Jadyn Cole is in a glass case of emotion (stayawayvamps) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2013-04-16 14:12:00 |
|
|||
“C’mon Tadpole, you don’t want to be late for dinner,” his smile was bright and even through his thick beard, his dimples were visible. She always liked his beard, loved the way it tickled her when he kissed her cheeks. Her bare feet pounded the wet wood of the dock as she ran behind him, jumping up to tug on his arm when she drew even with him. Both of her hands locked around her wrist and she pulled with all of her might, trying to anchor him down to the spot. “Jadey, what’s the matter? We need to get home to Mommy.” He leaned down to scoop her up in his arms. God, she fit there so perfectly. He could cradle her against his chest and she could feel all that was wrong in the world washing away with every heartbeat. Each beat was like a wave crashing against the shore, dragging away rocks and beating them until they were smooth grains of sand.
“Daddy, let’s stay,” she looked up at him, her eyes large with hope. “Just a while longer, me and you. Mommy will be there when we get there. She’s not leaving.” Home was where he was, not the house where her mother stayed. Not that place that filled her with such a dark feeling in her stomach. There the sounds of the waves kissing the shore were replaced with harsh whispers, slaps and bruises.
“Not now, Tadpole. We need to get back. It’ll be dark soon, and a little tadpole needs a good dinner to keep on growing!” He pressed his lips against her cheek, his bristly beard scratching at her face and ear. She wrinkled her nose and laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Alright,” she agreed. “But you have to sing all the way home!”
“You drive a hard bargain, Miss Cole.” He grinned again. Then he started to sing. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn’t have to wait so long...”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to live together...” Jadyn’s words were slurred, her voice cracking even though it was barely above a whisper. She couldn’t tell if her eyes were open or closed it was so dark. “In the kind of world where we belong...” Despite the way her throat clenched and ached, the words to the song still raked past her lips. The room was cold, but there was still a sheen of cool sweat across her forehead. Her head rested against something hard, though whether it was the floor or a wall, she wasn’t sure. The cocktail of drugs in her system was more than enough to make lying down feel like sitting up. The feeling was disconcerting and her hands were thrown out in front of her to try and stop the world from spinning. She felt like she was falling in every direction at once and her legs jerked from the sensation. The sound of metal clinking against metal filled her ears and she became aware of a heavy presence around her ankle.
Jadyn pulled herself towards her foot, her hands clawing into the floor to drag her torso closer. There was no light to see a metallic reflection, but her fingers found a thick chain and manacle hooked to her ankle. An image of a fish on a hook flashed through her mind and her pulse doubled. Trapped. She felt trapped. Thoughts of escape raced in her mind, too fast to latch onto. Her mind was foggy and she lacked any form of cognition for her current situation. The only thing that she could truly focus on was the song that forced her memories to the surface.
The sun was high in the sky and the waves were rolling gently; Jadyn knew this would have been a choice day to spend out on the boat, but she had other plans. Plans that consisted of the flannel blanket she was sitting on, sunning her legs while the waves played with her feet. A rustling from the side had her turning her head and seeing Kevin pulling a tupperware dish filled with grapes. “Skipping straight to the sweet stuff, huh?” She grinned, leaning over to steal a grape out of the bowl.
“Who me? Besides, it’s not like it’s a cake or anything. Healthy stuff totally counts as part of the meal still. It’s like a palate cleanser or something.”
“Mhm, I’m sure.” Jadyn retrieved another grape and gently tossed it at him. Kevin moved his mouth to try to catch the purple orb out of the air, but missed. He picked it up and ate it with relish before sliding closer to Jadyn, brushing his lips against hers. She didn’t know if it was her element pooling around her toes or if it was Kevin, but she knew she was completely calm in this moment and she could not have traded it for anything.
“See?” He pulled back slightly, brushing her messy hair to the side. “Makes everything taste better.”
