by Taylor Rose
If that wasn’t family, I wasn’t sure what was.
It was then that I realized that family didn’t have to mean blood. In fact, sometimes blood relations hindered you. Whereas the family that I had built, the one that was sitting around me right now, was even better than a family bonded by blood, because I got to choose them and they chose me right back.
Hold on girls, we’re almost there.
Just hang the fuck on.
I need you.
*****
Day three…
I closed my eyes tightly, trying to hold back the vomit that was rising up my throat. It burned its way up further and further, but I forced myself to swallow it down. No matter how much I wanted to throw up right now, I knew that I couldn’t. I knew that it would only make things worse.
I felt a fist collide with my cheek.
“Open your fuckin’ eyes, you stupid cunt,” the guy whose name I recently had learned was Mitch, barked. His face was so close to mine, I could feel the moisture from his spit hitting my skin.
My head snapped backwards, the force of the blow so strong you could hear my neck crack. Pain radiated from my cheek to my neck, going both up and down. Blood pooled in my mouth from my teeth clenching down on my tongue. Shaking my head, I spit some of my blood laced saliva out of my mouth.
I clenched my eyes lids closed tighter, not wanting to give him what he wanted.
“I swear girl, if you don’t open your damn eyes right this fuckin’ second, I’ll come over there and hold em’ open my goddamn self,” he threatened.
My eyes popped open because I didn’t want the gross mother fucker anywhere near me. Not a-fucking-gain. Not today.
“Good little girl, listenin’ and shit,” he slurred, the twenty beers he had been drinking all day finally started to hit him. He swayed on his feet, but somehow still managed to stay standing. Small miracle that was.
“You’re such a good little whore,” Buzz praised my little sister as her body shook from her silent tears. “So much better than your prudish sister.”
My throat closed up and tears prickled my eyes.
How could they be so fucking cruel?
Today was the worst. I thought that the last two days with them had been bad, but I didn’t know bad until today.
Nothing would ever compare to this. Every tragedy and every disaster would be minimal compared to sitting through this. To having to watch my six-year-old sister fall apart for the first time. To have her first time stolen from her like this, and to not even understand what it meant.
My fault. This was all my fault.
I got involved with Buzz in the first place, so this fell on my shoulders.
I twisted my head around, looking around the room we were in for the hundredth time. Nothing new stuck out, everything was either too far away to be helpful, or was locked up. My hands and legs were bound anyways, but I had to keep looking just in case we got the opportunity to escape later.
“Figgy!” Buzz snapped, drawing my attention to him once again.
My mind was hazy and slow, a fog floating in my mind. My movements were sluggish and my eyes blinked slowly.
It had been almost four days since I had last had any food, and my body and mind were starting to slowly shut down. I cocked my head to the side, as if to ask ‘what the fuck?’, needing to give him all the attitude my body could muster.
“Stop being such a stubborn little bitch,” he hissed, his cold and hollow eyes bore into me, causing a shiver to rake my body.
I shook my head, protesting his demand once again.
“Brother, hold her fucking head if you have to!” Buzz yelled to Mitch, snapping him out of his drunken haze long enough to wobble back over to me. He lifted his foot and kicked me straight in the gut. My torso folded in on myself as I doubled over from the pain. The wind was knocked out of me, leaving me breathless. I choked, fighting to pull oxygen into my lungs. Tears stung my eyes and ran down my face, landing on my thighs. The little drops of salt water pooled on my legs, soaking my dirt stained jeans.
Mitch’s disgusting hand clamped around my chin and pulled my head up so that I was once again watching Buzz and Aqua. I would have fucking bitten his hand off it I didn’t have this stupid gag in my mouth still.
A wicked smile took over Buzz’s face, one filled with so much evil it made my skin crawl.
I watched what he wanted me to, but my eyes glazed over and my mind went to the only happy place I had left.
A small smile played on my covered lips, just thinking about him, the only good thing Aqua and I had in our lives anymore. Everything else had been taken away from us. The more I thought happy thoughts, the more my heart hurt, knowing that I was most likely never going to be happy again.
Because I was stuck here, with these sick, psychotic freaks.
Because what happened here would forever haunt me.
Because even though I was strong, I wasn’t strong enough.
Smoke started to fill my vision making it very difficult to see anything.
I coughed into my gag, trying to get the smoke out of my lungs. The smoke burned my eyes and I was blinking quickly, trying to clear my vision.
In the distance, I saw multiple people run into the warehouse.
Hope filled my heart, knowing that they had finally found us.
But even though I was thankful that they got here at all, that they saved us and we were fucking free, it was just a little bit too late.
Because sometimes even the strongest people break.
“Kai has made his way inside. He has eyes on the girls, but needs back up before he can get to em’. Said there’s two crazy guys, not just one like we thought,” Sight updated all of us as he drove like crazy to where my girls were being kept.
“Two?” I asked, my teeth clenched together.
“Affirmative,” Sight said, his grip tightening on the steering wheel, causing his knuckles to turn white.
I cursed.
Two? What the fuck was I missing? I had to be missing something. I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
Anger blazed through my veins, burning my whole body up.
