"What happened to you?" I breathed out as my hand trailed over his back.
"Long story…" Aaron shrugged it off as he slid his arms in the shirts sleeves. He was about to slide it over his head, but I stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder preventing him from pulling the shirt all the way up. I felt his shoulders tense up when my fingers brushed over his scars. Gasping I felt a jolt through my body.
Aaron was working in a barn. He was feeding the horses that were in their stalls. The barn was quiet and the light was fading fast.
"Aaron!" A girl's voice called from the distance. Aaron looked up and glanced around as he made his way towards the opening in the barn.
"Leah!" I heard him call. He leaned out of the barns opening and looked around again.
A girl came out of no where and wrapped her arms around his neck laughing. Aaron was surprised but his arms went around her waist, pulling her to him. She was giggling as she moved her face closer to his. However, Aaron pulled back from her. The girl- Leah, looked at him with a pout, "What's the matter?" She asked him.
"I- I can't do this anymore… I- I'm so sorry, but…" Aaron began. The girl just laughed at his rejection as she leaned in again. This time Aaron pulled away further as his hands slid away from her waist and gently, but sternly unwound her arms from his neck.
"I mean it, Leah. You're married to the guy who owns me. I'd rather not get on his bad side." He said to her as he took a step back. The girl crossed her arms over her chest looking down at herself. Her dress was a rich red color, it was down to her ankles. Her long brown hair down to her middle back, her dark eyes watched him calculatingly.
"You've already gotten on his bad side when you decided to start this thing that we have." She said her eyes narrowing on him.
"We- we don't have a 'thing'." Aaron explained gesturing between the two of them. The look on his face showed annoyance. "This isn't anything. We never even-."
"Excuse me?" Leah asked him her outrage showing now. "I don't know who you think you are!" She began, her finger poking Aaron in the chest with every word by the end of her sentence. "You are nothing. My husband owns you, do you understand that? He owns you."
A pained expression crossed Aaron's features. Leah gripped his old, loose, and sweaty, cotton shirt. She yanked him down towards her. Her face was an inch away from his, possibly less. "That means you do whatever the hell it is that I tell you, otherwise you get consequences." She threatened.
"I think I'll take my chances." He replied as he removed her hand from his shirt. An angry look came over Leah, and she slapped Aaron. Hard, in the face. She turned on her heel and marched away from him determinedly. Then everything became blurry, and suddenly it was night. A lantern was the only thing lighting the barn.
"So… Do you have anything to say for yourself, Templeton?" A man, in a button up crisp clean white shirt underneath a dressy gray vest.
"It's not true, sir." He replied. Aaron was being held up by two other men, dressed similar to him, except their clothes looked as if they didn't work as hard as he had.
"Oh? So now my wife is a liar?" The man said crossing his arms over his chest.
Aaron let his head fall backwards as he let out a sigh. The man moved closer to him and punched him in the stomach. Aaron groaned as his body hunched forwards, "How 'bout now? Is she still lying?"
"I never had an affair with your wife sir. I swear." Aaron tried again after failing to talk.
The man let out a dark laugh as he took another step forwards. The two big guys jerked Aaron upright, he looked into the eyes of his owner. "You swear?" The man asked, his mouth twisted into a scornful smirk. "Your word is worth as much as your father's." Then the Man punched him in the stomach again, this time bringing Aaron to his knees as he coughed, and tried to suck in as much air as he possibly could.
Aaron was yanked up roughly. "Sir?" Aaron said his voice hoarse as he glanced around the empty, dimly lit barn.
"You two plan on holding him down during this?" The man snapped to the two men, as he turned and walked away. The two men jumped and quickly dragged a now struggling Aaron over to one of the post that was holding up the barn. A horse stomped a hoof against the hard floor. There were noises from the other horses echoing throughout the barn now. The men were able to heft Aaron against the post, and one wrapped his wrists with rope sufficiently tying him to the post. The man returned holding a horse whip.
