The Institute: A Dark Anthology

by Dani René

  “Someone needin’ some sugar?”

  Trying to muffle my giggle, I quickly crawled into his bed. I stopped when he winced. “What’s wrong?”

  With effort, he laid an arm out for me to come to his side. “Cracked ribs was the flavor of this trip.” When I didn’t move, his smile faded. “You are the only healing that will make this better. Lay with me.”

  Tears rushed from my eyes as I carefully snuggled to his bruised side. “Tate, why didn’t they hurt me this time?”

  He kissed the top of my head after a deep inhale of my hair. His arm curled around me, even though I was sure it was causing him more pain. “Don’t ask me to question a blessing, Pretty Girl.”

  My tears dripped to his damaged chest. “Okay, Tate.”

  “Don’t leave me until I fall asleep.”

  I tried to swallow an audible sob, but it was like swallowing my heart whole. Impossible since my heart thundered for the most precious being in my world. “Okay, Tate.”

  His tired whisper was pure honesty. “I love you, Lacey.”

  The cool glass no longer offers comfort against my heated skin. “Tate, I need you to come to me.” My eyes dare to open, but I wish I’d never opened them. For the first time since being at Serenity, I finally see iron bars at my window. “No.” I slide up the window and touch the cold bars that are screaming a reality I don’t want to see. “No.” I grab them and try to rattle the obstruction that was not here before, but they are solid and unforgiving to my soul.

  Now a sophomore in high school, Tate was in excruciating pain. Standing in my bathroom, he peered down at me on my knees in front of him. “I’m not pulling down my pants, Pretty Girl.”

  “Let me see!” I grinned. “I won’t judge your shortcomings.” Again, I reached for his buckle only to be shooed away.

  “Shortcomings?” He laughed while faking being appalled. “If my balls weren’t sliced, I’d tell you—”

  I smacked his thigh. “Pants. Down. Now.”

  After an exhale that told me I’d won, Tate finally unbuckled his jeans and pulled them down along with his boxers.

  His penis was flaccid but still held my attention. I tried to curve my curiosity and focus on his wound. “Can you lift it so I can see?”

  Tate teased, “See? Not short. You’re not even sure it’s possible to lift this beast.”

  It was nothing if not amazing that he and I could find it possible to joke around when, in truth, we were experiencing another result from crude humans conflicting lesions on another.

  Tate lifted his penis to expose his testicles. All jokes aside, the action had him throwing his head back and knocking it into my bathroom wall.

  I hissed at the sight. “Oh, honey. I’m sorry.” I quickly turned to the cabinets behind me and grabbed some ointment. When I faced him again, I apologized before attempting to spread some on his sensitive area.

  Understandably, Tate jerked away. “Fuck! It hurts so bad, Lace!”

  I swallowed down sorrow because his pain was my pain. His hurt was my hurt. It was as if I felt everything he did because I adored him that much. “Okay. I won’t touch you there.”

  I moved his hand from his penis, which had him asking, “What are you—” Tate gasped as I took his soft length in my mouth. “Lace—” His head hit the wall again, but this time, it was in pleasure. Tate grew in my mouth, telling me he was no longer focused on his cruel injury. While my mouth worked him, my lubricated fingers slowly found their way to the laceration and dabbed ointment...

  A breeze in the night blows across my face, giving me the fresh air needed to recover from his pain. I stare into the woods Tate had rushed from to visit me in the garden. Tears run down my face as I realize it may have all been another illusion.

  Tate’s mom was now spending all extra minutes with her new boyfriend. She was spending nights with him, too. I didn’t judge her for clinging to a man. I was doing the same.

  In his bedroom, Tate’s tongue delved into my mouth as his body rocked on top of me. After two more years, we were no longer inexperienced lovers. We knew how to gift each other highs that we could ride out into the night. My soft thighs clung to his strong hips that surged with an expertise that had me groaning with a fed hunger, yet I was glutton for more of him. “More, Tate,” I moaned, already ravished yet begging.

