Chapter 1
Oakley
“We are gonna try something new.”
A shudder went through me at those six words. Six simple ones, spoken like it was a good thing to try to do something different. To most, a statement like that would be nothing. Maybe something exciting, maybe a tiny bit scary, but worth it.
But for me, it wasn’t going to be good. It would be the next step in hell, and who knew if I’d survive it.
The last time those words had been spoken by this man, I almost died. More than once. I wondered if finally, this would be the last time I’d have to deal with the crazy ideas of a madman.
As the door clanged shut, echoing off the thin carpeted floor of the basement, stale air wafted in around the man.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed as I stared at him with wide eyes, waiting.
It was always a game with him. One where I always lost, no matter what. I swore that was my purpose. To make this man happy by losing my own sanity.
There had been times when I was kept in complete darkness. Times where the lights were caused to flicker and give me a pounding headache for weeks on end. There were times I was only allowed to eat a certain thing for days, and even a month where I only got barely a bite a day.
“Why are you still sitting on that?” His brown eyes flashed to where I sat before they turned into a glare.
Quickly, I scrambled off the bed, if one could even call it that. The thin mattress wasn’t really even a bed. It did little to help keep any seeping cold during the frigid winters since it lay right on the floor that was nothing more than cement under a layer of carpet.
Winters were the worst since I wasmovedto live down here. I missed my room upstairs, even if the windows were covered in newspapers and plywood, preventing me from looking out. It had always been that way since my mother dropped me off here years ago.
I was still waiting for her to come back and get me, even though I had long since stopped asking where she was, or when she’d be back.
With my feet on the dusty floor, I tilted my head down but kept the man in sight. Arms loosely at my sides, although I wanted the comfort of wrapping them around myself as my knees shook, I knew better. The lasting marks from the punishment last month were still clear as a reminder of that.
“From here on out, you will address me as Sir, and only Sir.”
I quickly nodded. Even though there were questions that came about with that statement.
Was I to talk? The last order he’d given me was to not utter a word when I was in his presence. Before that, I was told to call himFrank,and before that, it was for me not to address him at all.
Which is why I started calling himmanin my mind. It was easy not to utter any of the things he wanted me to call him anyway. I wasn’t the mosttalkative type of person to begin with, and when I did talk, he’d end up laughing at my voice.
It was one of the many things I couldn’t control. Like my height, or my tone of voice, or my slenderness.
It didn’t help that I was practically starving under his watch. Most days, I got just enough to keep me alive, but even then I was sure I’d die in this basement. Or maybe he’d be kind enough for me to get a whole five minutes of fresh air before he tossed me into an already dug grave out in the yard somewhere.
One could possibly ask why I hadn’t tried to run. Well, that was easy to answer. I had nowhere else to go.
Mom always told me about the wolves that came and ate children in the middle of the night if they were found outside. But if a wolf didn’t get me, something much worse would.
I wasn’t sure what all the types of creatures that went bump into the night were, I just knew I never wanted to meet them.
Although, as the years passed with this crazy man before me, I wasn’t so sure staying here would be any better than whatever was out past the walls that held me captive.
“Strip.”
Sirfolded his arms across his chest, eyes pinned on me.
Unlike so many times before this, my hands didn’t shake as I lifted the too-big shirt up and over my head. My blond curls landed on my face, tickling the skin.
The first handful of times I had to be naked in front of this man had been one of the worst things. He hadn’t touched me at first. Only looking andcommenting on how small, how thin, and how pale I was. None of that was any different today as I folded the light gray shirt and laid it on the so-called bed before removing the boxers from my hips.
I refused to look at myself, seeing only disgust at the skin, the scars, and the lack ofboythat I was.
