Number Thirteen
Page 28

“Yes.”
“May I ask, sir, but who is Lanthie?”
“Lanthie is her sister,” I murmur, still staring at the door.
“Oh.”
Yeah, oh.
Oh means that Number Thirteen had a memory flashback; it also means she’s beginning to remember. There is only so much I can push back now. There is only so much I can keep from her. I lift my hands, and grip the sides of my head, tighten {hear. Thing my jaw.
“The other girls?” I grate out.
“They’re all asleep, sir. I gave them tablets.”
“This is going to damage them.”
“We will get through it.”
I’m not so sure about that.
Hell, I’m not so sure about any of this anymore.
“Faster, faster!” Lanthie cries, her blond locks splaying out as I spin her.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” I cry.
“Don’t drop!” she coos.
“I’d never drop you.” I giggle, stopping us both. We flop to the floor, smiling.
I stare down at my tiny little sister, and she grins up at me. She’s just coming on three years old. I love when my momma is away, because it means we can just play and have fun. It means he doesn’t come around. When he’s around, bad things always happen.
I flutter my eyelids open, and it takes me a second to realize I’m not in my own bed. I reach up and rub my eyes. My fingers tingle, and my hands are numb and heavy. I shift my body and groan, feeling like I’ve been lying in this spot for days. I sit up, wincing as everything strains and pulls. I peer around the room, and notice I’ve not seen it before.
Where am I?
I try to remember what happened, and while it takes a moment, it comes to me. Number Three killed herself. A strangled sound leaves my throat, and I press my hand to my chest. Tears tumble down my cheeks. How could this have happened? Why didn’t I realize she was so far gone? I promised I’d take care of those girls, and I let her down.
The door creaks, and I lift my head to see it open and close. It’s still dark, so I can’t see who has come in.
“Who’s there?” I croak.
“It’s me.”
Master William.
Anger bubbles in my chest. How dare he come in here? How. Dare. He? It’s his fault more than mine that Number Three jumped. If he’d let her remember, if he’d let her process her own memories then this would have never happened. I take a steadying breath, but bile rises in my throat.
“Get out,” I finally rasp.
“I’m very sorry about...”
I cut him off before he can continue. “You’re sorry,” I snarl. “You’re sorry? She’s dead. She’s dead because of you. You starved her of herself. You took a piece of her away, and wouldn’t give it back. You had no right!”
“I was protecting her, the same way I’m protecting all of you.”
“Protecting us?” I cry. “How are you protecting us? You’ve stolen us from our lives. You’ve erased our memories. You punish us like we’re dogs.”
“I. Did. Not. Steal. You.”
His voice comes out like ice, and it’s clipped.
“Then give us back our memories.”
He makes a growling, throaty sound. “Did you ever think I was keeping those memories for a reason?”
“And what reason could that possibly be?” I demand.
“You’re not ready to process them. I’m trying to make you stronger, trying to build you up before I let you deal with something like that.”
“That’s a poor excuse that {used I lif7;s used by a man with a sick fetish. You tell yourself whatever you need to, William, but we all know what you are!”
“And what is that?” he hisses.
“A freak.”
The room falls deadly silent. I realize I’m crying heavily now. I swipe the tears from my eyes as I wait to see what he’s going to do. The room becomes eerily still, and I hear nothing for the longest moment. Then I feel him move closer to me. His warm breath comes down to my ear, and I flinch, jerking my head away.
“That was a mistake.”
He takes hold of my arm, and hurls me up from the bed. He tugs me towards the door. He swings it open, and drags me with force out the door and down the halls. I can only see his back, and his dark hair swishing around his shoulders. He yanks me towards the basement, and I dig my heels in. No, he can’t send me down there. I just lost a friend; he can’t do this to me.
“Let me go,” I cry. “Don’t you hurt me the way you hurt her.”
He doesn’t answer, nor does my struggling stop him from pulling me along. He opens the basement door, and we step down. It’s dark down here, but has a faint light that’s enough for him to see what he’s doing. He throws me onto the ground, and yanks my hands up, shackling them to the wall above my head. I try to kick out at him, but he’s too quick. He’s on his feet before my foot even gets close to hitting him.
“All I am trying to do is...”
“I don’t want to hear it,” I shriek. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. You’re a monster.”
I feel something move fast, and then his hand is pressed over my mouth. Hard. I cry harder, and clench my eyes tightly shut.
“Instead of screaming me at every chance you have, maybe you will stop and realize what I’m doing here. I did not steal you girls; I saved you. I took you all out of a hard, painful life and I put you in my care. All I ask for is respect. This is my home, and I control what goes on here. If you understood that and just listened, things would go as they needed. Number Three was damaged. She was fragile in the mind, and her life before this was less than desirable. Her mind was scarred; it didn’t matter how much I took from her. Very soon you will learn that if you want my respect, and my kindness, then you will do the right thing. What you did in there was disrespectful, and the act of a bully. I despise bullies. Now, you will be punished for it.”