Chapter 16

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Cole's POV

Zac and I had just finished discussing the punishment we had for Emily. She wasn't going to like it. Although that is the point of a punishment.

I had to bite my tongue at most points when Zac would call her a bitch or go on about how I'm not doing my job as a role model and ex leader or this group. I'm embarrassed to admit that I gave in to temptation.  I am now isolating myself from all the voices I'm use to hearing in my head.

No more guilty thoughts crept their way into my brain. No more hearing my mom, faith, or my dad telling me what I should or shouldn't be doing. All I could hear was myself, for once it was peaceful.

Zac showed me my faults. After what happened with Faith I've been absent in this group. I stopped going on trips to take girls, I stopped enforcing the rules, hell I even stepped down from leading the group!

I've was ordered to switch girls with Zac, he'll have his chance at breaking her. Good luck to him. I mentioned to Zac that the perfect punishment for Emily would be to threaten someone she loves. She's been a depressed version of herself after learning that Sara had died in the woods.

Maybe hurting the ones she cared about - or losing them was how to break her.

Zac and I have decided to go find Emily's foster sister Katie. Zac had mentioned that when they took Emily she was looking for her.

"It's perfect." Zac kept saying over and over.

It's almost as if the evil of inflicting pain on others made him ecstatic. Wasn't it suppose to make me happy too? It's a grove I'm going to have to get back into.

We planned a run to the city later this week, during that time we'll go and find Katie and bring her back. It dawned on me that it might be going too far - but then again why did I care? It was going to take some time to adjust back into my old self.

It felt nice to be in a familiar mindset.

_____

It was the night of the trip to the city. I allowed myself to have one final moment of guilt, I must admit it makes me feel human to have emotions other than anger. When we returned Zac and I would switch girls.

I was less than thrilled to have Jenny as a companion. She was boring to say the least. She had been broken the first night here. She's weak, a complete suck up, and the most annoying thing about her is that she's not Emily. But I knew it was best to switch girls. It was hard to be the bad guy around Emily. Something about her made the guilt slip through.

Every time I looked her Emily she reminded me of my mother. Her ability to still remain strong after being taken and forced to live here. She isn't adapting to this place, my mother never did either. She had a kid to worry about, that's why she stayed - that is until she had had enough.

After tonight Emily will have a reason to stay too. Katie will make her behave.

Emily had grown on me, at least once a day I would get a funny feeling in my stomach that made me want to protect her. The way her eyes would gloss over at even the briefest mention of Sara reminded me of the moments as a kid when my mom would look at me and cry telling me she loves me. I thought it was normal to cry when you felt love for someone.

She wasn't crying because she loved me, she was crying because she was scared of losing me. And she did.

Emily had taken a long time to fall asleep every night this past week. I figured she was scared of having nightmares especially since there was so much she could dream about now. A bad dream never did come.

After dinner I decided to go and talk to her one last time. I wanted to tell her about everything so that she could deal with her emotions before she became Zac's...God only knows what he would do to her if she yelled at him like she's done to me multiple times now.

"Emily.." I started the conversation slowly breathing out my words.

"I know you're upset..." I continued. She turned to look me in the eyes. They were glossy already.

"Upset?!" She snapped. I looked to the floor. Only if she knew how lucky she had been thus far. If she had come before Faith - or even if she was here instead of Faith. She could be dead right now. She would of had to deal with a darker version of me. The person who I was falling back into.

" Yes. I am." She admitted.

"I've waited as long as I could but I need to tell you this now." I looked back up at her, I was losing patience by the second.

"Tell me what?"

"Zac found out that you were apart of it." I told her.

"Apart of?"

"He knows you were going to run away with Sara." I bit my lip.

"What? Who told him?!" She came closer to me. I felt a lump in my throat. This was making me emotional. In a way - betraying Emily felt like I was letting down more than just her, but my mother and myself.

"I told him." I quickly said. She needed to know.

I was expecting some yelling, some tough speech about how I'm a monster and what not but no. Emily marched over to me raising one hand in the air and swung it to my face. I caught her wrist. That was the last straw. I felt a shift in my mind. No more.

"I needed to get him off my back."

"So you throw me under the bus?!" She jerked her arm back.

"Better you than me, princess." I smirked feeling the old me taking over.

"What is wrong with you?" She backed up.

"One minute you're sad and depressed. 'Oh poor me I kidnap girls and sometimes they don't listen and then I have to punish them but I'm too messed up in the head to actually do something so I act all nice until they're so confused they break" I laughed at her attempt to mock me.

"The next you're angry. You're emotionless. You're....exactly what I have always thought of you. Twisted. You're twisted, Cole." I let her finish.

"I let you cry it out of a week. I let you yell out your feelings. You're done now. From here on out you listen to me. You won't have another chance to run, you won't have another chance to plan any escape plan. I was going to give you the courtesy  of telling you the punish Zac and I cooked up...but I guess I'll just let you figure it out for yourself when it happens." Who cares if she's upset? Who cares what happens to her now? Not me that's for damn sure.

I walked past her and into the closet grabbing my stuff for the trip to the city. It was time to show Emily what I'm really made of.

"What are you doing?" Emily now visibly scared asked.

I ignored it.

"I'll be back later. Don't leave this room. The cameras are on...so I'll know if you do." I left the room.

"Are you ready?" Zac asked as I walked down the stairs.

"Never been more ready." I smiled and nodded at the boys as we left. 

Max, Jesse, and Alec stayed behind while Zac and I went out for our mission. It was time to go get Katie.

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