  Eager hands slipped under my shoulders, wrapped around, and gripped tight. I loved it when he did this. It was as if he was cementing me to this earth, in his arms, while joining his body with mine. As he pulled on me, his length pushed through my drenched channel until it was seated as deep as possible. Tate didn’t retreat. He let us enjoy the sensation as I pulsed around him, on the verge of exploding into the most desired oblivion.

  “I love you, Tate.”

  Gasping for air, since I had him enraptured, he chuckled, “Goddamnit,” then grunted, “You know not to talk to me like that—” He ejaculated before finishing his sentence. I wrapped my legs around his butt, insisting he stayed planted inside me because it drove him wild. “Shiiiiiiiiit…”

  His climax began to draw one from me. Even with all his weight on me, my body arched as my own high sensually ripped through me.

  Knowing me on a level that was limitless, Tate started rocking his hips again to complete my mountain climb. I mewed at the sensation that took me into a private world. Stars raced through my mind, whether my eyes were opened or closed. Light storms danced through every molecule my body possessed. Then, boom, I orgasmed so hard it felt like a meteor fell from the sky and hit the earth with an immeasurable explosion.

  Our sweat combined as we both laid in silence and awe. Our minds were free…

  Sensing what is to come, I cover my mouth, begging myself not to vomit and alert an orderly to my distress.

  Laughter boomed in Tate’s living room, waking us.

  Tate covered my mouth when he saw a scream building inside me. “Shh.” Huddling over me, he shook as he stared at his closed bedroom door. “They're here for me. Not you.” He suddenly leapt from his bed and forcefully yanked me to my feet, then dragged me to his closet. Lips slammed to mine. “You don’t come out for nothing. You understand me?” Then he shoved me into his closet before closing the door. “Don’t watch, Lace.”

  Absolutely horrified, I stood, naked and motionless, as Tate’s bedroom door swung open. “Where are you, fucker?”

  Tate backed away from me as if leading the predator away. “I’m here.” He faced the evil ones. “Now, get the fuck out.”

  Jarod laughed. “Oh, good. He’s ready to play.”

  As Tate grabbed jeans from a chair and tugged them on, I saw four dark figures enter his unlit room and prowl toward him. “Fuck all four of you.” Tate kept backing away, drawing the attention away from where I hid.

  Falling to my knees, I puke on the floor.

  This is why I had been spared so often by the brothers. Tate had been taunting them, daring their attack, so they were too tired to come after me.

  I wipe my mouth as the memory continues…

  While loud arguing took place, I quietly pulled a sweatshirt from a hanger and slipped it on. I grabbed a pair of Tate’s sweatpants from the ground and pulled them on, tightening the drawstring to hold them up.

  Suddenly, the brothers were wrestling with Tate, forcing him into his bathroom, dragging a chair with them. Soon, he was screaming. His pain is my pain… I ran from the closet, yelling, “Stop it!” and rushed to the bathroom to see the gruesome act of the brothers removing one of Tate’s molars.

  They stopped. Five sets of eyes found me. One set sadder than I had ever seen. The other four sets, madder than ever before.

  Jarod started to shake in a madness I couldn’t comprehend. “What are you doing here?” He didn’t even give me a chance to answer before looking back to Tate in the chair, blood dripping from his lips. “Have you been fucking my sister?” Jarod spoke as if disrespected. He spoke as if he weren’t fucking me himself.

  Tate kept spitting
up blood, unable to reply.

  His desperate state had me shoving past the stunned brothers and grabbing a rag. With compassion, I told Tate, “Open your mouth.”

  River blue eyes bored into mine as he obliged me. He tried to talk, “Should’ve stayed.”

  Placing the corner of the cloth in his mouth, I cried, “Evermore.” Tate’s shoulders shook as he began to break down, sensing the horror my actions would cause. I kissed his bloody mouth, “Evermo—” then was yanked away by my hair.

