My Personal Hell, D. Richardson [ebook reader browser txt] 📗

ceiling. And I definitely didn’t need to see the table that had built in restraints. Everything in this room had been used on me more than once, and those are memories I would rather keep repressed.

“What’s it to be today, huh? Should I tie you down? No, not good enough. Oh, how about the skinning knives? No, I still need you to be able to work. I know…” He shoved me to the middle of the room, yanking my shirt over my head. When my back was bare, he began locking the shackles around my wrists, and ankles.

With my arms secured over my head, I took as wide a stance as the chains allowed, supporting my weight evenly. The mirror on the opposite wall showed me my exposed flesh, and I resisted the urge to sneer at his reflection. Before dropping my eyes to the floor.

This was his favorite, the punishment he used most often. I heard him moving around behind me. I could hear when he reached the wall. I could hear when he came back to me. His breaths were quick in anticipation, and I swallowed hard. Determined to keep my meager breakfast down.

I took a deep breath, just as I heard the whip ring through the air. It struck my back and the pain was almost blinding. It felt like fire racing over my muscles. I kept my expression blank as I felt the skin tear, and the wound bleed. If I cried out, or so much as grimaced, he’d hit harder, and go longer.

Over and over again he brought the whip across my back. Never pausing to take a breath, and chuckling with every swing. I never blinked. I never cried out. I didn’t even wince. I focused on different things, until eventually my mind truly did go blank as I zoned out into space. But it went on longer than usual this time. I began to wonder if my mental distance wasn‘t due to blood loss.

“Luke! Come on, we have to go!” Van yelled down.

Luke sighed in frustration, but went to put the whip back where it belonged. I felt him step up and unlatch the shackles, before stomping up the steps. I stood where I was, swaying slightly, until the door closed.

I let out a long sigh and collapsed to the floor. The smooth cold concrete felt wonderful on my cheek, and I took a few calming breathes. When I felt I could handle the residual pain of the lashing, I stumbled to my feet.

I didn’t have long before one of the girls came looking for me. With Them gone they would brave that damned door. The time we had spent together had made us close. Surviving, made us close. If one of us hurt, we all did, and I needed to shoulder this one on my own.

More importantly, I didn’t want them to see all of the devices scattered around the room. Those were nightmares they didn’t need, and a good night‘s sleep was hard to come by as it was.

My knees trembled as I inched myself over to the corner. It was where they kept the spare towels to clean their hands. I grabbed one, wrapping it around my shoulders. After a second thought I grabbed another one, twisting it before stuffing it between my teeth.

I bit down as hard as I could, hoping it would muffle the screams that I had swallowed earlier. I hated doing it, and it hurt like a bitch, but I leaned my back against the only clear spot on the wall. My groan was cut off by the second towel and I pressed harder. I repeated the process until I was sure that the bleeding had stopped. I would have to wait until I showered that night to wash off what was left.

It took a couple of minutes, but I finally found my shirt in a dark corner. Later, when Kadi was distracted, I would ask Lori to take a look at it. First, I had to get past their initial scrutiny.

I opened the door to the sunlit kitchen, and the girls were no where to be seen. But sitting neatly on the table was a sandwich and glass of water. The chair had already been pulled out for me. There wasn’t any evidence of the initial mess that had started the episode to begin with.

Just looking at that hard, straight backed chair made me want to vomit. But I sat down anyway, as straight as I could. After a hard swallow and small sigh, I took my first small bite.

My stomach tried to reject it. I had lost too much blood. That was what the water was for, so I alternated taking a bite and then a swallow of liquid. By the end, I wasn’t nearly as nauseous, and felt like I could stand without falling over.

The first thing I did was raid their first aid kits. All of them came home with some injury or another regularly. So they kept fully stocked first aide placed all over the house, including suture kits. Tonight, after Kadi had fallen asleep, Lori would follow me to the bathroom, and stitch what she could. As for right then, I popped an iron pill, and started on the work I was assigned.

Chapter 2

You might think that between three girls, we could get a house clean in no time. But this house is huge. I’m talking a mansion. So it takes us all day. We do the same things every single day. We have to.

