As soon as Kurt regained consciousness, he realized that he was back in the basement, lying on the very hard and uncomfortable bed. His arm felt very numb and it felt like it was in a wrong position. He followed from his shoulder to where his arm was and saw that his wrist was tied by some rope onto a pole attached to the wall above the head of the bed. Kurt tried to untangle his wrist from the rope, but it hurt and wasn't going to budge anyway. He was starting to feel the blood draining from his arm already.
Tears built up in his eyes as realization set that he was trapped. He felt very sore after the beating he received from that man. There was no way he was going to give those freaks what they wanted. His name was Kurt, he was 18, born 27th May 1993, he had a father who was a congressman and a mechanic, a step mother who was a nurse, and Finn who is his step brother. He had a boyfriend-
Wait, was Blaine still his boyfriend? Had they broken up after the fight? Kurt felt a pang in his chest at the thought of this. A fight like that wouldn't lead to a break up, would it? No, of course not Kurt. Don't concentrate on that right now; concentrate on getting out of here. He looked around to see if there was anything he could use to cut the rope, to no avail. He moved a small bit to get himself more comfortable, but the pain was too intensifying that he was left panting.
He lifted up his shirt with his free hand and saw his stomach was marred black and blue. He was sure his face was no different. His stomach started rumbling very loudly in the quiet and cold room. Kurt couldn't even remember the last time he ate. How long have I been down here for? It couldn't have been more than a day; there weren't any windows in the room to tell if it was night or day. He tried to call out for someone, anyone to come, but his throat was so sore from lack of use and water. But he wasn't going to cry.
Maybe if he closed his eyes and fell asleep, time would go quicker. But that's all Kurt had been doing since he got here. He'd only really been conscious about 10 minutes before getting beaten up into unconsciousness. Did that count as sleep?
Kurt concentrated on taking his mind off how hungry and thirsty he really was. He thought of Blaine and his dad. Would they even know he's missing? Are they looking for him right now? How's his dad coping?
The tears silently fell at the thought of his family and Blaine; he just couldn't hold them any longer. Silent sobs ripped through his damaged throat. He tried so hard to calm down, but everything was hitting him at the same time, the fight with Blaine, being in this hell hole, missing his family and friends. How long will it be before he see's them again? A week? A month? A year? Forever? That made him cry harder, he would rather die trying to escape this hell hole than stay with those crazies any longer. If they were starving him, surely they wanted him to end up dead? Kurt remembered reading in one of his textbooks at school that a human can survive 2 to 4 days without water, before dying of dehydration, which wasn't a pretty way to die.
Kurt couldn't remember when he closed his eyes, but when he opened them he saw that he wasn't alone in the room anymore.
Little Alice was sitting on the end of the bed, combing her dolly's hair with her fingers while humming The Edge of Glory by Lady GaGa under her breathe. She must have sensed that he was awake, as her big green eyes landed on his glasz ones.
"Hey Cammy, your awake!" she cried happily.
Kurt had to get used to that fact that he wouldn't be called 'Kurt' here anymore. Here he was 'Cameron.' He tried to speak, but his throat wasn't cooperating with him. His voice came out incredibly raspy, he tried to clear his throat but it savaged it instead.
"Is your voice broken? You had a nice voice! Ooh, I'll get you some water!" she said, hopping off the bed and skipping up the stairs.
Finally he would have water. He wanted the girl to hurry up, but she was only, what, 5? Kurt was becoming quite fond of little Alice, she was so innocent and little. Was she taken like she was? Or was she their biological child?
She entered the room at that moment with two bottles of water, and some lollypops. Kurt was never so grateful for anything in his life. She opened the cap off for him, to save him from the awkwardness of doing it with one hand. She handed him the bottle, he nodded in thanks and took large gulps. It was incredibly soothing as the liquid ran down his raw throat.
"Thank you," he said, voice much stronger than before.
She beamed back at him, and took a sip of her own. She then started to unwrap the wrapper of one of her lollypops and held it out to Kurt.
"Maybe later honey," he said, taking smaller sips of his water. It was starting to settle in his stomach, it was a bit uncomfortable as he hadn't eaten; now the water sounded slosh in his empty stomach.
