“Patty! Come here!” Sebastian yelled. “Come here, man. I want to see if this works.”
I didn’t budge but kept looking at him. When he realized that I wasn’t going to go over on my own, he tried to sweeten the deal.
“Look, if you let me try this, I’ll show you how to beat Koopa inSuper Mario Bros.”
Hmm… I’d been dying to beat Koopa.
“Come on, it’s not going to hurt you.”
I was thinking about it but hadn’t moved yet.
“Let me try, and right after I’ll show you how to beat Koopa.”
I walked over and watched Sebastian lie down on the back of the patio chair.
“See? Like this.” Sebastian showed me. “To see if this works, though, I’m going to tie your wrists to the chair.”
I took a step back and put my hands behind my back.
“Patty, don’t be a pussy. Eli and I are right here and won’t let anything happen.”
“Don’t tie his hands to the chair,” Eli told Sebastian.
Sebastian didn’t like to be bossed around, and he slugged Eli in the arm.
“He’s my fucking brother. If we want to see if it works, it has to be done a certain way.” Sebastian turned to look at me and pointed to the back of the tipped over chair. “Come on.”
I laid on the back of the chair with my head closest to the ground and my legs dangling over the back of the chair. Sebastian tied my hands to the chair and then went to get a bucket. He pulled a small towel from the bucket, dripping with water, and wrung out the excess.What the hell?As he walked toward me with the towel in his hand, I tried to pull my hands away from the chair.Forget Koopa.I didn’t want to do this anymore.
“Hold his head still, Eli.”
“Sebastian—”
“Come on! Don’t you pussy out. Hold his head still.”
I moved my head from side to side so Eli couldn’t hold me still easily. Sebastian punched me in the stomach, and suddenly I wasn’t worried about my head. I closed my eyes as he punched me two more times in my gut. Sebastian covered my face with the wet towel. Quickly, I realized how hard it was to breathe and fought Eli’s grip on me.
“Sebastian, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Eli said.
“I bet this makes him talk.” That was the last thing I heard from Sebastian before he poured water from the bucket over the towel that was on my face.
I panicked because it was so hard to breathe. No longer was I focused on the agonizing pain in my stomach, because the burning pain in my chest and throat took over. I kicked as hard as I could and tried to move my head.
Stop!
Stop!
Stop!
“St… op!”
Everything seized up in my chest as the word “stop” tumbled out of my mouth. Hearing my own voice for the first time was hard and shocking.
“Sebastian!” Dad yelled.
Dad!
“Elijah! Let go of him!”
