Hey guys! I'm so sorry this chapter has taken me so long. With the end of the semester of college nearing, I haven't really had much time or motivation to write. I hope that will change once summer break starts in May, though.
I hope you enjoy the chapter. :)
He awoke in a daze, disoriented, and with no recollection of where he was. His head was throbbing, sending shockwaves of pain soaring throughout his skull. A small groan escaped his lips as he attempted to force his eyes to open, only the small task was close to impossible to fulfill. His eyelids felt like they weighted a thousand pounds each.
Getting his eyes to crack open was a struggle all on its own, but forcing himself not to panic when he awoke to nothing but darkness proved to be even more difficult.
Despite the fact that he couldn't see anything in front of him, he could feel his head spinning. He tried standing, once having realized that he was sitting down, but his legs wouldn't budge. He then tried his arms, but they were tied tightly behind his back, around what he assumed was a chair.
Where am I?
What's happening?
He opened his mouth with the intention of saying his thoughts out loud, but nothing came out. He tried again, and again, until finally, the words came spilling from his lips.
"Is anyone there?!" He coughed, his throat feeling like someone had forced him to swallow sand at some point. "Where am I?!"
That's when he heard a click, followed by the sound of a door being pushed open. Light came flooding into the room, confirming what he had previously assumed — his legs were tied to a wooden chair's legs, while his arms were tied behind him.
A man stood at the doorway, but Kendall was unable to make out his features due to the lack of light in the room.
"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to wake up."
A chill ran through his whole body, leaving him breathless. He recognized that voice. He recognized that mocking tone. It was the same voice that had shouted insults at him for over five years straight; the same voice that had haunted him in his dreams for even longer than that.
It was his father. Except the person standing just a few feet in front of him was someone that didn't deserve that title. He was someone who had hurt him, damaged him to the point that he had even considered taking his own life. He had taken everything from him, everything. He may have been part of the reason he was born, but he would never actually be a father figure to him.
As the past couple of hours started flooding back into Kendall's mind, the man before him started to take the few steps towards him. And even though Kendall wanted nothing more than to run away from him, he was unable to. All he could do was watch in utter terror as he got closer and closer, until he was kneeling right in front of him.
"Look at you. You've grown so much," he said as he reached forward, his fingers holding on to Kendall's chin.
"W-Why am I here?"
"Why do you think?" The man sneered, his hold on Kendall loosening. "I want revenge."
"Revenge?" If it wasn't for how terrified he was, Kendall would have laughed at the older man's words. "Revenge for what?"
Without warning, his father took ahold of a handful of Kendall's hair and tugged it back, hard. "Wanna say that again?"
It took Kendall a couple of seconds to register what had just happened, but as the question managed to register in his brain, he shook his head. It took all his willpower not to scream out in pain due to how hard his hair was being tugged back.
"That's what I thought."
The hold loosened as his father stood back on both feet, his gaze never leaving Kendall.
"But, since you seem to not remember what you did, perhaps I should remind you..."
Kendall gulped, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as the other man started to slowly pace in front of him.
"It was four years ago, more or less," he said, a hand coming to rest against his chin in a thinking manner, "when I was taken to jail, because of you."
Kendall's eyes diverted to the ground at the last word, his hair matted to his forehead as beads of sweat started to collect there.
"So was this whole moving to LA thing just your way of trying to get away from me?"
"N-No."
"Were you really stupid enough to think that I wouldn't find you when your name is displayed pretty much everywhere?"
Kendall said nothing. He was shaking, his stomach churning as the small contents inside it threatened to make a reappearance. The truth was, he hadn't moved to LA with the intent of getting as far away from his father as possible — he had moved to LA to make James' dream come true. But he'd be lying if he said that there wasn't a small part of him that felt relieved at knowing that there would be a thousand miles between them.
The man in front of him laughed, his laughter echoing across the empty space surrounding them. "Of course you were. Stupid, foolish, little piece of shit you always were. You always will be."
"No."
"What?"
Kendall glared as he opened his mouth again, his lips trembling as he struggled to say the words out loud. "I said no."
Kendall flinched as his father's hand went flying up a second later, as if ready to swing forward and strike him in the face. His shoulders tensed as he hunched over, trying to hide his face the best he could, even though the task was practically impossible. With his hands tied behind his back, there was no way for him to shield his face against his father's blows. There was no way for him to defend himself. He couldn't kick out, he couldn't reach out and pry the man's hands away from him.