  On my knees, I grab at the left side of my face. I can remember Tate’s agonized screams around the rag in his mouth as he was held back while my own molar was torn from my mouth. I must’ve passed out because I have no recollection until waking in the trunk of my brother’s car.

  Tate was with me, running fingers through my hair as my eyes fluttered open. His fingers didn’t have much to touch. My hair had been hacked off as if the brothers were enraged at me. Tate still had blood around his lips that was cracked, as if drying long ago. I tried to move but quickly realized Tate and I were compacted in the small confinement. Only light from the taillights lit the trunk.

  On his side, facing me, he tried to talk around his swollen cheek. “You’ve been out for a whole day.”

  He helped me pull a rag from my mouth. “W—” I winced then held my sore cheek. “Where are we?”

  Tate appeared to be in a surrendered calm as if he had given up. “I don’t know. They have been driving us for hours.”

  It was easy to imagine why the brothers were driving us far from home. “They are going to kill us, aren’t they?”

  His nod was solemn and tired. “Yeah.”

  Even though it hurt, I bit on my lips, so scared and sad. Tears leaked from my eyes that burned from exhaustion and dehydration. “I should have stayed in the closet.”

  Tate’s swollen lips trembled as he attempted a smile. “No. You were so brave; it made me love you even more.”

  My heart split wide open, and I sobbed. “I will miss you so much, Tate.”

  “Shh.” Barely any room, Tate still leaned his head forward to mine. “No. We will be together. Lacey, say it. No matter what, we will find each other.”

  Trying to catch my breath, I wiped his tears. “N-No matter what. E-Evermore.”

  Crusty, quivering, yet beautiful lips touched mine. “Evermore.”

  Soon, we were bouncing in the trunk as if headed down an old dirt road. Once the car stopped, my heart pounded. This was it. And, if the brothers were epically cruel when composed, with how mad they were, this death was going to be horrendous.

  The trunk opened. Tate did his best to hold on to my hands, but four on one was too much. Overpowered, he screamed for me to run, but I didn’t even have a chance to climb out of the trunk before one of his brothers had me in their grasp.

  My wrists were being bound together by a thick rope as a Jake told Tate, “Don’t worry. You can have her again.” The opposite end of the rope was placed in the trunk before it was slammed shut. “As soon as you catch her.”

  I stood there, dumbfounded to his meaning until they all loaded back into the car and started the motor. Tate’s eyes raced from my wrist to the trunk. All blood rushed from his face. “Oh, Jesus, no.” But there was nothing to be done.

  The car went into drive… Then dragged me down the dirt road…

  Tate’s sweatpants or sweatshirt, nor his screams of rage, could save me. My little body took a beating. Tate ran as fast as he could to catch up to me, but the car was too quick.

  Mercifully, my head hit a rock, and I was knocked unconscious.

  In the fetal position, I open my eyes and pull my traumatized body back to the window with bars. “T-Tate.” I inhale, hoping to smell his manly scent. “I… need you.”

  Coughing is what woke me.

  In so much pain, lying on my back, my head lobbed to the left to see Tate, also on his back, his right hand shook while reaching out to me. There was an immense amount of blood all over his sternum as if he had been savagely stabbed, over and over.

  To help him touch me, my left hand moved slightly. My voice cracked. “I’m here.”

  The brothers were gone. I can only presume they took us for dead or dying.

  Shell-shocked river eyes shot to mine. “Lace—” Blood spurted from his mouth.

  A sob ripped from my shattered body and heart as I gripped his fingers. “I’m here. I’m here, Tate.”

  Tate had never cried so hard in front of me before, but maybe that’s what happens when you’re saying goodbye. There is nothing left to hide, so you do and say what needs to be. “You find me, okay?”

  My body jolted through every heartbreaking howl that escaped me. “Okay, Tate. I will. I promise.”

  Blood leaked from his mouth. “Evermore.”

  Our scarred palms touched one another tight until… Tate’s went still.

  If I were to have combined every torture the brothers inflicted on me, all at once, it wouldn’t even begin to compare to the pain of losing Tate. As I stared into his dead eyes, I envied his death.

