Caged (On Hold)

Chapter 1

Christian

I returned home from work, as I opened the front door the warm air welcomed me. I placed my briefcase down on the kitchen table and made myself a latte. Sitting at the table, sipping my hot drink, I looked out the window. The sky was dark and the moon was high. It looked viciously cold outside. I stood up and put my empty cup into the sink. Glancing down at my bin, I realised I would have to empty it and take the full bin bag outside to the bins for collection.

I made my way out the front door with my full bin bag. The cold air hit me like a bullet. Dragging the bag with me, I finally arrived at the bins. I threw my bag in and began making my way back. I stopped suddenly as I heard a rustling sound. Slowly turning around I heard the rustling sound again. I small hooded figure stood up from behind the bins. I felt like running, but I was frozen in place.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to scare you. Please do not hit me." The figure said in a quiet voice as it edged its way around the bins.

"I am not going to hit you, I am sorry if I scared you also. Would you like any help?" I said back, still not daring to move.

"No, I am fine Sir. Thank you for the offer though. I will be fine sleeping here." The figure said gesturing to the bins.

"No! You will not be fine sleeping there in this weather!" I said, a bit too loudly. The figure hunched away from me. "I am sorry. I didn't mean to scare you again. Please come inside. You can have a hot meal, a bath and a place indoors to sleep for the night." I held out my hand, hoping the figure would take it. Slowly the small hooded figure began to walk towards me, head held low. It clutched onto my hand and let me direct it to the house.

I opened the door, the warm air welcoming me once again. When we were both inside I closed the door and turned to look at the hooded figure. It looked back up at me, revealing the bruised and bloodied face of an eighteen or nineteen year old boy.

"I am Christian, what is your name?" I asked quietly, not wanting to scare him again.

"Jackson. I am sorry to trouble you like this, Sir. Please forgive me." He said, lowering his head yet again.

"There is no need to apologize, I wanted to help. There is also no need to call me Sir, just call me Christian. Would you like a bath, while I order us a takeaway?"

"Please don't hold my head under the water." Jackson said, backing away.

"What? Of course I won't, that's horrible. Has someone done that to you before?" I asked shocked.

"Yes, it was punishment." Jackson said, coming no closer to me.

"Would you like a bath? I promise I will not hold your head under the water or hurt you in any other way, I simply want to help you."

"No thank you Sir, I dislike water greatly." Jackson said, backing away again.

"I promise I won't hurt you. If you had a bath, you would be able to wash the blood off of yourself, it might make you feel a bit better. Come on." I said, ignoring that Jackson had called me Sir again. I held my hand out. He looked at it for a while before holding it. I guided him to the bathroom. He sat on the tiled floor as I ran a warm bubby bath for him.

"Do you trust me?" I asked. He looked up at me, nodding slightly. I held my hand out again, he didn't hesitated to hold it. Slowly, I placed just his hand in the water. At first he tensed up and didn't move, however, after a minute or two he completely trusted me and relaxed. He began splashing his hand around in the water, laughing with joy.

"Do I just get in?" Jackson asked, looking up at me from beneath his hood.

"Well you would need to take all of your clothing off before getting in. If not your clothes would get drenched. Speaking of clothes I will fetch you some of my pyjamas for you. I will be back, don't take your clothes off yet." I said running to my bedroom collecting a pair of baggy trousers and a T-shirt from my pyjama draw and a takeaway menu from the small table.