Chapter 7 — The Future Is Uncertain

Things got kind of fuzzy for me after that. I hadn’t slept or eaten in two days, and my time unconscious didn’t help me rest. I had vague impressions of being moved around, but my mind had taken a vacation. When I became aware of reality once more, I found myself being carried down into the basement. Again.

I tried to struggle, for reasons beyond my understanding. I didn’t get very far, mostly because my entire body felt like cooked noodles. I stopped fighting when Kier placed me on something other than the ground.

Blinking, I tried to look around.

He put me on an air mattress. For some reason, that had a giggle burning its way up my throat. I covered my face to keep the sound contained and curled up into a ball.

“You should get some rest,” Kier said, sounding exhausted himself. He dropped a blanket over me, not bothering to cover my entire body up.

“Do I have to be in the basement?” I asked.

He rubbed his eyes. “Yes.” He said the one word in such a hard tone, I assumed that he wouldn’t elaborate. When he did, it surprised me. “I have to talk to my siblings about this. They have a say on what’s allowed in their house. Also, I don’t know where else to put you. Just… get some sleep.”

He turned away without saying anything else. I almost called him back, but then just laid there while he walked up the stairs. As he closed the door, I relaxed against the stupid air mattress. It felt like a good quality one, but I’d never slept on such a thing before. It wouldn’t have surprised me if it popped.

I used my arm as a pillow and hauled the blanket up to my shoulder. I hadn’t felt more comfortable in over a week. Maybe because I didn’t have to worry about being woken up to someone beating the crap out of me. At least, I probably didn’t have to worry about it.

My mind tried to reel around, telling me that this thing or that thing would go wrong. My chest felt tight, but not because I couldn’t breathe. Because of the sobbing from earlier. But, more than anything else, one thought kept popping into my head over and over.

You got away.

***

Something poked me in the cheek, and I jerked awake. I found myself staring at the beautiful little girl from the backyard. Her soft brown hair looked a tad frizzed, and she had her gorgeous green eyes narrowed until I looked at her. Then she grinned and ran for the stairs. “Kier! She’s awake! We can play with her now!”

Huh?

My fuzzy brain coughed up all kinds of meanings for that sentence. None of them good. Then I remembered everything that happened after Kier tried to drag me home that night, and my chest loosened somewhat. He wouldn’t have killed me right after that, would he?

The basement door stood open, and I saw Kier poke his head down. His little sister stood halfway up the stairs, holding the doll that she used to poke me in the cheek. “Amber,” Kier said. “You weren’t supposed to wake her up.”

“But you said that we could play when she stopped being a sleepyhead!” Amber said, tossing her doll about for emphasis.

“That didn’t mean wake her up,” Kier told the girl.

“It’s okay,” I said, rubbing my cheek. I sat up on the slightly deflated air mattress and looked around. The windows remained dark, so I figured that I’d only gotten a couple of hours’ worth of sleep. “I don’t mind.”

Kier sighed. “Just as well. I’m almost done cooking dinner, and you can get something to eat.”

He turned around, and headed back up the stairs, leaving me with Amber. She looked at me, a huge smile spread across her face. “You can play with me!”

“Am I… supposed to go upstairs?” I asked.

“Of course!” Amber said, running back toward me. She grabbed my hand and started to pull me toward the staircase. “That’s where all my toys are. You can’t play with them down here.” She said it in that way that children talked, as if you were being silly for not realizing something obvious to them.

I let her pull me up the stairs, figuring that if Kier didn’t want me up there, he’d be reluctant to toss me back down in front of the child.

The kitchen didn’t look as neat as it had after Kier cleaned up that morning. Amber had her toys spread out again and Kier had set out plates waiting to be filled with food. Others lined the counters by the sink, ready to be washed. Another little girl, this one looking around twelve, sat at the table, doing homework. She wore glasses too big for her face, but otherwise looked just like Amber. Two other boys occupied the living room. One, who looked under ten, fired a toy gun at the television. I heard the pew-pew-pew sound of the videogame he played. The other boy was only a few years younger than me, and he also had homework.

The other girl saw me first, and she peered at me from her spot at the table. “You don’t look that scary. I thought you’d be terrifying, based on how Kier kept you hidden away downstairs.”

I looked down at my body. “Erm… I don’t know what to say to that.”

Amber brought me a doll that had seen better days, and said, “This is Jesse. You have to be nice to her, because she’s been through a lot. A bird stole her from me, and then dropped her. She went splat in the mud.”

“It was a hawk,” the other girl said, getting up from the table. She came over to me with her hands on her hips and stared up at me with bright green eyes. “The hawk thought her doll’s head was a rodent or something, and I bet he was disappointed to find out otherwise. You’re prettier than I remember.”