"You're to stay away from my wife. You won't be living with the rest of the help. You'll be sleeping out here, at least until I find another spot for you…" The man said then he pulled back the whip.
I gasped as I pulled back from Aaron quickly, "What?" He asked as he turned around quickly. He was looking at me wide eyed. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would come out. My hand had jumped to cover my mouth and was now frozen there. Oh, my god. Aaron… Was all I could think.
"Melinda?" Aaron called as I felt his hands lightly grab at my arms pulling me to him. I couldn't remember when he'd gotten his shirt over his head. "What happened? What's the matter?" He asked me as I felt an arm go around my back, and his hand tilted my head to look at him.
"I- I-." Was all I could get out. I had to stop and take a deep breath before I could speak again. Images were still flashing before my eyes. Flashes of Aaron crying out as that man continued to strike his back with slashes from the whip. He had fallen to his knees after the first few blows, his body had arched away. Trying to get away from the whip, but the blows kept coming. His old shirt completely falling apart now. My breathing came in gasps as my own hands found Aaron and gripped his shirt tightly. My head began to pound as if a hammer were slammed against my forehead.
"Melinda, please. Talk to me." I heard Aaron say softly. The only thing I could do through the pain in my head was groan, one of my hands jumped to my forehead pressing against my skull. My eyes were closing from the pain. Then I felt my knees give out as the room went black.
"Melinda…" I vaguely heard someone softly calling out to me. My eyes opened slowly, only to have to face the dull pain that was still pounding throughout my head. I groaned as I tried to sit up only to be pushed gently back down again. Looking to my right I found Aaron, "Aaron…" I breathed out softly.
He just smiled at me, I could see he was visibly relieved that I'd woken up.
"You okay now?" He asked me. I nodded slowly, spacing out, "What happened?" He asked me as I felt his arm go around my shoulders pulling me closer to him. I shrugged looking up at him, "I- I think I had a vision…" I said softly.
He paused then looked down at me. "You think? Or, you did?"
"I- I think I did." I looked up to his face, but it was unreadable. I slid my hand over his chest as I looked into his eyes through my eyelashes. "I- I saw you…" I began, at my pause he gave me a look telling me to continue on. "Were you ever… owned?" I asked him slowly, I felt uncomfortable saying the word owned, but there was no other word for it. I watched his face show some real emotion for the first time. He realized what it was that I saw, and it pained him.
"I- I'm sorry…" I said softly quickly realizing what this memory must have brought out in him. I looked everywhere except at him until I felt his hand gently turn my face so that I was.
"… Don't be sorry. It's not as if you can control this. It's just your power, right?" He asked. I looked at him, studying him deeply now. I was juggling with telling him the truth, or agreeing with him. I chose the former.
"No." I began. He looked at me confused, "It- it's not my power. I've- I've never had that happen before… My powers must be expanding." He stared at me. I could see the interest sparking up in his eyes, blinking I looked away from him. He sighed suddenly causing me to turn to him, surprised.
"That was the night before I was turned." He began as his arms went behind his head as he laid on his back, looking up at the ceiling. "I was in England at that time, and my family wasn't doing so well. So I was working for Bradley West, due to my father being in debt to the man."
"So, why couldn't your father work for West? It was his debt…" I said bluntly.
"Why would he work for that man when he had a very capable son to go in his place." Aaron asked me looking at me with an eyebrow quirked. I just looked at him seeing his logic. He went back to telling his story to me quickly.
"I apparently caught the eye of his lonely wife… Leah West." Aaron said his eyes now zoning out on the ceiling. "Of course, being young, and very cocky I thought being with her would be fun. If I could get the attention of a mild-mannered, well-off woman then I could get anyone. I had just turned 18. My prime…" He finished glancing to me then back to the ceiling. He looked almost, vulnerable now. As if he was drowning, and only had me to reach out to.
