day 6
peters pov
her arms wrapped around me felt as if i haven't been touched my whole life. her hands were soft against my skin, creating warmth over my cold torso. i didn't mind the coolness, my shirt was covered in blood after all.
it wouldn't stop. the tears just kept going. my mother, dead in front of me flashed in my mind every night and day. every time i close my eyes, it's there. she's there.
to this day, i still don't know why she left me with dad.
"i'm sorry, i'm so so sorry," i repeated over in her arms. rachel coo'd and shh'd me but i couldn't stop. she didn't deserve this, she didn't deserve what my dad had done to her. i wasn't there to stop it. i wasn't there to stop him from knocking her out. i wasn't there to stop him from bringing her here. i wasn't there to stop him from holding her at gun point. i wasn't there when she was crying for help. i wasn't there.
i wasn't there.
i hated keeping her here. i hated that she had to wait days before we had the slightest chance to escape. i hated the fact that i couldn't just open the door for her without the chance of her getting shot. i hated the fact that i'm too coward to stand up to my dad. i hated that she had to help her own captors son with his mental breakdown. i hated that she was the one that was helping him when he needed to help her.
"peter, it's going to be ok. we will make sure your dad gets what he deserves. i promise you," she whispered in my ears. she was sitting on my legs, straddling my body from a distance. she broke apart our embrace and looked me in the eyes.
"we will make it out of here. i promise you." her voice was quiet but fierce. her eyes, a dark blue, maybe even brown in this light, gazed at mine with fire.
she wasn't talking about getting out of this room. she wasn't talking about getting out of this yard. she was talking about getting out of this together.
she smiled at me ever so slightly as the tears from my eyes decreased, and a smile came across my face, too.
she lifted herself off of my legs and sat next to me, no room in between us. our legs sprawled across the bed, sitting sideways, our backs against the wall.
"do you play?" she said pointing to the guitar and yawning. it was probably past midnight, my last day with her.
"yeah, that's why i brought it," i totally forgot i even had it here. she smiled as i set my hands on the instrument and placed it on my lap. i strum a few chords before speaking to her.
"can i play a song for you?" i asked.
"yes, go for it," she said, yawning again.
i smiled at my guitar and strum a few chords again. i played a song i had written awhile ago, but haven't really finished it yet. it's called 'memories.' i made it around the time my mom died.
When I wake up to your footsteps
As you get up out of bed
They make a sound that sounds so simple
But dances in my head
A melody so perfect
That it gets me through the day
And the thought of us forever
Is one that won't ever go away
All I need to know is
Where to stop
Take my hand and show me forever
So never will I ever let you go
So let's hold on together
To this paper and this pen
And write down every letter
To every word we've ever said
i was so focused into the song, that i hadn't realized rachel's head dipped on my shoulder and she closed her eyes. her eyelashes fluttered, trying to stay awake, but failed as i drifted her to sleep. when the song finished, she stayed asleep.
i smiled at her, wondering how she would have looked if she wasn't held here. would she have ever met me? would she even know me if this never happened?
i'm glad i met her. i didn't think either of us like the circumstances under how we met, but i hope she knows just how much she helps me.
as much as i loved to sit here and let her sleep on my shoulder, i had to make sure my dad doesn't know i'm here. i was about to leave, but i sat, soaking in my last moments with her before she leaves.
she promised me that dad won't get away with this, and a hope she means it. i can't let anyone else be stuck here.
there was too many. kids as young as 5 years old, to women around 45, this needs to stop. i thought about it more, and as i did, i couldn't stop. there was joey, a boy that was only 10, and cassy, a girl the age of 5, even a mother of two, dorry, was stuck here.
tears stung my eyes. thinking about all the lives who didn't even know they were here most the time. none of them. they didn't know that dad had used a drug on them that kept them asleep as i would take them home. not one family questioned their disappearance.
she was the only one that had slept in this bed. she was the only one that was stuck here with nothing to do. rachel was the only one i failed.
but not tonight. she was going to be free. she had to be. she isn't a bird in a cage anymore. i knew from the moment i laid eyes on her that she would be a wildfire in a forest of a million trees.
i knew she would run as far away from here, from me , just to be safe. even if it breaks my heart, i can only hope that she'll come back for me.
i had everything ready. the backpack, the box of pictures, and even dads gun had been replaced with a fake earlier today.
i remembered the box a few days ago. that's who i've kept track of everyone dad has gotten to. 17 pictures of the victims hes had in this room in a single box. all of them sleeping, not knowing anything.
the reason i have this is so when everything falls into place, i have the names and ages of people who have the slight recollection of getting hit or about my father. they can tell the police the details they remember.
the only person i don't have is rachel. obviously, she's the reason i stopped this. there will be no more pictures, no more people, and no more room.
rachel gave me the hope i needed to end this, once and for all.
