Page 41 of Pen Me

“I want a supervisor. Get a fucking white shirt down here, now!” I barked at Larissa when I was whisked past her.

Her eyes widened, and it only took a moment to read the guilt in them.

I whipped around to see who would impede her path, but no one did. She stood there, wringing her hands and watching as I was propelled onward toward the shower.

I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, but I knew it wasn’t good. My brain knew it on a primal level that left me trembling violently against the stained restraints.

“Stop. Stop. This is wrong. You’re all gonna lose your jobs over this. Man, you’ll lose more than that. You’ll go to jail just like I am,” I tried to warn and threaten them.

Alas, the door was opened before me, and the chair flung inside with me still strapped to it.

“The man of the hour, there he is, boys,” an Irish accent crowed.

I sucked in an icy breath, but it still didn’t prepare me for the first fist I ate. It rang me good, rocking my jaw and sending blood and slobber flying from my mouth. Someone on the other side knocked the wind out of me with a gut shot I had no way of avoiding.

I didn’t see it coming, but when the next connected with the underside of my jaw, my teeth clicked together so hard I thought I broke them. I saw stars as my head snapped back.

“What’s going on back there?” I heard a distant voice in the hall and the occasional approaching sounds of a radio squeaking and cutting the silence.

“I don’t know, Ridgeway went to check it out,” Larissa lied, and the radio sounds drew distant and foggy again.

This is how I was going to die. Slow and wondering how mutilated I was from the last blow.

I was being called everything but a dog, I heard the various voices, the taunts. I couldn’t see them. I was dazed beyond belief.

“Not yet, boy. Not yet. You got to let him come around. He won’t feel it good. You want to make every blow count, don’t ya?” I heard someone coaching.

I knew this game. I used to play it with my third stepfather. He’d make the beatings last for hours when I got between him and Henny. Henny was older than me but wasn’t always the muscle head he is today. Once upon a time, he was just a scrawny middle schooler. Back then, I was his little big brother. I was heavier by thirty pounds all the way up until he got out of prison the first time.

My thoughts drifted with Henny as my head rolled. I was only aware it had because the drool and blood trickled down my face.

I knew they were going to do it, and I’d rather not sit here until the adrenaline wore off and Ifelt it good, as the bastard said. So, I drew every ounce of awareness I could from my disoriented mind and flung my head, and spit toward the bastard with the iron pipe.

The alarm sounded and the room sucked in a breath almost all at once. It was the only sign that this wasn’t in their plans.

The boy, whoever it was, gave a wild cry, that I instantly recognized. It ripped my attention and half my soul toward the sound.

He’d never killed before. He was summoning every demon he had.

“No,” someone hissed. “That’s too quick for the likes of him. We’ll finish this shit later. Come on.”

The door opened and guards flooded the room, urging them all out.

“They’re going to review the cameras,” someone hissed behind me.

“Let them. They didn’t see anything. They were off.”

“Yeah, what about the ones in protective custody? How the fuck are you gonna get him back in there?”

My teeth chattered as my body went into survival mode and I clung to consciousness.

“We’ll come back for him,” Ridgeway clipped.

It was the only voice I recognized. The door snapped shut and I heard the lock being manually set.

This was worse than all my stepfathers combined. I was no coward, but my body was fucking possessed by fight or flight nerves and urges I couldn’t possibly respond to. I opened my eyes, and the room spun. My stomach heaved and rolled.

The alarm continued to scream.

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