“Clementine!” the other boy from the living room called out. “Don’t be rude.”

“I’m not being rude. I’m stating a fact. She’s prettier than I remember. Not that you have to worry, or anything. You’re much too old for me. I’ll be a real lady killer in a couple of years, and by then you’ll be ancient.”

I blinked at the girl. “I’ll be twenty.”

“Yeah. Ancient compared to me,” Clementine said. “Besides, I like redheads.”

“You told me you liked blonds,” the younger boy said.

“That was last week. This week, I’m into redheads,” Clementine answered. “Anyway, since my sister didn’t want to do it, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

“I’ll do it!” Amber complained, stepping up. She put her tiny hands on her hips and glared at her sister, unconsciously mirroring the older girl. “She was my friend first!”

“She’s not your friend, and if anything, she was Kier’s friend first,” Clementine argued.

“Don’t fight,” Kier said, in that way that people do when they’ve said something a million times already.

“We aren’t fighting,” Clementine said, as Amber grabbed my hand.

I looked down at her, and she smiled. “Hello! I’m Amber, and I’m going to be in pre-k soon. My babysitter has been teaching me how to write!”

“Impressive,” I said.

“I’m the bestest at it,” Amber said.

“Are not,” the boy from the living room called.

“Am too,” Amber shouted back. “He’s just jealous.” She grabbed my hand, and hauled me around the counter, to where Kier stood. He seemed content to let his siblings do what they wanted with me. Four pots and pans rested on the stove. One seemed to be filled with boiling water, while another held some kind of sauce. The third had cooking steaks in it and the smell nearly drove me into an animalistic state of hunger. The fourth had bread toasting in it. The smell of garlic filled the kitchen.

Kier dropped some pasta into the boiling water.

“This is Kier,” Amber said. “He’s our older brother, and I luff him. He reads me stories every night!”

Kier glanced over at me with a sardonic expression on his face. “If you’re hungry, feel free to have a snack.” He gestured over his shoulder, at the counter filled with cookies, bread and cheese and fruit. I picked up a small bundle of grapes, to keep myself from passing out.

Amber hauled me over to the other boy, who hadn’t gotten off the couch. He glanced up at me with a slight sneer of disgust. “This is Ash. He’s my second oldest brother. He’s boring. He just reads all day and won’t play with me.”

Ash snorted and shook his head. He looked exactly like Kier, only smaller. The third brother had the same thing going for him, but his eyes were the same green as the two girls.

Amber turned me around to face her older sister, who stood in the kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest. “This is Clementine. She’s also boring, but sometimes she makes things esplode, and that’s cool.”

“Um, what?”

“Science experiments,” Clementine said.

“She calls them experiments. Really, she just likes watching things blow up,” Ash explained, still writing in his notebook. “Her teacher asked us to stop signing her permissions slips for their labs in class.”

“I didn’t mean to do it! And the frog was already dead,” Clementine shouted. “It’s not like he felt anything.”

“And this!” Amber yelled over the other two, gesturing to the last boy. “Is Aiden. He plays with me all the time and isn’t boring at all.”

The boy paused his game so that he could turn to me, and bow. It looked a little odd, considering he had his gun resting on his back. But I decided not to point that out, and instead, nodded to him.

Things got awkward after that, as they all stared at me expectantly. It took me a beat too long to realize what they waited for. “Oh, um… My name is Whilda. You’d probably think I’m pretty boring too. My favorite thing to do is read.” I gave Amber an apologetic smile.

The little girl grinned. “You can read to me!”

“Don’t do it,” Ash said. “You’ll never get to do anything else if you start reading to her.”

“She’s a monster,” Clementine agreed.

“Shut up!” Amber shouted.

“No fighting,” Kier called from the kitchen.

I wished that I could join him, because it suddenly felt overwhelming. All four of them kept talking to me, and Amber seemed so interested in me. I guessed that Kier had talked to them, and they’d all decided I could stay until we figured something else out. I hadn’t expected this level of curiosity or acceptance, though. Honestly, I assumed they’d lock me down in the basement.

“Dinner!” Kier called.

The kids all abandoned me like I was nothing. I felt a smile trying to pick up the corners of my mouth.

When I didn’t move, Amber came back, and grabbed my hand. “C’mon! Dinner’s ready,” she said, as if I hadn’t heard him from ten feet away. I let her pull me into the kitchen and shove me at the table. It had five seats until Kier brought one in from a different room. He set the chair down next to me, and I slid into my spot between Ash and him.

