Primitive Instincts

R I V E R

I'm not sure how long i was kept down in the basement. It could have been well over a month for all I knew. I heard Kim come by regularly, bringing me my work.I tried to call for her, but my voice was too weak. Every time i heard the door close my stomach sunk farther. It was hopeless.

I managed to realize that they were leaving me alone for now, maybe they would let me live. Maybe this was my healing process. I felt like death though. Blood smeared the floor where i laid. I felt my scabs healing on my back after a couple of weeks. They would leave some disgusting scars.

Just one more thing about myself i wished was different. The door opened and i heard light footsteps coming down them. I looked up to see two light-up shoes at the bottom step.

No!I thought, and my head lifted itself to see Max staring at me fearfully. I probably looked like a monster. He took another step forwards and stepped into a splatter of sticky blood. He looked down at what he had stepped in and whimpered.

When he looked back up at me his eyes were filling with tears and his bottom lip was quivering. He stepped closer to me and kneeled down so that he was right next to me and could see all the bruises that covered my face.

"Rivur-r-r" he cried, reaching over and touching my face. I flinched and started crying myself. He was so young. He shouldn't have to see this. "Rivur-r what wrong with youuu-u?" he cried again, beginning to drool.

"Max." i whispered. He probably couldn't hear me. "Max go back up-stairs." That's when he started bawling. He covered his eyes with his hands and started sobbing un-controllably and going into hysterics.

"Rivur-r-r!!! You have too get upppp!! Get up we take you to a doctur-r-r!!!" he screamed. He started pulling at my hand, trying to make me get up. I winced and whimpered again. He didn't understand how much it hurt. My back was still raw and one of my legs was broken.

"Max go back upstairs." I whispered again. I already knew it was too late though. I heard foot-steps rushing down the stairs and my mother soon appeared.

"Max..." she scolded, snatching him up by his arm roughly. "I told you not to come down here!" she screamed and raised a hand and smacked him across the face.

"Don't touch him." i said, almsot in a talking voice. I reached my hand out to him as she pulled him away up the stairs.

"What's wwong with Rivur-r-r!!!" i heard him scream, still scared and crying.

"Shut-UP!" My mom screamed and the basement door slammed, leaving me in the darkness again.

All through the night i could still hear Max crying and my mom and dad screaming at him. My own tears slipped silently down my face, staining the floor even more.

My life really was Hell.

>>>>>>>>

Weeks passed, and i gradually regained my strength, my time was spent doing homework and eating a little. They wanted to keep my alive. They threatened me over and over again about hitting Max again. After all, the state couldn't take him, they were allowed to smack him.

I was still tethered. Like a dog. They had control over me still.

Several more weeks passed and i was able to walk around, and even do a couple chores. That made them extremely happy, and me extremely sore. The bruises on my face were mostly healed, and the scabs on my back were thicker now, showing they were healing more.

Then came the night that made me want to shoot myself in the face. I was walking up to my room, where i was now allowed to stay when i was called into the kitchen. I sat down at the table silently and watched as they studied me.

"We want you to drop out of school." My dad said abruptly.

"What?" i asked, surprise clear in my voice.

"You met that nasty little boy on the reservation, we don't want you down there anymore." my mom said, looking at me like i was vermin.

His name is Embry and he's the best thing that ever happened to me. i thought, but of course i didn't voice that.

"When?"

"Tomorrow." my dad said, and then sent me to my room.I got up to walk away before my mom called me back.

"And if you screw this up, it's Max's blood on your hands." She said. My blood turned to ice and my heart stopped. Outside, my face was completely blank. On the inside, i was dying. I was screaming and crying and begging. I was scared and alone and angry.

"So you won't be seeing that greasy-haired douche anymore huh?" i heard Crystal ask from her bed-room door.

I almost stopped and responded. She didn't deserve it though. She didn't deserve anything. Except to die. I wanted that. I really, truly did. I wanted my mom and dad and Crystal to just die.

I walked into my room and carefully closed to door before i sat down on my bed and curled up into a ball.

My life was really over. No, i wasn't being melo-dramatic. It was. They wanted me out of school so the school board wouldn't call, asking where i was. They wanted me to break all ties with people.

So when they kill me, no one will know. I thought darkly.

I was signing my own death wish by dropping out. But what else could i do. They were threatening Max. If i didn't do this, he would die.

My hands were tied.

My one regret was that i wouldn't get to see Embry again. I would never get that jumpy, butterfly feeling in the pit of my stomach. I would never feel his lips on mine. He would never know how much i truly felt about him.

I had only known talked to him a total of three or four times. But the feeling he gave me, like i was flying and free. It felt kind of like love.

He would never know i felt that way though. He would never kiss me so passionatley that i really melted.

Because I would be dead.

And that was the fact.