CHAPTER 3: THE CONFIRMATION
3052 Words
Sera Winters
Captivity isn't always about locks and chains. Sometimes it's about making you responsible for keeping yourself caged.
I spent the first hour throwing things.
Not hard things. I wasn't trying to break anything. Just soft things. Pillows. The blanket. My bag. I threw them at the wall and watched them fall and felt absolutely nothing.
The second hour I paced. Back and forth. Window to door. Door to window. Counting my steps. Losing count. Starting over.
The third hour I sat on the floor with my back against the bed and stared at the locked door and tried to figure out how I'd gotten here. But I knew how. I'd gotten in the car. I'd trusted my mother. I'd been stupid.
By the fourth hour I couldn't sit still anymore.
I picked up Caelan's phone from where he'd left it. Like he knew I'd need it again. Like he knew I wasn't done.
I dialed without looking at the screen. I knew the number by heart.
It rang four times. I thought she wasn't going to answer. Then she did.
"Sera." Not a question. Just my name. Flat and tired.
"Tell me the truth," I said.
A pause. Long enough that I heard her breathing on the other end.
"I already told you the truth."
"No. You told me to be grateful. That's not the truth. That's bullshit."
She sighed. Long and heavy. "What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to say you didn't know. I want you to say this was a mistake. I want you to say you're coming to get me."
"I can't say any of that."
My jaw clenched so hard my teeth hurt. "Why not?"
"Because it's not true."
I pressed my hand against my mouth. Tried to keep the sound in. It came out anyway. Small and broken and pathetic.
"Sera, listen to me." Her voice changed. Got softer. Almost gentle. Almost like she used to sound when I was little. "Marcus owed them money. A lot of money. Money we didn't have. They were going to take the house. Take everything. He had to give them something."
"So he gave them me."
"He gave them his daughter."
"I'm not his daughter."
"No. You're not." She said it so simply. Like it was obvious. Like everyone knew. "His real daughter is at college. She has a future. She has plans. You—"
She stopped.
I waited. My fingernails dug into my palm.
"You what?" I asked. My voice shook. "Say it. Finish the sentence."
"You were already struggling, Sera. No direction. No plans. Working that dead-end job. Living in that tiny apartment with no heat. I thought—" She paused. Took a breath. "I thought maybe this could be good for you."
Good for me.
My ears rang. That same high-pitched sound that wouldn't stop.
"You thought being sold would be good for me."
"You're not being sold. You're helping the family. There's a difference."
"Is there?"
"Yes." She said it so firmly. Like she believed it. "They're good men, Sera. They'll take care of you. Give you things I couldn't."
"I don't want things. I want to come home."
Silence.
Long silence.
"Mom?"
"You don't have a home anymore."
The words were so cold. So final. Like she'd been waiting to say them.
"What?"
"Marcus gave up your apartment. You were month to month anyway. It's already been rented to someone else."
My apartment. My tiny freezing apartment with the broken heater and the coffee shop two blocks away and the bodega cat. Gone. Just gone.
"You can't—" My voice cracked. "You can't just erase me."
"I'm not erasing you. I'm—" She stopped. Started again. "You're twenty-two years old, Sera. It's time to grow up. This is life. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices."
"I'm the sacrifice."
"You're helping your family."
"I'm not your family." The words came out sharp. Mean. I didn't care. "I've never been your family. I've just been the extra one. The one you kept around because it was easier than explaining where I went."
"That's not fair."
"No. It's not." I laughed and it sounded awful. Wrong. "But it's true."
She was quiet for a long time. Then she said, "I have to go. Marcus is waiting."
"Of course he is."
"Be good, sweetheart. Make the best of it."
The line went dead.
I threw the phone at the wall. It hit hard. Cracked. Pieces of glass fell to the floor.
Then I screamed.
Not words. Just sound. Raw and loud and ugly. I screamed until my throat burned like I'd swallowed acid. Until I couldn't breathe. Until I fell to my knees and pressed my forehead against the cold floor and wished I could just stop existing.
I don't know how long I stayed like that. Time felt wrong. Too slow and too fast at the same time.
But when I finally looked up, Kieran was standing in the doorway.
The door was open. He was just standing there watching me with those concerned eyes like he actually gave a damn.
"How long have you been there?" I asked. My voice was wrecked. Hoarse and broken.
