I stood frozen in a doorway. One that I recognized, but I'd never wanted to see again. My brother Jake stood in front of me, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at our father with hatred in his eyes.
"Get outta the way! I wanna talk to the little one!" The man snarled, and I flinched, my tiny hands bunching in the bottom of my shirt. My mind spun frantically, what had I done this time? Why was he always so angry at us?
"I don't think so old man." Jake spat venomously, and I reached out a tentative hand, tugging at his shirt-back. He didn't look away from our father, but he reached back with one hand and nudged me away.
"Go on, Ally. It'll be okay." he murmured, and I stumbled back a step, biting my lip. Father lunged forward, hands fisting in Jake's shirt collar, and I yelped, turning to flee to safety.
"I say move, you move!" I heard father yell, and Jake grunted in pain as fist connected with flesh. Father hit him a few more times, and I heard him slump to the floor, unconscious. I whimpered, and ran again.
I made it outside the back door before he caught up to me. Swooping down on me like hungry bird. I couldn't help it.
I screamed.
He cuffed me on the back of the head hard enough to send white lights streaming across my vision, and I gasped, wobbling on suddenly unsteady knees. I felt him pick me up, carrying me somewhere, but I couldn't tell where. Until I heard the chains knocking against each other.
My blood ran cold.
The basement.
"NO!" I cried, thrashing in his arms. He grabbed at my face, covering my mouth and nose roughly. I screamed into his hand, clawing at it and managing to uncover my nose so I could breath. My eyes widened in terror as we descended into the dark, and my whole body jerked as the door slammed shut behind us.
An old, yellowed light flickered to life above us, illuminating a stained workbench below a wall mount of tools and contraptions made of metal and wood. I thrashed again, tears starting up in my eyes.
Father carried me over to it and threw me down, reaching under the table and bringing up a metal cuff. He shackled my right wrist and fought me for another five minutes to shackle my left and my feet. All the while trying to silence me with threats.
When he reached up and pulled some deadly looking contraption off the wall I quieted to a whimper, scooting away as far as I could.
"This is what happens to bad little children..." he sneered, strapping the contraption over my right hand. It forced my palm flat, splaying my fingers. I stared at it with wide eyes and trembled.
"Why?" I whimpered, looking up at him.
"What'd I do?" I asked, choking back a sob. He didn't answer, instead reaching forward and taking hold of a crank that sat in the center of the square contraption. He gave it a twist and something sharp bit into the palm of my hand. With a gasp I started screaming, sobbing against the onslaught of pain.
"Daddy no!" I cried. I didn't know why I still called him that, he didn't really deserve it. With a vicious growl he gave it another turn, and the sharp thing penetrated my flesh, grinding into my bones with a gut clenching crunch.
"NO! PLEASE!" I screamed, writhing, struggling to pull my hand away.
"You. Will. LEARN!" he ground out, twisting with each word. I screamed until my head ached and my chest was sore. He dropped my hand, an iron spike run through and out the back of it. He was reaching for something else when the inside door burst open and my brother stumbled in.
"Get away from her!" he snarled, brandishing a baseball bat.
Father's hand came away from the wall with a knife and my eyes widened. Jake ran at him and Father stepped back, giving himself room. He dodged the bat and sliced forward, the knifes tip heading straight for Jake's heart. I clenched my eyes shut, my heart pounding, and screamed.
"Jake! NO!"
