The Free (Unedited)

Another Party

Lindsay’s POV

I think it was a few days after I learned my mom and dad were cheating on each other, but I was still reeling. After going to dinner with dad and Frederik, I stayed in bed all day, everyday. It was now Monday; I had missed way too many days of school. I couldn’t sleep. One time, when Laura came into my room to check on me, all she could do was stare at me.

“Go away,” I told her weakly.

I think she thinks it’s her fault, which it isn’t, but I can’t tell her that.

Nightmares haunted me whenever I could sleep. I don’t even know why this is hurting so bad! But it was, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Dad had left Saturday; there was a problem with his company in London that needed to be taken care of. Life went on, returning back to the way it used to be; me the mother, Lukas the player (which didn’t change when the parents were here), and Laura, my unwilling daughter.

It was Friday before I finally got out of bed, but I didn’t go to school. There was no food in the house, so I took the family credit card and went to the local Walmart.

I got the frozen food first, putting it in one of the 2 baskets I had. As I traversed the aisles, I huffed and puffed, like I always did, dragging 2 baskets around around. I always got weird stares. I mean, I am only 16, after all.

I was at the breakfast aisle when I felt a chill run through me. I quickly looked around me before returning to my shopping, I felt it again, like I was being watched. I looked around again, jumping at a man looking at me. My eyes widened in fear involuntarily, but before I had more time to react, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I jumped around, looking up at a guy with the “deer caught in the headlights” look. He was a tall, slim man, with shock black hair and deep brown eyes.

“Hello,” he said, his voice carrying a small accent.

“Um, hi?” I said, my expression shifting to surprise and suspicion.

“I saw you needed help,” he said, shifting around a little bit.

“No, I’m fine,” I told him, turning back to look at cereal.

“No, you need help,” he insisted, almost leaving no room for argument.

I ignored him.

He started shifting around again, his demeanor showing fear and desperation.

“Please,” he asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice.

I sighed. I never knew why I was always nice to people I didn’t know, other than the normal volunteer work and giving help to beggars on the street. There was this one time where a mother could’t find what she needed, and although I was in a hurry, I helped her, even though it cost me in the long run.

I nodded my head to the cart filled with frozen food. “You can take that one.”

He did gladly, and followed me around the store like a puppy, happily pushing my basket around. He even helped me pick out some food.

We finally got to the end of my shopping spree, my baskets filled to the brim, and my satisfied glance of approval took us to the checkout line.

It took awhile to check out, and the grand total came out to over 1,000 dollars. Then, I had to heft out my spoils to my car, or, as we call it, the grocery car.

I was starting to drag my food out to my car, when a weight was lifted off my shoulder. The guy that helped me shop was pushing one of my baskets.

“Hey, I’m fine, you can do your thing now,” I told him.

“No, I can help you. It will let you go home faster,” he insisted.

I let him follow me out to my car, and we loaded all the food into my car. Then, he pushed the carts away and I got into my car, driving off to put all my food away, alone.

***

“Hey, I’m hosting a party tomorrow,” Lukas told me.

I just sighed, walking away from him.

The only time I talked to him was in situations like this, mostly because he knows I hate parties.

I slowly walked to my room, tired of all that had happened for the past weeks, and started looking for a hotel.

Laura chose that moment to walk into my room.

“Hey,” she said, perching on the corner of my bed.

“Hey, I was just about to get up to look for you,” I said, still looking at my phone.

“Yeah, I heard there was party tomorrow,” she said quietly.

“Queen beds?” I asked.

“Actually, I wanted to go to the party,” Laura said, shifting a little bit.

“Huh?” I was surprised, to say the least.

“Yeah…” she trailed off.

“You know it’s not a good idea to go to parties,” I told her, my tone baffled.

“Yeah, but I want to go to this one,” she said confidently.

“No,” I said shortly.

“You can’t tell me what to do,” she said, growing more confident by the second.

“Actually, I can, because you have nobody else to take care of you.”

“I’m 15, I’m-”

“Still a child,” I cut her off.

“You can’t stop me,” she said defiantly.

She was right. I couldn’t stop her from doing what she wanted to.

She sauntered off after I didn’t reply, knowing she had won.

I just lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, wondering where I went wrong.

***

Unknown POV

I sat on the floor on my knees, looking up at our Leader, the whole house behind me.

“It seems that you can’t do anything right,” Leader’s voice spoke in the room.

“I-I-I-I-I-I-I’ve been trying, bu-but she’s hard-hard to get to,” I stumbled, desperation.

“Really?” Leader drawled. “That’s not the impression Stick got.”

I looked around in horror, my eyes landing on Stick’s. His face was impassive, just like everyone else’s but Rabbit’s. She was just as horrified as I was.

My faced back to Leader’s face. “You look at me,” he said, his voice deadly quiet.

I struggled to look into his eyes, my whole body trembling.

“Scissors,” came Leader’s command.

Stick himself brought Leader the scissors.

Leader leaned towards me, and it took all of my courage to stay in the same place. He held the scissors to my face, dragging them across one of my cheeks. My eyes filled with tears.

Instead of cutting me, he cut my clothes, starting at my tank top, to the skirt he told me to wear, then my undergarments, leaving me fully naked in front of the whole house. Some girls snickered to each other.

“Do you feel humiliated, embarrassed, regretful?” Leader asked me.

I nodded my head.

“Good,” he said before looking up and directing his voice to the others. “This will be her punishment. For all the days she has wasted in trying to get what is mine, will be the number of times every man must take her. Until then, she can wear no clothes, and will not eat at the table, but in the corner on the floor. Do with her what you will.”

The tears started falling from my face at that, but Leader didn’t care. Nobody did. All punishments were about as cruel as this.

“I expect her very soon, Amber,” Leader said before walking away.