“My sister is broken. Even when he’s not there, she hears him. She’s not strong enough to fight him off.”
That explained why she was arguing with herself in the dark.
“You underestimate her. Marnie’s stronger than you think.”
“Maybe.” Trina shrugged. “But she’s not smart enough to get away with it.”
“And you are?”
“No.” She stopped and whispered, “But you are.”
Oh, so that was her game. “You want me to kill your father. For what? In trade for your sister?”
“You make it sound so dirty.” Trina twirled her hand through the air. “I’m sure you can take care of her and give her what she needs.”
I agreed with her on that one. “I’m the only one that knows what she needs.”
“There you go,” she said. “It’s an amicable trade. He’s gone, and Marnie’s safe.”
There was one thing she left out.
“What about you?” I took a sip of my drink.
Selfishness was laced within everything humans did. We could survive on rainwater and bread, yet we wanted that ham sandwich because it tasted better. Big houses, well-paying jobs, power, everything people sought had a self-indulgent intent. Basic survival needs didn’t drive society. Desire did. So what was Trina’s desire?
“What do you get out of this?”
Her eyes rolled up to mine. “Nothing.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Believe what you want, Preston.” She shrugged. “I died a long time ago.”
Iwas starting to think that the absence of sound was my own personal hell. I could handle the dark and even the cold, but the silence…it was getting to me. There was nothing to listen to but my thoughts, and those were the last things I wanted to hear.
That sparkle in Preston’s eyes was constantly replaying, turning my mind against me. The flip from ‘I hate him’ to ‘when is he coming back’ happened so fast that I couldn’t say when it started.
Was it the first time he took me? One of the many after? Or was it something else? Something that made me see him differently? Preston Whitley was the last person I should miss. Yet, here I was, alone in the dark, anxiously awaiting the sound of his footsteps.
It got so bad that I sought out other sounds to concentrate on. A drip in the distance, the wind blowing against the house, anything was better than this mind-numbing silence.
My wish came true when a click rang through the air, and a panel slid back on the far wall. I clung to that sound for as long as I could. The soft grating of wood on wood was like a miracle. Then the screen behind it came to life, and my stomach pitched.
Preston, I wasn’t surprised to see. The person he was walking toward…horror filled my gut. What was Trina doing here? This wasn’t a safe place.
I tried screaming and yelling, banging my fists on the bars, hoping she might hear something. She didn’t, and neither could I. All I could do was sit there and helplessly watch as she entered the house. The view switched to another camera. My sister was there on the screen, but she’d never felt so far away.
Would my last memory of Trina be filled with her pain and blood? Why did Preston bring her here? I’d done everything he wanted. So why was my sister in his house? Was he trying to torment me, or had my sins come back to bite me in the ass?
‘Sinners are condemned in their sin and will perish and go to hell.’
“No,” I whispered. “I’m condemned.”
‘Your taint is a stain on this family. I will not let you drag your sister into damnation.’
I would never hurt Trina. She was innocent and unscathed by our parents. Our father purged his hatefulness on me so she could make it out clean. A normal life was all I wanted for her, and now, she was here in this hell with me.
Maybe I was a stain…
