41. 41

41

Ember

W ith our new agreement, we fell into a somewhat comfortable, if mostly tentative, state of companionship. Ethan allowed me to put on sweats and a t-shirt, and we went down to the kitchen to make drinks, and kill time until bedtime. The place was impeccably tidy, which at least felt a little more like Ethan’s normal state, as in Ethan before whatever the hell mental break he’d had.

We sat in front of the TV, and he let me flick through channels while we held mugs of tea. It felt too normal after how things had been when he’d first kidnapped me, but I knew at any second, things could turn and we’d be back where we’d started. If we could find a way to work together, around each other’s issues and urges, maybe we really could make this work. The TV shut down suddenly, along with the lights, and Ethan chuckled. Why would that be funny to him?

“I guess they figured it out after all. The question is, will they survive trying to get in…”

Oh my god. I leapt up and ran to the front door, and Ethan caught me just before I touched it. There were wires running from what looked like several car batteries, and attached to the metal door surround, and the handle, and I had no idea if any of it was legitimately dangerous, but I didn’t want my dads to get hurt!

“Careful, baby. I prefer you conscious, remember?”

“Please don’t hurt them, Ethan! Please!”

He groaned, walking closer to the door and holding me beside it, safely away from any wires.

“The door’s rigged, assholes. For some reason, your daughter wants me to warn you of that.”

Silence was their response. It made me wonder if maybe it wasn’t them at all. What if the power just went out naturally? That could still happen now and then, right?

We stood still, silent, waiting.

“I wanna hear it from her,” a voice replied, and through the wall, I honestly couldn’t tell which dad it was. They sounded so similar after years of living together.

“Em? Are you in there, sweetheart?” Okay, that was definitely dad Dory.

“It’s true! I can see it all on this side of the door. Don’t touch it!”

We could just pick up muffled grumbling, but no actual words.

“Let us in, little pig, or I’ll feed you to the fucking wolves.”

“That’s not even remotely logical,” I heard my other dad say, chuckling quietly.

“We want to see Em. We need to know she’s okay.”

“Ember is just fine. She’s alive, conscious, and even wearing clothes. I’m a kind owner.”

“Listen, fuckhead-”

“We just need to see that for ourselves,” dad Dory said in a placating tone.

I wriggled in Ethan’s hold, and he groaned, resting his forehead against my hair.

“God yeah, keep doing that, baby.” Ugh. I mean, yeah, but not right now.

“Please just let me talk to them. If I talk to them, they’ll leave. They just need to know I’m okay, and you want them to leave us alone, right?”

Ethan

THERE SHE GOES AGAIN, trying to coerce me, like the manipulative little bitch she is. Fine.

“Stay right there, assholes. You can talk to Ember.” I gripped one of her hands firmly, and dragged her to the stairs.

“But you said-”

“I know what I said. Just remember you said you’d be less difficult. You want to talk to your dads, and I want them to fuck off. This is the only way.”

She let me drag her up the stairs, finally catching on as I led her down the hallway towards a bedroom we never used, but which was front facing.

“The windows don’t open, Ethan.” Well, duh. Luckily this was the room where I’d stored the tools I’d used to cut out the other pane of ‘glass’ before. It wasn’t glass. It was like a toughened acrylic, but with the right equipment, it was possible.

I pointed to the corner, and ordered Ember to stand there, and I guess because she was so curious about what I was doing, she obeyed.

I grabbed the blowtorch and set it burning, pressing it against the window, not caring that it was taking forever to melt through, because they could just fucking wait.

“What are you doing?”

I lifted a screwdriver to the flame and heated it to glowing, and slammed it against the weakened acrylic, ramming a hole through it. Finally I grabbed the same tool I’d used to cut the other window away, switching it on, and using the hole I’d made, to start chewing through the toughened plastic.

“You asshole! He’s cutting the fucking window. Do you have any idea how much they fucking cost?” They probably yelled more, but that’s all I caught when I paused after a few seconds to make sure it was cutting.