Kier had made pasta with steak mixed in, garlic bread, some salad, and what looked like dessert. He also had a pitcher of iced tea waiting. The others all dug in, but I felt self-conscious. I’d never had this kind of meal before. When my mother had been alive, she’d always made up my plates. Then with my father, I mostly fended for myself. This kind of family style dinner seemed so foreign to me, and I didn’t know what to do.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Amber asked, looking up at me with worried eyes.

“Yes,” I said, nodding.

She looked at my still empty plate, and it prompted me to move. I felt embarrassed as I took the smallest portion of pasta and one breadstick.

Kier snorted and put another spoonful of pasta onto my plate. “That’s not enough to feed a hummingbird.”

I had the stupid and sudden urge to apologize. The words started to bubble up my throat, but Clementine launched into a story about her school day. It allowed me to eat in peace, because everyone focused on her. I worried that they’d judge me for how I ate for some reason. Like they didn’t chew their food the same way I did.

It turned out that Kier knew how to cook. The meat felt tender and nearly fell apart, the pasta had just enough bite to it, the sauce had this creamy texture, and the bread had an outer crunch with a soft inside, and the hint of garlic delighted me. The last meal I had that tasted half as good, my mother made. I could cook, but not like this.

When I finished everything on my plate, I eyed the remaining garlic toast. I’d already had one, though, and it seemed rude to take another when this meal hadn’t been prepared for me.

I’d been too obvious, because Kier grabbed the basket and offered it to me. So, I could either be the ungrateful bitch that refused his offering, or the selfish bitch that took another piece of bread. I took another piece of bread, and thoroughly enjoyed every bite of it.

“Where is Whilda going to stay tonight?” Amber asked, toward the end of the meal.

“The basement,” Kier said.

“Again?” Amber whined. “I thought that she was our guest. We can’t make her stay in the basement. It’s ruuuuuuude.”

Clementine rolled her eyes. “Where is she supposed to stay? We already share a room, and we can’t put her in with the boys. They’re smelly.”

“I don’t mind the basement,” I said, honestly. It would be quiet down there, and I wouldn’t have to worry about making a fool of myself. I’d done that more than enough times already. They had to think so little of me.

“It’ll be cold down there,” Aiden said. “Humans don’t like the cold.”

“I have a blanket,” I said.

They all gave me a look that clearly stated they thought my argument stupid. I tried not to curl into myself and failed.

“I’ll figure it out,” Kier said, grabbing the dessert plate. All the kids shut up and waited for him to pass out pieces of cake. I didn’t know what kind, but it smelled of cinnamon and chocolate. Each slice looked huge, and I felt certain that my stomach wouldn’t be able to hold it all when he set a piece down in front of me. Then I took a bite and discovered that sometimes willpower did win out. I ate the entire thing and had never felt so stuffed and satisfied in my life.

“Ash, Aiden, clear the table,” Kier said. “Amber, Clementine, you guys load while they rinse.”

The kids got to work without arguing.

Kier rose up and gestured for me to follow him. I hefted myself out of the chair and waddled after him. Once in the living room, he said, “You can shower up in my room. It’s the last one on the left. We don’t have any normal clothing that’ll fit you, so I left a pair of boxers and a t-shirt on the bed. We can wash your clothes for tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” I said.

He grumbled out a reply and walked away. Kier had been nicer to me since my breakdown, but that didn’t mean he felt any happier about my presence. As a matter of fact, he barely spoke to me. I shouldn’t have been hurt by that, but it stung, nonetheless.

I found his room, and stepped inside, feeling awkward. He had claimed the master suite, and that didn’t surprise me. He was the oldest person in the house, and that became more evident with every second that I stayed there.

His room looked huge, but sparse. He had a king-sized bed pushed up against the wall, with plush carpeting all along the floor. The only pictures up seemed to be of the kids, and he only had one bookshelf. It had been filled completely, though, and I resisted the urge to walk over there and check the spines out. I didn’t know if that counted as snooping, and I didn’t want to offend Kier. Not until I knew what we would do, anyway.

I found the boxers and t-shirt right where he said they’d be and went to shower. His bathroom looked much like the bedroom did. It had a white and blue color scheme, empty counters, double sinks, a large tub, and an even bigger shower. I stood there for a couple of seconds, feeling so out of place. My bathroom barely had room for me to change in it, and this one looked almost regal.

Wrapping my arms around my middle, I went over to start the shower. I figured that it would take me minutes to bathe, because I wouldn’t feel comfortable. My goal would be to get in and out as fast as possible. The second I stepped underneath the spray, the hot water felt so good that I forgot about comfort. I just wanted to get the sweat out of my hair and off my body. I’d spent the last two days stressed, running, and frightened. I wanted those smells off me, and how embarrassing that I’d sat at their dinner table without washing myself first.

