Prey

Chapter One

October 2012

To Xavier, most of the things all the human beings around him did were annoying and irrelevant. For example, he never liked it when he was told to do something by someone that he clearly despised. One of the things he hated most was to listen to his stupid mother who tried her hardest to teach him basic manners.

Like any other day, he was dragged downstairs to have his breakfast before heading for school. But the twelve-year-old just grabbed the first food he found and marched back towards his room. "Xavier, come to eat with us." His mother ordered after watching his actions.

"I'll have it in my room." He was aware of it that his mother knew he would rather throw the food away, but he didn't care, he never was a breakfast type person and it was his mother's fault to force him to do anything against his will.

At that moment, he had better things to pay attention to instead of having some shitty sandwich and juice. But when he reached his room, his movements stopped, his eyes trailing at the end of the hallway. Xavier's lips curved at the sight of his target. "Hey, you."

Mackenzie's tiny legs froze momentarily at the voice, eyes squeezing shut as she pretended to not hear him and started walking away. "Are you deaf or something? I'm calling you weirdo." This time she had to stop on her tracks, and slowly turned at Xavier.

"Yes?" Through her rapid heartbeat, she could barely hear herself talking. Every time Xavier would want to talk to her, it always meant something bad was waiting to happen to her, and bad meant really bad.

"Come here."

"But I-I think Mom's waiting for me to go have my breakfast."

"I don't f*****g care." Xavier's immediate snap in the tone slightly made the ten-year-old girl flinch. "Do what I told you."

Mackenzie gulped and shifted in her spot, knowing better than going towards him. But when his gaze hardened on her, she realized that doing what she wanted to would be the worst choice, making her small legs go over at his direction.

Xavier smirked at her, totally loving it how she was a puppet under his mercy. "What do you want me to do?" Her soft and quiet voice reached his ear, not making him think twice what the answer would be when he slightly glanced at the food in his hands.

"You were going to get breakfast, weren't you?" His lips curved evilly when he twisted his doorknob. "I'll save you the tension of going downstairs for it."

Mackenzie saw the peanut butter sandwich resting on his plate and instantly got what he meant. But it was too late for her to make a run for it because in no time Xavier shoved her inside the room and locked the door.

"Here," he handed over the plate to her as he carelessly placed the glass of fresh orange juice on his desk. "now eat it." Crossing his arms, he smirked at the frightened little girl.

"But-but," Mackenzie stuttered as she took a glance at the sandwich. "I have an allergy to peanut butter."

Exactly why Xavier had asked her to do it, he knew about her anaphylaxis, and watching her falling weaker than she already is would just add up to the fun. "It doesn't matter. I know you eat piece of trash every day, so you should be f*****g grateful that I gave you some of my good food."

Mackenzie felt tears forming in her eyes as her hands tightened around the surface of the plate. She didn't like it how Xavier would always be so mean and say bad things to her. But what she hated the most was her inability to speak up for herself. Her mother would rather take Xavier's side and tell her to stay away from him, which she tried to do but he would never stop bullying her.

Her mother worked as a servant in his house, means she never wanted to get on his family's bad side which could cause her to lose the job. Mackenzie always would be frightened when Xavier threatened that he would fire her Mom if she didn't listen to him, and poor naïve little Mackenzie never failed to fall his victim. He would also often brag about him being in a better position than her, making her feel even sadder and wanting to just vanish from this horrible place.

"Finish the damn sandwich, retard." Xavier spat at her. "Or you want me to shove this right down your throat?"

Mackenzie trembled and shook her head, picking up the food and taking a small bite. Her face twitched at it as she quickly chewed and gulped. She looked up at him with terrified eyes, seeing the same exact look of incomprehension in his green ones. "Can I go now?"

"Are you f*****g dumb? I told you to finish it." His slight louder and the angrier tone was able to make her shiver. "You won't go anywhere till you do."