Jadyn rolled her eyes, but grinned nonetheless before hooking her hand behind his neck and bringing him in for another kiss. His lips were warm and the hair beneath her fingertips soft and feathery. She paused for breath, leaning back so she was lying completely on the blanket. Her lips curled into a smile and a satisfied sigh slipped past the soft curve of her mouth.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if this moment just stayed like this? Never stopped -- I’d be able to stay here and not go back home to the ‘rents.”
“Mmm,” Jadyn’s eyes fluttered closed. She could still see the light of the sun behind her eyelids. “So nice.” She offered before her contentment turned itself into an amused giggle and she began to hum.
Did the light just flicker on? Jadyn shifted, her head turning towards the single light in the room. She winced from the brightness of the light compared to the stark darkness she had known before. She thought she heard movement from above, odd scraping that sounded like someone’s feet moving across the ceiling or the floor above. She barely registered that there were no windows around her, no way to see whether it was day or night. Just as her eyes were starting to adjust to the light, it vanished and she was left in complete darkness again.
Her thoughts could barely keep up with what was going on around her. They were soft and difficult to hold onto. Her head felt like a fuzzy sort of balloon that threatened to float away at any given second. She moved again, her leg pulling on the heavy chain that was wrapped around her ankle. Why was she chained up? The light jolted back on, causing her to flinch heavily under the harshness of its glare. When she opened her eyes again, she was looking to her arms both of which had large, red sores in the crook of her elbows. What had caused that?
Shrill laughter echoed through the air as Jadyn hunched over behind a bush. She clutched the neon yellow and blue gun close to her chest and carefully peered through the branches of the plant in front of her. When she saw the coast was clear, she edged out from behind the bush and crept towards the front door of the house. No sooner had she taken the first couple of steps when there was a joyous shriek to her right and the tickling of a small jet of water being shot at her from the small child holding a plastic gun that matched her own.
“Hey you!” Jadyn called, pointing the water gun at Cecil and pulling the trigger. Her laughter was masked by the high-pitched giggles that erupted out of the near two-year old. He stumbled slightly trying to run away from his mother, a grin plastered onto his small face. The gun was large in his small hands and he held it clumsily as he plodded away from her, proving it was pure luck he had even been able to squirt her with it in the first place. Their laughter was cut short by the sound of wheels crunching gravel as a car pulled into the driveway. Jadyn’s heart dove into her stomach, but Cecil raced towards the car.
“Daddy!” He squealed, jumping up into Michael’s arms.
Jadyn crossed her arms over her chest, cutting an intimidating figure as the water gun was held tightly in her fist. She watched with narrow eyes as Michael took Cecil’s gun out of his hand and unceremoniously tossed it onto the ground before giving his son a kiss on the cheek. He glanced at Jadyn, his eyes lingering on her wet hair and clothes. His distaste was not lost on her.
“You’re early,” she arched an eyebrow.
“And he’s soaked. I swear it’s like you do this shit to spite me.”
Jadyn rolled her eyes and tossed her own gun down onto the ground, thinking how she ought to spray Michael with it; now that would really be to spite him.
“Is his stuff packed?” He asked, shifting so that Cecil’s wet clothes were not pressed so tightly against him.
“No.” At the impatient sigh that Michael released, Jadyn’s arms dropped so that her hands were placed on her hips. “I told you, you’re early.”
“You know, this is the kind of thing that makes me want to fight for custody. You do this shit to piss me off every single time and your excuses are always the same, Jadyn. Ever stop to think maybe he’s too young to play with water guns? Or maybe he doesn’t want to be around water as much as you? Face it, he’s my son and he’s going to grow up to be like me. You should just let him go.”
“Fuck you,” she hissed. “No matter what you say, I know I’m a good mother to him and I’ll never let you take him away from me.”
Loud banging noises were coming from above her now. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she also heard the muffled sound of laughter coming through the walls. She pulled again at her chain, weakly rattling the links. Where was Cecil now? She both hoped and dreaded that he was with Michael. God, she wanted to hold him close to her, press her lips to his temple, smell his hair, and sing him to sleep like she had so many times before. Jadyn had never been guilty of taking her son for granted; each moment was precious to her because she knew how much Michael wanted her out of his life. She’d made mistakes before, moments of dwelling in a feeling of uselessness when she ought to have realized her purpose was the two-year old in her life.
