Sold To A Beast

Family Reunion

I held the knife pointed in my father's direction as I advanced closer. "Let's get one thing straight, shall we?" I looked him in the eyes and noticed true fear while he stumbled away from me, the blade bouncing vigorously in my hands from the shaking. "You are nothing to me."

Andrew took the knife from my hands, his open palm wrapping around the blade before he handed it back to Rosalie. "We're not here to fight, and we're not here for lies. We are here to talk." Andrew's bloody hand clasped around mine as he offered me a smile, the warm scarlet fluid danced on my skin messily. "I'm fully aware of the truth about what happened here, between this - family. So going forward, let us all be honest with each other now."

We piled into the kitchen, taking our seats at the old dining table while Andrew sat at my side and Danny sat across from us in silence.

"Let's catch up, Daddy dearest." Sarcasm made my body vibrate with energy, I could feel myself getting more angrier the longer we were still here. "Do you know what happened to me? After you sold me?"

"Yes." He said blankly, unable to put any emotions into his words while he responded to me. "You were taken to be put into an auction and -"

"And you were paid. Next." My muscles were tense as I readied to either fight or flee, waiting for his response next.

Danny could hardly keep eye contact with either of eyes, his gaze on the table top most of the time as he tried to think of something to say. "They never said what happened to you."

"Let's catch up then." My glare met his frightened stare, memories pooling behind my eyes as I fought with my anger in silence. I debated what I would say to him, knowing that no matter what I said it wouldn't change anything that had happened before. Somehow that made me feel worse. "What have you told people? That I ran away too?"

He was cautious to speak, wringing his hands out of anxiety. "I-I've told them you moved away for college, and you're pursuing your dreams." Danny cleared his throat, almost giving into a coughing fit before he continued, looking at me but his gaze feeling so far away. "I went to look for you after they had taken you away, I snuck into any auctions I could to try and see you again." The coughing began again, worse this time as he tried to fight through it. "I - wanted to find you so that I could - apologize!"

Rosalie offered us some water as she handed Danny a glass, a small paper cup resting beside it filled with pills as he began to take them. I looked nervously between Rosalie and Danny, my hand in Andrew's tightening slightly. "What's wrong with him, Andrew?"

"Tumors, though he doesn't know that he's dying." My mind filled with a numbing buzz as Andrew watched silently next to me, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles as he thought of an answer to give to me. "They're eating him alive from the inside out."

"He's dying?"

Andrew nodded from beside me, head turning slightly so that he could look at my reaction. "Everything he's told you, about going to the auctions -" I stared at Andrew in disbelief as he filled my mind with my father's memories. "It's all true."

I didn't know what to do with this information, skeptical to believe that because he wanted to apologize that meant he was actually sorry for what I had to go through. I couldn't imagine my father ever saying those kinds of things to me.

"I've nearly lost my life more times than I can count because of you." I watched Danny's eyes flicker down to the scar across my throat before he glanced at Andrew nervously. "But - I truly believe that you selling me into that auction was the best decision you've ever made as a parent. I'm with a wonderful man who loves me and treats me very well, who's given me a life I could never have had on my own."