My discomfort didn’t come back until I had to change into clothing that obviously belonged to Kier. The boxers barely fit, and his shirt went almost to my knees. I stared at myself in the mirror, and barely recognized the girl looking back at me. She had soft blue hair and eyes, just like I remembered, but she seemed like a stranger.

So uncomfortable, as a matter of fact, that I managed to slip downstairs, and into the basement without anyone noticing me. I stayed there, sitting on the loose air mattress, trying to figure out my next move. Every option seemed stupid or impossible.

Kier opened the basement door, and called down, “Whilda?”

I jumped. “What?”

“There’s something that I think you need to see.”

My heart shot into my throat, and I went upstairs on shaky legs. Kier didn’t comment on the clothing that barely fit me, and my cheeks got kind of hot. Like he judged me for that. What would he have said, though? Hey, you look good in clothing that hides your body?

He brought me to the living room, where the kids all sat on the couch in a row. They seemed to be doing their own thing. Aiden and Amber played a game, passing a device back and forth. Ash read a book, and Clementine seemed to be studying something. I worried that she’d blow the house up.

The news played on the television. A story about some accident on the side of the road. I watched it, feeling kind of detached from the entire situation. “What did you want to show me?” I asked.

“Wait,” Kier said.

I walked over to one of the recliners and hesitated before sitting down. Kier took the other one, making it easier for me to lower myself into the first. God, I couldn’t have made this more difficult if I tried. He probably found me annoying, and just wanted to throw me out on my ear—

My face flashed over the television screen, making my heart jump in my chest. “Whilda Plier, a seventeen-year-old human girl, was reported missing earlier today by her father. He claims that she ran away from home and is asking both the police and the Authorities to keep an eye out for her. If you spot her, then please report it.”

It felt like my heart would drum out of my chest.

“You’re on TV!” Amber called out, excitedly. “You’re famous!”

“Shh,” Clementine snapped.

I leapt up and ran out of the room. Kier followed me. I’d recognize those heavy steps from anywhere. I just had to get away from the kids, though, so I ran down to the basement before the panic really set in.

Kier closed the door and stomped down the steps after me. “This is where you tell me what the hell is going on,” he demanded.

My thoughts scattered, and my chest felt even tighter. “They won’t believe me now,” I cried.

“What?”

“The police or the ladies at that shelter, they won’t believe me. I thought that I could still go, that I still had a chance, but they’ll never believe me. They’ll think that I’m lying to avoid getting into trouble.” I sucked in a breath that shook and screamed at myself internally. I couldn’t break down again, not over something like this.

“What are you talking about?” Kier demanded.

“My father,” I said. “He went to the police, so now they all think that I’m a brat that didn’t want to listen to her father and ran away. They’ll take me back to his house, no matter what I say or do. They won’t believe a single word I say.”

“About what?” Kier growled, and his voice seemed to echo off every part of the room.

My chest got even tighter, and I had to sit down. Words fell from my lips without my permission. “About anything. About when he tried to kill me or when he hits me, or when he screams at me for no reason, or those times he takes away my food and breaks my things. They won’t believe me, just like that other lady wouldn’t believe me. I tried to tell her, and she told me that it didn’t matter, that I just had to wait. She said that I should just wait, and then move out, but I would be dead before I moved out. So I ran, and ran and ran, and my father came after me. He tried to hit me with his car, he tried to kill me, so I kept running, and then I got here, and you wanted to send me back, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get hit anymore, because it’s too much. Too much…” I had to suck in a breath, because dots had started to form in front of my eyes.

“Okay, okay,” Kier said, his eyes getting a frantic look to them. He softened his voice again, like he had the last time that I’d broken down. “All right, you don’t have to go back.”

Tears formed. “But what am I going to do? They won’t believe me now, and someone will see me eventually.” I covered my face with my hands and couldn’t believe that I dumped all this on him. Breath hitching, I said, “I have to leave. You can’t keep me here.”

Kier’s eyes changed, becoming darker. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep everyone safe. You… You can’t leave like this.”

I looked down at myself, and realized he was right. I’d draw more attention than normal. “Then what am I supposed to do?” I asked.

“Just take a breather,” Kier suggested. “Stay the night, and we’ll figure out the rest tomorrow. It’ll look clearer then, I’m sure.” He used his soft voice, like I had become a wild animal.

Well, can you blame him, Miss Breakdown?

I covered my face, and curled in. “All right. One more night. I’ll figure something out in the morning.”

Kier rubbed his face and looked around the basement. “Do you want to stay down here, or—”

“I’m fine down here,” I said, immediately.

He eyed me but nodded. “As you wish.”