Pay the Price

Chapter 9- His Life 1/4 (1st 5 Years)

When little Christopher was put in his bed, he got a goodnight kiss, and his aunty Larisa walked out of the room, closing the door. His head hurt, and he was prepared to go to sleep. Just as he was about to drift off, he heard the window creak open, and someone pulled themself through. He looked up, finding someone unfamiliar there.

A woman. He jumped up, going to run to the door, but the woman grabbed him by the hair. She yanked him back, and he screamed in pain. A cloth was pressed to his mouth to silence him, and he was dragged out of the window.

He cried, screamed for someone to help him, but the woman's arms and hands, and fought against her. He did everything he could to get away, but he was not successful. The woman slapped him over and over, growling at him to shut up. Christopher's face and legs stung, but he kept fighting.

"Let me go!" He screamed. Tears streamed down his face as he continued kicking, but to his utter dismay, he was restrained, and tape was put over his mouth. Suddenly, the cold air of the winter night was replaced by warmth, but an unwelcomed one. The chance of anyone seeing him was decreased to zero.

In just seconds, he was thrown into a dark room covered in sound proof padding. It was barren. He collided with the ground, his shoulder cracking on impact, causing pain to shoot through his entire arm. Then, before he could understand what was happening, a blade split the skin on his throat.

Blood dripped out of the wound, soaking his shirt. It sent waves upon waves of pain through his whole body. But he didn't pass out, didn't lose consciousness, nothing. He didn't lose much blood either, it was like he wasn't bleeding at all. But he felt all of the pain.

Quickly, he ran to the door, going to open it, but it was locked. He was trapped. He ripped the tape off of his mouth, and started screaming for help, but he didn't realise that no one could hear him. He begged and pleaded to be let out, not understanding why he was there. What he had done wrong.

Fear cemented itself in him because the circumstances of his situation dawned on him. He didn't know what to do.

~

Five years of complete torture and abuse went by in Christopher's life. He wondered every single day why he was there, why hadn't his parent's found him, and what he had done wrong. Every single year on his birthday, the torture got so much worse to the point Christopher associated his birthday with abuse.

Often, he was starved, and his weight was so low that it would've been considered a miracle he was still alive. He was forced to use a hole in the corner of the room as a toilet, thus making the room smell retched. He hadn't been clean in years and had gotten extremely sick multiple times.

The clothes from his fifth birthday were long since destroyed, and they wouldn't have fit him anyway. His skin was blistering, there was rashes down his back, and he felt a skin condition start to form. The only time dirt was cleaned off of his skin was during the dreadful times he was waterboarded.

Scalding hot water, or ice-cold water, depending on the weather. The former during summer, the latter during winter. To inflict as much pain on him as possible. His skin was stained with dried blood, dirt, and dust. If he were to properly bathe, he'd be scrubbing at his skin for hours just to feel clean.

Every single day, he prayed that he'd be found. That someone would save his life. That they hadn't given up hope on finding him. No matter how much time had passed by, he hadn't given up hope that he'd be found and reunited with his family again. Particularly his siblings.

He prayed his siblings didn't forget him. But even if they did find him, he doubted they'd recognise him. He was too thin, his once brown skin was paper white, his hair had mats the size of golf balls all through it, and he could feel his eyes were bloodshot. Everything to him was painful. Even the slightest touch to his hand was enough to make him scream and wail in pain.

A positive in his eyes was that they gave him plenty of water every day. It helped cool his hoarse throat down, get any swelling under control, and kept him hydrated. He didn't realise the Zandailias' gave him water to keep him alive as long as possible to inflict as much torture upon him as possible.

During the whole time, he had forgotten many things. He couldn't read a child's book, couldn't write, could barely even understand, and had trouble speaking. He didn't forget how to speak, but his throat was too swollen to be able to. He couldn't speak English, barely spoke Spanish, but could still speak Greek and Russian fluently. He did forget their alphabets though.

Every day, all he could hear was arguments, insults directed to him, glass breaking, and his own screaming and pleading for mercy. What he did know in Spanish was profanities and threats, but he was too scared to use them.

Other than that, he knew a language that no longer existed. It was taught to him by one of the kids of the Zandailias family. He discovered that they Zandailias' had four kids and were planning on a fifth. Isiah, Andreas, Mason, and the fourth baby was named Marianne. Their first girl.

Isiah was fifteen and disappeared the day after Christopher arrived, Andreas was eleven, Mason was seven, and Marianne, per his knowledge, was a week old. Christopher prayed that when the girl got older, she wouldn't participate in the torture. Or that Mason would somehow sneak him out, but he was only a young boy, so Christopher didn't expect much.

So, alas, it would never happen. He felt as if the torture got worse with every passing day, and didn't even have energy to cry any longer. He couldn't sleep unless he was knocked out because of night terrors and the fear of being attacked. At ten years old, Christopher became an insomniac, severely malnourished, and was scared of many things.

He lived in fear each day and wouldn't wish his life on his worst enemy. He constantly wondered why he was taken, why he was tortured, and what the end game of his capture was. But no matter how much he asked, he never received an answer. Just a beating for being an 'ignorant brat'.

After being made to meet baby Marianne, Christopher spotted his family out of the window. Connor and Myrah running around excitedly, Delilah with who was possibly her boyfriend, and finally, Malena and Hernando holding a new baby. Adhi.

Christopher accepted the fact that they forgot him, they didn't care for him and would never find him. He was doomed to that life for who knew how long. He wanted it to end. For it to be over. Eventually, he was forced back into the soundproof room, and the door was locked again.

Finally, he gained enough energy to cry.