The Sinclair Sisters

Torture in the SparkNotes version

St Petersburg Florida
June, 2006

Violet

Girl number four came in today.

I've decided to give them numbers until they've changed their names. I'm honestly curious as to how many girls he's going to bring before he stops and tires out. How many more girls he's going to turn into his little minions. The man has issues.

The girl looked a lot like Tamala, who I learnt was from Mozambique. I wondered if the new girl was also from Mozambique, although I highly doubted it. He wouldn't pick two girls both from the same place. Didn't seem like his style.

The girl had dark brown eyes like Tammi once had and she was also very dark skinned, even more than Tammi. Her hair was short though, and was very black, more than mine. Surprisingly, she looked older than the other girls when they were first brought in. Unsurprisingly, she looked terrified.

The day he brought her in was the day I was supposed to be punished. It was during target practice the day before, and Vannah had missed the shot. I told him I had caused it, so he decided to punish me. Vannah tried to convince me not to take the blame for her, but I quickly shunned her. As long as I could avoid it, none of the girls would get punished.

He left the girl downstairs and went back up. The girl looked like she wanted to shrink into the wall.

"Hi," I said and smiled. "My name is Violet. What's yours?"

"Kanoni. My name is Kanoni," she said quietly then she coughed. I patted her back to help her. She smiled shyly before moving away.

"Vi," Vannah said, "I really don't think you should do this alone." I chuckled humorlessly, "What kind of sister would I be if I didn't help?"

Vannah opened her mouth to argue but I stopped her, "Just go to sleep Vannah. It's the middle of the afternoon, you should be sleeping." She tried arguing again but as if to prove my point, she yawned. She sighed defeatedly and laid down to sleep. I fell asleep myself.

∆

I stood in the middle of his office and kept my head bowed. He paced around me, "Why did you make Jacqueline miss her shot?" It took me a few minutes to realise that Vannah was Jacqueline, but then it was too late to reply.

The first blow came and he grabbed my hair, "Answer me Abhi."

I kept my head bowed, eyes on the floor, "No reason. It was an accident." He chuckled darkly, "An accident? That's your excuse?"

Then he had his way with me. For your own mental sanity, I'll spare you the details. SparkNotes version, it's with my deepest regrets to say the guy had a big dick. And sex hurts like hell.

Once he had had his fill, he grabbed my hair again, "I know what you're up to Abhinandana. You're trying to protect them. It won't work, because every time you take the fall for them and I find out your punishment will be worse than ever." And I knew he was up to his mind games again. If not for the situation, I would have scoffed. Just how stupid did he think I was?

"I don't care. Bring all you've got," I whispered. That set him off.

The rest of the night was a blur.

∆

I woke up to the sound of tears and whispers of 'I'm sorry'. I opened my eyes and saw the other girls crying, even the usually bubbly Tammi. I sat up, literally feeling pain everywhere. "Shh, stop crying. I'm okay," I croaked. Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because they cried harder. "Stop it. If you want to make me feel better, don't cry," I said.

"You should have let him punish me," Vannah said. "No way," I said. "I can't protect you from everything he wants to do, but I will protect you from as much as possible."

"You don't have to do that," Jodi said. I shrugged, wincing afterwards from the pain, "None of you have been here as long as I have. Someday when all this ends, at least you'll have some hope of normalcy in your lives, even if it kills me." They smiled sadly, then ran to hug me.

"Okay, I love you too, now please let me go. I'm still sore," I said. They released me immediately and Vannah brought some disinfectant wipes for my wounds.

After a few minutes of silence, Kanoni said softly, "Today's my birthday." I smiled, "That's great. How old are you?" "Nine," she grinned.

I raised a brow. She's the oldest girl he's brought so far, the others were seven. I opened my secret compartment and brought out a pack of cookies. I placed it on the floor and called the girls into a circle. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you," I started singing and they joined me. "Happy birthday to you. Now, imagine there are candles." Kanoni giggled then closed her eyes. She blew out her imaginary candles and grinned. Already her teeth were enlarging, so I knew he had turned her too.

I opened the cookies and shared it among the girls, making sure Kanoni got the most. "Eat up quickly, it'll soon be time for target practice," I said. They ate and waited for him to come down.

"By the way, the girls told me about the name change," Kanoni whispered, "mine's Koby." I smiled, even as I heard his footsteps, "Welcome to the family Koby. And happy birthday."

The door swung open and he entered. He grinned, "Hope you're okay Abhi?" My expression remained impassive and I didn't bother deeming his question with a response.

May the torture begin.