The Devil Child

Chapter Seventeen

Polly hated her new room. It was cramped, and it was lonely. Without her roommate, Polly truly felt like she was living in a jail cell. As if she was held prisoner, which wasn't far from the truth, but having a roommate felt a lot like living at college.

That was what she told herself. She'd never been to college, so it was real enough for her to imagine it being like that. Living in a single room without much space.

Polly sucked in a breath and formed her hand into a fist. She imagined drilling it through the white walls of her new room, but she knew it was a fleeting thought. Polly wasn't vicious. She certainly wasn't equipped to punch walls. She wasn't even dangerous.

She wanted to be. She wanted to be strong enough to drill her fist through the wall. She wanted to be strong enough to stand up to Doctor Higgins. She wanted to do so much, but she was so weak. So stupid. So different from everyone else.

She settled for resting her head against the wall, defeated. The reason she was in here was because she was defected. Like a broken toy, or a gadget that didn't work right. She was broken. And Doctor Higgins promised to fix her.

That made her angry all over again, because she didn't want to be fixed. She didn't feel like there was anything wrong with her now, even if she did like girls.

Her door opened, abrupt and carelessly.

She didn't want to turn, at first, but she did. The sight of Doctor Higgins made her feel nauseous and violent. She wanted to punch him. She wanted to kill him.

She wasn't ordinarily violent or vicious. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Ah, little Polly. Come along, now. It's time for dinner."

She dug her fingernails into her palm, angry and tense. She'd like to tie him up to the bed and torture him, and see how he liked it.

"I'm not hungry."

Doctor Higgins tisked at her. "Polly, I'm only trying to feed you. Completely civil and harmless. No more tests today, I promise. Just dinner."

Just dinner sounded a lot like just testing. Or, just some pills. She knew that it was never just anything with him. There was so much more in those words, but she knew that he was a fox. He was just wearing another mask. She began to believe he was bipolar, or even suffered from multiple personality disorder, because this man in front of her was not the man who strapped her down to a table and electrocuted her. This man, wearing a fancy suit, was not the man who forced her to sit in front of a television and watch porn.

He was a different Doctor Higgins. He was Tanner Higgins.

She knew his name from her roommate. Her sick roommate who was in love with him. Polly wondered how it could have ever happened. How her roommate could stand the sight of this man and decide that love was an option.

Polly didn't have a choice. She let him take her down the hallway, her hand in his. She dreamed she had claws to cut open his hand with, but she didn't. She had nails that were chewed nearly to the cuticle.

Polly needed to escape. She knew this. She needed to focus, but she wasn't a ninja. She didn't have the skills to defeat Doctor Higgins. She wasn't fast enough, wasn't strong enough. But, perhaps she was smart enough.

Polly had always been what teachers and parents liked to call smart. She doubted her knowledge and dedication of school work would help her in this situation, though.

In the grand dining room sat a boy, younger than Doctor Higgins. Around Polly's age, but perhaps older. She couldn't tell, but he was wearing clothing similar to what Doctor Higgins was wearing.

She sat down across from him, much to Doctor Higgin's dislike.

At first, the boy ignored her. He was elegantly eating the food in front of him, like he was used to whatever mangled seafood was placed in front of her. She thought it was seafood - it smelled like it. She wasn't sure, though.

He was tall with dark hair. He looked every bit as horrid as Doctor Higgins did, with an arrogance that spelled trouble.

Polly couldn't help herself. "Who are you?"

The boy met her eye, then rolled his eyes. Completely uninterested in her.

"That's my brother." Was what Doctor Higgins responded, dragging her attention from the boy to the monster sitting at the head of the table. Polly suddenly made the connection, because while the two didn't look all that similar, their attitudes matched. The way they carried themselves matched.

The boy across from her was arrogant and rude, but so was Doctor Higgins.

"I would tell you his name, but he's on the run right now. Playing dead." Doctor Higgins winked, but it wasn't at her. It was addressed to the boy across from her, who snorted. He looked disinterested and annoyed at his brother.

"So you picked here to hide? Why?" Polly couldn't imagine a life where she would willingly run to this dungeon.

The boy looked up at her and then smiled, all teeth and completely terrifying. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

No, Polly decided she didn't want to know. Then, she turned to the monster holding her captive. "Can I go back to my room?"

Doctor Higgins waved his hand at her. "You haven't finished your food. Continue."

She looked down at the plate and felt sick. Not because of the food, but because of the situation. She wanted to jump up from her seat and run, but she was as dangerous and trapped as a mouse. And Doctor Higgins was a lion in its den.

She had no chance of escape, not yet. Not until she understood the building, where the exits were, and the camera situation. She had no chance until she understood her capture and what it would take to completely convince him to let her go.

She wasn't stupid - she wasn't going to leave this Hell liking boys. But perhaps pretending wouldn't hurt.

Fooling Tanner into thinking she liked boys could be easy. Better yet, fooling him into thinking she liked him would be even better.

She could play him like a fiddle. Only, Polly wasn't all that cunning, and she couldn't lie very well. Besides, the thought of trying to seduce him was sickening to think about. But, Polly wondered if it was a sacrifice she could make.

A sacrifice to be free.

She looked at the boy across from her once more and wondered why he was here. What he was running from. When he looked up at her and grinned, she nearly flinched. Whatever he was running from was probably worse than what she was running from.

"Eat up little girl," the boy whispered. "Brother doesn't like it when you don't listen to orders."

And Polly believed it because she knew it to be true. She'd witnessed that firsthand. 

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