by Ivy Knight
I wake up in one swift move breathing deeply. My hand on my chest, I feel my heartbeat allowing myself to believe that I'm still alive.
It takes me multiple minutes to regain my eyesight. My head is still heavy, but I recognize that I'm still in the room I was in before. I don't remember everything before I passed out, but the dryness in my throat feels like someone chiseled the walls of my throat using sandpaper.
I can't believe they decided to torture me with Chlorine poisoning, that shit kills. Though, they must've treated me quite fast after I passed out or else it would've been impossible to cure me. My airway is my weakest spot and any injury can cause permanent damage.
I'm surprised I'm still alive.
I try to use the salvia in my mouth to get rid of the dryness in my throat, but my body isn't having it. If that isn't bad, my stomach decides to growl reminding me of my hunger.
The last time I ate was on the plane. I don't even know how much time has passed since then but god, I'm starving.
I look behind me at the distance between my body and the wall only to let out a loud groan. Slowly, I bring my legs to the front so that I'm sitting on my butt and scoot back until my back meets the wall.
I throw my head against the wall and close my eyes as I breathe trying to not think about how hungry and thirsty I am. I bring my knees up to my chest protecting my bare stomach from the cold.
I hope Kai and Alec are okay. They know what being tortured feels like but I don't want to be the cause of their pain anymore. I've already harmed them enough and this isn't putting me in the right position.
I also hope Cole is no way near us. I told him if things go wrong, to just wait it out but he never listens. I'm pretty sure he's somewhere in this house with rest of us.
Out of nowhere, I hear the lock to the door click. I keep my eyes closed until I hear footsteps. Bringing my head down, I hear my neck crack. I let out a breath of air and twist my neck around before I open my eyes.
I recognize the man in the room with ease.
Dean, he hasn't changed a bit since the party. His body seems much more toned through his white shirt, but otherwise, his chocolate eyes hold the same childish aura. The only thing about that is they're hidden under a layer of thick anger.
He saunters in, keeping a strict figure and stops just three feet away from the door. I want to say something, but I save myself the embarrassment. My throat is drier than the Sahara Desert and besides carbon dioxide, nothing else is going to be coming out of my throat.
His eyes glued to me, his hand lifts throwing a plastic bottle in my direction. On impulse, I catch it. The bottle half full, I unscrew the top without a single thought and drink.
Taking a deep sigh of relief, I throw the bottle to the side and wipe my lips dry. Even though this just a small treat before pain is inflicted again, I can't help but enjoy the feeling.
I look back up at him.
"Dean."
"Get up," he orders with a loud voice. The aggression in his voice takes me off guard.
Time really does change people. I never experienced Dean dealing with enemies because we were still too young back then, but I never thought he'd turn into someone I wouldn't even recognize anymore.
In his eyes, I spot the lack of patience and go against my urge to fight back. Listening to his command, I try to stand with the support of the wall. When I'm not being able to stand on my own, Dean takes my wrist and pulls me up. He takes that same wrist and ties it to the cuff hanging down from the wall. I don't struggle or resist. He does the same with the other hand and again, I don't say a word.
I feel my heartbeat rise knowing what he's about to do next.
"Dean, don't do this."
He moves back and motions for someone else to enter. I look at Zeke walking in with a bag of knives in his hands.
"Zeke," I word out loud by accident and his eyes land on me with curiosity.
"Leave," Dean orders once Zeke sets the bag on the table. Regaining his attention, Zeke turns around and leaves.
"Fuck," I groan leaning my head back. When I open my eyes, I find Dean in front of me again.
"You answer my questions and save yourself from unnecessary pain, do you understand?" he warns.
"I do."
"How old are you?"
"Eighteen."
"What's your name?"
"Summer White," I reply. To him it seems like a lie, so I earn myself a cut on the inside of my left arm. "I'm telling the truth."
"Why'd you come here?"
