Page 133 of Survival

Lying back down on the bench, I tried tocalm myself down. I was nearly shaking now. Darren was probablywell aware of the situation, and I wondered if I had possiblyruined his important business trip. Would he come home from itbecause of my escape or would he continue on knowing his copbuddies had successfully apprehended me? It didn’t really matter.He would be furious anyway, and my punishment would probably lastweeks, if not months. Whatever—it was worth it.

Gathering my strength, I slowly stumbled myway to the sink and began dragging handfuls of water to my desertof a mouth. The water calmed my roiling stomach and brought me backto the present as I splashed itonmy face. I felt a little better after quickly using the toilet andrinsing my hands and arms under the sink.

Then that sheriff fuck came in without somuch as a knock as I dried myself off with some paper towel.

“Well, look who’s up?” he saidenthusiastically with a grin.

I glared at him from across the room,instinctively pulling my left leg back and giving him only the sideof my body to face.

“The fuck do you want?” I asked with ascowl.

He let out a deep sigh before finallyspeaking.

“Jaden, I’m Sheriff Hagen. We’vemetpreviously, you remember?”

“Like I could forget.”

“Of course,” he said with a nod. “Well, I’min charge of safety for this little town you just tried to runthrough last night.”

I raised an eyebrow at him.

“How safe can it be if you have a criminalorganization living right under your doormat?” I asked him.

“Oh, you mean Mr. Davis?” he askedcasually.

“Yeah, that asshole.”

“Well, you see,” he started, “I’ve beenworking with the Davis’s for over twenty years now. I’ve grown torealize what works and what doesn’t work and how to keep our littletown and employees happy.”

“By sleeping with the devil? You sound likea real hero.”

“When you’re in my position, Jaden, you dowhat you have to do to keep the peace, and if keeping off Mr.Davis’s tail accomplishes that, then I have no problem withit.”

“You mean so long as he continues to pay youfor your discretion …”

“Well, to each their own.” He chuckled as ifit was no big deal.

I shook my head at him. What a piece ofshit.

“Anyway, I came to tell you that Mr. Davisis aware of the situation and has requested that we keep you in ourcustody until he returns from his trip to collect you.”

I rolled my eyes and looked away from him.“And just when will that be?”

“Tomorrow, I believe.”

“Well, why don’t you go ahead and tell himto take his sweet-ass time. There’s no rush,” I repliedvenomously.

“Sure.” He smiled and started to head out,but then turned back to the door and suddenly turned the lightsout. I looked over to him in a panic, but he just smirked atme.

“Oh, I was also asked to keep these offuntil he said otherwise,” Hagen answered and then shut the door.The only light I hadwasthe smallamountshiningin from thehallway, which wasn’t much. I was then left alone in the dark and Icurled into myself on the mattress, silent tears falling down mycheeks until I fell asleep.

***

For the remainder of the day, I was keptcooped up in that cell in the dark and was fed only once. I wasgiven a simple plastic cup of water and a bologna sandwich withmustard. That was it; but it hardly made a difference since I endedup throwing the nasty shit up anyway. My stomach was still toofucked up from the drug they gave me to be able to keep anythingdown. I didn’t know why Darren was having them starve me, though.It didn’t make sense since he was always so keen on my having theperfect body and keeping it healthy. Maybe now he didn’t care.

I pulled the soles of the shoes out from mycollar and tossed them in the trash bin. Not like I’d ever get tosee those things again. I tried to spend most of my time sleepingoff the shitty aftereffects of the drug, but in the end, I stillfelt like shit. I drank water until I thought my stomach wouldexplode to help flush it out of me, and that seemed to help as Ispent most of my night pissing it away or vomiting it up.

For some reason, I was thankful for thedarkness in my cell. It provided me with a sense of clarity as Ithought about what I had accomplished last night. I had finallyproved Darren wrong … and it was an amazing moment. I had showedhim that he was not the master of all and that I was capable of farmore than he ever imagined. Let this be a lesson tohimforfucking with what’smine!