Chapter Twenty-Three (Part Two)
Caden
I adverted my gaze and bit my trembling lip.
Kendall continued to shriek as her nails dug into my forearm.
"Stop screeching," growled my father as he pointed a shotgun at Kendall's head. "Or I'll blow your brains out."
She instantly fell silent and her grip on my arm tightened.
"I brought you these," snapped my father as he threw a pair of crutches my way. They fell to the floor, clattering noisily as they landed.
He let out a deep chuckle. "Pick them up," he ordered Kendall. "NOW!"
With the candle in one hand, she released my arm and reached down to grab the crutches.
"Now give them to Caden and follow me," he barked.
Her hands shook as she passed me the crutches.
I winced as I eased my injured leg off the cot. The pain instantly overtook my senses and my head began to swim.
"I don't think I can do this," I whispered.
He cocked the trigger of the gun with his finger. I knew he wasn't kidding. I knew if I didn't move in the next three seconds, I'd be left scrubbing her insides off the floor, bullet hole in my leg or not.
Kendall helped ease the crutches under my arms as I bared weight on the leg without the bullet wound.
"Where are you taking us?" Kendall asked in a shaky voice.
Pops spun around on his heel and lifted his hand. "Do not speak to me unless you're spoken to. This is your only warning."
Her jaw dropped as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Do you understand me?" snarled my father.
She nodded.
Pops pushed past me and grabbed Kendall by the throat. In an instant, he had her pinned up against the wall. "Answer me out loud!"
"Y- y- y- yes," she stammered as my father's hand tightened around her windpipe.
When he finally released his grip, she fell to her knees with her hands to her throat, gasping for air.
Knowing better, I kept my mouth shut and dropped my gaze to the floor. If I showed even the slightest amount of empathy, I'd be next.
"Get up," Pops demanded. "I don't have all night for this nonsense."
Kendall staggered to her feet and took a step backward. Her arm brushed against mine, sending chills down my spine. I almost forgot about the throbbing pain in my leg for a few brief moments.
Without another word, we followed my father down the hall and to the second door on the right. I pressed my lips together. I knew the room all too well...
Pops took a large key ring out of his back pocket. My mouth went dry and a wave of nausea passed through my insides as he raised the jingling keys to open the first of several locks.
"This is going to be your temporary home until you both learn how to behave," he spat. "Normally, I would have left you in the other room, but I couldn't have Caden in there with a bullet hole through the leg. That's not how a father treats his child."
Kendall gasped. "He's your dad?"
Without hesitating, Pops slapped Kendall across the face so hard she flew into the wall. I watched as she sank to the floor, holding her hands to the right side of her face.
"I said not to speak unless spoken to," said Pops in an angry voice. "You need to learn to behave. If you don't, there will be more serious repercussions then a slap to the face. NOW GET UP!"
His words echoed off the stone walls in the hallway.
Bringing his attention back to the locks, he opened a second and then a third one, before turning the handle and pushing the steel door open.
Musty air hit my nostrils and before he even turned on the light switch, images of peeling wallpaper and old shag carpet filled my mind. Pops had locked me in this room before as well. One time, I had been trapped down here for three months. It happened shortly after my mother passed. Pops claimed he was too sick and embarrassed to even look at me after I refused to kill a young woman named Lena. I couldn't help it. I told him that her slate-colored eyes reminded me of Callum, my older brother, who had tragically died on my fifth birthday. My father had forbidden my mother and I to bring him up in any way. We weren't even allowed to say his name.
I'd never forget the sorrow that quickly turned to rage in my father's eyes. His face had turned a deep shade of red as he swung his arm out, his knuckles white around the handle of a razor sharp knife. Poor Lena, she didn't even have time to react. Pops slit her throat in one pass, then promptly turned around and locked me in this room with her corpse for ninety-three days. I kept track by marking the wall every time he slide breakfast through a long slot in the door. On the ninety-third day, he let me out under the condition that I would haul Lena's body up the stairs and outside to the fire pit. Weak and emotionally exhausted, it took me hours to get her up the stairs and outside. I threw up seven times and had to stop each time to clean it up. Bile crept up the back of my throat as I thought about the putrid smell that filled the room during my time with her.
