-Troy-
It took me way too long to get a grip on myself. I knew this would happen, so there was no point in having these emotions. I gave the door one last angry glance before I turned my back on it, brushing my hands through my hair, trying to decide what to do next. Well, that one was obvious, of course. I did what I came here to do, and it went just as well as expected, so it was time to move on to the next step.
I just wished I had the next step. But I wasn't going to stay here to figure it out.
I went to find the biggest bag I owned and started packing everything I needed. Thankfully, most of my school stuff was at school, so I didn't need to drag a shit-ton of books with me. My Xbox was the first thing I packed. Luke helped me get it, so there was no way in hell I was going to leave it behind. I looked at my computer, feeling bad that I couldn't carry it with me. At least I could take my laptop.
Once the bag was packed – weighing like a ton – I moved on to stuff most of my clothes in plastic bags. While I was at it, I figured I'd go demand my phone back and call Luke and ask him if his parents could come pick me up so I wouldn't have to carry everything all the way to his place.
But then I figured it was probably not smart. I was better off calling a cab or something, so I didn't need to go near my dad anymore.
"Shit..."
But he had my wallet now too. I had everything important in that bag he took from me. I cursed myself for not having my phone in my pocket when I stepped into the house. I should've guessed he would take it from me. Why didn't I hide it in my pants or something!? I really did not think this through.
And yet, I really didn't care. I was free now. I didn't have to hide my relationship with Luke anymore. Even the thought of being able to hold his hand now without caring who was there to see it brought a smile to my face.
I may have decided to come here on a whim, but it was still worth it. I would be fine even if I would never step foot in this house ever again. I just knew it. I trusted Luke. He and his parents would give me a hand, and if not, I could always go to Max, or my aunt. Or to my teachers or our coach – someone would help me. Hell, I was ready to be homeless instead of hiding the fact that Luke was my boyfriend.
I was free.
But first, I needed to get the hell out of here. I stopped to think about my options for a moment. I wouldn't be able to sneak past my father with all of this stuff anyway, so I might as well go to him and make him give my backpack back. I wasn't scared of him.
I finished packing my stuff as fast as I could and carried everything to the door. I opened it and picked up most of the bags before leaving the room and heading to the front door. I could hear Dad and Stephanie in the living room, but I couldn't quite hear what they were saying. My dad was furious. That was for sure.
I made my way to the front door and left the bags there to go get the rest. I knew I made enough noise to spark their interest, but it was not until I was coming back downstairs when my dad showed up.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked angrily.
"I'm leaving," I said as I stormed down the stairs. "For good."
"No, you're not," he said with a red face and mad eyes. "Haven't you done enough to embarrass me?! The second the press finds out about it, my reputation is ruined!"
"You know what?" I said as I threw the plastic bags on top of the rest of my belongings. "I don't fucking care! I've never cared about you, just like you haven't cared about me!"
"I gave you a home! I am your father!" he yelled. "I gave you money for food, but you spent it all on video games! I was going to pay for your college for crying out loud!"
"No! You bribed me to get out of your way!" I yelled back just as loudly. "You never, not even once, asked how I was doing! You never cared about my grades and I might as well have skipped the entire high school without you giving a fuck! Don't you fucking dare say you cared about me! You even left on your business trips without bothering to tell me!"
"What...?" I heard a quiet voice coming from the living room.
"Yeah – that's right. I haven't even seen my aunt in years!" I continued, keeping my eyes on my so-called father.
"But you said..." Stephanie walked around the corner. "You told me Troy is staying with his aunt," she said with a careful voice.
Oh, my dad was furious.
"You have done enough damage as it is," he told me. "Get back in your room! I am not letting you leave and ruin my name!"
"I already told you I don't care! I'm changing it to Mom's, so you can continue to pretend you don't have a son, just like you wanted!" I was already yelling so loud the neighbors probably heard it, too. Sadly, it made him even madder.
"YOU ARE NOT LEAVING THIS HOUSE!"
