The Stolen Mind

Chapter 18

              Neither one of us spoke for a long time. I wanted to talk but kept my mouth shut for once. The poor girl was distraught. She leaned against the cold wall; her blue eyes were bloodshot from the constant crying. She had should length blonde hair which would help her because there wasn't as much hair for Jax to grab onto unlike mine. Her whole body was trembling, and she wouldn't even make eye contact with me. She was wearing a red t-shirt and a pair of ripped up black leggings. She wasn't wearing shoes. I thought it would be insensitive to ask her what happened to them right now. This was too much, we needed to talk to figure out what we were going to do and hopefully I could calm her down. I needed to be the strong one for us.

          "What's your name?" I asked, causing her to look over at me.

           "K-Kennedy." She shuttered in between tears.

             "Look, I know this is hard to deal with, but you've got to stop crying. It won't help us, and it gives him pleasure to see you like this." I said, trying not to sound rude but giving her some tough love that she needs to survive here.

             "I-I don't want to die." She whispered, her lip quivering.

              "Then you need to listen to me and try to stay on his good side. I'm not sure what his plan is but they are usually not good. This is all most likely to torture me." I replied.

            She nodded; her big eyes were glued onto me. I guess this was my cue to keep talking.

              "First off, when he enters the room, do not stand up until he tells you. I learned the hard way. As much as you want to, don't fight him. I struggle with that rule, but terrible things happen when you fight back. He wants us to be submissive and obedient." I said, leaning against the wall, exhaustion starting to take over.

              "H-how long have you been here?" She asked softly.

              "Well that's an interesting question." I laughed humorlessly.

                And so, I told her my story starting from the beginning. My kidnapping. My escape. My time in the psychiatric unit. Dr. Daring. And my readmission to this place. Not wanting to terrify her even more, I left out most of the torturing that I've experienced, especially the rape. The less she knew, the better. If she was so overtaken by fear, then I we could never attempt to escape.

            "Wow, that's terrible." She whispered. Yeah, terrible was an understatement.

            "What happened to you?" I asked.

              She closed her eyes for a moment, reliving the worst day of her life. I could relate to that. I just hoped that she wasn't as stupid and naïve as I was the day I was kidnapped. I barely knew her, but she seemed like a smart girl. Surely, he gave Jax a run for his money. Then again, she could have been so terrified to fight back. She was sitting in front of me so obviously, anything she did had failed. She took a deep breath before recalling her kidnapping.

            Kennedy was dripping with sweat, her heart beating a mile a minute. Spin after spin. Jump after jump. She pushed herself to be the best dancer possible. Even after a five-hour dance practice after school, she convinced her coach to let her stay late and keep practicing on her own. Nationals was what she lived for. She constantly needed to push herself to be better. There was always someone who made her want to push herself. She couldn't risk not getting first place at Nationals. Even though it was months away, she needed to prepare. She could always be more flexible, have more endurance, do more turns, jump higher in the air. Coach always seen Kennedy as a second daughter, so she handed her the keys to lock the studio up when she was finished.