Delicate ✔

Chapter Twenty-One

          

--Justin--

"Listen here, Justin. I really don't want to hurt you, but you're making this harder than it has to be," Lee hisses at me, gripping the pliers his friend is holding out.

Lee takes the pliers, holding tightly on to my wrist. I feel limp as I lean against the wooden chair they had threw me in. I don't know where we are. I've been hit more times than I can count. My mind is running slow; I don't know where Aubrey is. I feel the cool metal of the tool slide around the upper section of my pinky. I guess cutting off the whole finger all at once, and getting it over with, isn't vulgar enough. They want to cut a section of my finger off one at a time.

"Are you going to do it?"

I shake my head. "There is nothing more you can do to hurt me. I've had pain at it's finest."

I don't mean physical pain. I was never beaten. Although, my 'best friend' is attempting to physically hurt me, I'm talking about emotional pain. To me, that's the worst kind of pain. It's why I don't feel bad for Aubrey. She makes me think of my theory. My theory is that physical pain is an illusion. I know Aubrey's condition is a medical condition, but if I don't dwell on the idea of pain, It's not as bad. Aubrey and I, however, are not immune to our emotions. I worry about the emotional scars Lee will leave me with after this. We were best friends. And here he is, betraying me.

Why do I let it get to me? 'You should be use to it now, Justin!' Everyone you've ever known has always died or left you. Why should it come as a shock now? My mother died, and I never gave her the time of day. God knows where my dad went. I've been in and out of friendships and relationships.(but hasn't everyone?) I'm a burden to the Eastlake family. If Sylvia and my mother had never been friends, I would have been living on the streets, or with this idiot in front of me. I expect that the Eastlake's will want me out when I hit eighteen. I try my best not to get too close to people, because I know it will hurt me. Now that Lee's shown his true colors, and is probably going to leave me at the side of the road, all I have left is her. 'Listen to me! I sound like such a dumb-ass. Of course she wants me out of her life. If she's alive...

Lee's friend speaks up. "Wait," he interjects when Lee is ready to snap my fingers off. "You really think he's going to give in to you that way? You need to threaten his family."

I snort, trying to hide my wariness. "I have no family."

Lee smirks wickedly at me. "You don't? What about those people at that house you've been staying at?"

I shrug, keeping my face impassive. "They're not my family. I could care less about them," I say, knowing that deep down, that was a lie.

"What about that girl he took to the party?," his friend chimes in.

I don't recognize this guy. He was at that party awhile back? Shit.

"The Eastlake's daughter? She was that girl you stabbed back there," Lee glares.

The guy gives him a sheepish grin. "Oops,"

"Tell you what," Lee turns to me. "We'll let you go look for your little girl friend, if you write me a letter."

"And if I don't?," I ball my hands into fists, tied down to the chair.

Lee stands, throwing the pliers across the room. "Ryan here, will go back, and make sure the bitch is dead. And that nobody will find her."

I grit my teeth, thinking for a moment. Aubrey... She's the only one who hasn't given up on me... yet. I don't want her too. I know it will probably only hurt me in the end. And this is really stupid, but I'm willing to sit through every second with her, until she does walk away like everybody else.