Her Savior

Chapter 4

*Harper's POV*

As my driveway came into view, I was relieved to see it was empty of cars, which meant dad must either be at work, the bar, or the casino. As far as I knew, he still worked full-time downtown as a tax consultant and made a lot of money doing it. But, ever since mom died, he had taken more days off than he ever did before and ended up drowning himself in liquor at his go-to bar down the street. One time, I had overheard him talking to his boss about how he got sent home from work recently because he showed up drunk. Of course, he blamed me for his newfound alcoholism and never let me forget it. . .

I finished all of my chores and started working on dinner. I was satisfied with everything I completed. I had worked really hard, getting everything done before dad got home. I was hoping he would be satisfied enough with my cleaning and cooking that I would be allowed to eat dinner that night. I didn’t even need to eat at the table. I would be glad to take it to my room, even. I heard the front door open and I braced myself, attempting to breathe deeply.

I checked the casserole in the oven, closed it and turned around to see Tyler and Cole entering the kitchen. My breath hitched, and I instinctively took a step back at the sight of Cole. I could deal with my brother, but Cole was a completely different kind of evil. He hated me just as much as Tyler and my dad, if not more, but his moves were always unpredictable and malicious.

They were laughing about something as they stopped at the counter, right in front of me.

Cole stopped whatever conversation they were having and abruptly glared my way.

“Hello Harper,” Cole said coldly. At least he said hi to me, I guessed.

“Hello,” I responded in a quiet voice as I turned to check the oven again.

“When's dinner?” Tyler asked as he leaned into the fridge to grab a couple of beers. He closed the fridge and handed one to Cole.

“Thanks man.” Cole saluted as he fisted his beer in the air momentarily before taking a swig and looking at me with a smirk, which sent shivers down my spine.

“Uh…it should be done in the next five minutes or so,” I answered Tyler’s question as he stepped closer to me. I bowed my head in respect. It helped not to gaze directly at him. He had hit me for just looking at him wrong before, so I decided this was safer for me.

He grabbed me by the hair and forced me to look at him. “Ahh” I winced as I instinctively grabbed my hair. His grip was so tight, I could feel strands of my hair separating from my scalp.

“Cole is eating with us tonight, so it had better be good. Understand?” He asked as his beer breath made its way to my nose. I forced myself not to react to the abrupt violation of my senses.

I nodded immediately, hoping that he would let go of me.

“Words, princess. Use your words,” he demanded, smirking. He seemed to love the sense of control he had over me, but there was nothing I could do about that. If I didn’t obey Tyler, I would get punished by dad.

“Y-yes, I understand,” I replied, attempting to refrain from letting my pain show.

Tyler let go and I could breathe again. I massaged my scalp and fixed my hair.

I watched Tyler and Cole retire to the dining room and I noticed Cole glancing in my direction, with a satisfied smirk painted on his face. I forced myself to look away and focus on the food. I felt tears pooling in my eyes as I quickly wiped them away and moved to grab the casserole from the oven.

I had just finished plating the food when dad entered the kitchen, dropped his work bag down on the table. My whole body tensed as I heard him grabbing a beer from the fridge and making his way to the dining room without a word. I breathed a sigh of relief. I would rather have it this way—where he ignored me. At least then, my chances of getting in trouble because of something were far less. I grabbed the plates of food and made my way to the dining room.

I used my left arm to balance two plates, while I reached out my right hand to set the other plate down in front of Tyler. I moved to set another plate in front of Cole, seated next to Tyler.

“Mmmm. . . This looks good.”

I gave a slight smile, pleased with Tyler’s compliment. They never said thank you nor did they compliment me or my food. This was definitely a rare occasion that I could get used to.

As I made my way around the other side of the table to set food down in front of dad, Cole’s foot came out of nowhere and I ended up tripping. Before I could recover, the plate went flying as I fell to the floor with a yelp. The food splattered everywhere—all over the table, the floor, and even dad’s pants.

Oh god. . . No! Not Dad’s food. . .I was absolutely mortified as I made a move to try to clean things up. “Oh my god. I’m so sorry! I will clean this up and get you a new plate!” I scrambled to clean up the mess as dad rose from his chair.

“You dumb b***h!” Dad yelled.

He grabbed me by the hair, forcing me to my feet. Oh god, I was in so much trouble. My body was shaking as I tried to figure out how I was going to get out of this one. I saw Cole’s evil grin out of the corner of my eye as I stood in front of my dad, absolutely mortified. Cole clearly did it on purpose, which reminded me to never trust him.

“I’m really s-sorry! I tripped. I—I will get you more!” I pleaded to dad as he was already getting up and dragging me by my hair down the hall and to the stairs. I saw the basement door in sight and felt immediate dread wash over me. Oh god. . . no. . .not the basement. . . I wanted to run or scream—anything to prevent me from going down there, but it was no use. His grip on me was tight and unwavering.