"You can't even defend yourself," his father said, as if having read his mind. He then leaned closer toward Kendall, leaving him no time to register what was happening before something cold was being pressed against his neck. A knife.
"Say something like that again, and I swear, you will regret it," he said.
Kendall didn't dare move as the knife was lifted to his cheek and glided across it, digging slightly into his skin. He barely registered the pain, didn't even take notice of the blood rolling down his cheek until he felt something wet and warm land on the base of his neck.
Without another word, his father turned around and walked out the door, shutting it closed behind him. Darkness enveloped him once again.
Though now that he thought about it, it had never truly left to begin with.
"Logan, maybe you should sit down."
James watched as Logan paced back and forth in between his and Kendall's beds, his arms pulled tightly to his chest. He had been pacing for over five minutes now, not having said a word to either him or Carlos within that time.
From the corner of his eye, he glanced at Carlos, who was sitting on Kendall's bed with his eyes trained on a photograph on Kendall's nightstand. James didn't have to be facing the photograph to know what was on it. It was a photo of all four of them from before they had left to Los Angeles. It had been taken by Mrs. Knight right after they had won a hockey game. In it, they were all smiling — Logan was sitting on Kendall's shoulders, while Carlos was on James', and the two boys were each holding up the trophy they had won with one hand.
They had all been so happy after that game.
Now James wished more than anything that he could go back to that day, even if it meant no longer being in LA.
"Logan," James said again, this time in firmer tone. When Logan paid no mind to him and continued pacing, he stood from where had been sitting on Logan's bed and moved to stand in front of him.
"What?" Logan questioned, raising his head slightly to look up at James.
"You should sit down," James said as he took ahold of Logan's shoulders and pushed him back towards the empty bed. Logan looked hesitant but plopped down on the bed nonetheless, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
"What... What are we gonna do, James?" Logan was hunched over, so James couldn't make out the expression on his face. But judging by the tone of despair wrapped around every word, James was sure he was in the verge of tears.
"I don't know," James said honestly, his own shoulders slumping as he moved to take a seat in front of Logan on the floor. "I honestly don't even know if there's anything we can— Carlos?"
James and Logan both looked up as they heard a sniffle coming from Kendall's bed. Sure enough, as they turned to look at Carlos, his hands were covering his face, as if to hide the fact that he was crying.
"Los," James whispered as he stood back up and took the few steps to Kendall's bed. He sat down beside Carlos, wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and pulled him towards his side. Being in desperate need of comfort, Carlos wrapped both of his arms around James' neck and buried his head against the crook of it. "We'll find him, Los. We will," James tried to reassure him.
He glanced at Logan, who was still sitting on his bed, fidgeting with his hands nervously. "Logie, come on," he said, reaching with an arm towards the brunet.
Logan rose from the bed on shaking legs, struggling to even move them to take the few steps towards James and Carlos.
He collapsed on the bed a second later, his body rigid as James pulled him closer with his free arm. He could hear James speaking, but he wasn't listening. He couldn't focus, couldn't think straight, could barely even breathe.
Their worlds were crumbling to pieces, and they had little to no hope left.
But then Carlos' phone started to ring.
"I brought something for you."
Kendall stared down at the floor, the sound of footsteps echoing in his ears once the door of whatever room he had been locked in swung open.
He felt the slap before he even had a chance to look up, the pain soaring across his face as his head snapped to the right. He bit back the urge to cry out in pain, the tears in his eyes gathering but not falling.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you."
Kendall took in a ragged breath, his head slowly moving so that he was now looking up at the man in front of him.
"Now," his father dragged out the word as he pulled something out of his pocket. Kendall tensed up, until he realized that the object that he was taking out was a phone and not the knife he had previously showed him. "As I was saying, I have something to show you."
Kendall didn't know what this "something" was, but he had a feeling he didn't want to find out.
He anxiously watched as his father pressed several buttons on the phone's screen, and then lowered the phone so Kendall could see what was on it.
Kendall could've sworn his heart stopped beating as he took in the image in front of him. It was a picture of a woman and a little girl, tied to chairs much like he was, and he recognized them instantly. He didn't move, didn't speak as five words were repeated over and over in his head like a mantra.
He has mom and Katie.
So... that's where Mrs. Knight and Katie have been all along... Did anyone see that coming? Any ideas as to why he has them and what's going to happen now that Kendall knows? Please let me know what you think! And thank you for reading. I hope you all liked the chapter. :)
~ BigTimeRush-BTR :)