Page 60 of Redemption in the Dark (The Righteous 5)
Wolf turned and spotted the light on his answering machine. He hadn’t noticed if it was there when they came home from the celebration and strode across the kitchen to hit play.
The machine beeped, and the line was quiet except for the heavy breathing.
“You’re not safe.” That was all the mechanical voice of the voice generator said, and then the line clicked and went dead.
He stared at the machine like it might bite him.
Who the hell was doing this?
“Fuck, we need to move,” Wolf said as he stepped outside.
But the sounds coming from the barn as Maeve continued to work through whatever was controlling her told him they couldn’t leave until she was calm. There was no way he could travel with her acting like this, and he wasn’t about to knock her out.
Wolf quickly packed a few things and tossed the bag in the Hummer for safekeeping and then parked himself down into the chair and kept watch over the property. Each pained wail cut him a little deeper. Every single one was a reminder of how much the past could still torture and haunt your soul.
Duke whimpered as he stared at the barn.
“Come here, boy,” he called to Duke, and he looked reluctant but wandered over and sat down. However, he continued facing the barn and the noise from within.
“Yeah, I’m worried about her too, boy.” He ran his hand through the dog’s fur. “I’m worried too.”
Maeve slammed her fists and body into the door and the walls until she stumbled back in exhaustion. She stared up at the dark ceiling of the barn, her eyes looking for any way out, but she was so tired that she couldn’t even get up. The muscles in her arms burned from the exertion.
The silence slowly ticked on, and the pain-filled fury that had been like a raging bull in her chest started to wane. As it did, the guilt and humiliation hit her hard. Before she knew it, her body was racked with gasping sobs. She covered her face with her hands and let the pain out. The image of Wolf’s face when he put her in here was enough to make her want to crawl in a hole and never leave. She’d stolen his truck, kicked him, hit him, and screamed at him like she was losing her mind.
It wasn’t far off the mark. She felt like she was losing her mind. Piece by lonely piece, more of her damaged soul flaked off and left her feeling less like a person and more like an emotional wreck of a thing.
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to,” she whispered into the dark, and as she did, her back arched off the ground. A skull-splitting pain sliced through her consciousness as she was transported back in time.
* * *
“I don’t wantto play Princess anymore, Daddy,” she said.
She clutched the comforter to her chest as the door closed to the bedroom. She pulled her knees up under the night dress and pushed herself into the corner of her bed. Daddy approached the bed. She was apparently too old for stuffed animals now, but she still felt like grabbing Bunny, who was sitting on her nightstand and holding him like a shield. He was coming into the room more and more. She used to be able to count the Sundays between his visits to her room, but now he visited her multiple times a week.
She heard him telling the priest that he had been a bad man by touching her and wanted forgiveness. The priest didn’t seem happy with Daddy, and they went into a private room where she couldn’t hear them anymore.
She didn’t understand why he needed forgiveness. Daddy told her the last two years that what they did was special and she should be happy even when she hated it.
Was what he was doing wrong all along?
She didn’t want him to touch her. She’d asked him not to so many times, and he kept saying that it was her job and that she should enjoy it. Now her mind was confused about what was right and wrong. She was told never to keep secrets, but Daddy told her this was one secret that couldn’t be said to anyone. Her lower lip trembled as her mind tried to make sense of everything.
Today was her eighth birthday, and she thought he wouldn’t come to see her. She thought he would go hang out with her Mom and the rest of the friends that were still downstairs, but she should’ve known better. He always managed to come in when he’d had too much to drink. His breath stunk of gross alcohol and the fat cigars he’d smoke. She hated those cigars.
The men that came whenever Mom was away loved them. They would sit in their chairs and make her do things to them while they smoked those and drank their terrible drinks. She never wanted to see those men or their cigars again, but she knew she would.
There was no running from the poker game and girls’ weekend that happened every eighth Sunday. She’d never been allowed to go with Mom and her friends. She always had to stay here even when some of the other kids like Kim got to go with them. She hated Kim cause she was allowed to go. She didn’t have to worry about dressing up like a Princess.
“What do you mean you don’t want to play the part of Princess? Of course, you want to play Bug. It’s your favorite game. Dressing up like a Princess has always been so much fun.”
She hated the name Bug. It made her feel small and weak, and she didn’t want to feel small and weak anymore. She didn’t care if people heard her throw a fit tonight. She didn’t care if he tanned her butt, and she couldn’t sit for the next week. She didn’t want to touch him again. His hands went to his belt, and she felt like their small dog with the mailman and wanted to growl.
“I said No. No, I don’t want to.” Her teacher said that she needed to be clear about what she wanted. She thought she was being really clear.
“Don’t be like that. You know that I’ll have to get angry with you. Do you want me to spank you again?”
He stepped closer to the bed and her body tensed. Even from the middle of the room, she could see his bloodshot eyes, and his words were coming out a little slower than normal. He had too many of those brown drinks like he did during poker nights. He was worse when he had those. He was mean and rough and got angry fast.