When I finally had a hole large enough to let Ember stick her head through, I moved aside.

“Tell them only what they need to know to fuck off. If you play me, I’ll use these tools on you.”

She blinked wide eyes at me, nodding rapidly, and moved to the window, leaning her head through to yell down to her dads.

“I’m okay,” she called first.

“What the fuck! Your hair!”

She withdrew her head while they were still talking to glare at me, but what do I care? I shrugged, and jerked my head at the window again.

“Dads, I’m fine. I’m staying here with Ethan, but you need to go home.”

“Sounds to me like you’re there against your will.”

“Seriously, when did you bleach your hair? Baby girl, you look so much like you did when you were younger.”

“Dad! Can you just hear what I’m saying? I want to stay with Ethan. Please go home, and we’ll be in touch.”

They yelled some more, and I dragged her away from the hole, to poke my own head through. They were standing directly beneath the window and glaring right up at me. Thank god there was a whole floor of distance between them and me. Even as aggressive as I’d become, I’d still be no match for both of them.

“You saw her, and you can see she’s fine. We want to be left alone now.”

Gray threw a kick at the wall, which you know, go for it, it’s your fucking property.

“This isn’t fucking cool, Former Teach. We’ll get to you at some point, and then you’re dead.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, whatever. In the meantime, can you just fuck off? I’d hate to get all wound up by your behaviour, and have to take it out on your poor vulnerable daughter.”

“You fucking threaten her again, and I’ll carve your fucking organs out while you burn to death.”

Huh. I pulled my head back in for a moment and eyed the tools, the blowtorch, and the chemicals I had here for various eventualities. I leaned back through the window.

“Hey, you like fire, right, Gray? Fuck with me, and I’ll burn us both alive in here. If you want to test me on that, go right ahead. I have everything I need here to make a fast burning fire, and I’ll make sure your daughter dies before you can reach us.”

“FUCKER!”

Dory raised his hands, like he thought he could placate me, or talk me out of this. I mean, let’s be honest, they’re an entire fucking family of manipulative assholes, right?

“Dory, don’t even try. I get it. You guys care about your little girl, and you want her safe and happy. She chose me, and I’m just trying to look after her in my own way. If you think about it, it’s probably stuff you’d approve of. You guys don’t believe in boundaries, or consent, right?”

“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

“Gray, take a breath, and let me talk to him. Listen, Ethan, you’ve had your fun, but that’s our baby girl in there, and she needs to come home. If you let her out, we’ll let you leave, and we’ll do nothing about the crimes you committed, or anything. We just want our little girl back. I’m sure you can understand that-”

“Oh. So it’s you she gets the coercive thing from. That’s interesting, because I figured Gray was the bigger manipulator out of you two. I’m learning so much today.”

“Listen, fuckhead-”

“Shh Gray. Ethan, enough’s enough. Yeah, we’re assholes or whatever, but you don’t want to keep pushing us. You have no idea what we’re capable of, trust me.”

Yeah, I had a pretty good fucking idea though. I mean, I could read people pretty well, couldn’t I? Hadn’t I noticed that they both seemed fucking unhinged. What they didn’t realise was they were now talking to someone who was becoming just like them.

“Yeah? Fascinating, really. I’ve learned about the kinds of things I’m capable of lately. See, I was normal, and then your daughter completely fucking destroyed me. There’s only one thing she hasn’t taken from me-”

“Don’t worry, fuckhead, we’ll cut it off for you.”

Honestly, I was starting to really like Gray, because didn’t he just say exactly what he was thinking? Dory was calmer, and more controlled, but Gray was literally like touchpaper, just waiting to be lit, and set free.

“Nice. As I was saying, she’s destroyed every achievement, every hope and dream… all but one, so that’s the one we’re living out now. You’d probably appreciate this too. Procreation . I know that’s a Cross fetish, so don’t worry, gents. I’ve joined the family in every possible way now. In fact, probably time to get back on with that.”