"WATCH ME!" I shouted back and turned to grab a few of the plastic bags. My father let out an angry puff, and I heard him taking a few angry steps towards me.
"No!" Stephanie screamed just a second before something hard and heavy hit me on the back, sending me to my knees. I was filled with adrenaline in a heartbeat, and I turned to look up at my father. He was holding a chair high in the air, looking mad as hell. I had to admit that I was shocked to see him resort to violence. I had no time to react, but to my surprise, I was not alone against him.
"No! What are you doing?!" Stephanie appeared out of nowhere, trying to get the chair from him. "He's just a child!"
I got up on my feet while Stephanie pulled as hard as she could to get the chair from my dad, distracting him.
"GET OFF, BITCH!!" Dad yelled, and kicked her hard. Stephanie tripped and lost her hold on the chair, falling down, hitting her head on a corner of a wardrobe.
"Steph!" I lost my focus only for a second.
And suddenly, the world went black around me.
*****
"...Troy...?"
I opened my eyes and let out a gasp when a massive wave of pain went through my head.
"Oh, thank God..."
It took me a moment to focus my eyes, but then I saw Stephanie hovering over me, wiping tears away from her face.
"What happened?" I grunted and pushed myself up. I touched my head, but all I could feel was a big bump and a hell of a lot more pain, so I moved my hand away.
"I don't know," Stephanie whispered in a fearful voice. "I woke up, and we were here..."
I looked around. We were in my dad's wine cellar, sitting on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. The door was right at the top of them.
"Are you hurt?" I asked and turned to look at her. She had a wound on her forehead.
"I'll live... If we get out of here," she spoke with a shaky voice. "I'm so sorry I told him... I didn't know he would get so... mad," she added and almost started crying again. "I regretted it the second the words left my mouth – I thought he was a calm man... but he got so angry–"
"Hey – let's not worry about that right now, okay? Besides, I came here to tell him I'm dating a guy, so this would've happened anyway," I told her, trying to sound comforting. "I'm sorry you got in the middle of this, though. I should have waited..."
"You're right, we have other things to worry about," she said with a small nod, and took a moment to recollect herself. When she finally continued talking, her voice was much stronger. "I already checked the door, and it's locked. I can't break through it."
"It's the only way out," I sighed. There were no windows or other doors in the room. "I'll try breaking it."
"Troy – wait," she spoke when I stood up from the cold floor. "My phone is upstairs, in our bedroom. I left it on the desk to charge. The code is nine-nine-eight-seven. Once we get that door open, you run straight to it and call the cops, okay?" She fell silent while I thought about her plan.
"Then you have to run to the door," I told her. "Just run straight to it and get out."
"No – I'll try to slow him down," she said sternly, and then her expression turned softer. "I know you're fast – I've seen you run, but you don't have enough time to make the call."
"I can deal with him if I don't have to worry about you," I told her, and tried to walk up the stairs, but she stopped me.
"Troy, you don't understand," she spoke hastily. "He called someone. I didn't hear all of it, but I got a really bad feeling about it." I turned to stare at her, and her expression started turning timid again. "I have no idea what he will do. I have never seen him so mad before."
Things had turned much more serious than I could've thought. It had gotten obvious to me the second he hit me with a chair. "Did you hear anything useful?" I asked, stepping down from the stairs.
"He talked about you. And he said... he said... that 'it happened again'. And he asked how to deal with it. He was waiting for them to call back before you came downstairs," she spoke, looking distressed.
"Happened again..." I muttered. "I have no idea what he could've meant by that..."
She turned around all of a sudden and lifted a hand over her mouth. She started pacing around. Whatever grudges I had for her, I forgot all about them. She was in this shit with me now because she tried to help me. That's all I cared about at that moment.
"We need to act fast. If he's getting help..." I trailed off when my head started working. "I bet he called his brother. He's the go-to person whenever Dad needs help or advice."
