“We don’t need more,” One argues as we begin our ascent up the stairs. With each step I take, my heart begins rapidly beating in my chest. The sound making its way into my ears like a percussion drum. It’s getting harder to breathe the closer we get to the door that leads into the main part of the house.
Nova twists his head, probably to argue with my sister but when he sees the panic on my face he stops. “You okay, Two?”
I shake my head, lowering my feet to the lower rung of the staircase. “I can’t do it.”
“Can’t do what, Two?” Nova asks, opening the door and sitting our bags in the hallway. “What can’t you do?”
“I can’t leave. I’m sorry, I just… I can’t do it!” I hysterically yell.
My sister wraps her arm around my shoulder and tugs me into her side. “You can do this, sis. You’re braver than you think you are.”
“I’m not,” I dispute. “I need to stay here. I’m safe here, sis.”
“You’re not,” Nova contests. “In a few minutes, this house is going to be swarming with a SWAT team and other government officials. You can either come and stay with me where I’ll keep you safe, or take your chances with them. Their only priorityis taking your father down. Mine is to keep the two of you protected and out of the spotlight until he can be located and taken to jail.”
“But this is our home,” I cry.
“No, it’s not, Two. This is your prison,” Nova contends, tossing his arms out in the air. “You have no freedom here. It’s not right. It’s not normal.” He vehemently shakes his head as if he’s trying to knock the memories of this place out of it. “This isn’t life, ladies. It’s a cage. He’s confined you to this house for your entire lives. You have no friends outside of each other. You’ve never gone to a party, or experienced other things teenagers your ages have. Your father has made a mockery out of you two and it pisses me off. Let me show you how life should be. Take a chance, Two. I swear, I’ll keep you safe.”
“But what if he finds us and brings us back? You don’t know what he’ll do to us, Nova,” I whine, my entire body shivering from the thought.
“If he finds you, I’ll kill him,” Nova swears. And I don’t know why, but those words are the ones I needed to hear to find my bravery.
“You will?” One questions, her resolve breaking.
Nova gives us both a stern look. One full of promises and absolution. “I guarantee you that I will. I absolutely willnotlet him lay a single finger on either one of you ever again. That’s my solemn vow to you.”
“Okay,” I say, my voice quivering.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here,” One says, looking determined.
Nova reaches out and systematically squeezes our shoulders. “You’ve got this.” My knees weaken and try to buckle as I retake the step I’d backed off of earlier before I had my meltdown. I keep my head hung and my eyes on the floor as we trail behind him. They put me in the middle and keep me there the entire way through the house.
“I can do this, I’ve got this,” I chant underneath my breath. The next thing I know, the front door is swung open and sunlight hits my eyes, blinding me. “It hurts!” I slam my hands over my eyes to dim the sunbeams that are trying to burn my retinas.
The door quickly shuts and Nova mumbles something under his breath I don’t catch. “Okay,” he sighs. “I’m going to take your bags out to my truck and grab my spare pairs of sunglasses. I’m taking it that you two have never seen sunlight before, right?”
“No, we only come upstairs when it’s dark outside,” One admits.
“That’s what I figured. Sit tight, ladies, I won’t be long.”
Once Nova takes our things outside, I turn to my sister and ask, “Did you know it was that bright?”
“I didn’t,” she insists. “We’ll get used to it.”
“I hope so, that was… unexpected,” I state.
“Brace yourself, sister. I have a gut feeling that a lot of what we’re about to discover will be unexpected.”
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
NOVA
I march to my truck and toss their bags into the bed. Three motherfucking thirteen gallon trash bags that are half full at best and they struggled to lift them! I don’t know why that angers me, but it sure as hell does. These girls are malnourished and have no strength or endurance.
That’s going to be one of the first things I help them work on.
