Shattered

“KYNDER! Kynder!” A voice cried out to me. I gasped as the life rushed back to my lungs. My eyes fluttered open as three faces stared down at me. A tattooed man sighed and threw a pair of gloves in a trash can in the corner. “Jack? Alex?” I asked the two men who had dragged me out of purgatory. “Thank goodness, you’re alive!” Alex’s eyes were ringed in red circles from crying. Jack had the same marks. Why wouldn’t I be alive? They were the ones that had dragged me out of the dream city. “How did I get here?” I asked them, trying to sit up, but I groaned. The man with the tattoos made me lie down against the metal table. “Careful, Kynder. You just woke up from surgery.” The man told me. His voice had some sort of accent to it. British, maybe? “Woah, hold up. Surgery?” I asked him. This definitely didn’t look like an operating room, and the guy was wearing a black shirt and jeans. The shirt had Drop Dead sewn on the front. “When we found you on the side of the road, we saw that there was something wrong so we took you to Oli Sykes.” Jack explained. I blinked back the medicine that had made me sleep. The effects were still lingering on my mind. “Sykes, as in the tire shop?” I remembered the shop I passed. It was tires and general repairs. “Well, the sign did say general repairs.” Oli grumbled in the corner. Jack nodded, sitting in a chair in the corner. “The general repairs doesn’t just apply to vehicles. I’m the doctor here. Normally I don’t do surgeries since I’m more of a general doctor. Typically, I call someone else in if it can wait. This was a bit more of a threatening situation. Your stomach had a hole burned in, so I sewed it up and managed some repairs. I’ll call the doctor in a few days for him to come by and do a more permanent repair.” He explained. I nodded, knowing that I could never wait around for him to meet me. “Can I eat again?” I asked him. My stomach grumbled in agreement. What I really needed was some good food. “You can, but I wouldn’t recommend eating a huge meal immediately. Upsetting your stomach might cause some damage.” He suggested, patting my arm. I nodded and lay back. “I could really go for a sandwich.” I murmured happily. Back in Denver, there was an awesome sandwich shop. Oh man, my mouth was watering! “Alex, Jack, you can take her home. If you can bring her, I can get the surgeon here by, at latest, Sunday.” Oli smiled. My stomach wasn’t hurting too much anymore, and the bruise on my back was starting to fade. Maybe things were looking towards a better future. “Thanks, Oli.” Alex smiled and scooped me up into his arms. My legs were too weak to support my body on top of them. The two boys took me out of the back door of the shop. I saw a few other employees lingering around before Alex Gaskarth set me into their car. “I didn’t know you lived out here, sir.” I responded. These were the people I met who were trying to buy me! My brain automatically reverted back to the proper manners I had been taught, err, beaten. “Yeah, we live just on Ricksin Road. In fact, we’re the only house on that dirt path.” Jack laughed. I sat up in my seat in the back. My grey pack was back here and I sighed in relief. I couldn’t imagine loosing that! Jack and Alex hopped in front. Alex sat in the passenger seat and grinned back to me. A thought raced into my mind. Had I run away from my old owners, just to be enslaved to new men? The car jumped around on the old dirt road, shaking and rattling any loose parts. I clutched the seatbelt around my shoulders for protection. Jack and Alex seemed to be unaffected. “Here we are!” They announced happily as we parked in front of a two story house. The front porch had a white overhang. The garage was close shut, but they left the car outside. A porch swing rocked lazily on its hinges. It was a nice little home. The house looked cozy, and unsuspecting. I jumped out of the car’s back seat, taking my pack with me and throwing it over my shoulders. Jack held the door open for both of us after he unlocked the front door. The entire time I was with them, neither had questioned why I was alone. “This is our home. The guest bedroom is upstairs, and you can stay as long as you like.” Jack smiled and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. Both of them were so friendly, it didn’t seem like they would be owners! “Thank you, sir.” I responded in awe. The door had opened up into the living room and the kitchen connecting to it. A small back hallway led to a bedroom and stairs. The steps ascended into a small loft with two closed doors. The walls were painted a nice grey-blue. I didn’t spot a single padlock anywhere. A clock on the wall chimed part of Pachelbel’s Canon as the noon alarm. “You don’t have to call us that. Just call us Jack and Alex, we’re not like those men.” Alex told me, the soft gleam in his eyes telling me he knew what I had gone through. “Sorry si-I mean, Alex. It’s a bit of a habit.” I corrected myself amidst the apology. He grinned and shook it off. “Don’t worry, we’ll just have to break that bad habit.” Jack laughed. Break, BREAK?!?! Oh no, please not again! My eyes went wide and I shrunk back. I thought they said they weren’t like the rest. “No, no! I mean, we’ll just, uh, no I didn’t mean that!” Jack held up his hands in surrender. I relaxed a little, but still was cautious. You could never be too wary. Alex punched Jack in the arm, making him flinch backwards. “Good going, Barakat!” Alex groaned and rolled his eyes. Did they really not act like Miles and Austin? “So, you really aren’t going to make me wear the collar?” I asked hesitantly. The chain in my pack seemed to weigh a thousand pounds. “No, of course not! Here, go put your bags away and then come downstairs for lunch. We’ll explain everything when you’re ready.” Jack smiled. I nodded silently and went upstairs. Inside was a light green room. A bed was pushed against the corner near a window. A dresser faced the opposite wall. As soon as I set my stuff down, I glanced out at the