"After 3 months, I thought about my family, and what it would do to them if Mr. West ever found out, so I decided to break it off with her. She was bitter – of course I think she'd never been rejected before because she ran to her husband and told him that I'd forced an affair onto her. That she'd done some nice things and that I took it the wrong way…" He shrugged.
"But he owned you. You weren't just working for him…" I prodded slightly. He looked to me lazily.
"Yes, my father told him that he could do what he wished with me just as long as the debt was paid off." He looked me in the eyes as he explained this piece of the puzzle.
"How- how were you turned?" I asked him softly, my hand finding his quickly, his other arm was still behind his head. He gripped my hand tightly and looked back to the ceiling, "After West left me there to bleed out, I somehow managed to break the rope, after working to weaken it all night long."
"Weaken it?" I asked.
"I ran it back and forth over the corner of the post, it finally broke, and I took off into the woods behind his house. I ran into a man, I knew the man. I just couldn't place where. He was standing over a dead girl, they were by a river. He was dumping the body in the river, then he found me. He saw my condition, and knew that I wasn't going to make it if he'd left me there. I'd have bled to death. So he carried me back to his house, and that's where my new life began. He taught me everything I needed to know, then let me go, however we keep running into each other over time.
I mean, the world is only so big."
"I'm so sorry…" I told him again, only this time my eyes watered. Glancing to me I found him looking at me surprised. "You shouldn't have had to go through that. It's torture." I told him.
"Why're you crying?" He asked me softly his fingers finding the wet trail from a tear that had leaked out.
"I saw it all. I watched you being-." I broke off mid sentence not wanting to say it.
He was staring at me with a new expression, one that I'd never seen – on him anyway. – he suddenly leaned in and brushed his lips over mine. I groaned as I buried my hand into his hair and pulled his face closer to me. The kisses deepened as he felt up my entire body with his hands. Pulling back I noticed it was darker now. "What time is it?" I asked breaking whatever spell we'd had between us.
"Uhh… 10:45."
"What?" I yelped as I jumped up. "My mother's gonna kill me!" I cried out as I frantically raced out of his bedroom down the hall towards the staircase. Aaron followed me quickly. "Will you relax? I can get you home in a second." He told me his hand on my shoulder as I leaned down and grabbed my bag.
Suddenly I found myself in my room. Aaron's hand fell from my shoulder and I glanced around uncertainly, "whoa." I said as I let my bag fall from my hand. It hit the floor with an obnoxious 'thump'. I heard footsteps coming from down the hall, then my door was pushed open. "O-oh. Melinda. Your home. How long have you been home?" My mom sounded surprised when I turned to look at her. Quickly looking to where Aaron was standing I found it… empty.
"Uhh… I've been home for a while. 45 minutes- half hour, maybe." I lied quickly.
"Oh. Well, you must've gotten home while I was picking up desert for tonight." Mom replied as she crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. "You okay?" She asked seeing as how I kept glancing around my room thinking Aaron was here somewhere.
"Oh. Yeah, I'm just chilly… thought a window was open or something…" I trailed off as I dragged my bag over to my bed and tossed it down.
"How was your project?" Mom asked me as she took a step into my room.
"Project?" I asked her.
"The one you were working on…." She asked slowly.
"Oh. Right. That one. I mean, it didn't feel like a project, we were just helping out some clothing donations, and such. We were bringing all the clothes from the donation truck into the store." I completely pulled that one out of my ass. Is that even considered community service? I asked myself.
"Huh. I guess their starting out easy this year." She said, "Well, Aunt Paige wants to come over tomorrow, so you can hang out with your cousins, Kat, and Tamora."
"Uhh… Yeah, sure." I replied half paying attention as I pretended to be engrossed in going through my bag.
"Well, goodnight, sweetheart." Mom said as she backed out.
"Night." I told her, then as soon as my door closed I looked around my room hoping that Aaron would appear again, but he didn't.