Family Affairs Chapter 2

I really wasn’t going to continue posting the rest of this story, but even if no one reads it, it’ll get somewhere other than the hard drive of my computer. Let me know what you all think.

–mourning

Steven woke to find himself bound and laying on a cold floor in a dark room. His throat was parched as he tried to call out to Carry. When no one answered he sat up. He instantly felt dizzy but managed to focus his eyes in the darkness. He noticed a shadow huddled in the corner next to him and as his eyes became accustomed to the darkness he could make out Carry’s features.

“Carry, are you okay?” Carry remained motionless and silent. Steven could see the gentle and even rise and fall of Carry’s chest, but all he could hear was his own uneven breathing.

“Carry; answer me. Are you okay?” When Carry didn’t answer him, he gently nudged him. “Carry, come on, do you know where we are? Carry, if you want to go home you have to help me. Do you know where we are?”

After a long pause Carry shook his head. He opened his eyes and stared off into space as he remembered the past.

“Did you see the guys who took us?”

Carry looked at Steven for a brief moment and then turned his eyes to the floor and slowly nodded his head.

“Do you know who they are?” Steven asked. Carry gazed at the floor but didn’t answer Steven. “Carry, you have to help me. Do you know the people who took us?”

Carry started to speak but changed his mind and simply nodded.

“Carry, did they touch you at all?”

Carry shook his head. He gazed behind Steven.

Steven turned around to see Mr. Crosswire standing in the doorway. Mr. Crosswire flipped a switch on the outside of the door and the room flooded with light from an overhead light bulb.

“Well, this wasn’t exactly how I planned things to go… A minor setback; but it’ll work.” Mr. Crosswire stated and then left the room closing the door behind him.

Steven stared after Mr. Crosswire but quickly returned his attention to Carry. “Carry, who was that?”

Carry lowered his head and hesitated but finally decided to speak. “That’s Robert Glenn, my father.”

“Your dad?” Steven asked confusedly.

“Yeah. He lost custody of me five years ago.”

“What happened?”

“He went to jail when he and my mom divorced. He’s a very violent man.”

“What about the other guy?”

“I didn’t see him too well, I’m not sure who it is. Steven?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t get in his way.” Carry stared off into the past as he spoke.

“What?”

Carry’s eyes fixed on Steven’s. “Just stay out of his way. Don’t say anything. Just do what he says and don’t talk back.”

“Carry, what are you talking about?”

“Little things set him off really bad. I mean it. He’s not just a little violent. He’s really mean. If he tells you to do something, just do it and don’t question him.” Carry continued to gaze at Steven. “Just stay out of his way.”

“Why would he do this? What does he want?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care as long as I get out of this alive.” Carry took his gaze from Steven to the floor.

Steven turned to face the door as he fidgeted with the ropes. “So do you have a plan to get us out of here?”

“Yeah; Shut my mouth and do what he says.”

Steven reached into his pocket and retrieved his pocketknife and then started to saw at the ropes.

“What are you doing? If he catches you doing that, he’ll really hurt you.”

“What makes you so sure that if you do what he says he’ll let us go?”

“I’m not,” Carry looked into Steven’s eyes, “but it’s worked before.”

Steven turned his attention to the ropes that bound his hands. “Well at least he wasn’t smart enough to check our pockets.” Steven continued to saw away at the ropes.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Carry asked in disbelief.

“What does it look like? I’m trying to get us out of here.” Steven continued to hack away at the ropes making a little leeway.

“Believe me, there’s no way out of here. He’s always been a very thorough man. He would have thought of everything.” Carry rested his head against the wall in defeat.

“Well, I’m not like you. I don’t give up. I’m at least going to try. My father taught me what to do in these types of situations.”

“Listen, I’m not giving up, I’m facing reality. And what are you planning on doing when he comes back in here and finds that you have cut the ropes off?”

“I’ll catch him by surprise.”

“Oh, please. He has a .45 automatic, and the windows are barred and boarded up. There is no escape. Get used to it.”

