Surveillance (ManxBoy)

5

"Sydney there's something I need to tell you and I need you to understand I only had good intentions for you the entire time."

Confusion was evident on my face, but I willed myself to nod as a sign for the man to continue. Seeing him take a deep breath was enough to make me tense up but when those larger hands encased my own I was able to calm down enough to listen.

"Knowing about your situation wasn't some kind of coincidence. In fact it was completely planned. You see, when I was just three years old my birth parents died in a plane crash. At the time I was being cared for at my grandmothers home. I was too young to understand what happened but I do know that after they died my grandparents put me in an orphanage instead of caring for me."

I gave him a pitied look then, not expecting the story to take such a sad turn. He continued once more and I started to rub circles on the back of his hand with my thumb.

"The orphanage was apart of the church, and the priest favored me as a child. He believed I was a divine being, his blessing from god to further his knowledge on the holy spirit and so he treated me like royalty. Eventually he grew tired of keeping me with the other children so he kept me at the church. Adoption never occured of course but in secret he pretended to be a fatherly figure. My existence was discovered by that woman due to her jealousy. The priest begged her to keep me a secret and in return he'd become her lover. Unfortunately during those years of promised secrecy the two actually fell in love, and with that love came twisted cruelty. I grew older which meant I couldn't be ignored as much and so they built a secret room for me to live in, the same room you lived in as well. One day while I was pretending to sleep in that room I heard their whispers after they'd committed adultery, saying things that they hoped for a child of their own. Those words heard by a fourteen your old me made me livid, knowing that the man who raised me in those horrible conditions no longer cherished me the same. However my anger subsided quickly once realizing that poor child would be put through the same agony as me, and I wanted to do everything in my power to make their lives better than my own in that retched room. When they'd go to service or to pray I'd sneak out of the room to collect things such as cameras they used for events or knives they had for suppers. I carved holes big enough for those cameras and a way for them to charge so they'd never die, and after I had fixed the room to my liking I planned to run away. The woman left the church for a few months to hide her growing stomach and so the priest was rarely around. I timed it perfectly and escaped without trouble."

He paused again to examine my face. To say I was shocked was putting it lightly. My thumb had stopped its massaging and instead I started to have a headache. This news was confusing me yet all made sense in some way. Memories of the twos conversations finally made sense and the weird carvings in the walls I once stared at all the time was flashing throughout my head. Of course someone lived there before me, it should have been so obvious.

"but why? Why do all of that and still run away?" I asked, scrunching my nose in confusion. Everything made sense yet didn't at the same time. "Why not wait for the baby to be born and with you in that room first than leave it behind?"

I knew who that baby was, of course I did, I just didn't want to say it out loud just yet. Coming to terms with that knowledge opened up a whole other wound I never knew existed.

"I couldn't wait, I had to get out at the first chance given to me. Even if I had taken the baby with me its life would be much worse than it was in that room. A fourteen year old orphan on the streets with a newborn? Theres no way... At least not an easy one."

"You just left it though! You left me! How could you leave me behind?!" At this point I was close to screaming, enraged and scorching hot tears spilled down my face now as I snatched my hands away from his. I didn't want to be comforted by someone who left me to suffer for so long. Markus reached out to grab me once more but I flinched backwards quicker than I meant to. Now that I wasn't chained down, my quick movements caused me to fall off the edge of the bed and onto the ground, hitting my head on the corner of the night stand in the process.

I cried out in pain and hunched over into a tight ball, clutching my head while gasping for air. The room was darkening and I was grateful to black out seconds later. If only I could sleep forever.

~

Forever wasn't really forever, it was just a bittersweet saying for a long time that wasn't really long at all. When my eyes finally opened after I had blacked out, Markus had disappeared. My body was still curled up in a ball but now I was back on the bed and a melted ice pack was underneath my head. I'm not sure how long I slept but I still felt exhausted. A yawn escaped past my lips and I sat up just enough before realizing the chains were still off of my wrists.

Weird.

My body knew for a fact that it was night time now, which meant they should have been put back on. I wasn't going to dare and question it though and instead took the now warm ice pack and put it in the small freezer in the small kitchen I had.

My mind wanted to wander off and remember the upsetting conversation from earlier but I slapped myself before tears could form again. No way was I going to cry again, instead I wanted to throw things and scream in anger. Thinking better of it however I decided I should probably just go back to sleep.

Wait. Was that open earlier?

My eyes darted all around the intimidating metal door that was always sealed shut with advanced padlocks no one could ever force open. Markus must have left it cracked open on purpose. Right? Gnawing on my chapped bottom lip, curiosity got the better of me as I tiptoed closer to it, slipping a few slim fingers into the slight crack that it was opened to.

Surely I would regret this but, I was tired of being locked up in rooms.

I was going to get out whether I regretted it or not.