by Kait Rose
“You son have been possessed by Satan. He has marked you and your actions support it.”
Crack
Crack
The whip came down on my bare back and it was a pain I never felt before. The pain was intense and I could feel the blood dripping down my back. Unfortunately, I knew this was going to be a pain I would come to be familiar with. Mrs. Dolan started chanting her prayers while throwing holy water down on my back. All it did was make it sting even worse.
“Do you see that? The Holy Water is burning him!” Mrs. Dolan sounded frightened and Mr. Dolan cracked the whip down even harder.
This same scene played ever night for god knows how long. I felt weak and was honestly ready to give up, but the thought of Madison kept me going. As much as I hate her right now, I wouldn’t want to leave this world without seeing her one last time.
~.~
It had to be about a month that I’ve been chained down here. I lost track of the days while my hope that I would escape out of here diminished into nothing. The whippings and beatings were multiple times a night, the Gospel music played on repeat all day, and the whole starving me with only bread and water had me wishing for death.
Right when I was ready to close my eyes and prayed this was the last time I fell asleep, I heard a scuffle upstairs. I can make out Mr. Dolan shouting while Mrs. Dolan was screaming in hysterics, furniture was being tossed and broken, but I couldn’t make out the third voice I heard. I knew this was my only shot to get out of here, so I mustered the last of my energy and started shouting, “Help! Help!”, over and over again.
The banging and breaking increased until I heard one final loud thud. I hope whoever was upstairs will come down here and find me because I can’t see myself lasting another day. The basement door was flung open and I heard someone rushing down the stairs. It was still very dark, but I was able to make out the voice asking where I am.
“Jude! Where are you?” Ben yelled while he stumbled around in the dark looking for a light switch.
“I’m over here! The light switch is left from the stairs.” He found the switch quickly and flicked it on. It took me a few minutes to get adjusted to the bright light since I’ve been living in the pitch black for too long.
When I was finally able to open my eyes fully, the look on Ben’s face was one I’ll never forget. He looked pained and I realized I must look terrible. When the nightly whippings became to much of a bloody mess, Mr. Dolan liked to use his fists on the rest of me. For how swollen my face felt and how much weight I lost, I was probably unrecognizable.
“I’ll tell you everything Ben, but please just get me out of here.” My voice couldn’t help but crack. I always prided myself on being strong and never breaking, but this time I couldn’t be.
“Of course. Do you know where the key is to get you out of those chains?”
“Fuck! He carries it on him on his belt loop.” Without another word, Ben ran up the stairs. I really hope he would be able to get the key without a problem. I felt bad that Ben was in the middle of this now, but I was happy someone cared enough about me to come check on me.
“Got it!” Ben came rushing back down the steps. I was tired of praying and religion, but at this point I was thanking God that I met Ben when I did.
He got the chains undone, but I was still too weak to get up. Ben must have understood the situation because without thinking twice, he picked me up and put me over his shoulder. I felt him staring at my scars on my back and I couldn’t blame him. For how much my back was in pain, I could only imagine what horror it showed.
We got up the stairs into the kitchen and the sight of it shocked me. Their china cabinet was pushed over, dishes and chairs were broken all over the floor, and even their radio was smashed into pieces. The most surprising part was seeing a bloody Mr. Dolan unconscious on the floor with Mrs. Dolan rocking back and forth praying in the corner of the kitchen.
“God doesn’t save people like you. When you’re in hell, tell the devil I said hello.” Those were the last words I ever said to her and she responded by rocking faster and praying louder.
Chapter Twenty Three
Madison
I don’t know what I expected. I should have known he would just consider me as a one night stand like the rest of the girls he hooks up with. It was just part of me of hoped I was getting the old Jude back that actually cared about me. I thought maybe he would let go of the past and let me in, but I thought wrong.
“Listen Madison…” I held my hand up to stop him from whatever speech he is going to give me about tonight. He had this whole time in the car to say something instead of making it awkward with the dead silence. All I wanted right now was to get in my bed with some of my heart left intact.
“Just stop.” I hated that my voice cracked. I didn’t want to give him anymore power over me, but right now I was hurt. Without looking at him, I got out of his car and headed to my door. I felt his stare the entire time until I closed the front door.
“Someone looks a little flushed.” Stella rushed over to take a peak out the curtains.
“Why is he punching the steering wheel?” Huh? I went to go look, but as soon as I did he sped away.
“I’m so stupid Stella.” I slouched down onto the couch and wrapped the blanket around me. Stella must have put two and two together because she went to the refrigerator to grab a bottle of wine and a pint of ice cream. Any time we were upset since we were seniors in high school, we would always sneak some ice cream and a bottle of wine from her parents.
“Thanks.” I took a huge gulp of my wine. I was more than ready to down the bottle and crash tonight, but right now I didn’t want to be alone with my thoughts.
“Want to talk about it?” Stella usually pushed for details, but I knew she could sense things really went wrong after the party.