After her body lay neatly in the fire pit, Pops made me get a can of gasoline and a match. We lit her body as well as a fresh body belonging to woman I didn't recognize, on fire and watched the flames slowly devour their flesh and bones.
I shivered as Pops pushed the door open and held his left hand out. "Welcome to your new home," he hissed.
He grabbed Kendall by the hair and threw her into the room. She cried out in pain as Pops let out an evil laugh.
I slowly made my way through the door. How did I get back here? How had everything gone so wrong? Anger stirred at my core. This is Hadley's fault! She's the one who caused all of this nonsense! If she just would have listened and followed the rules! That b-"
Before I could finish my thought, Pops interrupted me. "Caden, there's medicine on the table, take one pill with breakfast and one pill with dinner. There's also clean bandages and antibiotic cream in the bathroom."
"Thank you, Sir," I said, trying to blink back the tears that threatened to spill over.
He nodded his head. "Also, remind her of the rules for this room," he said pointing to Kendall. "In fact, I want to hear you recite them right now."
Pain radiated throughout my leg. I needed to sit down, but I knew he wouldn't let me until I recited the rules. Taking a deep breath, I began, "If anything is broken or disturbed, we both go back in the other room. If we do not follow instructions the first time they are given, we go back into the other room and if we attempt to leave..." my voice trailed off.
Pops immediately whacked me upside the head. "If you attempt to leave, you go where, Caden?" Finish!"
My body trembled and the tears finally unleashed, soaking my cheeks. "If we attempt to escape, you'll slit our throats."
A huge smile broke out across Pop's face. "Very good! Also, if she refuses to help tend to your leg, I'll kill her and find someone who will. Understood?" he asked, staring at Kendal.
"Yes," she whispered.
"YES, SIR!" he boomed, his face turning a deep shade of crimson. "Always respond that way to me from now on! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
"Yes, sir," Kendall managed to get out in between sobs.
"Very good," praised Pops in a sarcastic voice. "I'll be back to check on you in the morning."
He turned around and exited the room, slamming the door behind him.
Kendall fell to the floor and began rocking back and forth.
I wiped the tears off my face and shrugged my shoulders. "Look, Kendall. It really isn't that bad," I said, gingerly making my way toward her. "I've been locked down here before and-"
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
My eyes went wide. "Shhhhhh!" I said, holding my finger to my lips. "If he hears you hollering, he'll throw us both back into the other room!"
Kendall quickly sprung to her feet and backed herself into a corner. "If you touch me, I'll kill you!"
I held out my hand and hobbled toward her. "What do you not understand? If we fight, we're done for! He's probably standing outside the door listening," I said in a low voice. "Plus, I'm in too much pain. I can't be worrying about your mouth getting us in trouble!"
She clamped her mouth shut.
Well would you look at that, I thought to myself. She's already following directions. She might just be a keeper. Doing all I could to keep the smile that threatened to form at bay, I eased myself onto a worn sofa with sage-colored flowers.
"Listen, I'm in a lot of pain right now. Can you please see if there's any medication that will help?"
"I bet you weren't even shot," she hissed, he blonde curls bouncing as she spoke.
I shook my head. "Kendall Taylor, why would I lie to you about getting shot?"
Her jaw dropped and her face turned pale.
What did I do now? I asked myself as the pain reached an intolerable level.
"My last name," she said, her voice trembling, "how do you know my last name?"
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Dear Cadenators of Undie Nation,
Oooh! That chapter was deliciously disturbing to write! What did you think? I'm excited to hear what you think will happen to Caden and his new roommate Kendall! Also, what do you think has happened to Hadley? I'm super excited to share Chapter Twenty-Four with you! It's going to be EPIC!
Also, I LOVE the fan art you all have been creating for me and I'd really like to start using it as the picture for each chapter. So, if you have #Under, #Captured, #Grishma, or art for ANY of my books on Wattpad, please tweet, email, or message me and I'll share it on here! All of my links and contact info are below. Just let me know which book it goes with and if it goes with a specific chapter or if it can go with any chapter. For each piece selected, I'll dedicate the chapter to you and give you a shoutout at the end of the chapter! :)
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I'm super excited to see what you come up with!
Hearts,
Kelly Anne Blount xoxo