Secret Keepers

Chapter 3

Everything fell silent and even my parents glanced in. David dropped me and cocked his head. "Then why leave every night?"

I sniffed and hugged my arms around myself. "Because I can't find any help here. So I just go out and sit by myself in silence."

With that, I sat down at the table and waited for my mother to pass me a plate. My dad suddenly groaned and slammed a fist into the table. "So you've made the town hate us for no reason?! You stupid girl! So because you're lonely and don't like to tell us your problems, you make up stories and make the town laugh at us!"

I winced and cowered from him, but then David had him by the shoulder. "Dad quit it. She's obviously upset by all this. It's not like she intended for people to look at her like this."

Dad snarled and sat back down roughly, yanking the plate from my mother who began passing them out. She passed me mine, but I couldn't get food past the lump in my throat. Eventually I just stood and walked upstairs.

The stairs creaked under my feet and as I opened my door, the hinge squealed a little, but everything was lost on me. I sobbed and closed the door, going over to my bed. I sat down at the headboard and cried my eyes out, but by the time I got done, the sun was only at high noon. I sniffed and wiped at my eyes, but then the door clicked open and I jumped, afraid it was my dad. Then I realized it was David, followed closely by Kyle.

I sniffed and looked away, hugging a pillow to my chest. "What do you want?"

David scratched his neck and sat down at the other end of the bed. "We wanna apologize. I understand that it's hard to just let all the stuff we've ever done to you, but we honestly were only doing it because dad wanted us to hate you."

Kyle backed him up as he sat in a chair to the side. "Yeah. Dad threatened to beat us if we didn't at least humiliate you. But we do wanna know if all this was real. These people you look for."

I sniffed and nodded, showing them my wrists. "I met one last night. He caught me, but let me go. I asked him what they were called or why they were out there, but he didn't tell me anything. All he told me was hat his name was Cutter."

Kyle looked concerned. "Cutter? Sounds dangerous."

I shrugged and looked out the window. "Maybe he is. But aside from tying me up he was friendlier than you guys so he was attractive to me."

David laughed. "What'd he look like?"

I chuckled shyly. "Actually they wear masks so I didn't know what he looked like."

David shook his head and sighed. "Well I don't wanna hold you back from this. If these people are real then that's one step closer to getting you out of this house and to a better place. If I didn't stop dad, he could've hurt you."

Kyle nodded as well. Shock held me still for a moment. I narrowed my eyes and sat up straighter. "What? Are you saying you want me to go with them?"

They shrugged at me and David sighed, scooting closer. "Yes. That's what I'm saying because you need to get out of here."

I sniffed and rested my head on the pillow. "But I don't even know hillside from his name. I don't think he'd just let me go with him."

Kyle piped up from the side. "Tell him that you need a place. If he takes you in then he doesn't have to worry about any secrets of his leaking out." I shrugged and closed my eyes. "He won't believe me."

"Well what kind of proof would he need?"

"I don't know. Maybe a black eye to prove that my father is abusive."

They sighed and shrugged at me. "Do you want us to punch you? Cause it's gonna be hard for us now."

I shook my head and laid over on my side. "No. The likelihood I'll find him again is unlikely. Now can I please just sleep?"

They nodded and stood, but before he left, David leaned over and kissed my temple. "Don't worry. We'll get you out of this."

As soon as they left, I found myself smiling out of control. I'd never been kissed by any of my family. Not that I could remember. I started making my parents mad when I was six. I was sixteen now so it had been at least ten years. I took a deep breath and relaxed for once, letting myself sleep my busy night away.

My dreams were filled with nothing except Cutter and the people he lived with in the woods. Ever since I was little, I had seen Cutter's mask at least three times along with a wolf mask five times and the cougar mask at least four. There were several different wolves and cougars, with each one painted differently, but as far as I knew, Cutter was the only bear I'd ever seen. As far as I knew, there were about six people in total. At least that I had seen, but I didn't know for certain.

As my dream went back to every mask I could remember, the last one I saw was Cutter. Then he reached up and started to lift it up. Excitement filled me from head to toe, but before I could view his face, I woke up with a start.

I sighed and sat up, rubbing my eyes and looking out the window. The sun was about to drop below the horizon. I stood and pulled my cloak onto my shoulders, climbing out the window and jumping down to the ground. I ran to the fence and was about to get over when an arrow hit the fence beside my head.

I screamed and turned to see dad notching another arrow to his bow. "I don't want you coming home! You've caused enough trouble!"

I gasped and climbed over the fence, but as I fell over the other side, the second arrow grazed my calf. I screamed and took off into the woods, not caring about my leg or the blood running down into my boot. I needed to get somewhere safe and far away from home.