“He took me over to the university to teach me how to swim. It was like we went back in time when we used to be friends. Everything was going great and then things got heated.” I left out the part about what I saw on his back. I knew how I was with my secrets and I knew his were most likely as dark as mine.
“How heated?”
I put a pillow over my face and said quickly, “I slept with Jude in the coach’s office at school.” Stella ended up spitting her wine out everywhere.
“Holy shit! Was it good at least?”
“Honestly, best sex I ever had. No offense to your brother.”
“Ah! Don’t you ever repeat those words again.” I couldn’t help, but laugh while she held her hands over her ears.
“Oh shit.”
“What?” I have a feeling I’m not going to like what comes out of her mouth next.
“What is Knox going to think about you hooking up with his best friend? You know he wants you back, right?” I felt a bigger headache coming on now with the stress of Knox finding out.
“This is more of a mess now. I don’t think Jude is going to say anything to anyone. He seemed pissed it even happened to begin with.”
“Ok?well I won’t say anything either. I’m not for lying to Knox, but I think it’s unnecessary to hurt him when you two aren’t dating anyways.” Stella was one who always kept a promise and I trusted she would. I just hated that I now put her in the middle of it.
“Enough about me. What’s going on with you and Brad?”
“You mean douche bag?” She gave me a pointed look and I forgot about my rude stunt from before.
“I’m sorry about that, I was out of line.”
“It’s ok and he figured you were just drunk. It’s all new and I know he may have come off a little bit of a douche bag, but he’s sweet to me. I want to see where this could go.”
“Then you should, but what about Ezra?”
“What about him?” She is completely blind. Anyone in the room with those two can see they have feelings for each other, especially Ezra.
“You know he likes you, right?”
“Ezra! No! We’re just friends and like I sai
d before he would never date me because of Knox.” Anytime Stella’s voice goes up another octave, you can tell she’s hiding something.
“I’m exhausted from tonight. You can keep your secrets, but eventually I’ll find out.” I got up to head towards my room when a pillow went soaring past my head.
I tossed and turned most of the night. I couldn’t stop the images of tonight replaying in my head. From almost drowning to sleeping with Jude, I had one hell of a night. Even the guilt of sleeping with Jude behind Knox’s back weighed on me deeply. Part of me knew I should tell Knox the truth because he deserves to hear it from me before anyone else, but the other part that was winning told me not to break his heart even more because he mostly likely won’t ever find out. It’s not like we’re together where I cheated, but the guilt was all the same.
I slept most of Sunday away and now dreadful Monday was here. I wasn’t looking forward to English with Jude and Chanel, but at least I had Stella there with me. Well I thought I would have Stella.
“What’s wrong?” Stella had the blanket wrapped around her from head to toe and a nose redder than Rudolph’s.
“I’m sick.” Her voice was hoarse and you can tell she had no energy left.
“I’ll stay home with you. What can I get you?”
“Actually can you go to English today? We’re suppose to go more in debt with the Renaissance period and I can really use the notes from today’s lecture.” Out of all classes that was the one I didn’t want to go to, but I understood why she asked. Stella’s one weak subject was English, which is why we took it together.
“Of course. I don’t have anything going on in my morning classes. How about we throw some movies on until I have to leave?”
“Sounds good, thank you.” I went to the kitchen and made Stella another cup of tea. We watched a few romance movies that were her favorites. It didn’t help me at all to forget about Jude. I definitely have to sneak a horror movie in for tonight.
Soon it was time for class and I headed out to my car after making sure Stella had everything she needed. I might have even snuck her phone and texted Ezra to come over. She’ll most likely will kill me when she’s better, but I had a feeling one day she will thank me.
I pulled up to the English hall and my anxiety was at an all time high. When I got to the class room, I was one of the last in. Luck was on my side though because there was a seat closest to the door where I didn’t have to walk past Jude sitting by Chanel. After what she did to me, it was a slap in the face he would even talk to her.
Scratch that, luck was not on my side. As soon as I went to sit down, my bag knocked into the seat next to me knocking this guy’s book and papers all over the ground. Why can I just not sit down and be invisible for one day?
“Oh my god I am so sorry.” I bent down and started grabbing all his things. I thought I was already embarrassed, but nope things got worst. After throwing everything on his desk, my luck would have it that I head butted him next. I could hear Chanel laughing at my dispense and telling Jude how stupid I am.
“I honestly should just go sit over there where I can die from embarrassment without causing you anymore problems. Again I am so sorry!” I went to grab my bag to find another seat, but I felt him grab my wrist to keep me from going.
“Don’t worry about it, we can die from embarrassment together.” The, holy shit is this guy hot, started to laugh. I felt myself instantly calm and even laughed myself at this whole situation.
“Thanks, I’m Madison.” I went to shake his hand which made him smile bigger.
“Declan.” His green eyes lit up while I noticed him checking me out. I’m surprised I never seen him before. He was someone who would make a whole room turn to look at him. He had the total jock look from his backwards baseball cap to his letterman jacket. His pale skin and dark hair made his green eyes shine bright, but what made him most noticeable was his perfect smile with his dimples.
