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He pursed his lips together tightly, his eyes not moving away from mine even as I pointed at the metal bars which were attached to the outside of every single room. Even the damn bathroom which was at the end of the hall.
“It is what it is,” he responded, the emotion lost from his tone.
I knew this house was sucking the life from him. The only reason he’d stepped back inside was because he was so desperate to find Eliza and destroy anything which might stop it from happening or that might come back to haunt him later on.
“Don’t shut down on me, Rome.” His brow pulled together between his eyes. “Don’t let this bullshit win. He broke you once. He’s fucking dead. Don’t let this change the man you’ve become.”
He laughed and shook his head. “The man I’ve become is because of this, Hamlet.” His fists clenched at his sides. “He wanted a kid with issues like mine. The first six months I got drunk, I stayed out all night, I did drugs. Then came the doors. First, it was at night. It was his way of disciplining us… mostly me, ‘cause Liza was a fucking saint…” he paused his eyes glinting with hate, “…. making sure I didn’t taint his perfect name.”
A shudder ran through me, I knew more was coming.
“The more trouble I got into, the worse the kids became… the ones I was spending time with, fuckingrebelling, the more he realized, and he started to use me. First, he would just bargain with me, give me part of the money if I sold something. And then the bullshit really started.”
I ran my fingers through my hair, pulling it back, away from my face. Romeo hadn’t talked much about the punishments he received, or how Visser managed to keep someone like him in line. Romeo was twice his size. Romeo was the one with respect on the streets. But sometimes, it was all in the manipulation, it was all about how you controlled them because the mind can be a far stronger tool than the body.
“First, he started getting rid of anyone who I got close to. I’d make a friend, that friend would be found floating in the river. One after another, after another. Then I started pushing people away and got used to the isolation, so he started other shit.” His lip curled in disgust, his breathing becoming heavier. “He’d bring men in and lock them in with Liza while I was locked in my room. I couldn’t get to her…” his eyelids drooped and his forehead furrowed, “… all I could hear was her screaming.”
He shook his head like he was trying to get rid of the memory like he could hear her again.
I felt his pain, I saw his face turn from anger to just fucking anguish. It was all a mental game to Visser. To isolate him. Then hurt the one person he trusts. Over and fucking over again.
“I thought she got out. I told her not to contact me at all, but that was a mistake. All this fucking time,” he spat, the anger returning, morphing into a rage as he turned and drove his hand through the plasterboard. “I gotta know if she’s still alive, man.”
I got my ass up off the step and forced back the vile smell that filled the air. There was something, or someone, dead up here, but it didn’t matter. We just needed to get rid of this fucking house and all the memories that come with it.
“Come on.” I walked down the hallway to where he was standing, taking his advice and not looking intothatbedroom. “Let’s light this shit up.”
