Left Behind by Jayton Young Page B

going to dream, I didn’t want them to see me. James had told me I scared him when I slept because it was like I was living through it again and he couldn’t wake me up. I didn’t want anyone to witness my humiliation.
    I got to the old barn where the boys stored the old equipment they didn’t use anymore. They had redone the hay loft into a game room with both an overstuffed couch and a chair. We used to hang out here on rainy days and play air hockey or shoot pool once they showed me how to play . I went over to the couch and lay down, finally giving in to the fatigue. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the cushion.
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    I was sneaking around trying to find my way outside. This place was a maze. I was in an old house where everything in it was thick with dust and mold. The smell alone was making me sick. I went down hallway after hallway and still no door leading outside. I went in one of the rooms to see if I could climb out of the window, but when I looked, I was about two stories up. “Damn.” I whispered. This had to be a mansion. I left the room, being as quiet as I could. I didn’t want Blain to wake up. He had unlocked my chains today telling me my training was over. He bragged about how he’d “ told ” me how perfect we were together and proved he had been right . He still wouldn’t let me leave the ‘play room’, but he brought up a steak dinner and left me loose during the night.
    As soon as he’d told me he trusted me without the chains, I started planning this. I’d asked for some pain relievers and instead of the injection, he gave me two tablets. I thought I had made a mistake in asking for that because I fell asleep soon afterward. I woke up and Blain was spooned up against my back naked. I waited, being as relaxed and still as I could, and finally he turned onto his back, leaving me free to get up. My body, with all its cuts and bruises, was still hurting, but not as bad as it was before. If I just could get out, I could get to the hospital and let them call the police.
    As I was making my way down the stairs I had come upon, I heard a creaking noise behind me. Before I was able to look back, I felt hands push me. The staircase turned, luckily, or I would have gone all the way down, but I still hurt too bad to move. My head was spinning. When I looked up, Blain was coming. He picked me up, and I could see how furious he was by the crazy glint in his eyes.
    “Looks like the training isn’t finished.” He sounded happy. I was really scared. He was going to kill me. I couldn’t take much more of this.
    He took me back to the play room, stripped me bare, and strapped me onto the St. Andrews cross, facing the wall.
    “Now, Pet, what did you do wrong?” H e asked me softly.
    I was s till reeling from the fall, and didn’t register that he’d asked a question until he hit me, using a wooden paddle, with all his might. He hit me twice on my butt, and then he moved down to my legs. It felt like he would break them. He was probably trying to make where I couldn’t walk.
    “Now, I’ll ask only once more. What are you being punished for?”
    I was having trouble breathing , and my throat was hurting from screaming, but I tried to answer anyway. “I…got up…w-without…permission.”
    “THAT…WAS…NOT…ALL!” H e shouted, hitting me with each word. On the last word, the paddle broke, scraping me with the broken end.
    I heard him pacing behind me, taking deep breaths to try to calm down. “What else did you do, Pet.” He asked softly, his voice back to normal.
    I didn’t know if it would be better to admit to trying to leave, or to lie. I was betting on the latter. Maybe if I stuck to the lie, he’d start to doubt himself.
    “I-I w-was trying t-to get my own f-food. I-I w-was hungry.” I stuttered in my scratchy voice.
    He didn’t say anything. I heard him move off, probably to armoire that held all of his toys.