CAUGHT

TWENTY ONE

{not edited }

Clar woke up the next morning blissfully blank until events of  the previous night tumbled down into  her mind like heavy rocks would a hill.

She buried her face in the pillow and sobbed bitterly, alone in the big  empty bed. 

He wanted her to trust him? Why on earth would she? What was it to him? She didn't want to trust him. She stopped trusting people after her parent's left her in this world.

She'd rather trust a dog . Proven to be  more loyal than most humans were . Did a better job at protecting too.

Trust him not to hurt her?  She didn't see herself  do that. Fuck no.

She cried harder into the pillow.

She gave him permission. Permission to hurt her. How. He. Saw. Fit. At the mercy of his hands. How was she supposed to trust him?

She stayed in bed balling her eyes out, conjuring up funny and horrid scenarios that frightened and made her cry more.

After a while, her facial muscles exhausted,  Clar got out of the bed. Drew  the curtains open and took a long  bath. She avoided looking at her reflection in the mirror knowing she'd have another  crying  episode if she stared into her sad reflection.

Dressed up in a white and yellow print skater dress, Clar  headed out the walk in closet and spotted something on the night stand.

She drew closer. On the table was a  white box, on top of it a red ribbon flower with a yellow note beside it  written in cursive.

       -behave Clarina. I'm trusting you to do so.

Clar removed the ribbon and lifted  the box in her hand. It was one of the latest phones. Antonio had bought her one.

She sat on the bed and opened the box. Ignoring the white paper bag that was by its side for a moment. 

She retrieved and turned on the sleek phone. It was fully charged. She checked the settings, her accounts were on. She didn't know the billing card on it and the shipping address was one of Seattle.

Antonio's address.

The apps in the new phone were the same in her previous phone, save for the wallpaper and lock screen, those were on default. She checked the gallery and found photos and videos that she had backed up were on it. 

"How?" She whispered in shock. 

A notification from her iMessage pinged, adding a figure to the red number above the message icon.  The phone automatically connected to the house WiFi.

She opened the icon and  clicked on the current message, saved Antonio with a heart emoji beside it.

-I see you've already opened your present. Don't misbehave.

Was he monitoring her phone too? He also knew her account passwords.

She grabbed  the paper bag to see if there were any more surprises. Clar found covers she could pick from and a screen guard.

-are you monitoring my phone?

She texted.

-only watching what you do with your phone baby.

He responded almost instantly.

-that's not right Antonio. Do you monitor May's phone?

She typed , remembering May mention something about it.