If a dish goes unwashed, or dust comes away with an idle hand, it’s the punishment room. That’s how it goes when you’re a slave. I’m not speaking metaphorically. We are literally slaves.

Our families sold us to Them. It was bad for me, but it was worse for the other two. After my mom died I had become a slave in my father‘s home. I was the cook, the maid, and eventually the nanny. I had taken beatings before I had ever laid eyes on Luke. Though, from my father, it was with his fists, not weapons. If my blood was spilled, it was from a nose bleed. But I was already used to the work.

When I was sixteen, and had just gotten my driver’s license, my father made me drop out of school. Claiming that I could make up the lost time the following year. However, two days after that, I was sold, and had been here since. One year, eight months, and eighteen days to be exact.

I had tried to keep up with my education, with the aide of the mansion’s gigantic library. It was my job to dust every book, and I took that opportunity to keep up with my reading. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was allowed, I never asked, and kept it quiet just in case.

I tried to help Lori keep up with her education, though it was harder. Her depression was palpable most of the time. It wasn’t that she was unintelligent. She just wasn’t as interested in school as I had been. She seemed to retain the information I spouted at her most of the time. However, she had been pulled out of school after her eighth grade year.

Her sale came out of nowhere, but she was hard pressed to be surprised. Her parents weren’t physically abusive, but she suffered from a major case of neglect. They just ignored her whenever they could manage it. She knew her parents didn’t love or care about her.

It was worse for Kadi. She had no clue, and at six years old who could blame her. She had never even seen the inside of a school. Her parents had claimed that she was home schooled, but they didn’t teach her a thing. When I met her she didn‘t even know her alphabet. Over the past year I had managed to sneak a book out of the library every now and then. So that at night when our work was done, I could sit down and teach her. Now she could read, write, and even do basic math.

I’ve been here longer than the other two, but only by a few days. Lori showed up three days after me, Kadi barely over a month. We did what we could just to keep breathing. We haven’t even seen the sun, except through the windows, since we’ve been here. The thing is, is that once we turn eighteen, there was nothing they could do to keep us from running away.

But until we were of age, we were legally stuck with these monsters. Thanks to those trusty, legally binding, adoption papers They had custody of us. And the kicker? We were stuck here until Kadi turned eighteen. I planned on staying until we were all legal, but I had hoped that Lori would at least be able to leave when she came of age.

But we all knew, even Kadi, that if we didn’t leave together, the ones left behind wouldn’t make it to that age. They’d kill us before letting us go, and it wouldn’t be a quick death. Only eleven more years and we were home free.

By the time They got home, we were done for the day. It was late enough that I didn‘t have to make their evening meal. It was rare that we got to just work, eat, and be in our room when they returned. These were the days we longed for most of the time. Even if our dinner had been sandwiches and stale chips.

I sat in the corner of my bed, Kadi was snuggled up against me, as I read to her from a stolen book. Here and there she would ask me what a word meant. Then she would spend days using that word until she knew how to use it properly.

Lori sat on Kadi’s bed, along the wall with the door. This was a nightly ritual. I would read to them, while Lori kept her ears open to make sure we didn’t get caught.

Kadi was starting to fall asleep so I turned to hide the book. I had just closed it when we heard a loud crash coming from the stairs. I jumped up, wedging the book between my bed and the wall, using the blanket to cover the spine. Kadi huddled up to me in fear. Lori jumped on the bed with us, taking up my other side. With both of them mostly behind me, we watched the door, waiting.

These types of things didn’t happen often. Most of the time we were safe once we reached our bedroom door. But every once in a while, when they had a bad day, and needed someone to take it out on, they came for us. Grabbing the first one they could reach.

I tensed and listened hard, trying to anticipate which one it would be. I stifled an internal grimace. Luke was almost always the one that came down. And he always targeted me specifically. I wasn’t complaining, but with my earlier lashing, I wasn’t sure how much more I could take without succumbing to blood loss. Lori hadn’t even had the chance to stitch me up yet. When I heard voices I started. There