Savior (Book One)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

(Sky’s POV)

Today was a quiet enough day. However, I was punished severely for not only trying to “turn his daughter”, as Henry claimed, but also for trying to escape. I was beaten badly, one of my eyes swollen shut and my right hand broken. After I tried to escape using an old rusty hairpin I found, he kicked me down the stairs and proceeded to beat me until I passed out from the pain. I still wasn’t going to give up, though. I was still going to get out of here even if it cost me my life. I was no longer the damsel in destress. I was a man, dang it, and I was going to get out of here, whether Henry wanted me to, or not. I didn’t care what he said. I didn’t even care about the pain he inflicted on me. All I cared about was finding a way out of this basement, and finding something to eat.

With the thought of food my stomach rumbled loudly, making me wince and place a hand over it. I was starving and I doubted that Henry would feed me after my attempted escape. Struggling to get up off the floor, I made my way over to my mattress, where I pulled it from the wall. There was a giant mouse hole that exposed the construction beyond.

Lucky for me, some of the rotting wood was peeling off. And even luckier for me, while the wood was easy to peel into small sharp strips, those strips were actually pretty sturdy. I just hoped that they worked for picking locks.

However, just as I was dragging myself towards the end of the stairs, the door opened and I gasped, rushing to hide behind one of the many boxes that littered the basement. I heard something be thrown down the stairs and I flinched when it smacked against the floor. The door closed and I was once again cascaded into the familiar darkness. I waited for a few minutes until I deemed it was safe and crawled out from behind boxes to investigate. I froze, however, when I saw that whatever Henry had thrown down the stairs, had a humanoid shape. I gulped, too afraid to go any closer.

Did Henry kill someone? Who was it? Why would he do such a thing? Was he looking for more ways to get money? Oh gosh, what about his daughters? If the police found out he murdered someone, his children would be put in foster care. Who knows, they may even be separated! Didn’t he realize that?! He was literally asking to lose his children! Those poor girls…their father was literally a psychopath.

When I heard groaning, I snapped out of my thoughts and backed away quickly, tripping on a box and falling onto my butt on the concrete. I watched with wide eyes as the person sat up, rubbing at his face. I gulped and the person seemed to hear that, for they looked up and stared straight at me. I was frozen in my spot, unable to move thanks to fear.

“Sky? Is that you?”

My eyes widened and I gasped upon recognizing Bud’s voice. Bud? What the heck was he doing here? Had…Had he come to find me? Rescue me? Did that mean he realized I hadn’t been going to school? If he went to search for me…that meant he cared for me, right? He was worried about my wellbeing, wasn’t he? I felt a sense of warmth wash over me. He was worried enough about me to come find me.

I bit my lip and looked down at my rugged and dirty appearance. What would he think of me now? I was dirty, wearing a woman’s nightgown, and I was pretty sure that I was so skinny, he could count all of my ribs.

Subconsciously I wrapped my arms around myself, hanging my head so that my hair covered my face. I didn’t want him to see me like this. I heard him shift, but I didn’t look up until he lifted my face.

His eyes were sad as he took in my appearance and I gasped when he suddenly pulled me to his chest. “Gosh Sky…I’m so sorry I didn’t interrogate Henry some more.” He pulled back and held me at arm’s length. “God…how much does he feed you, Sky? You look tiny. And that bastard made you wear a woman’s nightgown? When I get out of here I am going to make that bastard pay.”

He then gently touched my swollen eye and I could see the anger coming off of him in fumes.

He was angry. Henry had not only locked me in here, but starved me and beat me when I tried to escape. Of course he would be mad. I only hope that Bud didn’t resort to killing Henry. And while Henry did the wrong thing to get money…I couldn’t fault him too much. He was trying to support his children. He deserved to think about what he did behind bars for a little while. He didn’t deserve to die. And there I went with my completely going off topic.

I tuned back into the real world and looked at Bud, staring straight into his chocolate colored eyes. I bit my bottom lip and patted his arms, making him blink and furrow his eyebrows. “I just want out of here, Bud. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
Bud gave me a look. “What made you think I’d hurt him?” He then frowned and shook his head, turning away from me so he could pace back and forth. “What am I saying? I want to rip that guy apart, Sky. He lied to DSS, locked you in a damn basement, starved you, and beat you! I want that man to rot in Hell for what he did to you.”

I shook my head and looked down at my bare feet. I knew he’d say something like that. I swear, humans and their need for revenge. I took in a small breath and tucked my hair behind my ears. “Even if you do hurt him, that doesn’t mean that the damage isn’t already done. It won’t reverse what happened in my stay here. Please don’t turn into a revengeful human being. I don’t want that.”

Bud took my words into consideration and finally sighed, nodding before he glanced up the stairs at the door. “We still need to get out of here, though. You need to be admitted back into the hospital.” He looked back at me and looked at my form. His eyes filled with sadness and he looked away before I noticed the tears. Though, I noticed them anyway. My heart clenched and I hugged him.

“Thank you for coming for me.” I said sincerely.

Bud nodded, though he stayed facing away from me. “It was actually Anabell who caused for me to look for you. She told me that she was worried about you, you know.”

I couldn’t help the blush that formed over my cheeks at the thought of Anabell actually being worried about me. My heart filled with warmth and a small smile formed on my lips. I couldn’t wait to see her again. I missed her quirky attitude, and her familiar sweetness. I felt guilty that I had made her worry like I did, but I would apologize as soon as I see her.

I looked up to see Bud looking around the basement, a concentrated look on his face. Was he searching for something to get us out of here? I blinked and walked over to where I had hidden when Henry opened the door earlier, and scooped down to pick up the pieces of wood I had gotten from the wall. I walked over to him and grabbed his attention, holding out the three pieces of wood I got.

He raised an eyebrow and plucked them out of my hand, studying them and nodding before making his way up the stairs. “I sure hope this works. Sky, if we do get out of here and Henry goes to get us, I want you to run as fast as you can to the nearest neighbor. Call the police and tell them that there is an individual assaulting a police officer. Ok?”

I nodded and bit my bottom lip, watching with anticipation as Bud knelt in front of the door. He looked at me and nodded towards me. “Let’s get out of here.”

A/N: Meh, another chapter. Enjoy! Also, Vote and Comment please!