I'm Afraid

He had me pinned to the white wall of the room. I was fearful, I didn't know what I did, if I did anything at all.

If he was anything like Bert, it didn't matter if I did anything wrong, it was still for me to take the punches.

I was shaking underneath him. I couldn't stop it no matter how much I tried.

I hated showing any type of fear to people like him.

His face softened a bit as he put the back of his two fingers to lightly caress my cheek. I flinched away, once again mad at myself for showing him I was afraid.

"What was that back there sugar?" He asked huskily. I just stood there; stricken with fear. "Answer me." He screamed.

"I-I do-don't know wh-what you're ta-talking about." I stuttered out. Damn me and my fucking stutter.

"Being all cordial with my brother? Hmm? Sweetheart you don't want to be around a man like him. He does bad things to sweet girls like you." He said oddly calm...

"I-I wa-was ju-just tr-trying to b-be pol-polite li-like you wa-wanted." I stammered out in a pathetic attempt to defend myself.

"I want you to be respectful with me. If you can sense somethings off or I make a signal-" He stated pausing to tap his three fingers down at once three times. "Then I want you to stay quiet. Understand me?" He said growling. I nodded, I wanted to be let free and didn't want to deal with this right now.

I tried to move away from him but he kept his grip on my body.

"And where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you yet." I gulped and just nodded solemnly.

"Now, I want answers. Why are you so quiet. Hmm?" Huh, wonder why? Couldn't be that I was sold like property to a mafia leader, right? But even with that, it wasn't the biggest reason.

"I don't want to talk about it, and it's not important." I mumbled not daring to look into his eyes.

"That's not an answer sugar." He stated. One of his hands moved and I heard him grab something. I felt something metal placed lightly against my cheek. I brought my head up to see a knife against my tan skin. "And I want an answer, or things are going to get ugly."

I just stood there for a moment to see if he'd actually do it. After a minute or two I felt him dig in lightly. A bit of blood came out, but not a lot.

"Going to answer me?" He asked moving his gaze from the blade to my eyes.

"Y-Yes." I choked out. He seemed happy with my answer as he moved the blade to lightly preside next to my skin.

"I- This h-has happened be-before. I wa-was given to someone to pay my fathers debts to a man by the name of Murphy. He was a bit older than me, at the time I was only seventeen." I said on the verge of sobbing, but somehow kept myself together.

"I-It started off okay. He was ni-nice enough, but things took a turn for the worst. His gang was going down s-so he took it ou-out on me. I- I-" I stopped myself. I realized what I was going to tell him.

I'm afraid that you're just like him.