"I heard you humming Lady GaGa earlier, you like her?" Kurt asked, making conversation.
She nodded enthusiastically, "Oh yes! My mommy bought the CD, and we'd always listen to it on the way to the shops and the way to Kindergarten!"
"You go to school?"
She shook her head. "No, I used to. My old mommy would take me, now new mommy teaches me here!"
"Is mommy upstairs your real mommy?" Kurt was getting so confused.
"No, she's my pretend mommy. My real mommy doesn't know I'm here. I was in Kindergarten, and my teacher told me someone else was picking me up today, it was going to be my auntie. But I don't have an auntie, but I went with her instead. On the way to her house, which took forever, she told me that we were playing a game, and that she would be my mommy from now on. She said if I don't call her mommy, she'll spank me." She said sadly.
Kurt's heart ached for the girl.
"Do you miss your real mommy?"
"Yes, sometimes I forget what she looks like, and then I get sad."
"You know, when my real mommy went to heaven, I got real sad when I couldn't remember what she looked like, or how she smelt. But I always carry a picture of her and my dad in a locket that she owned when she was my age. But I lost it on the way here." His bottom lip was beginning to wobble a little bit.
"I'm sorry Cammy, I didn't mean to make you cry," she said, crawling up the bed and plopping down so she was sitting next to Kurt so their hips were touching. She wrapped her tiny arm around Kurt's sore stomach; he didn't have the heart to tell her that she was pressing against a big bruise.
"I think daddy has forgiven you though, he was real mad after he brought you down here to sleep, but he's happy this morning."
Kurt's stomach rolled at the memory of the beating. He knew they would make him apologise, he had to keep reminding himself that these people were sick, and needed help. They couldn't just take other people's children and bring them up on their own?
"Where are we exactly Alice?"
"We're in Atlanta!"
Kurt froze. He travelled that entire journey while being unconscious in the back of the van?!
"Daddy said it's going to snow before Christmas! Isn't it so exciting?"
Kurt was about to reply when the sound of footsteps coming down the wooden stairs could be heard. They turned around and saw 'dad'.
"Alice honey, can you go upstairs so Cameron and I can talk for a bit? You can go and play with your dollies before bed." He said, smiling sickeningly sweet.
Alice nodded, and bounced off the bed and ran up the stairs, leaving a terrifying man and a terrified young boy in the room.
When the door to the basement closed shut, the man stepped closer to the bed, expression hard. Kurt tried desperately to shuffle backwards on the bed, but his back hit the bed frame and he was trapped.
"Have a good night?" the man said, eventually coming to a halt, and sitting on the edge of the bed, a little closer to Kurt than he felt comfortable with. When Kurt didn't reply, he carried on anyway. "I'll take that as a no? God, when I picked you up that night I didn't expect you to be a fighter, now your acting like a little brat. The times I followed you, when you were in the coffee shop with that friend of yours, to going to the mall with your other friends, you always looked like a delicate flower, or like a deer in the headlights. I did have plans on taking your friend from the coffee shop, but he looked to be too much of a fighter."
Kurt's blood ran cold. This man had been STALKING HIM!? No, he would have realised surely?! AND HE WAS GOING TO TAKE BLAINE ORIGINALLY?!
The man continued. "I don't want to have to punish you, son. But I need you to understand to respect your mother, and your family. Now, I think you've learnt your lesson, so why don't we start again? I'll untie you, and you can join us for dinner, round 2?" he said.
"So I've been out for 24 hours after you beat me up?" Kurt said, keeping his voice monotone.
The man chuckled, "Yeah, you're definitely a sleeper you are! Now let's get you untied and get some food in you. You haven't been fed in a while am I correct?"
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Kurt snapped back as the man untied him. Kurt cried out when he moved his arm to his side, his arm getting used to being in a different position and for the blood to go back into it. He wrapped his hand around his wrist were the rope held his arm up, soothing the rope burn.
"What's your name?" Kurt asked.
"You just call me dad," the man said.
"No, what's you're real name?"
