Chapter 28.

28...

Conner awoke to the unthinkable.

There was a noise in his room that startled him awake. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust and his heart was pounding. He wondered if it was another nightmare. He'd been having nightmares every night. He tried to remember what it would be about.

That was when he focused on a figure looming above him.

Kevin.

He opened his mouth to scream and immediately Kevin clamped a hand over his mouth, pushing his head back hard against the pillow. Leaning in with a sneer, the man said in a whisper, "Not a sound� Get it?"

Conner felt like he was going to have a heart attack. The narrow, dark as coal eyes. The scraggly, unwashed hair. The pale, thin face. He was tall. He was over six feet. It all flooded back like it was yesterday. It had, after all, barely been a year. A sense of dread overwhelmed him and his eyes moved towards the shut door.

He tried to scream through the hand but he couldn't. He could barely breathe. So he did the next thing that he could think of and sank his teeth into the hand.

Kevin's face lit up with pain, but he didn't let go. "You're going to pay for that�" he hissed. "You're going to pay for all of this�"

This couldn't be happening. Conner started this think that maybe he was still dreaming. In a lot of dreams he couldn't move at all, no matter what was happening. He kind of felt that way now. He hadn't been this scared in a long time.

He found himself yanked out of bed. Kevin pulled him close, keeping a hand over his mouth, and holding his other arm firmly. Conner tried to pull away and make noise. He kicked the man and pulled at his arm, but Kevin was just as he used to be, resilient.

"Stop it," Kevin demanded harshly, keeping his voice low. He pulled Conner up by his arm and lifted him impatiently, holding up against his hip with a tight arm. "We're going to get out of here. And we're going to get out of here without a sound."

Conner hoped they would go right out his bedroom door now. He could make a lot of noise in the hallway. And those stairs creaked. He wondered how Kevin had even gotten in without anybody hearing him.

It was then he realized that Kevin was carrying him towards the open window. Conner swallowed. This couldn�t be good.

"You always did leave the window open�" Kevin said. "It was no wonder I couldn't pay the heating bills."

The window was open wide. And leaning against the outside, Conner saw a long ladder. He hoped Kevin would go out first; he could then slam the window shut and lock it. Lock him out.

But Kevin had no intention of going first. He was already nearly pushing Conner out the window. When Conner struggled, Kevin squeezed him tight.

"Don't make this any harder on yourself," Kevin whispered harshly. "I'm taking you back where you belong. If you don't cooperate, I'll just throw you out there. You're coming whether you like it or not."

Conner set his jaw, hesitating.

Kevin pushed him forward towards the window. "Now, Conner," he said.

He'd uncovered his mouth, pushing him towards the target escape. Conner took that chance to try to yell. He opened his mouth, starting to yell 'help', when Kevin furiously backhanded him before he even got a second of noise out.

Conner whimpered, quieting his yell and rubbing at his cheek. Kevin was glaring at him.

"You're really going to get it tonight, let me tell you. Someone made you difficult, huh? Well we'll fix that. Now, get out of the window, Conner."

Conner's mind was churning through every idea in his head. He could find nothing. He stared at the window and winced as Kevin prodded him again. Was this it?

He had little choice.

"You make a noise on the way down�" Kevin began. "And I'll push this whole ladder down so fast you won't even know what happened."

Conner felt his heart pounding in his chest so loud he thought it would jump right out of his body. He began to climb out over the window sill and Kevin helped him, keeping him steady and helping him turn around to step down and grip the first rung of the ladder.

They were big steps down. Kevin was right behind him, taking two steps where Conner would take one. Conner tried to climb as quickly as possible, shivering in the night air in just a t-shirt and sweatpants. When he reached the bottom, he jumped off and began to run.

He'd only run several feet when Kevin just about tackled him. Conner hit the grass hard, breaking his fall with his hands and knees, and tried to scramble up. It was hard to outrun a six foot something man when you were eleven.

"Why are you testing me?" Kevin demanded. He pushed him back down on the grass. Conner squeezed his eyes shut and breathed heavily, face first in grass, and winced as Kevin sharply slapped his backside. It was just like Jason had when he came back from disappearing, except this actually hurt. There was a difference.

"Don't try that again," Kevin said. He hauled the kid to his feet and started swiftly walking towards the street, pulling him along. "We don't have time for this tonight. I have rope in the car if you need me to tie you up."

Conner shook his head miserably.

He hated to be tied up.

Kevin had parked about a block away as not to be right in front of the O'Riley's house. Conner recognized his beat up gray Chevy van right away. Kevin walked around the passenger side first, opening the door and pushing Conner inside. He slammed the door shut and started around the other side.

