Breaking the Chains

Chapter Three

"No I'm not," Riley shuddered out of her shaky voice. Her nerves only spiked up after that and her heart beat increased just a little bit. Suddenly, she grew scared of the door flying wide open just to reveal the person she was scared of. She bit her bottom lip as she dropped her eyes to her hands that were now relaxed on her lap, just to see that they were trembling violently. She hated to lie to anybody, it was one of the only things she couldn't stand. As she thought that to herself, nearly forgotten memories flew up into her mind.

When she was around ten, she found her mother's old records from when she used to sing on stage. She listened to them and would dance with her younger brother, who was three and a half years younger than she was. He dealt with bullying ever since he started school because of how he couldn't speak properly and how he had one glass eye.

Their parents hated to see him get bullied, so they kept moving him from school to school, and when it just got too hard to handle, they moved to a completely different area with a different variety of schools. Since her parents were so busy packing and unpacking day and night, Riley was the one who had to take care of her little brother.

They didn't have a TV or any electronics, so even if they wanted to play video games they couldn't. But Riley wasn't interested in those kind of things, and neither was her little brother. They'd usually play catch outside, have water gun fights whenever they could in the summer, and when it was winter, Riley would pull her little brother on a sled just to have a blast listening to her brother giggle. When the days got too cold or too hot to enjoy, they'd relax inside with either homemade slushes or hot cocoa.

And when it was bedtime for little Matt, Riley would turn on the record player and dance with him to their mother's voice while a violin and piano played in the background. Then, when Riley tucked him into bed, she'd sing him a little lullaby to send him to a deep slumber.

When Riley turned twelve, her parents got new full time jobs, which meant they weren't going to be around as often as Riley wanted them to be. She slowly fell into a hard time with them not around, but she still had her brother and it was enough for her to be okay. Every night she tucked him in and sang him a lullaby, he'd sing along. He couldn't speak properly, but his singing voice was beautiful. Riley would sing with him every day as they danced, painted or whatever else they did together.

And as Riley remembered all of that, she realised how much she missed them. Her thoughts eventually slowed down and she was left with her head hung low while tears poured out of her eyes, and she tried her very best to not let the guy hear her cry.

Eli kept quiet when he heard the fear in her voice. He was right, there was no doubting it, but suddenly he wished he wasn't. He froze when he heard a quiet whimper across the room. She's crying now? He wanted to comfort somehow, he hated it when the kids back home cried and he now felt the same protectiveness coming over him. He tried but he could find no words to comfort her, so he sat in silence and listened to her smothered sobs.

After a few minutes, the crying died down to a few sniffles. He took that opportunity to ask the questions that clouded his thoughts. he didn't know which to ask first; afraid if he asked the wrong one it would trigger another crying fest.

"I'm Eli. It's pronounced ee-lie. Eli. Got it?" He was trying to make light of what just happened and change the subject. "Some people call me Ellie sometimes and it really bothers me. You're not gunna do that, right?" He heard her chuckle and grinned. He could work with this. "Anyway, I really hope not because the last person that called me that got their shoes filled with worms."

Riley just couldn't help but be slightly amused. First she felt ashamed because she cried in front of somebody else, which was something she never really did before. She finally knew his name and hearing the stories of others pronouncing it wrong made her chuckle mostly in her head, but occasionally they'd slip out. Just for fun, she decided to say something in a joking tone.

"Okay, Ellie," she said in a soft voice as she glanced up to him. He still had that little grin on and it made her smile. It seemed as though he had a talent at making her feel better, even through the black darkness in her mind.

Riley seemed to see his real personality leaking through, which made her seem relieved somehow, and it made her wonder when the last time she really allowed herself to shine through like that. She was terrified to say anything about herself, even little facts or her name. Maybe in the future she'd allow it, but for now she just sat against the wall with a little smile on her face while she looked at Eli with his grin.

The room filled with a comfortable silence. The chained up boy was unable to hide the expression from his face. He was glad he wasn’t alone, and even more that the other captive was talking to him. Even so, Eli had questions that were bothering him. Why was she taken? Where were her chains? He hadn’t missed the way she turned the attention off herself. She hadn’t offered her own name, and though his curiousity was growing he knew it was deliberate. He didn’t mention it; several run-ins with being too nosey is what got him in messes like this before. Instead he settled for a less personal yet still a question on his mind. Cautiously he asked the captive “When is she coming back?” It was clear who he was talking about, but after several seconds of uncertain silence, he opened his mouth to clarify his question. He paused when he heard a long sigh across the room.

“I don’t know.” That was the only answer Eli received, and he assumed she would stop there, but after another sharp intake of air, she continued quietly. “Sometimes she won’t leave me alone and keeps checking in on me every couple hours or so bringing food, but sometimes she leaves and I don’t see her for days.” At the mention of something to eat, Eli’s stomach growled. It struck him that he hadn’t eaten since he’d been taken a good two days ago and the gnawing at his stomach suddenly intensed.

Before he could allow his mind to wander, the girl spoke up again. “Don’t worry; she won’t let you starve to death. If she wanted to kill you, you’d be dead by now.” Though he was sure that was meant to be taken as a comfort and relief, he couldn’t stop the gnawing feeling crawling inside the pit of his stomach. This time though, it wasn’t from hunger.

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Peace out Secrets and God bless you all!

-S