It had been two weeks since our plan had failed. Harold has locked us all in different rooms. I was in the basement, Stacy was in our room and Parker was in the living room. I was chained to the furnace like a domesticated animal, being fed once every other day.

"Eat up you filthy animal." Harold's voice came from the door. I heard a clank in front of me like a plate.

"Feeding time." The words rolled off his mouth in disgust. I glared at him and kicked the plate away.

"I'm not hungry," I grumbled and turned away.

"Whatever, starve yourself if you want," he said and then he walked away, slamming the door behind him. I rolled my eyes and let my head fall against the furnace, groaning.

"Cieco?" Leila's soft voice came from the door.

"What do you want?" I banged my head against the furnace over and over again.

"Why aren't you eating?" I felt her hand on my shoulder

"Death seems better then this hell," I groaned.

"Don't say that Cieco, you'll be okay." She leaned in to hug me. I didn't have the energy to resist so I just let her continue her long, awkward hug.

"Here, I brought some water," she said.

"Is it in a stupid dog bowl? Because I can't use my fucking hands, they're chained up at the moment." I looked at her in disgust, trying to picture a devil behind an angel's mask. Shoulder length golden hair. Dark blue eyes like the deep blue sea. Stacy always said she wore white and grey clothing, so I imagined a loose, white and almost see through shirt and dark grey pants to match.

"No, it's in a glass. And I brought the key," she said and a second later I felt my hands break free. I stared at her in disbelief.

"Now drink up," she said in a sterner tone. I rolled my eyes and took a small sip.

"Cieco, you haven't had a drink in two weeks, that's not healthy at all. The average human can't survive three days without water, you're lucky you've been eating," she said and pushed the glass back to me.

"Fine," I groaned again before drinking the water again. I finished the drink shortly after and shoved the glass back in her hands. I felt her hand shaking slightly as she received it. She reached over to my wrist and I felt the familiar suffocation of being chained yet again. But, before I could comprehend what was going on, Leila grabbed the chains and, with a quick, decisive, twist, snapped it in half.

She stood up, dusting herself off, and I could hear a defiant tone in her voice as she spoke. "Just like that cheap bastard to buy plastic chains."

She walked towards the door, and said, "Oh, and if you somehow find yourself out of the chains, I wasn't here—alright?"

Though I still hated her, I felt a hint of admiration at her defiance. "Of course not," I reassured.

I assumed she was smiling. "Good."

As soon as I heard the door slam shut, I rushed over to the closest wall and felt around it until I stumbled across the window. Thankfully, I was able to open it and climbed out, sighing in happiness as I breathed in the crisp autumn air. My joy was cut short as a thought came to mind—how was I going to get Parker and Stacy out?

I sunk to my knees in despair, but stood up determinedly after a few moments. These were my siblings—the ones who had cared and loved for me all my life. There was no way I was letting them down.

•••

I gently prodded open the broken window I knew would lead me into my bedroom. Padding across the room, I slipped open the door.

Shit, I cursed inwardly, as the door let out a loud creak.

"Cieco?" Stacy's voice chimed from the other side of the room.

"Stace!" I ran to her and hugged her.

"What are you doing? How did you get out?"

"Leila helped me." I was on the verge of tears. I grabbed her chains and heard a satisfying crack as the cheap, plastic chains broke.

"Whoa," she exclaimed.

"Now come on, we have to get Parker," I said.

"Cieco," she paused.

"Yeah?"

"Harold. He's his own guard dog. He's vicious," she whimpered.

"We will be okay. We have to get Parker," I reassured her.

"But we don't have any supplies or anything."

"We'll figure something out, just come on."

"Fine, just be careful." She grabbed my hand and led me out the bedroom door. We tiptoed to the living room.

"Parker," Stacy whispered excitedly. I smiled and she led me over to him. We all hugged.

"I missed you Parker, it's been too long," I started to cry.

"Okay, we have to sneak out qui-"

"Leila! Where's my food?" Harold's voice thundered throughout the house, interrupting Stacy.

"Quick, hide!" I tried to say as quietly and quickly as possible.

"We have to break Parker out," Stacy stated.

