Captivity Defined

Chapter Twelve

He loved this feeling... this feeling of being wanted, being needed by someone. Christine had at last fallen back asleep, her hands curled around his shirt tightly, taking comfort in his closeness.

Of course, he knew that this would not how it would always be. She had been tremendously frightened, and half asleep as well. If she had been awake she would have never let him hold her the way he was now...

He let out a sigh, gently stroking his Angel's hair with his fingertips. He could very well imagine the pain and torturous fear that had raced through her veins at the nightmare... Even now, he could remember specific memories from his past, and they would come, day or night. Time mattered not to them.

Speaking of time, he vaguely wondered how long it had been since Christine had fallen back asleep. He calculated that it had probably only been 10 minutes at the most. However long it had been, though, he realized he was having a hard time staying awake himself.

He had not slept in well over a week... Sleep was simply not part of his nature. So naturally, he was exhausted by the time his body finally relaxed enough to give him an hour or two of sleep.

His thoughts started to become muddled as his eyelids slowly drooped closed...

The door burst open with a loud bang, and it seemed as if it had been slammed open so hard that it shook the entire room.

Five year old Erik looked up quickly towards the door, his face a mixture of surprise and fear. Quickly, he stood from the pieces of wood scattered on the floor, which he had been using to make a unique stool to decorate his sparse room.

"M-mother..." he stammered, scampering towards her quickly at the curl of her fingers.

"Erik, what is this?" She snapped, holding up a sheet of music, and the little boy gulped nervously, looking down at his feet.

"My sheet music..." He answered, his voice so soft it was barely above a whisper.

Her face contorted in anger as she brought down a whip upon his little back. "Look at me when you speak!" she hissed through clenched teeth.

The little boy yelped in pain when the whip cut into his back, and seemed to cower under his mother's gaze as she stared at him spitefully. Raising his golden-flecked eyes to hers, he quickly uttered a sincere apology.

"I specifically remember telling you never to leave your stuff out on the dining table! Do you ever listen to me?" She angrily took his face in her hands, squeezing his cheeks so tightly the little boy thought that surely they would fall off into his mother's hands.

"I'm sorry, Mother! I swear that it shall never happen again!" He whimpered quickly.

She scowled and pulled away from him, straightening up as she picked up the whip from the floor. "You are absolutely right that it won't happen again... For I shall make sure of it. You have apologized, but you will not learn unless you are punished thoroughly for your actions."

Erik's little eyes widened in fear as he fell to the floor on his knees, pulling at the hem of her dress pleadingly. "No, Mother, please don't beat me!" He started to sob. "I promise that it won't happen again!"

She ignored him, pushing him away from her in disgust as she brought down the whip upon his shoulders.

He screamed in pain, and proceeded to beg and plead with her that she would stop, but with every word that came out of the little child's mouth, she only seemed to slash his skin deeper.

"Tell your mother! Tell her you're sorry!"

He tried, he truly did. But the pain was so much, that he could barely bear to breathe, much less apologize. But she continued to scream at him to apologize, bringing the whip down across his sides when he didn't comply.