"Bob, and my wife Melissa is upstairs. Let's get you up," Bob said, coming over to Kurt and putting his arms around Kurt's sides and pulling him up. Kurt flinched at the contact, and Bob looked at him in alarm.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Let's just go and get some dinner."
Dinner was an awkward affair. Kurt ignored the questions that Melissa and Bob shot at him, but he made conversation with Arthur and Alice. Kurt was so relieved to have been fed finally. As soon as he finished, he mumbled his thanks and slipped out of the room. He heard a chair being pushed out, then Melissa saying a little too loudly, "He's still adjusting. It'll take a while." Kurt was thankful for Melissa then, he didn't think his battered body could take much more damage.
He went back down to his basement room and decided to look around. It was a fairly large room, with lots of different things scattered everywhere. He sat cross legged on the floor and snooped in all of the boxes in the far corner. When he was looking through a box full of old record players, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
He turned around and saw Melissa, hugging her stomach and smiling admiringly at him.
"What are you doing down here Pumpkin?"
Kurt cringed at the name, but replied anyway.
"Just hanging out in my room."
"Oh sweetie, this isn't your room! Come on, I'll show you your room." She said, holding her hand out for him to take. Kurt stood up and waited in front of her, not making any indication that he would take her hand. She nodded small in understanding, and moved swiftly out of the room and up the stairs, as Kurt followed.
When Melissa showed Kurt his new room, Kurt's nose scrunched up at the condition it was left in. The bed was half made, the curtains on the window were dirty, and the wallpaper looked like it was ready to fall off.
"Sorry about the mess, our last son who lived in this room was a bit of a trouble maker."
"What happened to him?" Kurt asked hesitantly.
Melissa looked away from him quickly. "He's gone." Is all she said, before exiting the room and closing the door after her.
Kurt walked over and sat on the bed, it was a lot comfier than the basement bed, that's for sure. He heard the springs jolt as he lay down on the bed; he sat up and took in his new surroundings. This was my new life. He sat and stared at the wall ahead of him for sometime, but was interrupted by shouting coming from across the hall. He sat frozen in place as he recognized the voice of Bob, screaming at someone. It was when he heard crying that made him get up and investigate.
He opened the door slowly, and winced as the shouting got louder. It was coming from the room right next door to his. He saw Arthur across the hall, listening through the door where the noises were coming from. Kurt walked up to him and quietly asked him what was going on.
"Dad's mad at Alice,"
As soon as those words registered in Kurt's mind, he felt anger towards Bob. Who could scream at a young child like that? Kurt ripped open the door, and saw little Alice huddled in the bed looking so small, with her blanket covering her face; he looked at Bob and saw that he had his hand raised.
"NO!" Kurt heard himself shout. Next thing he knew, he went up to Bob and pushed him away. Bob looked at Kurt with anger and disgust, before he could get any closer to Kurt, Melissa ran into the room, and guided Bob out of the room. Kurt stood there stricken by what he had just witnessed. He turned and saw that Alice was still sobbing her little heart out. Kurt walked over to the door and closed it in front of him. He then strode up to the bed and gently lay sat down on the bed so his back was leaning against the frame. He picked up Alice and cradled her in his lap, his arms wrapped around her upper half. He gently rocked her as she continued to cry, and started cooing her, but it wasn't working. He needed to think of something else. So he let his voice take it away.
I remember tears streaming down your face
When I said, I'll never let you go
When all those shadows almost killed your light
I remember you said, Don't leave me here alone
But all that's dead and gone and passed tonight
Just close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and sound
Alice looked up at him, her green eyes wide as she listened to the song.
Don't you dare look out your window darling
Everything's on fire
The war outside our door keeps raging on
Hold onto this lullaby
Even when the music's goneJust close your eyes
The sun is going down
You'll be alright
No one can hurt you now
Come morning light
You and I'll be safe and soundJust close your eyes
You'll be alright
Come morning light,
You and I'll be safe and sound...
Kurt looked down and saw that little Alice was asleep underneath him. Kurt's eyes started to ache, before he fell asleep, he realised something. He had a reason to stay now.