Tears filled her eyes as she forced the rest of the sandwich into her mouth, feeling his eyes on her the whole time she chewed. There was a look of satisfaction on his face when she did what he told her to do. He noticed her tiny little nose starting to redden, pleasing his disturbing mind that the allergic reaction had already started.

"Good girl." He hardly complimented anyone, but he felt like she deserved one then. Xavier's eyes followed her shaking hands placing the empty plate on the desk, and then they trailed to the bright yellow sleeve of her bright yellow frock. He instantly felt disgusted. "What the f**k are you wearing? You look like shit."

"Don't say bad things about my dress." Mackenzie felt herself getting upset, but she couldn't help it. Her mother had recently bought her this frock as per her request, she really liked the small flowers that decorated the waist of the dress when she saw it at the market.

"Oh, yea?" Xavier picked up on her annoyance, and decided to use it. "Why shouldn't I? The color is so f*****g irritating, reminds me of a banana. Do you realize it weirdo that you look like a banana right now?" He wouldn't stop with his bad comments, making Mackenzie even more upset. "Or you're wearing this because you'd like to have some s**t like banana shoved down your throat, huh?"

She couldn't catch the meaning of the last sentence Xavier said but she knew that it meant something nasty. "Stop it." Her fists clenched at her sides. If only she could punch him in the stomach, but the image of her mother being disappointed at her for fighting caused the ten-year-old to chase the vile thought away.

He just laughed at her debility and at the choice of her words of protest. "You're just a f*****g whore." Xavier looked at his side and found the juice he had brought earlier, grabbed it in a swig and took a small sip. A shade of disgust immediately fell upon his face and he spat the liquid back into the glass. "What the f**k? Your mother is the worst cook ever, she doesn't even know how to make some shitty orange juice. She's so stupid, I wonder why Mom still didn't kick her ass out."

This time, Mackenzie felt herself being madder at the boy, she definitely couldn't bear hearing any bad things about her mother. "Don't say that about-" her words died mid-sentence as she felt a tightening sensation in her throat and no sooner her mouth started to feel a bit itchy. Mackenzie's mind flooded with fear when she recalled that it was the reaction of her allergy.

A devilish smirk spread across Xavier's face when he realized that Mackenzie had been suffering, and to add into it, he handed the glass over to her. "Now drink this."

Mackenzie stared at him with horror. "But you-you just spat into it."

"So what?"

"I won't drink it." Her nose scrunched up, she could eat a few more sandwiches but drinking that nasty liquid would be far worse than allergies. "It's disgusting."

A small heat of rage crumbled upon him. "Did you just call me disgusting?"

"I-"

"You know the rule, you do what I tell you to do, you stupid piece of shit." Xavier snapped, forcing the glass out from her hand as he gripped her jaw, fingernails pressing into her soft skin. "Means you have to drink it."

Mackenzie tried to force herself out from his grip, because it hurt so bad. But he was so taller than her and stronger too, so all could the little girl do was whimper and cry as he made her drink the disgusting juice. There was a smirk crawling up his face when she finished gulping down the liquid, and by then Mackenzie was a sobbing mess.

"You're so stupid, it's your fault I had to force you." Xavier retorted when she hugged herself, staring down at her feet as tears blurred her vision. "Stop being a f*****g crybaby. All you can do is cry, I did nothing to you."

She opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a sob. Xavier rolled his eyes and pushed the empty dishes in her hands, he unlocked the door as he spoke. "Today I went easy on you, but next time if you even think of disobeying me, you'll f*****g regret it for the rest of your life." He spat, forcefully gripping her by the arm and pushing her outside, not waiting a second to shove the door right on her face.

Mackenzie whimpered and felt the swelling in her throat due to her allergy getting worse. As she walked away from there, she mentally counted that it had been two years since she had came to this house, and since Xavier had started to bully her.

The little girl only prayed to God that maybe someday she would wake up and Xavier would be nicer to her, but she was too uncertain of the harsh future waiting for her.