Sight coughed. “You all know what to do, you’ve been briefed. Kai’s on the inside and will help us get the girls out once we get there. Blaine’s set up on the roof opposite of the building. He’ll be our eyes in the sky. He’s watching our backs and will make sure everything goes according to plan. My guys are now your guys. You can trust em’. I fuckin’ promise ya that,” he vowed. “Above all else, trust your fuckin’ instincts. Nine times outta ten, they’re right.”
The van skidded to a stop and the brakes squeaked loudly as Sight threw the van into park and jumped out of the front seat like a bat out of hell. He moved with purpose, his long strides propelled him forward, but he moved so fluidly, so quietly, it seemed like he was gliding over the ground.
We all piled one by one out of the van and made our way across the street. Standing in front of the entrance, Sight held his hand up to keep us from moving.
He whispered into his microphone and a muffled response came back through the headphone in his ear. He nodded to nothing and pulled a smoke grenade out of his belt full of cool tricks.
“Affirmative,” he relayed before pulling the tab off of the smoke grenade. He opened the door just a crack and threw it in there.
Moving my hand up to my face, I flipped the switch on my night vision googles. Even though it was still light out, they would help us seen in the fog.
One. Two. Three seconds went by before a small blast sounded. Smoke piled out of the cracked door creating a heavy fog.
“Move, move, move,” Sight ordered all of us. We rushed into the door, and all separated.
To my right, a sound of a scuffle hit my ears, but I kept my eyes peeled looking for any kind of movement. A loud grunting sound filled the room, a familiar grunting sound.
Dread pooled in my stomach.
No, it couldn’t be.
There was no way. No way.
I sucked in a shocked breath.
But what if there was?
Panic started to claw its way out of my body as the unthinkable happened. The biggest mind fuck in my life hit me like a ton of bricks to the face.
How did he even know about them?
The fog cleared just enough to see Saber pick an older man up off of the ground. He pulled his arms behind his back and kicked him in the shin. Mitch. My sadistic as fuck foster father.
A blinding rage took over as I twisted my body around and started stalking over to the man who had filled my worst nightmares for over the last decade.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” a strong voice filled the room. “I wouldn’t do that, Kieran.”
My head whipped around, looking for the person who had been working with Mitch. My eyes flew over the occupants of the room and landed on Figgy and Aqua sitting in the corner of the room. Their limbs were tied to the chairs they were sitting in and gags were in their fucking mouths.
Figgy was moving around like crazy, trying to get my attention. She was shaking her head ‘no’ frantically, trying to get me to what, leave? As fucking if.
Behind them, I could make out a shadow.
Mitch started squirming around, trying to get free and cursing up a storm.
“You never did know when to give up, brother,” the voice in the shadows bellowed to Mitch. Mitch stilled and sneered to the darkness. He kicked the floor, wood shavings from the ground fluttered in the air.
Mitch scoffed. “You’re one to fuckin’ talk, brother.”
Deja vu hit me like a freight train to the chest.
My lip curled up in disgust. I sneered at Mitch and spit to the ground. “You were so desperate to fuck with me, you brought your own brother in on your sick game?” I spat, fucking disgusted.
Mitch laughed, loud and long.
“How’d ya even know I had a brother?”
I spat on the ground again.
“I didn’t really, not until you just admitted it, you stupid fuck. You’re more disgusting then I thought you were,” I snarled.
Shadow guy barked out a cruel laugh.
“You never told him? Brother, you never fucking told him?” shadow guy hollered across the room.
Sight and Kai were sneaking their way closer and closer to the girls while I distracted the psychopaths in the room. Inch by inch, they lessened the gap.
“Why would I ever tell em’? ‘Snot like it woulda changed anythin’,” Mitch slurred loudly.
“Told me what?” I asked the room. Silence echoed.
Anger pulled its way through my bloodstream.
“Ah ha, not so fast,” the voice from the shadows bellows as he stepped out into the light and held a knife against Figgy’s throat. Sight and Kai backed down, but only a little. They stayed where they were standing. Waiting. Watching. But not moving any closer.
Shock rippled through my body.
Jesus fuck.
This had to be some sick cosmic joke.
Buzz stood behind Figgy, holding a knife to her throat.
Buzz and Mitch?
Buzz and Mitch?!
Brothers… They admitted to being fucking brothers.
Bile rose its way up my throat, and my body doubled over from the realization that they not only knew each other, but that they were fucking related.
I spit on the ground once again.
My head spun as shock and rage pulsed through my veins.
The man who caused my nightmares and the man that abused Figgy, were brothers. Related by blood.
In a weird way, it made sense. They were both sick and twisted, and had a weird fascination cutting into human flesh. But they had different tactics when it came to mental abuse. Neither one worked better, but both ways kept you in line. I knew this from experience.
I glanced over at Figgy who had stopped struggling and was just staring at me. Her eyes were filled with grief and sorrow, but not with shock.
She had already known.
A sick feeling filled my gut.
