Story Excerpts

Jared, excerpt 1

He was falling.
Clouds and birds and drops of rain whizzed past, but barely registered in his panicked brain as he plummeted five feet, 15 feet, 50 feet. There was nothing slowing him down, he was racing to certain death, he couldn't grab onto anything, he couldn't turn to look at the ground, he couldn't **breathe**, he was going to hit the ground any minute now, it would only hurt for a moment but he wanted so desperately to live, and then...

And then he was sitting up in bed, a terrified scream ripping from his lips. 
He wasn't falling. He never was. He had been safe under his covers the entire time. 

"You disrespectful brat!" His father bellowed from the other side of the hall, heavy footsteps already heading his way. Jared had no time to catch his breath before the bedroom door slammed open and the boy was ripped from his bed. 

"No, no please, I didn't mean to, please dad, I'm sorry!" He would have preferred falling again. He would rather hit the ground and live through the agony of the impact than endure what he knew was about to come. 

"Please, please dad, I swear it won't-"
"Silence, you ungrateful little shit! You earned what you're about to get." His father hauled him down the steps to the first floor, then to the basement. Desperate tears filled Jared's innocent eyes, but he knew better than to protest as a strip of cloth was stuffed between his teeth and secured with a strip of tape. 
"Stop crying, boy, you're pathetic enough without the tears." His mouth was covered, but Jared could smell the alcohol on John's breath. He could almost see old bottles being lobbed across the room as he was pushed into that wretched crate in the corner. 

His knees screamed in protest, bent far too tight to get him to fit in the box efficiently. He'd been in there so much he knew even with the pain in his legs, he was in the best position. The kennel door snapped shut, and he didn't watch his father go. He only flinched when the basement door slammed shut, leaving him in pitch black terror. 

He could do it. He had gone days over days in the exact same position before, this would be easy. Even as the silence gnawed at his eardrums, and his eyes ached to see something in the abyss. 

He could get through this. After all, he had earned the punishment. 

Image: Appearance reference for Jared as a young boy, curly hair