To Trust a Giant

Chapter 35

Sealed away from the outside world. Stella remained in a glass tank. There was barely anything in there, aside from the blood-stained rag she used as a bed. Being kept in a small tank for all day drove her closer and closer to insanity. She often felt like the walls were closing in on her. She could only look out into the world, but she could not interact with it...

Unless Mike decided it was time to play.

Fresh cuts replaced the old ones on her body. They were a punishment for escaping. Looking at the scars made her want to claw her skin off so she could never see them again, but she couldn't hide from them, because he took all the sweaters she had accumulated over the past 2 months. She was only left with that little black dress he loved to make her wear. He wanted her to always see what would happen if she tried to escape again.

How long had it been since Stella was captured? The days blurred since she arrived back in hell, she wanted to give up at first, and accept that Mike would never let another chance for Stella to escape happen again, but then she heard the wooden floor creak that first night when he walked her into the living room. He never found out how she escaped. Stella still had a chance to be free again, she just needed to bide her time for now.

The sun began to set, taking away all the light source from the living room. Mike had been dealing with Ed these past few weeks, his alcoholism was getting worse. He was now spending almost all of his money on alcohol. So Mike has been sent to drag him out of the bar after work. At least it meant less time of being tortured by him.

The door knob clicked and Stella's heart sank. Her period of safety was over. She watched as Mike walked into the living room muttering curses about his brother under his breath. His hair was slightly disheveled and she could see bags under his blue eyes, a long day at the bank and then going to deal with an alcoholic older brother never did any improvements on his mood. Normally, this would have terrified Stella, but when she noticed the bottle of whiskey gripped tightly in his hand, she found her fears began to melt away. Mike was always more rough with her while intoxicated, but he was forgetful; he was too drunk to remember to put his human pet back in the tank before stumbling off to bed. That's how she escaped that night, and that's how she will do it again. All it took was one glass to send Mike into an uncontrollable addiction.

Mike disappeared into the kitchen with the alcohol. Stella couldn't help but press her face up against the glass, anticipating the sounds of him making a drink. She could hear him rummaging around the kitchen, silverware clashed together, water splashing into the sink and then finally, the sound of a liquid being poured into it. Stella almost cheered when she heard that. He's gonna drink tonight, she was finally going to be free again!

When Mike stepped out, with a boning knife in one hand, and a drink in the other. He brought the glass to his lips and took a large gulp. That's when Stella could see that it was not alcohol, it was milk. Panic started to settle inside Stella. Why wasn't he drinking? Did he pour some of that whiskey into his milk? No, that wouldn't taste right. If he wasn't drinking alcohol then why does he have it?

Stella stumbled back into the furthest corner as Mike began walking towards her prison. He stared down at her at his full height, not saying a word for a full minute. This was no new tactic, Mike knew that doing nothing would scare Stella just as much as mutilating her. She didn't want to give him that satisfaction, but her body began trembling. There was no way to hide her fears.

Mike slammed his glass on the table as hard as he could, stella suppressed a scream but couldn't resist flinching. Mike leaned down to her level, gazing at her with those cold blue eyes. "You've gotten tough."

Stella laughed dryly. "Or maybe you're just not that scary anymore."

Mike clutched his chest. "Aww, I'm hurt that you'd think of me as scary, Stella. When I am nothing like my brother."