"Because it's my house," I grit. I twist my hands around the small chains and squeeze them as hard as I possibly can in my palms.
"Ah-ugh!" I yell as he drives the knife into my stomach. My head falls to the front and I want to scrunch up into a ball, but the cuffs hold me up.
"Are you working with Nick?"
"No!"
"Are you working with Kai?"
"I was," I answer.
"What do you mean?"
"If you've forgotten, I'm the same girl you threatened at the gang ball, Dean."
His eyebrows furrow and for a second, he thinks. As he remembers the memory, his expression becomes more dominant.
"You are," he words. "April Salvatore."
"I'm Summer, Dean. You're sister!"
My yelling seems to bother him and he takes another jab just above my collar bone this time.
"For fucks sakes, just listen to me!"
"My sister died two years ago," he grits as he holds my jaw with a tight grip.
"No I didn't. I'm right here, Dean. I didn't die in that fire," I speaking looking right into his eyes. His eyes linger challenging mine to see if I'll back down, but I don't. With no choice left, he lets go of my jaw.
"If Summer was alive, she would've returned home the minute she got out."
"Not after what Nick did to me. I hated my life, Dean!"
"Stop lying," he grits as he punctures the left side of my abdomen. I start to feel dizzy, but I take in a deep breath and calm myself down. The faster my heart beats, the more blood I lose.
I inhale and exhale thinking my words through.
"I -I'm not lying. I turned eighteen on February fourteenth. That same day, eighteen years ago, mom died and the same day I was kidnapped by Nick three years ago."
"Anyone can say that."
"But no one has the same tattoo to prove it or the same memories and knowledge I have about our family. Vince hated me from the day I was born. He blamed me for mom’s death. Father, he loved me and treated me like the family's core. You and I were best friends and we shared everything with each other. Anthony loved me just as much as you, but expressed it by being extra protective of me."
"Those aren't facts."
"Fine. We were all taught Latin as our second language just so that we can communicate without others knowing what we are talking about. At the age of of seven, Vincent locked me up in this exact same room and deprived me of any food and water and did the exact same thing you're doing to me now, because I needed to know what pain felt like from the beginning."
I take a big breath.
"I was beaten and pushed around by Vincent and his excuse was that I needed to be taught how to survive. No one stopped him, not even father. You all felt bad so that's why you showered me with love and affection. At that time, that was all I needed, but I understand now that it was just your way of buying my forgiveness. The only reason none of you choose to believe a single word that I'm saying now is because you refuse to accept that you're all at fault for where I am today."
"We all wear white shirts when we torture people because their blood stains the fabric and when we take off the clothing at the end of the day, it's like we're taking off a piece of ourselves. Every death, every scream and every sound that comes from the person that we're torturing is a stain on our name and a tear off of who we are. That's why we wear white when we torture people. My blood is your stain and my screams will be your nightmares."
"Aah-ugh!" I grit my teeth as he stabs m
e again.
"Does it feel good, Dean? To be someone who no longer feels the pain you're causing others? Is all this money and power, worth giving up your humanity? Because it wasn't for me and still isn't, but I had no choice. I have no choice. I wonder what your excuse is," I watch Dean wind his hand back. I eye the knife and as soon as he motions his arm foreword, my eyes shut.
"Dean!" I hear my father's dominating voice.
My eyes peel open. Allowing myself to breathe, I finally let my lungs release the air inside of them.
"Untie her," my father orders. Not being able to keep my head up anymore, it drops down. I hear the knife clank against the concrete floor and feel Dean's hands untying the cuffs.
As soon as both my hands are free, I fall forward onto his chest. His hands wrap around me, holding me in place, and my head rests on his shoulder as I peel my eyes open to watch my father come closer.
"Pater?" I whisper.
"Etiam, mea infantem puella," he replies. My eyes close as a smile tugs on the ends of my lips.
I feel his hands brush away a strand of my hair before falling into complete darkness.
