Chapter Thirty-eight

Chapter Thirty-eight

“You got so lucky, Miss Fields,” a man with a deep voice, stoic looking with strong facial features spoke from beside me, making me jump, but I noticed I couldn’t really jump because I was tied hands and feet to a chair. The man was heavily built and he looked like a rogue. A rough-end mafia.

“This would’ve been the perfect wake up call.” He said again, moving forward to face me squarely, displaying the red-hot coal caught in the grip of a tong. He held it close to my face and I could feel an unbearable burning sensation on my face. I tilted my head backwards to avoid the coal, and he laughed deviously at my reaction.

He held out the tong of coal and a hooded man dressed fully in black quickly retrieved it from his hand and disappeared behind me. He walked to a table that was set in front of me and my mom, filled with really mouth-watering cuisines. Cuisines I recognised could be from my mother’s cooking. I stared at my mom confusedly, wondering if this was another part of my nightmares. Like, what was really going on?

“Mom?” I called softly, but she shook her head, crying uncontrollably. She too was tied hands and feet to a chair, so we were both literally trapped, or kidnapped and locked rather, in our very own home. She looked a lot older than I remembered, and a pang of guilt suddenly crossed my heart. I wasn’t here with her through her ageing process, something she always wanted me to see. How much she wished that I could witness the graduality of her ageing process, never noticing it at first, and then one day, waking up to realise how much she had actually aged. I wasn’t there. I never can be, even though now, I wish I could be by her side, through it all. She looked stressed and disoriented, but that might be because of the situation at hand.

The man strode carelessly to the table and pulled out one of the chairs and sat down. He took a seat at the head of the table, opposite the rest of us, just so we could watch him eat.

He took a slice of bacon and put it in the empty plate before him. He scooped some pottage from the larger bowl into another smaller bowl. That was my dad’s favourite pottage. Now that I think of it, where was he? I hope these men did not hurt him?

My eyes gaped in horror as I turned to look at my mom who was crying all along. The reality of where I was hadn’t just hit me yet, or else, I would’ve been the person crying the most here. I still wasn’t sure if I was here or not, cos how could I be in New York one moment, and then I shut my eyes and open them and I’m in Washington DC, in my parents home? The place I actually wanted to be, far from everything else. This must be some sort of joke. My head must be playing tricks with me right here.

All I could remember was getting out of Brandon’s… wait, Brandon! That traitor! He could be the one playing tricks with me here. What if he’s just here, somewhere, trying to make me believe that he is the only one that can protect me, when he is the real monster?

“Mmm… You should join me. Your mom made this special delicacy for me, I’m sure you’ll love it.” The man said with mockery evident in his voice as he gulped down a spoon full of pottage. I stared at him haughtily, wishing I could just get out of my bonds and smash his head in bits, even if this were a dream.

“Oh. My bad. I totally forgot you had a little fellowship with the chair. How is it going though?” He asked again, lifting a spoon full of pottage to his mouth. I sneered at him, struggling furtively with my hands, and he laughed at my reaction sardonically.

“Miss Fields, you really should have a taste. This might be your last meal. Come. Join me.” He said, this time, lifting a spoonful of pottage in my direction and I glared at him defiantly.

“It might as well be your last meal.” I said defiantly and I heard a slap, hard across my face, and I bent my face to the opposite direction, in reaction to the force of the slap. I could see a million stars dot the utter darkness in my eyes, and for a moment, I thought I had travelled in time to space.

“Go easy on her Max. she’s still just a child.” He said in a weird accent, scolding the man that hit me.

“Sorry boss.” I heard the man say in a deep, grim voice, but my eyes were filled with the sight of too many beautiful stars, that it couldn’t spare me the chance of seeing his ugly face.

“Do you want something to eat, baby?” He asked, laughing in a gruff voice. “ See, I’m more concerned than your daddy.”

“Go. To. Hell” I said through clenched teeth, with my cheeks expecting another slap, but it never came, and I wondered why. I opened my eyes carefully and saw him grinning weirdly at me from his seat. Why didn’t anyone hit me?

“You’re just like your dad Miss Fields.” He said in an admirable tone.

“You know nothing about my dad!” I snapped at him angrily.

“Trust me, I do. Even more than you do.” He said and gulped down a glass of water, and I watched him irritatedly.

I turned to my mom desperately, fearing the worst. “Mom, where’s dad?” I asked with anxiety laced in my tone, but she just kept crying and shaking her head.

“Mom! Where is he!?”

“Exactly the question!” the man said, snapping his fingers and I turned to face him. “We are waiting for his grand appearance so that the show might begin.”

“What do you mean?” I asked irritatedly.

“You’ll see.” He said with a lopsided smile. “But before then, let me tell you a little backstory.”

Backstory???