The Pirate Princess

Meeting the Parents

Skylar strokes my hand, running his thumb in circles. The shock of him being here registers. I shake my hand loose and scoot away from him. He drops his hand into his lap. He tilts back his head and rests it against the back of the chair, but he never takes his eyes off of me. I lean against the wall curling my hands around the edge of the blankets. He stares at me, his eyes dimmed when I shook my hand free. I can see him calculating every move and counter move in his mind. We sit like this for what seems like forever. Then he smiles. It's not a warm smile, but a smile that is cold and menacing. A smile that told of something awful to come. He laughs, the sound sharp like a knife cutting through the silence. He lifts his head off of the back of the chair. He looks me straight in the eye and smiles again.

"Well took you long enough. I was wondering whether or not you were ever gonna wake up." He leans back into the chair and spreads his legs so his hands hang in between his legs. He looks at me with his calculating eyes. "I thought we'd have to get ourselves a new wench," he says with a laugh. He stands up and pulls the blanket from my hands. Underneath my chest, back, and torso are wrapped with bandages while I have a pair of boys briefs tangled around my thighs. Skylar just stares at me, an intense hunger in his eyes. It looks almost animal. I try to inch my way across the bed to the edge, but he catches my leg and pulls me towards him. He flips me on my stomach and I feel a sudden jerking movement. He had pulled out a knife and had cut through one of the bandages on my back. I feel him pulling the the strand off of my back to see the tangled webs of cuts. He cuts off more strands and carefully pulls them off of my back.

When all of the strands are off of my back he pulls them out from under my stomach, being careful not to pull off any of the scabs with the bandages. My chest is bare and I bury it in the blankets. I wait as Skylar finds the new bandages and tries to wrap them around my body.

"Alaina sit up. I need to wrap these around your chest so they stay secure," Skylar says to me. When I shake my head no, he climbs onto the bed and forcibly turns me over. I don't let go of the blankets and end up getting them more tangled around my body. This makes Skylar furious. He grabs the blankets other end and pulls. I spin around as the blanket unravels from around my body. I land on my back and quickly cover my chest with the pillow as Skylar pulls the blankets the rest of the way off the bed. He glares at the pillow and tries to swipe it from me. I roll away and land on the balls of my feet on the floor. I clutch the pillow closer while I swipe a shirt off of the back of a chair.

Skylar just sits back on his heels while I scramble to the door and pull. My heart fills with dread as I realize that the door is locked. I fall to my knees, the pillow and shirt falling from my hands. I lean my head on the door and let the tears fall. I don't reach to wipe them away I just sit here letting them fall into my lap and roll off of my legs on to the floor. I hear Skylar laughing silently. Then it grows to a low chuckle and finally a rolling roar of hysterical laughter. I feel the thump as his feet hit the floor. I feel every step as he gets closer to me. He stops laughing as he gets to my back. I don't move. I just keep crying silently, my shoulders movement the only sign of the tears. I feel his breath on my right cheek as he leans in close to me ear. His voice laced with mockery and venom as he whispers.

"Do you honestly believe that I would leave the door unlocked?! I'm no fool. I learn from my mistakes. I almost lost you once, but trust me when I say this, I'll never loose you again. You wont go anywhere without my consent. You wont meet anyone without me and you wont leave my side once," he hisses into my ear. "Now you're going to lift your arms and you're gonna let me wrap these bandages around you. Tomorrow you're going to put on a dress I set out for you and you're going to join me out on the deck. Got It?" I don't move, don't even shake my head. "GOT IT?!" Again I say nothing. I feel Skylar move away and then a sudden sting to my cheek. I fall to the floor from the force of the blow. Skylar leans down next to me and grabs my chin. He forces me to look at him. "When I ask you a question you answer. Understand?!" I nod my head and lift my arms. "Good." He wraps the bandages around me and then stands up.