Hold True

Chapter 12 part 2 aka 13

I only edited about half of this chapter, so bear with me.

Thank you so much for reading this. You all bring a smile to my face.

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Niles and I were waiting for Elliot’s reaction. It seemed like it’s been hours since Niles finished his story, but only a few minutes have passed. I wanted to know what thoughts were going through his head. Watching his face you could see many emotions; sorrow, pain, loss, anger.  I wanted him to feel better. I hated seeing him like this, I didn’t like seeing Elliot anything but happy.

Elliot blinked a few times then looked to me with a blank expression on his face. Niles took a deep breath and Elliot looked at him. Niles exhaled only when Elliot opened his mouth to talk. “She killed innocent people.”

Niles answered him even though it wasn’t a question, “Yes.”

Elliot nodded, pressed his lips together, and took a deep breath through his nose. “Thank you.” He told Niles as a single tear escaped his eye.

Niles nodded back with a pained expression, but he also looked relieved he got that burden off his chest.

Elliot cleared his thought a couple of times before asked in a happier voice. “So…what do I get to know about your past?” He was obviously trying to change the topic.

I quickly looked down not wanting to meet their eyes. I didn’t know what to tell them. It was hard to choose what horror about me to share. So many dark and twisted things have been done to me. I didn’t think it wise to tell them about my parent’s death so soon after Elliot found out about his. “My past is so full of…I don’t know how to explain it…so much pain… horror…nothing I remember is pleasant. The only good I can think of ends with one of the worst memories I have.” I whispered.

I waited for them to say something, but they didn’t so I added. “I don’t know what to share…So ask me something.”

“You said you had a brother, what’s he like? Do you have any other siblings” Elliot asked timidly probably hopping that question wouldn’t lead to something painful.

I closed my eyes and remembered how brave my brother was, took a deep breath, and tried to keep my voice steady for what I was about to say. “I only had a brother.” A small sob escaped my lips, “He was the most amazing and strong person I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing…”

“He tried to save me, Him and Trey… They found me when the police couldn’t. I still don’t know how they did it…” I paused to collect myself, “I was held in a building…” I furrowed my eyebrows in thought, “In the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains and trees. There was no clue as to where I went. I just disappeared that day…I don’t think anyone knew what really happened…” I looked at Elliot and Niles and they seemed confused so I decided to fill in some of the gaps, “Sir killed my parents... John, my brother, wasn’t home… I think he was at a Trey’s house when sir and his men showed up.  So he never knew who Sir was or who took me. He didn’t even know if I was still alive…But he still managed to find me.”

I looked back to the ground when I saw that Elliot was about to say sorry. “The day John and Trey found me I was being punished for doing something…I can’t remember what…I was always getting punished for the smallest of things…I was chained to the cement mound again just having been whipped for what seemed like hours…I was so sore and the cuts from the whip were seeping blood…I could barely lift my head. But when I heard my brothers voice yelling in the hall my head shot up…I couldn’t believe what I was hearing…I didn’t what him there… The door to the left of the mound swung open and two of Sir’s men hauled him through the door and two more followed carrying another man.  At the time I didn’t know he was Trey.”

“They dragged them across the blood stained floor and stopped in front of Sir, who was stood behind me with the whip still in his hand. One of the men told Sir that the two guys tried breaking in and killed four of his men... Sir was mad… He kneed my brother in the stomach which made me make a strangled sound. When John heard me he lifted his head from his defeated position and looked me straight in the eye. His eyes then traveled to the rest of me, taking in my broken body, draped over the mound with my shirt and skin ripped open from the whipping I just received…I had to have looked and smelled a mess.”

“John yelled and struggled against the men holding him. When he realized he wasn’t going to break free, he quit trying to escape, growled at Sir, and asked him what he’d done…At that Sir grinned and looked at me…I knew what he was thinking. He had another opportunity to break me. Smash my hope just a little more.”

I hiccupped and pulled myself out of the memory not wanting to see his death again. “Sir killed him that day…Right in front of me…He slit Johns throat and held him in a kneeling position…making me watch the life leave my last living family member.”

I held my breath and waited for the crushing sorrow around my heart to subside. Staring at my wringing hands I waited for them to say something…anything. I closed my eyes and felt something drip onto my hands, confused I reached up and touched my cheek. I was surprised when my fingers came away wet. When did I start crying? I didn’t realize I was so absorbed in my story.

“Sorry.” Elliot whispered.

I looked up and saw I wasn’t the only one that couldn’t keep my emotions at bay. For Elliot had tears flowing down his grief stricken face.  And Niles eyes were filled to the brim with unshed tears.

“What are you sorry for?” I asked just as quietly as he, afraid my voice would break.

“Asking you to share your past with us.” He answered sniffling and whipping the wetness from his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

“Don’t be…For some odd reason…I feel like a small weight has been lifted off my chest.”

“Good…” Niles choked, he cleared his throat, and asked. “How long were you in that situation for?”

How long did Sir have me? I asked myself. I know for a fact I was making my own birthday invitations when Sir and his me showed up…But how old was I? I remember the age six…I can’t remember if I was five turning six or six turning seven.

“I think I was six years old when I was captured.” I answered, “I have no idea how long I was there…The only birthday I remember was the one that Sir abducted me on…When you and Rueben found me was the first time I’ve been out of that hell hole…So from the age of six to the day you found me is how long I was there.”

I never thought about how long I was in captivity…I missed out on so many things. Most people at my age (whatever it might be) had thousands of good memories. I have only a few…But they were all tainted with evil.

The corpses of my loved ones flashed before my eyes again…My whole life was saturated in so much blood…Whenever I tried to remember something pleasant the first and last thing I ever see is a thick red substance…Be it a dark reddish brown flaking off whatever it was on…Or bright vibrant red seeping out of fresh wounds…Blood. My life was filled with it…So whose life’s blood would I be seeing next?