"A few minutes."
"Get out."
"I can't."
I laughed. It hurt. "Right. Because I'm a prisoner."
"You're not—"
"Then let me leave."
He didn't answer. Just stood there looking at me like I was something sad he couldn't fix.
I pushed myself up off the floor. My legs shook. "That's what I thought."
"Sera, there's something you need to understand."
"I understand plenty. You bought me. My family sold me. I'm trapped. What else is there?"
"Why we needed you."
"I don't care why."
"You should." He stepped into the room. Closed the door behind him. His hands were shaking. Just slightly. I wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't looking. "We're dying."
I blinked. "What?"
"All three of us." He walked to the window. Looked out at the trees. "There's a curse. It's killing us."
"A curse." I said it flat. Like he'd just told me the sky was green.
"I know how it sounds."
"It sounds insane."
"It's true." He turned to look at me. His face was serious. No smile. No warmth. Just exhaustion. "We've tried everything. Nothing works. You're the only—"
He stopped. Grabbed the windowsill. His knuckles went white.
"Kieran?"
He didn't answer. His breathing got weird. Fast and shallow.
Then I saw it.
Black lines crawling up his neck. Like ink spreading under his skin. They moved. Actually moved. Twisting and spreading and reaching toward his jaw.
"What the hell—"
"It's fine." His voice was tight. Strained. "It does this sometimes."
"That's not fine. That's—"
The lines reached his face. Spread across his cheek like c***ks in porcelain. He made a sound. Low and pained. His hand went to his chest.
"Kieran!" I moved toward him without thinking. "What do I—"
"Don't touch me." He held up his hand. "Just—don't."
I froze.
The lines kept spreading. Up to his temple. Down to his collarbone. I could see them moving under his shirt.
Then they stopped.
Just stopped.
He took a shaky breath. Another. The lines started to fade. Slowly. Like someone was erasing them.
"That's the curse," he said quietly. His voice was rough. "It's getting worse."
I stared at him. At the fading marks on his skin. "How long—"
"Weeks. Maybe less." He finally looked at me. "Without you, we don't make it to spring."
"I don't understand. What am I supposed to do? I'm not a doctor. I'm not—"
"You're not human." He said it so simply. Like it was obvious. "Not entirely."
My stomach dropped. "What?"
"Your bloodline. It's rare. Old. You have something in you that can break curses. But only if—"
The door opened.
Caelan walked in. His face was blank. Unreadable. But his eyes went straight to Kieran. To the marks still fading on his skin.
"Kieran," he said quietly. "That's enough."
"She needed to know."
"She knows enough." He looked at me. "You have a choice, Sera."
"A choice." I wrapped my arms around myself. "What choice?"
"Stay willingly. Let the bond form. We all live."
"And if I run?"
"We die." He said it without emotion. Without hesitation. "Within weeks. Maybe sooner."
My breath caught in my throat. "That's not a choice. That's just—"
"Captivity with guilt," he finished. "Yes. But it's the only one you have."
I stared at him. At his cold gray eyes. At his blank face that showed nothing.
He wasn't apologizing. He wasn't even pretending this was fair. He was just stating facts.
I had no home. No family. No one who cared if I lived or died except three dying men who needed me to survive.
"I hate you," I said. My voice came out quiet. Calm. "I want you to know that. I hate all of you."
Caelan didn't flinch. "I know."
"Good." I walked past him. Past Kieran. Out into the hallway. "Then we understand each other."
I didn't know where I was going. Didn't care. Just needed to move. To get away from them and their curse and their dying and their trap.
Behind me I heard Kieran say softly, "That went well."
Caelan didn't answer.
I kept walking down the hall. Past doors I didn't know. Past windows that showed nothing but forest.
Then I stopped.
My reflection stared back at me from a mirror on the wall. Dark hair. Hazel eyes. Pale skin. Nothing special. Nothing different.
Except my eyes.
They weren't hazel anymore.
They were gold.
Bright burning gold.
I blinked. They went back to normal.
I stepped closer to the mirror. Stared at myself. At my normal boring eyes.
Then they flashed gold again. Just for a second.
Something inside my chest shifted. Not painful. Just wrong. Like something was waking up that shouldn't be awake.
I backed away from the mirror. My hands were shaking again.
What the hell was I?
- Writer