Chapter 45
I wake up to a lightly painted ceiling and the constant beeping of a machine. Lifting my right hand, I pull the oxygen mask off of me.
Helping myself up, as soon as I crane my neck, a string of pain travels from my collarbone down to my left arm. Leaning on the elbow of my left arm, I stay in that position until the pain subsides.
Without much movement, my eyes travel around the area and I remember this as the hospital room in my house. In a slow and steady pace, I move up and sit on the bed.
I pull out the wires connected to me and one of the machines starts to make a loud and annoying sound. I cover my ears in panic and hope for the sound to go away. A few seconds later, it simmers down.
The pain in my body slows me down, but I climb off the bed and suck in a sharp breath.
Come on, Summer.
Exhaling, I walk over to the cupboard and look for clothes. As soon as I find a pair of sweats and an extra-large t-shirt, I grab it and head to the bathroom.
Changing, I realize that these clothes are probably one of my brother's. They're way too big on me, but since I like wearing big clothes, they suit me pretty well.
When I look myself in the mirror, I look at all the bandages covering my body.
Thanks, Dean.
I roll my eyes, but what was I expecting? To return home and have them throw me a welcome home party? Hell no. I'd be stupid if I thought that would ever happen. I'm actually very lucky that I'm still alive.
Once I clean up a bit, I head out. Instead of walking like a normal human being, I tend to walk by lifting my hip and then my leg.
As I walk through the hospital wing, I pop my head into every room hoping that Kai and Alec might be in one of them. If not in one of the hospital rooms, I hope that they're somewhere else besides the basement.
When I don't find them in any of the rooms, I decide that it's better to check in the basement than refuse to believe the worse. Making my way through the house, I wanna think of all the memories linked to this place, but my mind runs away from any sort of thoughts related to that.
I think that I'm scared that the time here won't last as long as I want it to. I'm afraid that it'll all be ripped away and I don't want to feel the pain when it is.
It takes me longer than I'd like, for me to reach the basement. Taking small steps, I grow impatient and mentally curse at myself. As I approach the stairs descending down, I hold onto the railing and go down.
There's guards stationed on each floor, but I guess they know who I am, so I'm not stopped or even questioned about where I'm headed or what my intentions are.
My feet land on the main floor and I take a deep breath preparing myself for the next flight of stairs to go down to the basement.
This fucking house needs an elevator.
Halfway down the stairs leading to the basement, I start hearing loud groans.
Oh fuck no.
I fasten my pace and jump down on the floor. I immediately regret jumping and it takes me a minute to start walking again. I walk as fast as I can to the main room.
In the middle, I see Kai. His hands tied above him, his toes hardly meet the surface of the ground. I can't get a full view of his body with Vincent disturbing my view, but I can tell that he's shirtless because his shoulders are bare.
Vincent, on the other hand, has a white shirt on and a belt in his right hand. I watch the white shirt dip into his back as his arm winds back and a dimple forms. In a quick motion, I hear the whip of the lash and then a helpless groan out of Kai's mouth.
"Vincent!" I yell. "Stop!"
Ignoring my plead, he takes another swing with the belt.
"Vincent!" As soon as I reach him, I push him away using all my force.
A gasp escapes my lips as I see Kai's body.
"Kai?" my fingers touch his wounds, but he winces and I pull my hand back. "Can you hear me? It's Summer, Kai."
I see his eyelids fidget, but since they're swollen, he can't open them.
"Get out of the way," I hear Vince's heavy voice trying to dominate me. I turn around and face him.
His shirt covered with Kai's blood and sweat, I look up at his face. He holds no regret, just rage in the waves of his irises.
"Kai isn't yours to toy around with," I tell him.
"So then who's is he?" Vince questions taking a step forward. My eyes fall down to the belt still in his hands before I cautiously answer.
"He's no one's property. Get away from him," I warn using my inside voice. Yelling will only rile him up and I don't want to risk getting whipped by the belt in his hand.