She must have realized these sickos were related already. Hell, she’d been here for three fucking days with them. Figgy swallowed, and the knife cut a small divot into her neck. A little stream of blood dripped down her chest, and she didn’t even blink from the pain.
“You can let them go now. I’m here… That’s what you guys wanted,” I said to Buzz, hoping I was right, that I was the one he wanted.
He cocked his head to the side, evaluating me.
“That may have been true at the beginning, but now I want her to be here for the finale,” he said as he pointed the knife to Figgy.
Finale? What fucking finale?
“The finale’s the best part, boy,” Mitch piped up for the first time since Buzz had showed his face. He licked his cracked lips in anticipation. Saber pulled his hands tighter behind Mitch’s back and then shook his body, forcing him to stop talking. He seemed to really hate these guys almost as bad as I did, which confused me. Hating them was one thing, but he looked at them like he wanted to light the match and then stand there and watch them fucking burn.
“What’s the fucking finale?” I growled, grinding my teeth together. My hands were balled into fists at my sides. I could feel the muscle in my jaw ticking.
Mitch just chuckled, a slight wheezing sound swirled around in his laugh.
Buzz smirked at me as he held the knife to Figgy’s throat. His eyes were locked on mine, waiting for the perfect moment to explain what this finale was.
Not that I gave a shit, I just wanted this whole ordeal to be over with.
Sight and Kai moved slowly while Buzz’s attention was focused on me. Kai untied Aqua’s ropes, and pulled her close to his body before bringing her safely over to Cooper. Cooper wrapped his arms around her while her body shook in his arms. Tears fell from his face onto her little body, not that he cared at the moment. Aqua was safe and sound in his arms.
One down, one to go.
Buzz sneered at me.
“You think you’re so fucking smart, don’t you? Like I would have let any of you get close to her by accident,” he rambled, his eyes taking on a crazy swirl but focused solely on me. “And here I was worried. I was worried you would be the smart brother.”
Figgy gasped.
The air in my lungs froze. Time slowed to a standstill.
Buzz must have noticed when his words actually sunk in, because he smirked at me and watched the world I had built up in my head fall to the fucking ground around me.
Mitch laughed again, doubling over, and Saber had to knee him in the back four times to get him to stand back up.
No. Just no. It wasn’t fucking possible.
Except, it actually was possible which is what was freaking me out so fucking much.
I didn’t really remember my biological family. I remembered my mom’s face as she put me to bed every night, and the songs she would sing me to sleep. But that was it.
I didn’t remember them.
But I always wondered why Mitch seemed to fucking despise me. If this was true, his hatred made sense.
Squinting, I took a good look at them. I looked like them a little bit. Same hair color, same nose and check bones, but different colored eyes.
Fuck!
My stomach rolled and I fell to my knees and puked, expelling my stomach contents onto the dirty floor in front of me.
No. No. No. No. Just fucking no.
I was nothing like them. Nothing.
Standing back up, I looked Buzz straight in the eyes.
“I don’t believe you,” I told him, calling his bluff.
“Of course you don’t,” he muttered as he dug the knife a little bit harder into Figgy’s neck. Tears were streaming down her beautiful face and my heart broke in my chest. “I wouldn’t want to believe it either, if I was you.”
“You’re lying,” I
replied, my voice hollow of any emotion.
The whole room was quiet. None of my friends said a word, they all just stood around, watching this all go down.
“Look over in my jacket pocket, you’ll find the proof you’re looking for,” he chuckled as he pointed to the denim jacket laying on the table about a foot away from me.
Hesitantly, I walked over to the table. Once there, I slide my hand in the right pocket of his jacket and pulled out an old, worn down picture. My heart stopped beating in my chest.
My mom, god she looked just like I remembered, was holding me as a baby in her arms. I only ever saw her in my head and honestly I wasn’t even sure that she was real before seeing this. Younger versions on both Buzz and Mitch stood on opposite sides of her. She was smiling and had her eyes fixed on me. Her finger was in front of my face, as if she was trying to get me to cooperate while the photo was taken.
It was then that I knew what he was saying was true.
But they weren’t my family.
Just because we shared blood, didn’t make them important to me. It didn’t make me anything like them. It didn’t form some kind of brotherly bond now that I knew we were related.
My family was standing around me, holding strong for me.
I stuffed the picture into my pocket before turning my back on Buzz to look at Mitch. He looked like shit and I was surprised he was even still alive. I was sure that he would have found himself in an early grave with the way he drank.
“Is that why you hated me so much? Why you slapped me around? Why you cut those slashes through my back with my fucking hockey skates? Because we were brothers?” I sneered, my lip had curled up and I was glaring at him with a new found hatred because who the fuck did something like that to their blood?
Saber pulled his arms together tighter after hearing my words. Frankly, I was surprised his shoulders were still in their sockets.
Buzz spit on the ground.
“Ya deserved all of it, boy. We had to live through worse shit than that. Just cause’ I killed our old man before ya got old enough, why did that mean ya were free? That ya didn’t have to deal with any of it?” he trailed off. “I didn’t think it was fair, so I made sure you felt somethin’ bad.”
