The Secret by Taryn A. Taylor Read Free Book Online Page A

feeling hopeless and thinking of that night…the blood all over my hands.
    I shook my head, looking into Jake’s eyes. “I don’t believe it. My dad wouldn’t have left me in there. He wouldn’t.” Anger poured through me and my stomach knotted. “I just don’t believe it.”
    Physical pain swept across Jake’s face and he stood, moving to the couch and sitting next to me. “I wish I could have helped you that night.”
    My thoughts garbled. I paused, thinking of his voice coming through the door that night. Looking at my fingers, I suddenly wanted to cry. “I waited. I waited for you until Dr. Luth took me.”
    Jake pulled me out of my thoughts. “What happened?”
    Heaving out a breath, I stood, feeling that dark, locked place inside of me wanting to open—afraid that if I let it, I wouldn’t be able to shut it again. “Um…”
    Jake didn’t move.
    I stepped to the pool table, picking up one of the balls that lay in the side pocket. “I don’t know how long I waited, but…Dr. Luth came. He told me it was time for me to have another round of training.” I turned the ball, the smoothness of it soothing. “This usually meant I would have to study weapons—all types, all sizes. He would make me draw very detailed images. Then bring them to life and use them.” Feeling self-conscious, I looked at Jake, then continued when I couldn’t read his face. “If I refused to, well…he had his ways of motivating me.” I put the ball back, turning for the large window. My mind floated back to Jake’s voice that night and I turned to look at him instead. “But that night he had me draw a portrait of a little girl, over and over.”
    Pulling his eyebrows down in sadness, he stood and moved next to me, touching the hand at my side. “Why?”
    I looked at his hand, wondering at the softness of his touch. “I don’t know. But, that night did save me, in a way.”
    Squeezing my hand, Jake searched my face. “What do you mean?”
    It made sense now, this immediate attraction I felt to Jake. He’d been the one from that night, and I must have known, somehow, all along. “That night, Dr. Luth shoved me into a box.” My voice faltered, but the deep blue in Jake’s eyes kept me talking. “He’d done that before, using it as a way to get me to comply…anyway, that night was the night I realized I could draw…without a pen or a pencil or anything.”
    The side of Jake’s lips turned up in approval and I felt my heart start to flutter. “That’s cool.”
    I shrugged nonchalantly, even though I was grateful he thought so. “But the best part was…I realized I could escape.”
    Scrunching up his face, Jake cocked his head to the side. “How come you couldn’t escape before?”
    I wiped a tear off of my face with my other hand. “He wouldn’t leave anything to draw with: pens, pencils, paints…a crayon. He wouldn’t leave anything with me. And then, when he would come making requests, he would bequeath them to me like they were fine jewels.”
    Jake scrubbed his face with his hand and shook his head. “Why didn’t you take one of the weapons he made you sketch and use it on him?” His voice was soft.
    I’d never talked to anyone about this. Not even Rob. After we got away, we just focused on the future. Closing my eyes, I shivered. “He…he would show me video feed…of Rob…locked in a room.”
    Jake squeezed my hand and I felt his anger.
    Cringing at the memory, I exhaled.
    Jake’s eyes held storm-like clouds. “And your father didn’t know Rob was being held, either?”
    I cleared my throat and unconsciously reached for the raised mark behind my ear. “Rob was supposed to go on a foreign exchange for a year. And we knew dad would be focused on my mom. She…” I dropped my eyes, staring at the floor. I couldn’t talk about my mom. “But maybe my father knew. Maybe he knew both of us were there.” Pain formed in the center of my stomach and I felt my head start to throb.
    Jake nodded,