Master

Chapter 65

Here we are at the finish line 😭
I hope you all enjoy it.

Play the song when told - it's Spring 1 -2012, by Max Richter

🥲❤️

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Kalem's P.O.V

I remember the first time Lincoln told me I was free.

It had been at the end of my first day with him, he was putting me to bed despite my protests, and he'd told me that I was free to do whatever I wished. Then a few words later, he'd said it again, that I was free.

At that moment, I couldn't understand what he was saying because it didn't make sense to me. I'd never heard the word 'free', so I was confused. For weeks after that day, I'd secretly thought about the word, plus all the others he called me, wondering what they meant, and when I finally discovered what a dictionary was, I looked them all up.

Brilliant meant that something was very good or very bright. Master had said that I was brilliant, and I'd squealed so loud after seeing the meaning that Master had run in scared. When I was next alone, I'd looked up a few more, each making me happier than the last; astounding, intuitive, compassionate.

By the time I'd reached the word free, I was one big burning ball of joy to know that my Master thought I was all those amazing words. But free... I'd struggled with free.

Free meant so many things. In one place, it said that if you were free, you could act on your own and that no other had power over you, which made no sense to me at the time because I believed Lincoln had all the power over me. The word also meant 'to be given something without charge' and 'to not be obliged to certain engagements'.

There were so many meanings to the word free, and it was all so confusing, but eventually, I settled on the one that said that I wasn't confined or imprisoned, which was the only one I could understand because Master never put me in chains or a cage.

From that day onwards, I'd told myself that I was free, only understanding it to mean that one thing. But over the first year with Lincoln, as my mind opened up and I saw just how much had been taken away from me, I slowly understood the word's other meanings.

To be free wasn't just a physical thing; it was so much more, and as I got stronger and more confident, I realised that I wanted it every way, not just the one.

So, I'd left a special space at the end of my secret yellow book, where I'd written all my lessons and the little things I needed to remember about myself, and I told myself that one day, I'd be able to fill it three words.

I didn't know when that day would be, and sometimes I worried that it may not come in a long time, but I knew that eventually, one day, it would come.

As a faint grumble comes from below, I return my attention to the man who'd changed my life in the first place. I bite my lip, trying to stifle any sounds from escaping as I watch him scrub at the floors, his face fixed in the deepest frown in the world.

I couldn't laugh– laughing would be mean, and I was not a mean person.

But then again, this was Master, so maybe I should be... Plus, he was in trouble, so technically, being mean wouldn't really be a bad thing now. Nodding to myself, I stop biting my lip and let a little of my giggles slip free.

Lincoln immediately whips his head my way, his glare deadly, but it just made my giggles grow.

"This isn't funny, Kalem," he scolds, scowling the way he did whenever he found Wequie and me cuddling.