Gone

12.

The next four days felt as if they had gone by in a blink of an eye. I got used to Taylor still not talking, even though her silence began to irritate me tremendously. The night after finding the journal, I began to notice Bryson secretly looking for it and became slightly overwhelmed and anxious. When he ́d pass by the doorway, his breath would be increased, and he'd move at a much faster pace, with his eyes darting all over his surroundings. I hid his journal behind my back and against the wall whenever the door would be open, which was most of the day. Bryson continued this awkward act for days, until four days after finding the journal, everything came crumbling down once again.

Lukas yelled at Bryson early in the morning which woke me up, and told him to feed his girls; Taylor and me. For the past 3 days, Taylor had been coughing up large amounts of mucus and other disgusting waste and groaning constantly- still not speaking. I started to think about the possibility she was getting a disease or had an infection. When Bryson came in to hand us our food, Taylor turned away from the bowl of corn. I decided to speak up.

"I think she's sick.."

"Lu-Lukas! I need you!" Bryson stuttered, trying to get Lukas ́ attention.

"Damn it, Bryson, what do you need?" he asked, entering the doorway.

"I think Taylor is sick, have Justin bring over some antibiotics or somethin'," Bryson urged.

"Fine," Lukas groaned, rolling his eyes before departing the doorway.

"That dumb cunt? She doesn't need medical attention, she's just faking it," Kevin mocked as Taylor began coughing intensely, sounding as if she was about to throw up. Without saying anything else to Kevin, Bryson left the room.

"Oh, now you ́re not all desperate for food, huh?" Kevin taunted, turning around after handing Chloe the other bowl in his hand. No answer. "Do you hear me you deaf bitch?!" She kept her head hanging low, avoiding as much eye contact as she could. "The hell with this!" he snapped, kicking Taylor ́s bowl over, and stomped out of the room, as if he was a big baby.

"Why won't she speak...?" Kelsey whispered to me, I knew Taylor heard her whisper.

"Maybe the same reason you wouldn't talk..?" Kelsey snapped at my unfiltered words.

"I don't think that's the reason! And you don't know what happened to me that day! So don't you dare think that's what happened to her!" As Kelsey said this, filling up the whole room with her intimidating voice, I felt Taylor turn her body towards Kelsey and me.

"Taylor please talk to us.." Chloe begged, setting the bowl on the floor next to her.

"Just leave her alone guys. She'll speak when she's ready," I sighed. Neither of us spoke for a while until Kevin opened the door and sauntered in, followed by Lukas.

"Stand up," Lukas demanded, I could tell he was in one of his bad moods. Chloe, Kelsey, and I did as told, but Taylor didn't even move a muscle. "Didn't ya hear me?" Lukas questioned irritably.

"You know you heard him you dumb cunt," Kevin joined in, taking a step closer.

"Kevin, unhook each of the girls and make sure they look presentable." Kevin turned to me first and glared at me. I tried my best not to make eye contact, but at the same time, I was trying to tell if he was going to hit me or not. He took his hand and removed the rope around my waist and arm, and did the same to Chloe and Kelsey.

"What's that on the floor?" Lukas asked me, not knowing he was speaking to me, "Kassidy!"

I then realized that he was actually talking to me. I looked behind me on the floor and noticed the journal on the floor. I had forgotten about it. Lukas came over and picked it up.