.
“I thought you looked familiar!”
“No you didn’t. I pride myself in looking nothing like him” Barty scowled.
“Fine. But I will never look at you the same way again. Is that it, though? Is this a political mission? Are we on the verge of war with France?”
“What? Oh god no, no. I was hired by my friend Regulus”.
“Regulus… hold on, I know who this is, give me a minute…”
“Take your time”.
“No way”.
“Yup”.
“Regulus Black?”
“That’s him”.
“Why would he want to kill his own parents?”
“Because! How many more times do I need to say this! They were terrible people. Rotten parents. Horrifying”.
“Murder is a bit far though, don’t you think?”
“Clearly not, I’m the one who killed them”.
“Ah, right”.
“You forgot about that for a moment, didn’t you?” Barty laughed.
He had a pretty laugh. Evan was embarrassed that he did actually forget for a moment. This murderer kidnapped him, after all.
“Look”, Barty continued. “I still haven’t got a reply from Regulus. Will you sleep on the bed again tonight?”
“Fine”, Evan sighed, not realising he was smiling.