Page 16 of Sadistic Retribution

Bryan Age 11

Ow! I somersault over my dumb bike after hitting the curb at a fast speed. Wearing shorts, my legs got scraped up. My left knee is bleeding, and stings like crazy.

It's hot as Hades, almost one-hundred degrees outside, and it’s only ten am. East Coast summers are notorious for their mood swings.

I limp back into the house. “Mom!” I holler, waiting for her to come to me. She enters the kitchen through the living room, stopping when she sees the blood.

“Bryan! What did you do?” she scolds.

“Crashed my bike.”

She sighs. “Come along, let’s get you cleaned up.”

I follow her to the bathroom where she gathers bandages and ointment. She cleans up the wound and bandages it neatly. Before I leave the house again, I reach out to give her a hug.

She winces, stepping backwards. Her lips press into a thin line, and anger is etched in her eyes. “Go back out and play,” she dismisses.

I don’t get it. Why does she hate me so much now?

If I had only known then. My mom has a fondness for young men. The only reason I know that is because I walked in on her seducing one of my friends.

Bryan Age 12

“Mom? What are you doing?” My heart races, staring at the scene in front of me. My friend, Georgie, is cowering back on the old sofa in the pool house. Mom’s standing in front of him, wearing only bikini bottoms. Her hand is high on his thigh, murmuring softly to him.

When she hears me, she whips around, arms crossed in front of her chest. “He tried to take advantage of me!” she yells, pointing to Georgie. His eyes are full of tears.

“Come on, Georgie!” I yank him up, dragging him out of the pool house. I can’t even look at my mom. How could she?

When Phoenyxx reminded me I had a family, this is what I thought about. It's all lies. There was only my Valley.

I wonder if they’ll kill me. At this rate, if I don’t get food soon, I’ll starve to death.

I hear a sound, and one of the masks—Jester—is standing at the bars. He shoves a granola bar through the bars then leaves.

I crawl towards it, unwrapping it and eating it in three bites. I do my best to curl up, hoping my weary body can get some rest, knowing more rounds of torture will be coming again.

Phoenyxx

“Get up!” Demon’s voice... great. I crack open an eyelid. “NOW!”

“I'm coming,” I mutter. I haul myself out of the bed.

Once I’m standing, he pushes me. “Move it!”

I'm taken to a room with a large screen on the wall. I'm pushed into a chair, and headphones are placed over my ears. “What is this?”

He doesn’t answer, just leaves the room. Within a minute, voices filter through the earpieces.

“Bro! She’s so hot, though!”

“Well, I love her man!”

Oh My God. It's Trikk’s voice. Then?—

“She likes cutting, like me.”

“She's the one. My obsession,”Ghost’s whispered words burn through my brain.