"Or what?" Vincent closes the distance to only inches.
I hold myself back from shaking under his gaze and keep a firm hold of my stance.
"Vincent, get away from me or I will kill you."
"Kill me, huh?" Vincent backs away and flashes a sinister smile. "Have you forgotten? I've taught you everything you know."
"Vince," I warn.
"You're not my sister," Vincent grits. Before I can react his hand wraps around my throat.
"V -Vi -ince," I choke and try to loosen his grip.
"You should've died two years ago," he threatens. His eyes darken with more rage and I feel helpless. The fingers around my throat aren't teasing, but suffocating me in a manner that I can't even get a bit of air through to my lungs.
My eyes find his left hand holding a knife.
"V -ince, n-no!"
I close my eyes preparing for the pain, but instead, I feel the grip around my throat disappear. I fall onto the ground and start to cough out my lungs.
I claw at my own neck as it feels like the hands are still around me. When I find nothing, I massage my neck as I breathe heavily. I see the knife on the ground and then hear a loud slap echo in the room. Lifting my head, I see Vincent doubled over to the right.
"I should've done that a long time ago," I hear my father spit. "Get out."
Without any defiance, Vincent walks out.
"What are you looking at? Help him down!" my father instructs his men.
"Summer?" he kneels down.
"Don't," I move back when he tries to see the marks on my throat. His hand lingers in the air. It encloses in a fist before he pulls his hand back and sighs heavily.
"Dean, help your sister back to her room," he orders while getting up.
"No," I hold out my hand out preventing Dean from getting any closer.
"I'm fine on my own," I get up onto my feet and dust off my pants. I can't stand tall like I usually do, but I'm still able to stand and for me, that's good enough to not ask for anyone’s' help.
I watch as men help Kai out of the room.
"I'm sure they're taking him to the hospital wing?"
"They are," my father assures.
"Good," I respond. "Now, if you don't mind, I have to go check on my other friend."
<
br /> "I think you mean friends," Dean corrects halting me in my track. It's not like I got far, but it was a lot considering the amount of pain I'm feeling. "We caught your other friend trying to sneak into the house. Quite a fighter if I say so myself."
I turn around and put on a sarcastic smile.
"Get them out of the basement and into the hospital wing before I decide that leaving is the best option I have."
"If you think you have an option, then you're wrong."
"If I didn't have a choice, my bedroom door would've been locked."
I step back and take in his all black outfit.
"It's a shame you changed, my blood looked good on you," I tease humorlessly. His jaw clenches at my comment causing me to laugh.
Since Dean's too angry to reply, I don't waste anymore of my time and head to the rest of the rooms to find Cole and Alec.
...♛...
It's been seventy-eight hours since Kai was seen by the doctor. His wounds were stitched up, but the doctor said that he's suffering through severe trauma due to a head injury he had gotten when he was a child.
He hasn't woken up since. I sit here, next to him every day, and wait for him to wake up. My hope falters, but I don't let it die out.
I even talk to him as the doctor suggested, but nothing has worked. As my eyes take in his limb body, my inner guilt increases.
I've never seen him so pale before. His tan is gone and replaced with a ghostly shade of white. His veins bright and more persistent than before, I take his hand and enclose it with mine. I shiver under his cold temperature, but I decide that I'll let my hold give him heat.
"I'm so sorry, Kai. I'm so so so sorry. I never wanted this to happen. I know you think that I did this with some motivation to hurt you and maybe a part of it was, but I never wanted it to get this far. I just wanted to hurt Nick. I was selfish - I am still selfish, but I hope you can forgive me. I know that this feeling we both carry inside of us will destroy us, it's inevitable. But I hope that you will understand why I did it. You need to understand, Kai. You need to, because you're the only one who will," I bring his hand up to my lips and kiss the back of it.
I hear someone clear their throat. The sound coming from the door, I wipe away my tears before standing up and looking at who it is.