Stephanie turned to look at me with a worried gleam in her eyes. "He told me he's not on good terms with his brother."
I shook my head. "Yeah, that's what they want everyone to believe... My uncle is... He takes care of things," I simply said.
I think Stephanie got the idea. "We need to get out of here."
We hurried up the stairs, and I tried the handle. It sure was locked. The door itself wasn't one of the easiest to break, either. Every door in our home was made of solid wood, and they were all thick and heavy. I tried a couple of times to get through it by sheer force, but it didn't budge.
We had to hurry now. My uncle had a daughter who came out as lesbian a while back. I was sure that was what my father meant by saying 'it happened again'. I never heard of my cousin ever since. It was forbidden to talk about her in our family.
But whatever happened to her, that was my fate now as well.
No matter what we did, the door didn't give in. I cursed my father to the lowest hell, but we had to give up. My shoulder was aching, and I noticed a few other painful spots on my body. I guessed my dear father had pushed us down the stairs while we were unconscious. He certainly didn't have the strength to carry us down, and even if he did, he probably wasn't courteous enough to do so.
"We'll have to wait until he comes to let us out," I said grimly.
"If he comes..." Stephanie muttered.
I took a better look at her. She was clearly shaken, and I couldn't blame her. My father was a great actor, and the image she had of him was a hell of a lot different from what the reality was. I felt bad for not telling her about it sooner.
"He'll come get us," I told her. "He can't rest until he's found a way to get back at me. For ruining his image," I spat the last words.
She shook her head. "I've been such a fool... I should have followed my instincts... I never meant for this to happen, I swear," she spoke the last words with desperation in her voice.
"At least now you know what a scumbag my dad is," I told her. "Let's just figure out what we should do."
"You go call the cops," Stephanie said and turned to look at the door. "The staircase is just above us. Just remember, nine-nine-eight-seven."
"I will," I muttered.
There were still too many ifs and buts, but what else could we do? The front door was much further away, and I had the feeling Dad wasn't going to face us alone anymore. In a fair fight, I could easily tackle him, and he knew that.
So, we waited. We had no way to track time, but it felt like hours passed. We sat at the bottom of the stairs in silence, listening to the sounds that were coming from behind the door. We couldn't hear much, though.
Not until our doorbell rang.
"Here we go..." I muttered and stood up.
I climbed up to the door and pressed my ear against it. I could hear my dad... and someone else... No... I was pretty sure there was more than one stranger in our house. I sighed and moved away from the door.
My father hated losing. There was no limit to how far he would go just to punish me for disobeying him. I couldn't understand that way of thinking. If he would just let me go without the fuss everything would be so much easier for the both of us. But no. He was so petty he had to bring hell down on me just to get back at me. For having a boyfriend. In his mind, that was probably the worst thing I could've done. He probably thought I did it to piss him off, because for some reason he believed everything was always about him. Everything revolved around him.
I turned to look at the door when I heard heavy footsteps stopping behind it. Stephanie got up on her feet just when my dad finally opened the door and peered down at us.
"For the record, you didn't give me any other choice," he spoke with a dark voice. "Get up."
I rolled my eyes and started climbing the stairs, Stephanie following right behind me. My father stepped away from the door and backed out of my view. Once I reached the door, I saw a familiar face, and a strange one by the front door.
"Uncle," I spoke coldly as a greeting, but he only wrapped his arms over his chest in a disapproving manner. He looked a lot like my father, but he was a bigger version of him. I scoffed at my dad's cowardliness.
"I wanted to give you a chance to stop this... nonsense, but I can see you're not going to. I don't think I deserved any of this, but as your father–"
"Ex-father," I corrected him, and his face started turning red again.
"As you father, I am willing to get you the help you desperately need," he spoke, trying his hardest to keep himself composed.
I had the feeling that the third man in the room was the reason why he was trying to behave so well.
"I don't need any help from you, thank you very much," I spoke.
