Page 20 of His Reluctant Savior

“Fuck me,” Dalton groaned, sitting back down, and resting his head back on the couch to stare at the ceiling as he rubbed his wet eyes. “I’m so damn sorry, Sid. No kid should ever have to suffer like that. If only I had known…”

He sighed and looked at me when I said nothing. I couldn’t change my past, so there was no point in what-ifs or apologies.

“What happened after that?” he asked.

“Were you arrested?” Dalton asked.

“No. But the crime family found out. Don’t ask me how because they never told me and I never asked. They were clearly watching over us. Anyway, I woke up at some point, tied to a chair in a cold, dark, damp room, still in my underwear. The only light was over my head, casting the rest of the area into darkness. Several people were with me. I could sense them. It was like out of a goddamn movie. Clichéd as hell, but effective… at least onan eighteen-year-old young man who’d only known fear and anger for most of his life.”

“God, Sid… I have no words. Everything that I knew about you from our youth has completely changed. It all makes so much sense now.”

“I took back my life, Boy Scout. Don’t fucking pity me. Besides, you have a good idea of how I ended up.”

“They trained you to be a killer.”

“Bingo.”

“Then what happened?”

I can’t move as I come to. Someone has tied me to the chair. My body shivers, and I’m covered in goosebumps since I’m still wearing my fucking underwear. Uncle Duane’s blood is dry and cracking, pulling tight on my skin. It makes me itch, desperate to wash it off.

“Do you know why you’re here, Sid?”

My struggling body freezes. I don’t recognize the voice, but I know who’s captured me. The voice is deep, and it’s coming from in front of me, but I can’t see him. It’s hard for my eyes to adjust to the darkness with light shining down on me.

“Yes,” I say honestly.

“And why is that?”

“I killed my uncle. He warned me I could die if I fought him or ran.”

The man is silent for a moment before he responds. “Why would you need to fight him or run?”

I don’t want to tell him. It’s one thing being honest because my instincts tell me it will keep me alive longer, but it’s quite another to explain my humiliation of being raped for years. Deep down, I know it’s not my fault, but I also blame myself for not fighting harder and for believing I had no power. It also leaves me covered in shame.

“Answer me!” the man yells, his voice echoing loudly against the walls and in my ears. My body flinches, and my stomach recoils from the fear.

“He’s been raping me since I was ten, and he started drugging me after I turned fifteen so he could rape me without me resisting. I… had enough. He… raped me for the last time. I’m glad he’s fucking dead!” I sound braver than I feel, at least to my ears.

A light flickers on, and I blink as the floating lights dance in my vision. When it clears, a man in his forties is sitting in front of me. He has black hair with some gray. His eyes are startlingly light, almost matching the gray hairs on his head.

My head drops, and I sag in the chair as much as I can. Is this when I die? I don’t want to die, but a sense of calmness washes over me. At least I got to see my uncle dead before I was killed. I had expected it.

“We’ve been watching you because of your parents’ murder, but apparently not close enough.”

“Did he… kill them?”

“We never found their killers.”

“Are you going to kill me now?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

I say nothing because I’m not sure he wants me to, and I wouldn’t know what to say, anyway. All his words do is confirm what my uncle had told me all along. If something happened to him, I would die.

“Look at me, Sid.”

I raise my head and peer into his pale and haunting eyes.

---