Chapter 11: Faith Rewarded

Tony woke up the next morning while it was still dark. He was in great pain. He's slept the night hard the night before and it didn't help that the place had no heat. The electricity had come and gone throughout the night and he had a terrible earache. He saw Esther come inside, blank expression on her face as she held a bag of groceries. She didn't seem to notice him as she walked in and started putting things away in the dusty cupboards. He groaned and rubbed his sore ankle where the chain was connected. He tried to hold back, but he sneezed loudly making her head shoot in his direction.

"Good morning my boy," Esther said, dusting herself off and walking over to him. He looked like hell. "You're getting a bit of a fever," Esther said, placing her hand on his forehead, "Don't worry, I brought you something." She dug in her purse and pulled out some cough medicine. His eyes slowly crawled from the box to hers. She smiled at him and held up a box of Cornflakes. Esther shook it, and picked him up gently. He sat there as she readied breakfast for him. "Alright, I've come up with a plan," she told him, as she poured milk into his cereal, "We're only going to be here only one more night." "I want to stay," he croaked. She gave him a cold stare and he clammed up. "You're not hearing me, I'm all you have now," she said, "So get used to it!" "I don't want to stay with you!" he cried, "I just want to go home!" "I'm your family now!" Esther shot back, "So stop acting like a toddler! You're staying with me!"

Esther shook from her outburst and poured herself a glass of milk. As she drank it, she thought about how great it would be to see her little sister Max again. She missed her greatly and wondered what new life would be like with the both of them as her family. She looked back at him and held her glass up. He started shaking again, and she rubbed his shoulder. He wasn't the type to try anything stupid. He was way too careful. And to Esther, he was a bit like Max. There was something about them that was similar.

Esther poured some medicine into a spoon and gave it to Tony. He took it without protest. "There's a good boy," she said quietly, rubbing his back as he painfully swallowed it, "Good job Tony. We'll get you better soon." Esther hugged him tightly, hearing him panting. She heard him sniffling and looked down at him. "What's wrong?" Esther asked, staring into his dark glassy eyes. "It's my ankle, it hurts!" Tony sobbed. Esther lowered her eyes to the ankle shackle on his right leg. She dug in her bag and lovingly removed the key to it. She then picked the lock and it snapped open. Tony shook as he watched her, his quick heavy breathing clearly visible from the broken window. She stared down at the ankle as he moaned, seeing his little white sock had turned dark red. "Oh no, Tony," Esther breathed, staring down at it. He lifted his eyes to meet hers. "The metal cut me!" Tony whined, "It hurts!" Esther gently hushed him and held it, staring down at it. She was thinking when she suddenly looked up. "Hold on, I got just the thing!" Esther told him, "You're going to be alright. There's a first aid kit outside. I'll go and grab it. We don't want you losing your leg." Esther slowly got up and rested his leg back on her chair. "Please hurry, Esther!" Tony squealed. "Just a second," She said, quickly vanishing out the doorway.

Tony sat there for a moment in disbelief. Esther had surprised him. She was so worried for his health that she actually trusted him behind himself. She had taken the last family member from him that he had left. He remembered that she's killed him so viciously in front of him. His Grandpa Gabriel was all he had known. He knew that not even Esther could take his grandfather's place. She had to be stopped. And he was going to be the one to do it. She couldn't do this to anyone else.

Tony began looking around the room and went over to the cupboards. As he started to dig through them, he kept in mind that she'd be back quickly. He opened the fridge and saw the milk jugs. "There's got to be something I can use!" Tony whispered, closing the door. He looked around and felt his anxiety rising. He then saw the door and shook his head. "Well at least I'll be able to lock her out," Tony said, limping over to it. He bit his lip, knowing that this was a pathetic idea. He was about to simply close the door until he laid his eyes on something that stood behind it. Tony picked up a small rusted metal pipe. He stared at it, holding it up to his face. He felt his heart start pounding hard in his chest at the thought of what he was going to do with it. "I have to," Tony said, wiping his nose off with his sleeve.

Tony turned his head, hearing Esther's footsteps coming down the hall. He quickly hid behind the door and held his breath. Her footsteps matched the quickening beat of his heart as he braced himself. He looked through the slit between the door and the wall, seeing her walk in. He heard Esther humming a song. Her humming and footsteps stopped as she stared around the room. Tony leapt out from his hiding place, holding the pipe above his head. Esther spun around, hearing him screaming. The pipe smashed down on her head, blood exploding from her nose as she stumbled back from the blow. Tony watched in amazement as Esther fell onto her stomach and lied still. He stumbled over to her and hit her again, making her body twitch from the blow. He screamed and hit her again, then again. He then backed away, seeing her laying there, a dark red pool growing from underneath her head. He looked around and saw her black bag on the floor beside the first aid kit she dropped. He looked over at her, and then back at the black bag. He cautiously went over and slowly grabbed the bag off the ground. He began panting as he opened it and dug in, fishing for the key to his ankle chain. He then spilled the contents out of the bag and started combing through them. He then smiled, seeing the key lying under a bundle of money. He quickly snatched it up and stuffed the key into his ankle bracelet. To his amazement, the jaws around his ankle unlocked and flew open. He the chain off his ankle and threw it away as hard as he could. He crawled away and began crying loudly in victory.

He didn't know how long he'd sat there crying for, but he knew he'd have to get moving. He struggled to stand, but he did. Tony panted, looking around. He saw Esther still knocked out and glared at her. She'd kept him chained in this God forsaken shoe factory for a few days. He'd never forget this little psychopath and what she did to him. He then eyed the chain and smiled at it.

Esther's eyes opened a while later. She looked around, seeing Tony standing in front of her. Esther then tried to sit up, but hissed from the pain in her head. "Esther…" Tony breathed. Esther looked back up at him and managed to sit up. "TONY!" Esther suddenly yelled at him. Tony smiled and shrugged at her. "I tried to help you, and you hit me over the head?" Esther asked, "Now you're going to DIE!" Esther then tried to lunge at him, but the chain that connected her leg to the heat pipes wouldn't let her. Esther gasped and ran her hand down her ankle. She felt the cold metal around her ankle and she screamed. "Well, everything's in it's place Esther," Tony said, "I watched you kill my granddaddy…you killed my dog…and you killed Joe Bando. You will not get anyone else Esther." He backed out the door.

"Tony, you don't know what you're doing!" Esther called, tugging on her ankle chain, "I'm all you have! Tony, TONY! GET BACK HERE! I'm SORRY, Tony! Please, I LOVE you Tony! TONY!" Tony was down the hallway and already broke into a limping jog. He stopped by Joe who was still lying in the same place where they'd left him. He stopped and looked at him. Tony held his breath and covered his mouth to hold back some tears. He hiccupped and dug in his own back pocket. He then pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes off. "I'm sorry Joe," Tony whimpered, unfolding it and slowly covering Joe's face. He then hobbled towards the front door, ignoring Esther's screams of madness. He reached the front door, went out and slammed it shut.

"You're mine TONY!" Esther yelled, tugging on the chain, "MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!"