open space down the road. Utah was flat and empty, but had a beautiful desolation to it. The town was out in the distance, and some rock formations that I hadn’t seen at night dotted the western horizon. I carefully dumped all my belonging on the green fabric. The tattered black shirt was there alongside the last fresh shirt Austin had thrown in for me. Both Austin’s and Chris’s notes drifted out and landed next to the first aid kit and bottle of pills. I had the extra food plus the crackers and water. Slipping off my shoes, I changed into the clean pair of socks. It felt surprisingly nice to be in a pair of clean socks. I slipped the beanie and jack off so that I was just standing in my black jeans and blue shirt. My stomach grumbled again and told me I needed food. The pain had slowed to a dull ache as I started back downstairs to where the smells of food drifted to my nose. When I came to the small kitchen, it had a bar in the middle of the wooden floor with three chairs on the back of it, and the stove and oven on the other side. A microwave was set in between cabinets and above a sink. Alex gestured to the seat next to him as Jack handed me a glass of water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “I thought you went to the store yesterday to get groceries.” Alex commented between bites of food. Jack shrugged, replying the he never got around to it. “The sandwich is good.” I gave a small smile to Jack who shrugged again. “It’s all that we had.” He responded. It might have been nothing to them, but it meant the world to me that I got this wonderful meal and my stomach was finally keeping down the food I ate. “So Kynder, a little more about our house….” Jack started. “First off, we’re not really ‘owners’. More like…well…Jack what’s the word?” Alex asked. Jack looked up from his sandwich. “Rescuers, in a sense.” He nodded. Alex confirmed it. “To a degree, yes. Although we are legally ‘owners’, we do not treat you guys like slaves. You’re people, just like us! Yes, we buy the girls, but we never really keep them.” Alex explained. I looked up from my empty plate in confusion. Jack took the plate back and put it in the sink. “What do you mean, you never keep them?” I asked him curiously. Jack came next to me and leaned against the counter. “We buy the girls, taking them from the old and often abusive Masters. Bringing them here, we tell them what we are explaining to you. Alex and I never keep the girls for more than a few days, unless they want to stay longer. Our deal is simple. They stay here with us for a little while, typically three to five days, and then they can either leave the house on their own free will, or may choose to stay with us as a while longer as not slaver, but friend.” Jack told me. I nodded my head, thinking about what they did for girls like me. A sudden thought came to me. “It you buy girls who’ve been beaten, then why didn’t you take me that one day?” I asked him curiously. I would’ve killed to be with Jack and Alex, even though where I ended up hadn’t been as bad as I expected, even at the end. “It broke our hearts, but when Miles stated the price he wanted for you, we couldn’t afford it. We had talked to Aaron as soon as we left, and it sounded like he was going to buy you anyways. We called the two of them, asking Aaron if he was buying and questioning Miles if he was going to lower the price. That’s why we called every week, to at least make sure you were okay.” Alex explained sadly. I nodded, accepting the facts. It didn’t sound like they were ones to make up an insane story. “It worried us when last week no one would pick up. Aaron eventually picked up one day, telling us you were getting sold and some things had happened.” Jack shook his head. My face fell at the memories. “The wound had come from Austin.” I murmured dejectedly. “So, now that we’ve told you about us, please explain why we found you in the middle of the desert of Utah.” Alex raised an eyebrow. “Funny story, not really, but I kind of ran away.” I grimaced through a weak smile. Jack’s jaw dropped as Alex looked shocked. “You ran away?” “Yeah.” With that, I felt into my story of what had happened, going into depth of everything, what I was thinking to what they said. Alex and Jack looked at each other nervously. “So you’re technically still ‘owned’?” Jack asked. I nodded, a sick feeling rising to my throat. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t my stomach. “As a good person, we should probably call Austin to tell him where you are.” Alex furrowed his brow, biting his lip is frustration. “Please, don’t! I don’t want to face any wrath he has for me! Besides, I have a doctor I can go to in Denver, so I’ll see him and get permanently fixed up.” I clasped my hands together and begged them. Jack rubbed his face. “Ugh. Okay, first of all, I don’t think Austin will hurt you again. He sounds like a good guy who just screwed up badly. He even says he wants to make it better.” Alex told me. “Also, it sounds like Ronnie will take care of you if Austin says he’s a good man. I’ve never met or heard of Ronnie, but Aaron told me he convinced Austin to sell you to him only because he knew Ronnie wouldn’t beat you.” Jack told me. I shook my head, still not wanting to go back. I had gotten this far, I at least wanted to make it to Denver. “Please, let me stay until tomorrow morning, and then call Austin. I just need a day and then you can call him.” I pleaded, not letting them know that hopefully by tomorrow morning, I would be hopping the train in Price to go and make it to Denver. “Okay, but just for tonight.” Jack answered after a moment. Thanking him, I went to my room and reread the note Austin slipped in my bag. Tonight would be a long night. I would have to wake up early the next morning to walk to the town and then board the train. The key that Quinn gave me was still sitting in my bag. Downstairs, I could hear Jack and Alex whisper to each other. I would feel bad leaving the two men who showed me kindness.

Notes