The Two Families

Chapter Twenty-One

Trigger Warning: abuse, mentions of rape and homophobia.

Laura's POV:

I forced my eyes open, trying my best not to fall asleep. Eventually, I had to, but I couldn't fall asleep right now, not with Mikito upstairs. I could hear his footsteps above my head. What time is it? My eyelids burned as I struggled to pry them open. If I sleep right now, who knows what Mikito would do to me.

Thoughts of my home flooded back, in a malicious attempt to make me sleep. I wasn't going to give in to the psychological torture that is my intrusive thoughts. The memories of my childhood plagued my mind. I could see myself aged thirteen, sitting in the park with my best friend. An intensely religious greek man raised me, attempting to mould me into the perfect religious daughter. When my father had seen me at the park, kissing my best friend, he began to yell bloody murder. He called me an abomination and a disgrace to the honour of the family. I told my dad how I really left. That night, my father locked me in the basement of the house, making sure that 'I was cleansed from all evil.' I didn't eat for days on end. I could hear my mother screaming and begging my father to let me out, but he claimed it was for my own good. I was extremely malnourished and dehydrated. I spent the next three days in the ER. My father sent me to conversion therapy, trying to 'get the gay out of me.' He enrolled me in multiple religious classes and got my friend's parents involved. Fortunately for her, her parents were more accepting compared to mine.

When conversion therapy didn't work, my father thought he could physically beat 'the gay' out of me. I remember curling up in the corner of my room, bruises lining my body, crying. I remember the amount of blood I lost, the number of bones I broke, the copious amount of times I was admitted into the hospital, claiming that I fell down the stairs or fell off a bike. I remembered screaming at the top of my lungs, begging someone to help me, making my father hit me harder. Some days he would use his fists; on other days he would use belts.

I shuddered, breathing heavily. I strained against the handcuffs, wanting to hug my legs and curl up into a corner. That's when it happened. The wall I built around this specific memory came crumbling down. I could feel the pair of hands travelling on my body despite being alone in the room. I could feel the hands wrap around my neck, taking off my clothes. I could clearly see the Pastors face in my mind's eye. I could hear his breathy moans in my ear as he whispered in my ear, "this is to fix you." I laid on the bed, paralysed, unable to make a sound or move a muscle as the pastor pounded in an out of me as an attempt to return my heterosexuality. When he finished, he left me there, covered in bodily fluids, unable to move. 

After that, I spiralled into an endless void, unable to communicate my feelings, unable to trust anyone, unable to forget what happened to me. I felt violated, ruined and abused just because of kissing one girl. I booked an appointment with a therapist to help me move on from the trauma. 

I could still hear her words, "just pretend so he'll stop."

That's what I did. I pretended. I didn't have to act because I felt a sexual attraction to men, but my father didn't understand what bisexuality was; he only knew that a person could be gay or straight. 

Tears rolled down my cheeks. I yanked my hands, trying to get the handcuffs to break. I shook violently, sobbing into my lap. A drop of blood fell onto my already stained dress. My nose was bleeding. My eyes burned from the lack of sleep and the tears that couldn't stop.

Luka, where are you? I need you.

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Has it been one day? Two days maybe? My sense of time was unstable. Hideo came in multiple times with food to make sure I was nourished, without letting his father know. Every time I'd ask him why he was helping me, he would brush off the question or silence me.

"Last time you said there is a spy in Aarina's life?" I asked, biting into the banana Hideo brought today.

He nodded, sitting down in front of me. I questioned him further, "okay, and?"

"And nothing Laura. I don't have more information on it."

Hideo walked out of the door, leaving me alone with my thoughts once again. I felt weighed down, out of my body. There was a feeling on emptiness in me, as well as a feeling of numbness. I stared at the empty spot in front of me. I chuckled. I began laughing.

"I can't believe this," I laughed. The inability to control my laugher struck fear into my heart, but I couldn't stop laughing at the situation. Who would have thought I would have gotten kidnapped by Mikito Takahashi? 

"Something funny?" A sly voice asked.

Mikito stood at the door, holding a metal rod in his hand. It glowed red at the tip. Mikito smiled, baring his yellow teeth, "now, let's have some fun."