“Stop it,” she pleaded, her voice barely a whisper. She didn’t understand why the bangs were so loud and why they just kept going and going. There was no rhyme nor reason to the pattern in which the sounds came; just when she thought they had ceased, another one startled her. And that laughter... that laughter chilled her bones and made her feel sick to her stomach.
Her fingertips traced the edge of soft, cool lips and she felt her own curl up into a smile. The only light was from a lamp glowing on a small table to the side and the blankets she was nested in were fluffy and warm. Her hand moved to cup a pale cheek, blonde tresses slipping down to brush against the back of her hand. She stared into large, blue eyes before moving to close the distance between her and those lips.
So many words were trying to bubble up strong enough to be spoken, but they stayed inside of her chest, making her heart pound louder and louder. There was so much that she wanted to tell Missy, things she had yet to fully realize. She wanted to tell her that she was sorry -- again -- and that she would never abandon her again. She also wanted to tell her that though she was struggling to find the right words to describe how she felt about Missy, she had not felt this way about anyone in her life since Kevin. Admitting that, even to herself, took more strength than she realized and yet, there was not enough strength to push those words out into the open.
Instead, she deepened the kiss and twisted Missy’s long, blonde hair around her fingers. She stopped only for a chance to breathe, and even then she could not take her eyes off of Missy. She hoped that everything she felt, everything she desired to say but could not, was clear in the way that she blinked, the way that the pads of her fingers skimmed over smooth skin, and the way that her heart raced beneath her chest.
Jadyn could still feel her heart racing, though she knew it was for a different reason. The lights were suddenly on once more, illuminating the basement where she was being held captive. Though her fingers clawed at the chain around her ankle, she was not strong enough to get even a weak grasp. She rolled onto her back as tears rolled out of her eyes. She didn’t understand why she was here, why she wasn’t with her son or with Missy.
The banging started again and Jadyn remembered who was upstairs. A vampire -- like Missy -- who had taken her home and adopted her as her new favorite pet. The few lucid thoughts that Jadyn managed to find were difficult to hold onto and she struggled with maintaining the knowledge that had just swam back into her mind. She was barely alive and she had to believe that Cecil made it home to his father. This hell was much worse than just being a walking buffet for a vampire. Jaladhi played games with her, the lights and the banging were but a small fraction of the various things she liked to torment Jadyn with.
Now the sounds were incessant and the lights flickered in tandem; it made her already disoriented thoughts that much harder to hold onto. Over and over, Jadyn begged for it to stop, but not once was there any heat or strength to her voice. She wanted it to end; she wanted to be away, even if that meant never seeing Cecil or Missy again. Hell, if she died right now, wouldn’t that mean she’d get to see her father again?
She’d never been the religious type nor had she ever believed in heaven, but now that idea was comforting. As comforting as imagining what it would feel like to have her father’s arms wrapped around her once more as he sang to her. She found herself wanting to slip into another delusion, the song dancing behind her lips, but the memories were kept at bay due to the overwhelming stimuli of the lights and Jaladhi’s banging. She pleaded to no one in particular as her eyes squeezed tears out in desperation.
At long last, Jadyn found a scream that had been building up inside of her for some time. She barely had the strength for it, but she forced it out of her lungs, letting it tear at her throat in one futile attempt to end the vampire’s control over her.
“Just fucking kill me already!”
The banging stopped and the light was left on. A minute passed, then two and Jadyn wondered if she was finally going to be left alone, if Jaladhi had grown bored with torturing her for the day. She lay on the floor, unsure if her captor had left or if she was just biding her time. Suddenly, the light was shut off once more and the door to the basement opened. Jadyn could not see the door, but she heard it well enough. She also heard the eerie silence that preceded the menacing laughter that felt as though it came from right above her.
She found she had the strength to scream a second time.