Scrambling to my feet, and hitting my shoulder on the edge of the counter in the process, I paused long enough to double check that Sabastian wasn’t paying mind to me at all.
He was though.
He stood there, looking at me with thin lips through the glass door, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“The paci’s on your pillow,” he spoke over the water falling.
Paci? Was that what he called it?
I fled the bathroom, then the bedroom. I didn’t want that thing. I didn’t want anything he wanted.
I wanted to run from the house. I wanted to flee the country. But, I knew that wasn’t safe. The monsterswere out there. And I had no shoes. I wouldn’t make it far in the forest, even though the thought was the most temping thing I’d have for a very long time.
Instead, I ran, trying each door I could. A closet full of towels and bedding. The washer and dryer. An empty bedroom. A different closet. One that had a few blankets covering the floor in a nice pile, and a bean bag chair.
Maneuvering under that, the chair light enough to move, but heavy enough it wouldn’t fall off as I curled into a tight ball, I bit into my arm once more.
I couldn’t make a sound. I couldn’t be found.
The monsters would find me later, but right now, it was a real human that was going to hurt me beyond repair.
Maybe I should have grabbed thepaci, but it was too late now.
I heard the water shut off, then my name being called.
I wasn’t going to be found here. I was hidden in a dark closet.
When it came to facing two different fears at once, I picked the one I knew what to expect. I knew what the monsters wanted. And maybe, the next time they came, I’d let them drag me away. Because I didn’t want to be here anymore. I didn’t want to be such a failure.
Sniffing around another sob, I forced my teeth farther into my forearm. The slight pain grounded me.
No wonder why Sir always hit me. Maybe he knew I needed pain to keep me sane. If not, this is what happened.
I’d spiral, and there’d be no coming back.
“Oakley, little one? Come on out.”
I shook. I wasn’t going to come out. Never. He’d have to drag me out of here by my feet.
The closet opened, and stayed that way for a very long moment. I breathed slowly, trying not to sob, trying not to whimper.
“I guess, if there’s a little boy who doesn’t want to come out,” he spoke softly, gently, like it’d actually work to make me move. “I’ll have to think of something that he’d really, really want.”
Good luck, I thought. There wasn’t anything I wanted bad enough to leave my hiding place.
The closet door shut, but not all the way. A bit of light seeped in through the crack.
“I suppose,” he sighed, like he may have given up. “I’ll just leave this paci on the bed here. If there’s a boy somewhere that wants it, he can come out and get it. And maybe a stuffed animal, too.”
Tears fell harder at the words. Yet I didn’t move. I didn’t dare.
It’s a trap,I thought.There’s always a trap.
Sabastian’s steps were heavier as he left the room. The door closed, yet I still didn’t move.
He could be waiting in the room. He could grab me when I came out, and I wouldn’t get away.
Nope.