“Why haven’t I seen you before?”
“I was back home taking care of my dad until he passed away.”
“I’m sorry, I lost my parents too when I was a kid though. It’s something that never stops hurting, but it gets easier each day moving forward.” Even though I lost both of my parents, I always felt it had to be harder for those who were actually close to their parents.
“You’re the first person to ever be real about it hurting. Mostly I’ve been getting people telling me how sorry they are and how they can’t imagine how I feel. The best are the ones to tell you that one day I’ll be able to move on, but how do you move on from losing your first best friend?”
“Honestly, my situation is different. It’s great though he was your best friend. I know were strangers, but if you ever want to talk, I’m all ears.”
He placed his hand over mine and said, “Thank you, I’ll definitely take you up on that.” Right at that moment I heard someone starting to cough. When I looked back, it was Jude staring daggers at Declan which he didn’t stop until class was over.
“Maybe one of these days we can grab coffee and talk?” Declan wrote his number on my hand and I gave him a head nod that it would be nice. I just hope I wasn’t leading him on. Even though Jude is a complete asshole right now, I still had hope that maybe one day we can get back to what we used to have.
Declan left the room and I started to pack my things up. Chanel of course had to bump into my desk, spilling everything on the ground. What surprised me though was Jude bending over to help me.
“Thanks.” I didn’t know what to say to him. Everything just felt so awkward between us.
He didn’t say anything, but held my hand. Right when I was about to ask him if he wanted to talk about last night, he dropped my hand and left the room without another look in my direction. That was so weird. I looked down and noticed Declan’s number was smudged to the point I couldn’t read it. “What an asshole.” I said out loud hoping he would hear me.
I stormed out of the class room, pissed off once again. I knew he rubbed Declan’s number off my hand on purpose. I was planning everything I was going to say to him in my head, but my mind went completely blank with seeing the scene in front of me. Right across the hallway, Jude had Chanel pressed against the wall. They were whispering in each other’s ears, so I couldn’t hear a thing. How their bodies were pressed together, I didn’t even want to hear what they were saying. I couldn’t look away though. You know those movie scenes where the actor is in the middle of the road and they see the car coming? They know they need to move out of the way before they get hit, but they just stand there frozen in shock. That is exactly the dilemma I’m facing minus the car. I know I need to look away from the scene that is causing me more pain than I want to feel, but I’m frozen in place. When I finally snap out of it, I do what I do best and try to run, but when I turn I knocked into someone once again.
“We got to stop meeting like this.” Declan smiled down at me which helped me not feel as mortified as I should. I gave him a small smile, but what is going on with Jude and Chanel over there wouldn’t get out of my head.
“Are you ok?” I shook my head no barely able to get any words out. He looked over at Jude and Chanel and then back at me again. He seemed to put two and two together and offered me his hand. I took it like he was my life preserver and he nodded towards the exit. I went with him without hesitation, but of course I was a sucker for punishment and looked back one last time at Jude. Chanel was gone, but Jude stayed there leaning against a wall with his arms crossed giving Declan one evil look.
I followed Declan outside where he led us to the middle of the court. “Let me guess ex boyfriend?”
“Not exactly. We have history that just keeps getting more complicated with him hating me one minute and not the next.” I was sick of the back and forth with him and just wish I could turn off my feelings for him and move on to someone sweet like Declan.
“Let me tell you something, I saw him stare at you the entire class and giving me a look where he wanted
to rip me apart for even talking to you. He definitely doesn’t hate you.”
“Really, what makes you an expert?”
“I have a similar situation back home. She was originally my best friend who ended up dating my younger brother.”
“That seems way more complicated than my current situation.” I felt relief though that he has someone back at home and we can actually just be friends.
“Yeah definitely complicated, but she is my one.”
“That’s really good to hear, I hope it will eventually work out.”
“So you seem happier that I like someone else.” He started to laugh and I really did enjoy his easy going attitude.
“No offense, but I just want to be friends and I was worried you might end up liking me which would make things even more complicated.” I cringed after saying that since he never even made a move that said he liked me. “Wait that sounded terrible!”
“No it’s ok! I was honestly checking you out and flirting a smidge. I always have this idea if I just meet a different girl maybe I will get over Abby. I’m sorry that sounds worse than what you said.” We both started laughing and I can see Declan becoming a good friend.
“Friends?” I reached out my hand and he shook it agreeing.
“Want to grab lunch?” My stomach started to grumble in response and we both headed off to the cafeteria. Why can’t things be this simple with Jude?
We grabbed our food and our conversations were easy and uncomplicated, something that I badly needed. We talked about where we grew up and our friends. I mostly listened since I didn’t want to get into much about my old life.
“Declan, my man! What’s up?” Knox came running over and sat down next to me.
“Nothing much, just having lunch with my new friend Madison.” He took another bite of his burger while stealing a handful of my fries. We only just met, but it felt like we were life long friends.