The boys’ conversation ended when they heard the handle of the door start to turn. Carry grabbed Steven’s knife and shoved it in his back pocket.

A tall man dressed in all black with a ski mask came in with two bottles of water. He looked at each of the boys.

Carry caught his gaze for a moment and then the man in black turned his eyes away.

Steven noticed the .45 in the man’s shoulder holster and hid the frayed ropes in his lap as best he could with what little range of movement he had.

The man in black eyed Steven as he set down the bottles of water between the boys. He noticed the fray in the ropes and gazed intently at Steven’s eyes but said nothing. He then started to leave as silently as he had come.

“Look whatever you want we’ll give it to you. You don’t have to do this…” Steven spoke up as the man was about to shut the door.

The man turned around to take one last look at Carry and Steven, but said nothing as he left closing the door behind him.

“Shit.” Steven raked his bound hands through his hair. “Give me my knife back, I’m going to get us out of here. He could come back in here any minute.”

Carry looked at Steven for a moment and then handed him the pocketknife. “He won’t say anything to my father.”

Steven looked oddly at Carry. “Do you know who that guy is?”

“Yeah, I know him.”

“Well… What’s his name?”

“It doesn’t matter what his name is. He’s not going to hurt either of us. Just let this run it’s course. Just stay out of my father’s way and we won’t get hurt. You don’t have to worry about him.”

“How can you honestly say that? He has a gun and you think he’ll hesitate to kill us?”

“If he killed us, he wouldn’t shoot us,” Carry mumbled under his breath. “Look, I know my father. I’m sure he wasn’t planning on you being there. I’m sure you were just a mistake.”

“Just a mistake? Look, our lives are on the line here. Why does this not make you even the slightest bit nervous?”

“Nervous?” Carry’s eyes flared with outrage. “I lived with this man up until five years ago. You have no idea what I’ve been through. Nothing in the world could possibly be worse than what he’s already put me through!”

As Steven sat in a stunned silence Carry realized that he had lost his temper and lowered his head in shame. To Steven for that split second Carry seemed to become an entirely different person. This shy and quiet boy became filled with hate and rage… and it was scary. Steven cleared his throat and tried to ease the silence. “Look, we’re never going to get out of this unless we work together. I’m not the bad guy here. We need to trust each other.”

Carry tried to calm himself down. “I understand who is and isn’t the ‘bad guy here,’ but I also know how to stay alive with my father. I’m fifteen years old and everybody treats me like I’m five. Vince… Jeff… mom… Everybody. I grew up real fast and they still think that I’m a child.”

“I understand that he hurt you, but you need to trust me. Aren’t you afraid of what he might do now?”

“Trust you? You’re going to get me killed! Once my father sees that your ropes are frayed, or even worse, off he’ll hit the ceiling. If you ask me, I think you need to trust me. I’m not afraid of him anymore. I figured out how to survive all those years, I can figure out how to survive now.”

“Okay, you want me to trust you? Fine.” Steven closed his knife, put it back into his pocket, and set his hands in his lap. “Now, what do you propose we do?”

“Just sit tight and stay out of his way. Whatever he wants has to do with me, not you.” Carry looked at one of the boarded up windows and sighed as he rested his head against the wall.

“What does he want?” Steven had collected himself and managed to avoid sounding sarcastic.

“I don’t know. But, whatever it is, I give it to him.”

“What if he doesn’t want anything? What if he just wants revenge?”

Carry stared off into space. Then I die… That wouldn’t be so bad…

5 comments

  1. thanx and don’t worry. it’s all written out. i’m just spacing the way i post the chapters so any readers don’t feel overwhelmed. it is a very long story.

  2. chapter 3 is already posted and chapter 4 as well, but chapter 4 accidentally went up with the title chapter 3, sorry. i haven’t decided whether i’ll post it again under the right title.

  3. i really like this story from wot i have read so far! i think u shld kee the title thn people know wot 2 look for! really good!
    Dru xx

  4. thanx, and don’t worry, i’m not changing the title, i just accidentally put chapter 3 instead of chapter 4.

Comments are closed.