With a week before final assessments, I’ve been concentrating as much as possible on being the top cadet. But I’ve been so distracted lately that I just can’t focus without thinking of General Hux.

I’ve seen him a few times since we talked after training that day, and every time I see him, he seems to stare just a little too long. I’m usually forced to look away and pretend I didn’t see him. I can’t tell if it’s sexy or kinda creepy. If it wasn’t for that chiselled perfection he calls a face, I’d think of how to end his life now.

One evening, as I was leaving the library after researching something related to my studies, General Hux walked straight across my path. I almost walked right into him.

“Oh, General, sorry, I didn’t see you there… ”

He stopped walking and turned to face me.

“Cadet… ” he replied, his tone of voice cold and distant

I didn’t quite know how to respond. Something was definitely wrong.

“Is everything… alright, General?” I asked

General Hux looked around the corridor to make sure nobody was in earshot of whatever he was going to say.

“Yes, why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know, you seem a little … ”

“Annoyed?” he continued, cutting me off

I swallowed hard and nodded to him.

He began to walk towards me, and I took one back for every step he took forward, not realising that the wall was now directly behind me. I felt the cold surface make contact with my skin. He had me cornered with nowhere to run.

“I’ve seen you, Cadet,” he said, his voice lowered, almost a whisper

I tried to avoid his glare but couldn’t. My body was tense and rigid.

Hux let out a sigh of exasperation.

“Really? Is that how you’re going to play this?” he asked, his eyes locked on me.

“General, I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you mean.”

He bit his lip and shook his head, not even trying to mask the incredulous expression on his face. Every word I spoke seemed to annoy him even more.

He stared at me for a moment longer and shook his head again before turning to leave.

I don’t know why I did what I did next, but I just couldn’t let him go.

I moved forward and grabbed his hand as he turned away.

He turned back towards me, his face contorted with a slow-burning rage.

I tried to step away, but I wasn’t quick enough. He grabbed my other arm and pushed me back into the alcove.

He moved his hand down my arm until he got to my wrist. We were so close I could feel his breath on my lips.

Our eyes locked, and my body pressed up against his. He tightened his grip on my wrist. I winced but tried to focus on something else … anything else.

“Does that hurt, cadet?” he asked, his pupils dilated, turning the blue of his eyes into deep, dark pools of malice

“Yes...” I replied

“What’s wrong? I thought you liked… pain, I thought you liked… bruises.”

I focused on the word … bruises … just like my journal entry  bruises

No, it couldn’t be – had he been reading my journal?! Everything was slowly falling into place. His abnormal interest in me and “hand-picking” me for his crew. All of this was not by chance but by manipulative design.

And I had fallen for it.

This couldn’t be happening…

If he had read my journal, he knew everything; Reena’s disappearance, my thoughts of him, absolutely everything!

I tried to pull free of him, but he grabbed my other wrist

“What do you want?” I murmured

He grinned then, the twisted, angry expression gone in an instant

“Tomorrow night, I expect you at 10.00pm; I’ll give the guard your name”, he murmured

I shook my head in disagreement, and he pulled me hard against his chest, grabbing my jaw with his other hand

I gasped as he leaned in, his face mere inches away

“If you whisper a word of this to anyone, you’ll disappear, just like your little friend Reena!”

I looked into his eyes, but there was nothing there but anger and hatred

He pushed me away, straightened his jacket, adjusted his gloves and walked away.

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