“You always have to f**k things up don’t you!?” He spat as he dragged me down the basement stairs, not waiting for my feet to catch up. My knees hit the wooden stairs before I could get my feet to respond. I cried out in pain, but that didn’t seem to slow him down. There was no stopping him when he was this angry.

“P-please, I—I’m s-sorry. I didn’t m-mean to. . .I could get you more!” I tried but it was no use. Tears were freely falling from my face as I sobbed uncontrollably. I knew I was in serious trouble and there was nothing I could do. He wouldn’t listen to anything I said.

We finished our path to the cold, unfinished basement and a newfound fear found me as he led me towards the metal chain hanging from the middle of the ceiling. I gulped, terrified, as I remembered the last time I met with this chain. . .It took me weeks to heal.

“P-please, no! I’m really sorry!” I cried, my eyes wide. I pleaded for him to release me, but he only gripped me by the hair tighter.

“Shut up! You deserve this! You can’t do anything right!” He spouted as he forced me to stand and grabbed the handcuffs hanging from the chain.

“You will just never learn.” He slapped the cold metal on each of my wrists, caging me to the dangling chain. My arms were attached to the chain, hoisted up above my head.

I bowed my head in defeat and openly sobbed.

“Don’t worry, you’ll have a reason to cry later.” He growled as he turned to exit.

“P-please! Don’t leave me,” I begged, crying uncontrollably. “I’m so sorry! P-please. . .” He didn’t say another word as he stomped up the wooden steps and slammed the door behind him, leaving me alone.

I was left in the cold basement with only dark corners in the distance and my bare feet on the concrete floor. The only light that existed in the basement was hanging directly above me. There were no windows nor anything else to give this room any sense of light. The handcuffs pulled at my wrists and I winced at the slightest movement. I didn’t dare try to escape them—I knew it wouldn’t work, and it would only cause greater pain. I remembered this from last time.

After a short few minutes, the pain in my arms already got stronger, refraining from being able to move them out of their current position, suspended above me. My legs were getting weak from standing, which made me want to sit down, but my current predicament made that nearly impossible. The handcuffs would break my wrists before I even made it to a sitting position. I was supposed to be uncomfortable and in pain. This was exactly what he wanted. I tried to stay strong and rise above the aches and pains all throughout my body. I stared off into the distance, thinking of my mom. God, I wished she was still here. . . What I wouldn’t give to change that. . . I got lost thinking about her as I slowly faded into the darkness. . .

*Tyler’s POV*

“You didn’t need to do that,” I said, suddenly defending my sister, but not sure why. She was the reason my mom was dead. I should hate her. . . I did hate her. . .

“Why do you even care?” Cole asked, in between bites.

That was a good question. I didn’t know why it bothered me, but something tugged at me as I watched her being dragged out of the room, looking scared and helpless.

I shrugged, not sure how to respond.

“You had her by the hair not even an hour ago, so what’s your problem?” Cole demanded.

“I don’t know. . . It’s fine. Never mind,” I said, trying to shrug off my worry about Harper.

I went into the kitchen, grabbed my dad a new plate of food and set it down at the head of the table for him before I sat back down at my seat.

I attempted to finish my food, but I couldn’t stomach it. Not that the food wasn’t good. Harper was actually an excellent cook and she always made amazing dishes. She took after mom in that way. Not that I would ever admit that aloud. I just couldn’t seem to stomach it with this solid pit in my stomach. I couldn’t seem to understand why I cared that she was getting punished right then. . .

I forced the thoughts into the back of my mind as I made myself take another bite, before officially pushing it out of my way.

“What’s wrong?. . . Are you not hungry?” Cole asked, seeming confused about my recent behavior. “You’ve barely taken a bite. . .” He added.

“Oh. . . I’m fine, just not really hungry. I had a big lunch today,” I said, trying to convince him I was fine.

“Oh, OK.” He seemed to accept my excuse as he went in for another bite.

I heard loud footsteps on the wooden basement stairs, indicating that my dad was coming back. Before long, I saw him making his way back to his seat.

“Sorry about that, boys,” he said, collecting himself.

“Did you bring me a new plate of food?” He asked, looking directly at me.

“Yep,” I said, giving a nod.

“Well, thanks son!” He said, seemingly pleased.

“At least someone can do something right,” he declared in a hard tone, clearly referring to the only person absent from the room. My heart clenched again, just imagining her state right then. She was probably in the dark and cold basement all alone. . .I shook my head, trying to escape the thoughts from my mind.

Dad and Cole started discussing football practice from that day, as I excused myself to take my plate to the kitchen. I found myself uninterested in meaningless conversation when Harper was down there alone and hurting. I knew I couldn't go down there right then, so I needed to try to distract myself.

I popped my head into the dining room to let Cole know to meet me in my room when he was done. I headed upstairs to take a long cold shower, to hopefully forget about all the thoughts consuming my mind.