New to the Family

The Basement

It was much harder getting out of Jared's arms than I thought it would be. I tried prying his arms off of me, but every time I touched him her stirred in his sleep. I held my breath as I grabbed his arm going over my waist. I was able to shift my body over to the other side of the bed as I held his arm. I placed his hand down on the mattress once I had escaped his grip.

I watched Jared for a few seconds to make sure that he was still asleep. If he was going to ask me where I was, I would tell him that I was going to the washroom.

He did not move. I let go of the breath that I did not realize that I was still holding. I stepped off of the side of the bed. I grabbed my glasses that were sitting on the nightstand. I squinted as I lifted the edge of the mattress up. I grabbed the handle and pulled it out. I turned the knife in my hand and watched the moonlight shine off of the blade.

I never thought I would ever need to kill anyone. I was unsure how to even do this. I assumed I would have to just force the blade as hard as I could into his chest.

I climbed back onto the side of the bed. I was kneeling next to Jared's body with the knife in my shaky hands.

He was lying on his side. This was not how I planned it. I thought it would be a clear path to his chest, but now his arm was in the way. I didn't know if I should lift his arm, or if I should just aim for the side of his chest.

I lifted my hand with the knife. I had to stab him, and I had to do it now. I closed my eyes so that I would not be watching the rise and fall of his chest.

Come on, Leah, I told myself. Just do it now.

"Leah?"

My eyes opened to see Jared rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hand. I knew I ran out of time. I swung my hand down, but Jared, even in his sleepy state, saw my motion. He rolled away from the knife. I sliced down the side of his shoulder. He howled in pain, and blood was soon running onto the white fabric of his shirt.

I lifted my hand again, but Jared saw. I managed to slice his shoulder again before he grabbed my wrist. He pushed me back off of the bed. He crawled off so that he was on top of me. I looked back to see the knife sitting on the floor. I reached behind me and grabbed the knife. I swung my arm down and made another cut vertically down his chest.

The left side of Jared's shirt was soaked in blood. Drops of it were landing on my skin. I tried to push Jared off of me, but he pinned my shoulders to the floor.

"What are you doing?" he yelled at me.

I reached forward and pressed my hand into Jared's fresh wounds. His fingers curled tighter into my shoulders as he cried out in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut, and I pushed harder into his wounded shoulder.

A hand came down and pulled Jared off of me. I looked up to see that it was Gabe. His jaw was hardened and his eyes were stone cold. He reached down and grabbed my wrists, and pulled me up onto my feet.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"I didn't do anything," I said.

He spun me around, and wrapped his hand around my throat. He held me tight against his chest. Gabe was sitting on the floor next to the bed. Lindsay was kneeling in front of him, and helping him remove his bloody shirt.

"Did you try to kill Jared?" Gabe asked. "After everything he has done to protect you, you try to kill him?"

This was it.

This family was definitely going to kill me now.

"No." I shook my head. My chest burned as Gabe tightened his grip and I struggled to breathe. "I promise I didn't want to kill him. I just want to go home."

"You are home, Leah," Gabe said. "We're trying to take care of you."

Gabe let go of my throat and pushed me down onto the floor. Pain shot up to my elbow when I tried to use my hand to break my fall. I looked behind me to see Gabe towering over me. I scurried across the ground to try and get up onto my feet. Gabe grabbed my ankle and yanked me back. He rolled me over and pinned me down onto floor. His weight was crushing me.

"Look what you did," Gabe said as he grabbed my chin.

He turned my head so that I was looking at Jared. Lindsay had gotten a first aid kit and was pressing a pad of gauze against his shoulder. Jared grit his teeth and winced as she applied pressure.

"You are so ungrateful," Gabe said.

He let go of my chin. I turned my head back, but I was soon knocked back to my side. Pain exploded across my face, and I realized that Gabe had punched me. Warm blood trickled down my nose and onto my lip. The tears spilled from my eyes and rolled down my cheeks.

"We're taking care of you," he said before another punch. "How dare you do this to our family?"

"Please," I cried out. I raised my hands to block my face. "Please, I'm so sorry."

"Sorry?" he asked. "You could have killed Jared."

Gabe grabbed my wrists and ripped them away from my face. I closed my eyes and braced myself for another hit.

"I knew you would be a troublemaker," he said. "I don't even know what to do with you."

"I'm sorry!"

Gabe let out a deep breath before getting off of me. I touched my sore nose, and my fingers came back bloody. I looked to the side to see a pile of blood soaked gauze beside Jared. Gabe reached down and grabbed a fistful of my hair. I screamed as he pulled me up onto my feet. I held onto his wrist as pain spread across my scalp.

"Come with me, Leah," Gabe said as he pulled me to the door.

"Let go of me!" I yelled.

I dug my heels into the floor. I balled my fist and swung. I hit Gabe in the side. He let go of my hair, but seconds later threw me over his shoulder. I pounded into Gabe's back as he walked down the hallway.

"Let me go!" I screamed.

"Leah, calm down," Gabe said. "You need to learn your lesson."

"Please, I promise it will never happen again."

"I will make sure of that."

I kicked my legs as Gabe carried me down the stairs. He walked through the house, and I continued to pound into his back. Gabe kicked open a door before walking down another flight of stairs.

The cold air caused goosebumps to spread across my skin. I was only wearing the T-shirt and underwear Jared had given me before bed. A damp smell filled my nose. A light flicked on and I could see that we were in a basement. Gabe walked over to a workbench, but I could not see what he picked up. He walked to the other side of the basement, and let go of me with one hand. He grabbed a mattress that was propped up against the wall. He dragged it across the basement, and dropped it onto the ground.

Gabe tossed me down onto the mattress. A coil of rope was wrapped around his arm. He pulled my hands back to a pole in the middle of the room. He tied my wrists to the pole with the rope. Gabe stayed kneeling on the floor next to me after he was finished. I pulled on my wrists and the rope dug into my skin.

"Think about what you did," Gabe said. "You could have killed Jared."

"I'm so sorry," I said. "I promise that I'll never do anything like it again."

"I know you won't, but you need to stay down here for a bit first."

"Please!" I pulled harder on the rope and shook my head. "Please, let me go home."

"Leah, I am not going to tell you this again. You are home."

Gabe removed the glasses from my face. He ran his fingers through my hair as he shook his head.

"When I come back down, you better no longer be a troublemaker," he said.

I screamed for him to let me go as he walked up the basement stairs.