Here's chapter 23 :) one of my personal favourites, let me know what you think!
JOE
I could smell pancakes. My stomach growled in hunger.
"Hello little brother" Tom called from the door. He rolled in a kart, that had a stack of pancakes, syrup, a carton of juice and the utensils necessary on it, "I brought you breakfast!".
"It looks great T.. big brother" I smiled to my twin, almost calling him the wrong name.
"Let me undo your arm restraints and we will eat together. Afterwards, I have a couple of board games we can play!" Tom was in a really good mood and I didn't know if that was good or bad for me. He released my restraints and passed me a plate with one pancake already cut up, "Would you like syrup?"
"Yes please" I replied, silently wishing he would have been stupid enough to give me a knife. The kart was too far away for me to grab one. He handed me a plastic fork and we both dug in.
"There are really good" I complimented.
"Thanks little brother , I made them myself. Do you want another one?" I nodded in agreement. He cut up another pancake and placed it on my plate,"Apple or orange juice?"
"Apple, please." Tom poured me a small glass of juice and I drank it in one gulp. He watched me eat my pancake with a weird look on his face. After I had finished, my twin took the plate and cup away and pulled out a napkin.
"Let me wipe your face off." Tom said. I stared at him reluctantly for a moment. I don't think he even noticed because he continued to come closer and lightly wiped my face. I tried to hide my face of disgust but I really hated when he touched me at all, "What game do you want to play?" My twin asked, pulling out some boxes from the second shelf of the kart, "I have Sorry, Trouble or Monopoly. I may not have all the pieces for Monopoly though."
"I don't care. Why don't you choose big brother." I kept saying the name he wanted to hopefully keep him happy.
"Hmm, let's play Trouble!" He put the other boxes away and sat down on the bed. Tom had the game set up in a manner of moments, "What color do you want to be?".
"Can I be blue?" I asked.
"I wanted to be blue!" Tom slightly raised his voice.
"Th..that's fine. You be blue, I"l..I'll be yellow" I said reassuringly.
"Thanks little brother, you're so great" He smiled and pulled out our pieces needed, "I'm going to go first!" Like I would try to fight him on that. My crazy twin rolled the dice and got a three, "A three! That doesn't help me!" He was getting agitated.
"Why don't you roll again big brother? We won't count that first roll." I encouraged him. He rolled the dice again and got another three.
"Ahh!" Tom yelled, "Just go" He muttered under his breath. I looked at him and rolled the dice. I got a six. I gulped slowly. "You got a six! That's not fair!"
"I'll roll again, if you want"
"No, that's fine" He took his turn and rolled a four. I could see him get visibly more upset every second. It was my turn again and I rolled another six, "Little brother, are you cheating?" He asked in a loud angry voice.
"No..no, I'm not. How could I cheat?" I tried to reason with him.
"You keep getting the good rolls though" His eyes were going funny.
"We can stop playing" I spoke softly.
"No!" Tom rose from the bed, "No, no, no! This was not how it was supposed to go! I was supposed to win and you were supposed to tell me how good I was at this game and I was supposed to give you tips on how to be better!" He ranted, walking back and forth, pulling out his hair a little, "Why little brother? Why did you do this!" He came at me quickly and started squeezing my neck, "You couldn't have just let me win or even roll the numbers I wanted!" Tom yelled in my face, gripping my neck tighter. I couldn't breathe. I tried to get his hands off my neck but I was weak and he was surprisingly strong. Just when I thought I was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen, he let go. "I thought we were going to have fun together." I trying to take deep breaths to get some air back into my lungs.
"I...I'm s...sor...ry" I wheezed out. He shook his head slowly and came closer to me again. All of a sudden, Tom started punching me, in the face and in the stomach.
"You.. ruined… everything" Tom spat out. I had lost track of how many times he had punched me. He did one last hard punch to my face and stopped, just glaring at me for a second. Before I had time to react,
Tom roughly restrained both of my arms to the bed again. He made them very tight and they cut into my skin. My twin gave me one last look, "Little brother" He said sadly, grabbing the games and the kart and left.
I let out a big sigh of relief when my crazed twin exited the bedroom. There was blood running down my face. It felt like my nose was broken. My whole body was aching and I was seeing little stars. My breaths were coming in fast and unlabored, probably from the beating and the panic growing larger in my stomach. Tom was a loose cannon. I hadn't done or even said anything and he went off his rocker. Playing that game was a huge mistake. How much longer would I able to last? Time was quickly running. I closed my eyes, praying someone would figure out where I was or that I would find a way out. I was in trouble.