Kidnapped by Of Mice & Men

Chapter 6: Riding the Lightning

"You woke up a bit later than expected." A cheery voice rang. I opened my eyes; Alan. "We went ahead and untied you. David left a few minutes ago."

I rubbed my eyes with my hands. There were bright red marks on my hands and ankles that stung like hell. I reached up to push hair out of my face, but I accidentally scratched the scan through my eyebrow with my fingernail.

"Oh, dude. You're bleeding." Alan sounded genuinely concerned, walking over to the sink and wetting a rag.

I drop of blood beaded and ran down my face. I used the sleeve of the shirt to wipe it up.

Alan came back, armed with a rag soaked in warm water. He started dabbing at the reopened wound. "Damn, this is one hell of a cut, Sammie. Scott didn't do this, did he?" He questioned. "Because if he did, I swear to God I'll-"

"No, no. This happened before warped. I fell."

Alan stopped dabbing and leaned back to look me in the eye. "Okay, I may be a bit stupid from time to time, but this time, I know. I know you didn't fall Sammie."

I shook my head and stared down at my lap. "It was my stepdad."

Alan put a hand on my shoulder. "You know what I would do, if it were me?" I shrugged. "I'd hit that son of a bitch over the head with a skillet. And I'd tell him to go straight to hell."

"My mom never pays attention to me. She's probably not even looking for me. The only person they care about is my stepsister Sarah. The only time they pay attention to me is when they're hitting me...or...when she makes it go dark..."

"Go dark?" Alan asked.

"She tells me to go sit it the bathtub to pray, and she tries to hold my head under the water in the bathtub and...sometimes I can stay awake for a little while, but then-"

"No, no, it's okay. You don't have to keep going." He nodded at me.

"Thank you."

I couldn't shake the thought out of my head. My mother wasn't looking for me. There's no way she'd be looking for me. Her and Jeremy never made Sarah clean everything and they sure as hell never made it go dark. I started tearing up again.

"Sammie, not to spoil the ending for you, but everything is gonna be okay."
He wiped a stray tear on my cheek.

"Alan, do you know what Scott made me do?" I said through sobs.

"Yes, Sammie, I-"

"I'm so scared he's gonna do it again. I'm scared out of my mind."

Alan cupped my face in his rough, calloused hands. "Kid, you just need to hold on for a little bit longer. Everything's gonna be fine. I promise that we're gonna do everything we can to get you out of here and everything's gonna be okay."

"Don't make a promise you can't keep." Scott's voice interrupted. Alan and I whipped around to see him standing in the doorway.

Alan rose to his feet defensively. "I will keep it, Scott."

Scott's eyes fell on me as I slowly stood up. "Why isn't she tied up?"

"Trust." Alan spat. "We trust her."

Scott slowly began to make his way to me. "And how are you, pretty girl?"

"Leave her alone, dude!" Alan said, trying his best not to shout. Scott turned to him and smiled, pulling a handgun out of his jacket.

"Shut your mouth, Ashby, or I'll shut it for you." He pocketed his gun again as Alan stared at him, his mouth agape.

"Let him, Alan. You're not dying for me." I said quietly.