Filed to story: Uncategorized
“D-Dad?” I groaned. It felt weird to call anybody but Joe Dad, but I tried not to pay it any mind. I fought to pull myself up into a sitting position. “What…what are you doing?”
“Keep your voice down,” Mitchell hissed, his own voice barely above a whisper. He glanced back at the door at the top of the stairs, making sure no one could hear us, before focusing back on me.
He had a ring of keys and was frantically jamming each one into the cuff on my ankle, trying to find the one that fit. “I’m getting you out of here. We must be quick though. Elias will be back soon.”
Although I could barely see his face in the dark, I knew something was wrong. As well as the giant welt on his forehead, courtesy of Mr. Callahan knocking him out earlier, his left cheek was bruised.
He also had a huge cut above his eyebrow where it looked like someone had struck him. He almost looked as bad as I did.
“Oh my god!” I whispered, sitting up straighter. “What happened to you? Are you okay?”
Mitchell wouldn’t meet my gaze. He was too busy jamming every key into the lock.
None of them were working. “I’m fine. They didn’t like that I wasn’t cooperating anymore, so they locked me up.”
“They locked you up?” I parroted, shocked. “But I thought you were trying to help them.”
He swore under his breath when yet another key didn’t work. There were at least fifteen on the ring, all of them the same size and shape. Exactly how many sets of cuffs did Robert own?
“I didn’t know they were going to hurt you,” he told me. “They were supposed to help me get you away from Ace, use you for information, and then let me take you with me.
“I never would have… I shouldn’t have…” He let out an agonized huff of breath.
“None of this was supposed to happen. They lied to me. I only ever wanted to save you.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around what was happening. How could he be trying to convince me that he wanted what was best for me after everything he had done?
“Save me from what, exactly? From my family? From my boyfriend?” I demanded.
“Seriously, what kind of a father lets someone kidnap their child?”
“They’re monsters,” Dorothy! ” he whisper-yelled. “I would have done anything to get you away from them. You know that. I’ve been trying to get you back for years.”
I couldn’t think of a single time Mitchell had asked me to come and visit him, let alone of any evidence of him fighting for me to stay with him over the years.
“I hadn’t heard from you in three years before all of this,” I spat. “Don’t pretend like you care about me.”
He whipped his head up, his hands momentarily stopping their mission to unlock my cuff. “Don’t care about you? How could you say that?
“Everything I’ve done is to try to get you and your mother back. That’s all I’ve ever cared about.
“Once I get you out of here, you’re coming home with me. Your mom will follow, and then we can be a family together again.”
“W-what?” I stammered.
He couldn’t actually think that, could he? His eyes were wide and wild, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the adrenaline running through his body or if it was because he was losing his damn mind.
“Mom is married to someone else. The three of us can’t be a family anymore.”
His face turned into a frown. He looked away from me, continuing his attempt to free me. “Your mother will do anything to get you back. She’ll come back to me if it means being with her daughter.”
“That’s your plan? Are you fucking kidding me?” I couldn’t keep the fury from my tone. “You really think Mom and I would ever want to live with you again after this?”
His jaw clenched. “I erased your memories once, I can do it again,” he murmured under his breath.
“I’m sorry, what?” I demanded. “You did what to my memories?”
I thought back to the conversation I had with my younger brother a few days back.
“Hey, but I thought your old dad hurted you. That’s why you don’t see him anymore,” Felix had said. “He stole your thoughts. O-or, I mean, your memories.”
Was it possible Mitchell had messed with me? Was that what he had been talking about earlier when he referenced the lock on my mind?
Had I known Ace was a werewolf but was made to forget?
“You can stop with the fucking act now,” Mitchell hissed. “We both know Ace took the lock off your mind when you were fifteen.
“I don’t understand why you’re protecting them after everything they’ve done to you.
“Ace treats you like you’re his property. He’s manipulating you, but you’re too naive to see it. He doesn’t care about you; he only wants to control you and use you for power.
“If you’d just told Robert what you know, this could all be over. You could come live with me in the human world…where you fucking belong.”
“Dad,” I said carefully. “Dad, look at me.”
He ignored me. His hands were shaking more with every key he jammed into the lock. “Fuck! Why aren’t any of these working?”
“Dad,” I tried again, speaking slowly, “did you do something to my memories?”
Mitchell glanced up at me. “What do you mean?”
“You keep referencing a ‘lock’ you put on my mind—”
“We are not doing this right now, Dorothy,” he snapped. “I know you’re still mad at me about the lock, but you can yell at me all you want as soon as we get out of here.”
Maybe he was right. Now wasn’t the time to argue, especially when this might be my only opportunity to escape. But that didn’t stop the tears of frustration from pooling in my eyes.
Why did everything have to be so confusing? I was so sick of the lies.
I opened my mouth to respond but abruptly stopped. Mitchell and I both froze at the sound of footsteps making their way across the floor above us.
Seconds later, the basement door slammed open and light flooded the room. Elias appeared at the top of the stairs. He blinked in surprise when he saw Mitchell crouched in front of me.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Elias demanded.
With frantic movements, Mitchell forced another key into my cuff and twisted it.
There was a click, and my shackles fell from my ankle and onto the floor.
Wow. Good timing.
I didn’t have time to process what was happening when my father grabbed me by my arm and forced me up.
“Stand behind me,” he urged.
I stumbled as he quickly shoved me behind him and faced Elias. The world spun around me. The lack of food, water, and sleep was starting to catch up with me.
“We’re leaving, Elias. I’m getting my daughter out of here.”
I was shocked by how confident he sounded.
I peeked around my father to see Elias clearly struggling to come up with a response. His eyes darted to the chain on the ground, no longer keeping me captive, and then back up to our faces.
“Y-you can’t. I won’t let you.” The poor kid looked terrified. Elias’s hand shook slightly as he pulled his gun out of his pocket and slowly raised it in our direction.
“You’re not going to shoot us, Elias,” Mitchell said in a measured tone. He wrapped one of his arms around me from behind and settled his hand on my lower back, pressing me closer to him.
“Dad?” Elias called out, keeping his gun up. “Dad!”