Breaking Boundaries

Chapter 38 - Strings unattached

     We are all pawns, my mother used to tell me. There are strings attached to us and someone, somewhere guides us. The almighty upstairs hold everything in his power, including the strings. But sometimes the strings get loose and they break, rendering us free and falling. Until someone else holds on to the strings and now—we belong to someone else. They play us, they use us, guide us somewhere unsafe, and then...they destroy us.

  At this very moment in time—Kayla mattered. Her strings were unattached from the hands of someone that truly, really mattered. In this video, from the projector, someone else claimed her strings. The agony, despair, humiliation, and embarrassment became her very last living moment. But there was a connection between us. We shared similarities at this very moment—only her side was...

"Eat up, girl. You're gonna need the protein." Laughter filled the room and I stopped breathing momentarily, unintentionally. I looked down at my plate in horror and then back at the screen. They fed her rats. Rats! Dead, cut opened rats that oozed rotten flesh! Cries filled the room followed by screeching noises from the girl whose mouth was forced open. Horrified, I moved—but not quick enough. It was never quick enough. My hands shot up to cover my ears but they were forcefully pinned down. I couldn't do this anymore. I couldn't watch let alone hear the agonizing screams from the other side of the projector. Make it stop! None of this was in my hands and if it was I'd make a run for it. Only, I was trapped. And I'd rather be trapped at anyway than this.

"These are your father's dogs mistreating my sister. Watch them. Watch!" Klaus keeps my head straight, his fingers digging into the sides of my temples, creating a migraine. Tears brim my lids and fighting it off only burns my eyes furthermore. But despite the tight grip on me, I feel my head shaking. And then I realize that it's not me that's shaking me...it's the hands that are holding me still.

Gradually, over by the ticking seconds that pass by, I grow numb. To the sounds, to the visions, and to the tears that roll down my cheek. I'm numbed by the pain and everything in between but my mind—it goes into overdrive and picks up little things I lacked in noticing. My eyes close on their own accord and I disappear into another world. Far from the cellar. Far away from the world I existed in. When I opened my eyes—I was in there. In the projector.

With Kayla.

Her ghost eyes flashed opened and our eyes connected. Everything around her and everything around me disappeared. I didn't understand if this was my brain playing tricks on me. But for the moment everything felt real. It was surreal. Kayla pulls her knees to her and watches me. I look down at her plate. I look away in disgust.

"Your father told these men to make my life a living hell," she speaks.

"Because your father has his brother in custody," I state.

"This no longer deals with his brother. I'm afraid..."

"Afraid? Afraid of what?" And in that instance, new faces emerged, chained against the wall. Twelve females were now sitting against the wall on the floor, looking at me. They were of all sizes, race, color, and ages. They were battered, bruised, and starved. I look at Kayla in horror.

"Sex-trafficking. I'm here to be sold just like these women." I stumble backwards, unable to grasp the reality of the situation. My mother didn't note this on her diary. My mother never knew. I shut my eyes tight and swallow a lump down my throat. 

"My mother was in his custody. She was trying to escape. And your father...he..." 

"I know what happened. None of this is your mother's fault. Your father is evil. He's always been the person to ruin other people's lives. My father was only trying to help. And it was his right."

"But you--"

"The unfortunate goat in the battlefield. I saw it coming before anyone did. My father never took crime lightly. With your mother and Salvatore's brother...it was a disastrous combination."

"But you didn't deserve any of this." 

"Neither did you." I smile weakly at her.

"I saw it coming." I repeat her words and both of us take the silence route for a minute before she leans forward.

"I died. But you're still alive. You can fix this before you become me." Her admission squeezes my heart painfully against my chest. 

"Why were you killed?" I ask. Within seconds, the background begins to blur. Kayla's body becomes a soft blur. The women around her disappear. I lean forward and grasp her hand in hopes of keeping her here with me for one more minute before I lose her. I need more time! 

"My father released his brother in hopes of freeing me. But my father refused to tell your father the whereabouts of your mother. Salvatore wanted your mother dead or alive. He got neither. So, he killed me."

"Kayla--"

"Live. Because not everyone gets that chance." And just like that she disappears out of the view. I'm catapulted back into the reality that I exist in. I cry out as Klaus pulls my hair back viciously. 

"Get up. You're in for a rude awakening." And just like that I pulled out of the cell. 

I refuse to shed anymore tears than I already did. It's time I take away the marks of the women that never deserved any of this.