  My returned memory is like witnessing the love of my life dying all over again. Anguished keening sneaks out from somewhere deep within my body as acid eats away at my heart. Breathing in air is like inhaling razor blades… I simply can’t live like this!

  They weren’t illusions at all.

  They were memories.

  Maybe that is the case for all of us.

  We’re not mad. We’re simply… destroyed.

  Knowing Tate is never coming to me again, I slam the window shut so hard I want the devil himself to wake. I want him to suffer! But the hospital stays quiet. Only a crack in the glass is heard.

  The broken glass is a symbol of me, so I use it to search for my Tate. I take the shard and slice my wrist and beg myself to return to the woods the night Tate perished—the night I made a promise I have every intention on keeping.

  As I lie here, life draining from my body, there is a clarity that is bringing me a cherished peace. I smile in relief, knowing that there is truly an Evermore, as I sense him waiting for me.

  The trees before me bow and bend to the wind that rushes through. A few leaves surrender to the grand force and fall from where they once belonged. I watch them float downward… as if dancing in celebration for my choice.

  I exhale… Choice. It is finally mine.

  “You should’ve waited for my sugar.”

  My last exhale is with serenity. “Tate.”

  I found him.

  Afterword

  Oh, this story and what it has done to my heart! I hope you have enjoyed Lacey and Tate as much as I have. They are beautiful souls, lost in a life that was far too cruel.

  I’m already receiving requests by beta readers and ARC readers for more of this book, and more about the brothers. If you would like more, reach out to me in my Facebook group, India R. Adams’ Flames, or signup for my newsletter for updates, AND for a FREE eCopy of my novella, Blue Waters!

  Burn bright and beautiful,

  India

  About India R Adams

  India R Adams is an author/singer/songwriter who has written YA and NA novels such as My Wolf and Me, Blue Waters (A Tainted Water Novella), Steal Me (A Haunted Roads Novel), Rain (A Stranger in the Woods Novel), and Serenity (A Forever Novel), as well as music for the Forever series.

  India was born and raised in Florida but has also been lucky enough to live in Idaho (where she froze but fell in love with the small-town life), Austin, Texas (where she started her first book, Serenity and met wonderful artists), and now Murphy, North Carolina (where the mountains have stolen a piece of her heart).

  Being a survivor of abuse has inspired India to let others know they have nothing to be ashamed of. She has used her many years of professional theater experience to build characters and stories with dark undercurrents that stem from her personal life. She says, “I’m simply finding ways to empower perfect imperfections.”

  Another thi
ng India feels needs to change is the problem of sexual slavery. She has joined forces with jewelers to design beautiful ways to raise money for nonprofit organizations. Even though India writes about serious subjects such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, and human trafficking, she has a magnificent sense of humor, as do the characters she creates. Her novels are perfectly balanced between laughter and tears, letting readers see how to empower their own perfect imperfections.

  Find India Online

  http://indias.productions

  Twitter: @TheIndiaRAdams

  Facebook.com/IndiaRAdams

  Instagram: @indiaradams

  Newsletter: https://bit.ly/2x9Z3fj

  Facebook Group: India R. Adams’ Flames

  Also By India R. Adams

  Tainted Water

  Blue Waters

  Black Waters

  Red Waters

  Volatile Waters

  Ashen Waters

  My Wolf and Me

  Ivy’s Poison

  Haunted Roads

  Steal Me

  Scar Me

  Bleed Me (Coming Soon)

  A Stranger in the Woods

  Rain

  River

  Mist (Coming Soon)

  Forever

  Serenity

  Destiny

  Mercy

  Hope (Coming Soon)

  Thank You

  Thank you so much, Author Dani René, for inviting me into this project! It is an honor to work with you, and always a joy.

  Thank you to Cat for being by my side, every single step of this crazy journey! You, as always, go so far and beyond being my PA. You are my friend. You’re a soul sister.