AllFreeNovel
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2003
As soon as I step out of the bathroom, I know something’s off. First clue being the fact they’re all smiling at me.
They never smile, not unless they’ve done something cruel.
I’ve been here a week and already I’ve figured out that this place is gonna suck even worse than the last hovel.
In this home, there are four other unwanted bastards just like me. Each inconvenient little wretch coming with a guaranteed paycheck.
All boys.
All assholes.
And I became their new plaything the moment I got dumped off by my social worker.
Toby’s the worst of them. As the eldest one here, he’s the ringleader, and the brains behind the cruel pranks and taunts. The other three are all just lickspittles, prepared to follow any order he gives them.
As I move closer to my bed, it doesn’t take me long to realize why they all look so smug. My bottom sheet is smeared with something dirty, it’s foul-smelling, and stinks a lot like… shit.
“What’s wrong, didn’t make it in time?” Austin fakes his best baby voice while looking up at Toby, pathetically craving his approval.
Austin’s a chubby little shit, with a huge mat of ginger hair on top of his head and skin smothered in freckles. Being only a year older than myself, I’d stab a guess at him being the unfortunate victim before I showed up.
I don’t react, keepingmy head down and marching past them to strip the soiled sheets off my mattress.
“Oi. Austin asked you a question,” Toby’s voice grinds me to a halt. He uses his intimidation to his advantage, stepping around me in a slow circle before forcing his chest in my face. Since he’s stronger than me I have no choice but to take a step backward, and the demonic sneer he looks down at me with has me curious…
What could he have suffered in his short life to make him so hateful?
“You think you're too good to be here, shit stain?” He prods his finger into my shoulder and I hold his stare, remaining silent. Refusing to feed him the fear he’s trying to provoke out of me.
“You think your shit don’t stink?” he taunts some more, his lips curling into a smile that displays his black stumpy teeth.
I manage to stop myself from struggling when his hand reaches around my head, gripping firm at the back of my collar. It doesn’t take a mastermind to figure what comes next.
I fight against the urge to fight back when he starts to push me forward. Toby’s bigger than me and much stronger, and in all honesty, I’d sooner get a taste of someone else’s shit than give him the satisfaction of me begging.
I try so hard to deny him a reaction, but with my head just inches away from the bedsheet and the stench invading my nostrils, I can’t help starting to retch.
The others roar with laughter as Toby edges me closer, his hand shaking from the pressure he’s using to push my head forward.
“Tell me, does your shit taste any better than the rest of ours?” he grunts, pressing my face against the mattress. And I gag as the smell hits the back of my throat.
Toby’s palm twists into the back of my skull, making sure I get a taste of whoever’s shit I’m nasal deep in, his forceful pressure cutting off any air from entering my mouth or nostrils. I can’t hold back my body's instinct to fight back anymore. I thrash against the mattress, my head straining to try and catch a breath. The laughter around me grows louder, and I hate myself for giving them all what they’ve been thirsting for.
Eventually, Toby lets me go, chuckling to himself as he watches me suck desperate gulps of air into my lungs, choking and gagging against the rancid taste clinging at the back of my throat.
“No? didn’t think so,” Toby shoves me hard in my back landing me in a heap on the floor, and from there I watch him and his minions leave the room.
Frustration turns the blood in my veins to lava. I know I should have stuck up for myself, but I’m too scared of getting into trouble. I can guarantee Bill’s fist will come down harder than Toby’s or any of the others if I got caught making trouble.
I wait until I can hear them all playing outside before quickly stripping my bed, balling up the sheets. Then I make sure there’s no sign of Bill or Heidi before I sneak down to the laundry room. The last thing I want is to get caught by Heidi. I’ve already had a painful warning about bed-wetting after the cruel joke they all played on me the first night I got here. This would be so much worse.
After somehow managing to get the machine started by myself, I sit on the floor and wait patiently for it to finish its cycle. With the boys in the yard playing soccer, and Heidi still yet to rise from her pit, it’s a relief to have some time to myself.
The rumbling machine slows to a stop, and I’m just about to swap the sheets into the dryer when I hear voices coming from the kitchen.
The door is already slightly open, and when I risk taking a peek through the crack, I do a double-take when I see Bill cowering at the kitchen table.
