Liberation [Disclosure sequel] h.s

13

Collin

Eighteen days.

It has been Eighteen days since I last saw my mom, my brother, and Eve. Eighteen days since I left my country behind with nothing but the clothes I was wearing, to travel to the USA with Howard.

Ten days since I was forced to start fighting, ten days since my dad threw me into the fighting ring and told me I had two choices: to win or to suffer.

And I did suffer. I suffered badly at his hands.

I don't know what was worse, if the beating my opponent gave me, merciless beating me until I was almost unconscious, or the beating my dad gave me right after the fight when I could barely stand up. He blamed me for not winning, even if I was fighting against a man twice my size, age, and experience. 

I had just turned thirteen but my body is still far from being the same as the one of a man. My voice has deepened over the last months, and I have also grown in height, but my arms are the same size as a fragile tree branch, my legs are so thin I still need to wear children's size jeans. 

Not that it matters right now. I will eventually have to win if I want to survive, I don't have much choice. The double beating I have to take every single night is negatively affecting my body, because I don't have enough time to recover before the next one, which means I'm severely debilitated. 

It doesn't help at all my already small chances of winning.

Over the last days I realized my dad, or better Howard, because he is not a father to me and never will be, has done this before. I can now connect all the dots and it all suddenly makes sense. I knew Harry fought back home that's where we got our money from and I knew what he did was illegal even if they tried their best to keep it away from me. But I never knew it started because of Howard. One day he confessed he wanted me to be even better at this than Harry, and that if he had managed to turn Harry into an experienced fighter, he would also be able to do it with me as we were the same age when we began. He said I would be even better because I was more obedient than Harry and blood of his blood.

So over the last couple of weeks, this is all we have been doing. Traveling from one place to the other, training until my body gives up, fighting against people who are double my size, running away again when people feel cheated for believing I was an experienced fighter, and getting beaten up by Howard.

And somehow, it has only been eighteen days, it feels like a lifetime already.

"Go, what are you waiting for? Do you want to eat tonight or not?" Howard growls at me after we stand on the corner of a convenience shop.

He is waiting for me to steal food from the store, so we can eat, well, so I can eat. There has been a few times where I wasn't allowed to eat just because I didn't manage to steal anything. Mom always taught me that stealing was wrong, even if it was just candy from the corner shop, I never did it, even when all my friends were doing it. Now I am forced to steal sandwiches and crisps and hide them under my jacket.

"I don't want to do it." I say even if I know I don't have a chance.

"I have food for me, if you want to spend another day without eating it's up to you." Howard says smoking his cigarette unbothered by my decision. I may be starving, but he always has money for his food. Yesterday he made me watch him eat a Chinese takeaway, while my stomach was making noises after not eating anything for many many hours.

"If you have money for your food then why don't you-" He doesn't let me finish when he holds my arm tightly, hurting me.

"When you manage to make money, I will gladly share it with you. While you are a worthless piece of shit, you get nothing, understood?" He explains blowing the smoke to my face. "Do you think I do nothing for you? You have a roof over your head, don't you? You're an ungrateful brat you know? Your mom should have taught you better than this." He tightens the grip around my arm, probably bruising it.