Tell Me About Tomorrow

Prologue

I had the world's biggest mistake pinched between my index finger and thumb as I watched it blink once, twice and then three times before I read the words displayed on the digital screen.

Not pregnant.

I should have felt a rush of relief, a rush of bliss, but all I felt was extremely nauseous. I set it down on the marble bathroom counter in front of me, the bathroom suddenly started to feel dirty and cheap, rather than lavish and extravagant. To the side of me, I heard the bathroom door open and shut, before feeling a pair of soft hands slide up my arms to rest on my shoulders, gently massaging the tense muscles. Hands that were once comforting felt foreign on my body. Hands that were connected to a body that were supposed to protect and shelter me, not exploit and harm me.

"Maybe next month." He said, his voice was scratchy when it echoed off the spacious walls of the suite's bathroom, bouncing in my brain for seconds after he spoke.

"Yes Sir." My own voice small and timid, sounding unfamiliar to my own ears, "Next month." I agreed, although after tonight I had hoped there wouldn't be a next month. I'd spent the last year scouring resources on the internet when he wasn't home, trying to find a way out of this. I had once found solace with this man years ago, but once my sixteenth birthday hit two years ago, everything suddenly changed. I became more aware of the misconceptions I had on living whatever life I had been for the last five years. Things started to come up in conversation such as age of consent, and something called sex that I quickly began to learn that I really didn't enjoy much, especially when it was hard and rough with him. I started to loathe him. I remember meeting him outside of my local grocery store, starved and hungry at age eleven. He crouched down to my level of where I was sitting against the back of the store's wall, hunkering down below an awning to try and escape the downpour of rain. His hair was a light blonde, with gray starting to appear at his temples and sideburns. The dark chocolate brown of his eyes were warm and comforting when he approached me. He smiled at me, flashed me his ID and told me to come with him, that he had orders from the state's attorney to come with him. That day, foolish naïve me, followed him from the back alley of the store into his brand-new Ford pick-up truck, one that certainly didn't look like it belonged to a state worker. But wherever he was taking me, whatever promises passed his lips seemed like a heck of a lot better life than I was living back at home with my brother Connor. He had seemed like an endearing father figure, something I didn't have.

But solidarity, hot food, hot showers and blissful sleep quickly turned into stolen kisses, controlling mannerisms and suicidal ideologies. I had lost myself being trapped here, and I knew I was trapped here. Sir made sure he knew I was stuck here for good. When I wanted to go for a bike ride on the bright pink bike he bought me for my thirteenth birthday, I was chastised and hit by the maids for even thinking about leaving the grounds. I couldn't fathom why, seeing as we lived at least thirty minutes from the biggest town, which wasn't all that big at all. We had a convenience store and a gas station about five miles up the road, but beyond that we sat in the middle of acres of undeveloped land. That night, Sir took me outside to show me the practically invisible fence around the property, taking my small hand in his larger one, pressing three of my finger tips against it. The shock that vibrated through my body from the tips of my fingers was enough to have me curled up inside of my room forever.

Bringing me back to the present time, his lips pressed a kiss to the side of my head in that bathroom, the walls feeling like they were closing in on us. Well, just me. He felt content and satisfied, or so he told me. With his kiss, the oddly shaped mustache that curled upwards pricked my temple. When I reopened my eyes, I caught his uncharacteristically warm green ones focused on the crown on my head, a small smile on his chapped lips. "I'll see you in the dining area soon, sweetheart."