Conner immediately tried to open the door, but he couldn't work the handle. He pulled at it impatiently.

"That door doesn't work from the inside anymore," Kevin told him as he got into the driver's side of the van. "Don�t pull the handle off."

Conner started to breathe heavily, sitting in the seat defenselessly as the engine started and Kevin began to drive quickly down the street. Conner looked out the window behind him. It was only several days ago that he'd been driving towards that house, not wanting to be anywhere near it. It seemed bizarre to him how much he longed to be back there.

Kevin looked at Conner critically as he stopped briefly at a stop sign. The kid looked the same, a little bit older, but nearly the same as he had last year.

"You still look just like your mother�" Kevin said softly.

Conner glared at him briefly, shuddering at the reference to his mother.

"Whatever you told the authorities� The doctors�" Kevin started. "I don't know why you would do that."

Conner was silent. He'd barely told anybody anything. He didn't have to. He didn't want to, but it hadn't mattered.

"I helped raise you, d****t." Kevin looked over at him. "Is that how grateful you are? After your mother passed away� I was the one there for you. We got through it together."

Conner wondered whether you could actually use the term 'passed away' when someone hanged themself. He stared straight out at the road. Kevin was kind of driving over the painted lines, going in and out of the lane. Conner hoped he would get pulled over.

"We had fun together�" Kevin persisted. "I have to say it was a shock to me, and really hurt, when people were banging on my door. Blaming me for things you did to yourself."

Conner tried to ignore him. He didn't remember any fun.

"You've been hard to track down� I mean, they've moved you around a lot in the past year, haven�t they? I've been trying as hard as I can� In the beginning� I didn't know. But after a while, I figured I have as much a right to you as anyone else. And after several phone calls over the past few weeks, I seem to have talked some sense into people."

Talked some sense into people? Conner didn't really understand. Who had he called? What did they say?

"You moved around a lot because they didn't want you, right?" Kevin asked slowly. "I mean, it was their choice, right? How long do you think you'd have been at this new place anyway? I'm pretty much doing you a favor� You can't inconvenience other people. I'll be the only one now."

Kevin quieted enough after a little while, and within ten minutes, Conner noticed they were pulling up to a motel.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"We can't go home just yet�" Kevin explained. "Just in case."

"In case of what?"

Kevin sent him a look. "Nothing for you to be concerned over." He pulled around the back of the motel and parked in front of room 107. He got out of the car and walked around to the passenger's side.

"Get out," he said when he opened the door. When Conner hesitated he grabbed his arm and pulled him out. He kept a firm grip on his arm as they approached the room, reaching into his pocket to pull out a key.

The room smelled awful. Conner made a face as soon as they entered it. It was a smoking room but there was something else. It wasn't like it was a great place to be and so he imagined it could be a variety of things.

Kevin walked into the room first, and Conner lingered in the doorway. He'd already tried to run a few times unsuccessful, but it didn't mean he would stop now. When Kevin was a couple feet into the room, putting the key back into his pocket, Conner began to inch out the door, taking a few steps.

Kevin yanked him back inside by the back of his shirt, nearly throwing him to the floor. "Haven't I told you enough?" he asked heatedly. "Do you know what you've put me through?"

"Please let me go�" Conner began, sitting on the floor anxiously. He couldn't believe he'd once liked this man. It seemed really long ago, when his mom first had him around and he used to bring him toys and candy. Back when he was stupid and around five years old and thought everything was the way it was supposed to be. That was before a lot of stuff happened.

Stuff? Was that all he could say about it? Just round up all those memories... Just push them all into this 'stuff' category? He figured it was better than actually thinking about it.

Kevin was busy locking the door. He turned the lock and then pulled the chain lock across as well. "Let you go?" he echoed. "This isn't about letting anybody go. They took you from me. I finally have you back. And you're here giving me this hard time? Trying to run off every damn second?"

"No..." Conner answered.

"No is right. I really don't think you understand." He looked down at Conner, shaking his head. "You are still exactly the same..."

Conner took a deep breath, realizing his world was falling apart around him. There had to be something to do. There would have to be a chance to make a phone call or go out the door.

He looked up and watched Kevin unbuckle his belt, pulling it out through the loopholes in his pants. He realized what was coming and began to prepare himself. In the back of his mind he realized Jason had lied. But it was stupid for Jason to make a promise like that. And it was stupid of Conner to trust him.

"Get up," Kevin directly stiffly. "I'll make you understand."

Author's Note

To be continued....