"See? He has no intention to turn away from the sinful path he has taken," Dad said, turning to look at my uncle and the third man. "I hope you can take him in right away. He has been hanging out with transvestites and pedophiles behind my back, and now he thinks that kind of lifestyle is all right!"
"Excuse me?" I hissed in anger, but no one paid any attention to me.
"We do have room, yes," the stranger nodded, and I suddenly started to have a bad feeling about all of this.
"What's going on?" Stephanie asked.
"Just a family matter," Dad told her with a cold voice. "You can go upstairs, Steph."
Stephanie moved right next to me. "I'm staying here," she said sternly.
"The phone..." I breathed out quietly, but she took my hand in hers.
"What are you going to do to him?" she asked.
Dad let out a frustrated breath and glared at her. "I've found a place where people can help him. You saw him earlier! He's lost touch with reality, and he needs guidance!"
"You mean conversion therapy," I suddenly understood.
"They helped my daughter, and they changed her completely. She's never been so obedient and well-mannered in her life," Uncle spoke and gave a smile to the third man.
I had the feeling that by 'well-mannered' and 'obedient' he meant a broken shell of a girl who didn't have the willpower to make her own choices anymore. Even I knew how bad the conversion therapy was! It was pure torture!
"You can't be serious!" Stephanie said. "That's not helping him! That's sending your problem away!"
"Enough! You have nothing to do with this, so stay out of it!" Dad yelled at her, finally losing his cool. "Take him and make sure he doesn't come back until he's cured!"
My uncle and the stranger took the first step toward us, and my first instinct was to fight, but thankfully, Stephanie's reaction was much smarter than mine. She dashed towards the stairs, yanking me with her.
The men yelled after us as we ran up the stairs and into the master bedroom. I slammed the door shut just when I saw the two big guys appearing upstairs. There was a lock on the door, but it wouldn't hold them back awfully long. I looked around in the sudden burst of adrenaline and saw a big bookcase close to the door. I hurried around it in hopes of pushing it in front of the door, but I used so much force that it ended up falling down on its side, and the room shook when it hit the ground. It fell right in front of the door, so my mission was a success, anyway.
"OPEN THE DOOR!"
They were trying to get through. I almost laughed when I realized the sturdy doors were now working in our favor. They'd need an ax to get through it.
I really hoped we didn't have an ax.
"Found it!" Stephanie spoke triumphantly when she grabbed her phone and started typing. Only a second later, she placed the phone over her ear.
I didn't listen to her while she spoke. I turned to look around to see if there was something else I could put in front of the door. I even went to check the windows to see if we could climb down, but I figured we were better off staying in the house, since the door was not bothered by the three men trying to break in.
And just when I was going to turn to look at Stephanie, I saw a familiar red backpack.
"Nice," I breathed out and went to get my backpack, which was partly hidden behind the bed. My belongings were still there, including my phone.
I didn't hesitate even for a second to call Luke.
"Hi," he answered the phone with a cheery voice.
"We need help – my dad went crazy and is trying to send me off to some torture therapy," I spoke hastily.
"Wait, what?!" his voice turned angry and worried.
"Listen," I moved the phone away from my ear and close to the door, so he could hear the curses and angry yells and the relentless banging on the door. "Please hurry! We're safe for now and Stephanie is calling the cops, but I don't think we have much time!" I said as soon as I moved it back to my ear.
"We're coming," Luke said. "Hang in there!"
"Hurry," I repeated again, before ending the call.
Stephanie turned to look at me. She was still on the phone, pacing around in distress again. The sounds behind the door seemed to be growing weaker, so I hoped they would give up soon. I went to sit next to the bookcase, ready to push it back in case they managed to break the lock.
"They're on their way," Stephanie breathed out soon. "We just need to hang tight."
"I called Luke – my boyfriend. They live close by," I told her over the yelling. "We've got nothing to worry about."
She gave the door a worried look, but it was still standing strong.
"Just a few minutes," I said reassuringly.
Just a few minutes.