"No, that will make them suspicious. I'm sorry Parker, we will be back." I kissed him on the forehead before running off to hide in a small supply closet. I hugged Stacy and wiped the tears from my eyes. We were going to get out of this and be okay, I just knew it. The bad luck couldn't get us this time. We would be one step ahead of it.

"You okay Cieco?" Stacy's voice interrupted my train of thought. I nodded and pointed to the door.

"We have to watch and pay attention," I whispered. I opened the door so Stacy could peek out while I listened.

"Parker, you were always my favourite out of your siblings. A mute person can't talk back, y'know?" Harold laughed.

"Your food is almost ready Harold," Leila said right after.

"Did you make food for yourself?" Harold asked her.

"Of course I did," Leila sounded suspicious.

"Parker's been such a good boy, he deserves good food tonight. Or, your bad attempt at decent food. Give him your share," Harold chuckled.

"Oh, b-ut I have to e-eat," Leila stuttered.

"You can have the leftovers," Harold paused before saying, "You're not disobeying me, are you?" He started to raise his voice.

"No Harold. I would never do that to you," Leila denied.

"Good. Also, bring me the key. I want to let Parker out of his chains for a bit," Harold said a little more calmly.

"Yes, Harold," Leila quickly obliged and she left.

A few minutes passed before she returned.

"Here you go," she said and shortly after Harold freed Parker.

"Now where's dinner?" Harold said.

'Rude bastard. Not even a thank you,' I thought to myself. I endured a bunch of his act before I wanted to break.

"Where's this random kindness coming from for Parker? Where was it when he took us in?" I turned to Stacy and cried.

"I don't know. But just be happy Parker's out of his chains. It will be easier to get him out." Stacy wiped the tears from my cheeks and hugged me.

"Okay, we will get him. Just not yet, he needs to eat," I said and pulled away from the hug so I could pay attention to everything else again.

"Harold, I'm really hungry. Can I please have some of the dinner," Leila pleaded.

"No, Parker's hungry. If you're hungry, eat Cieco's food. I'm sure that ungrateful whore didn't touch it." Harold's words were muffled by the food he was chewing.

"Gross," Stacy whispered to me. I didn't have to hear the disgust in her voice to know it was a disgusting view.

"Fine," Leila grumbled before she walked off.

"This is good. It's quiet, and the three other bitches aren't here," Harold said to Parker. A few seconds later, I heard a metal clank on the ground.

"Why the hell did you do that Parker?" Harold raised his voice.

"LEILA!" Harold's voice rang out through the house.

"Yes?" She said shortly after.

"This boy wasted his food. He's just like his fucking sisters, he's ungrateful." Harold's voice kept getting louder with each word.

"I'm sure it was an acci-"

"There's no accidents in this house! Only mistakes, like letting you take these children in. Clean up this fucking mess while I chain him up again," he grumbled.

"I'm curious—" he paused. "Can you still scream from pain if I hit you hard enough?" He chuckled to himself.

"Stacy," I gulped.

"Don't worry." She pushed me out of the way and the door slammed open.

"Stacy," Harold said. His voice had a mixture of fright, surprise and anger. Him feeling cowardice exhilarated me and I stepped out behind Stacy.

"Cieco," he spit out in disgust.

"Touch my brother. I dare you," I paused. "It will be the last thing you touch." I made fists and glared at him.

"Look who is a little miss tough," Harold responded. I heard a crack as if he cracked his knuckles.

"Cieco, don't do this," Stacy pleaded and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Back off, Stace." I looked at her and tried to look tough. I had never pushed her away, and I hated doing it.

"Harold, stop this nonsense!" Leila exclaimed. She had been so quiet, I had forgotten about her.

"You care about these wimps?" Harold growled.

"Yes. Let me run off with them. You don't care about me or them. I don't want to be your housemaid," She stood her ground.

"Fine, go," he spat out and a few seconds later I was being pulled out the door into the cold, autumn air.

"Leila, why did you do that?" I asked once we were a little ways from the house. She stayed silent and kept dragging me.

"Wait, please don't take us back to Denn and Benn," Stacy pleaded.

"No, I want to find a better living for us," Leila sighed.

"Us?" I repeated

"Yes, us. I want to be with you amazing kids, but I feel like I failed you and have to earn trust," she uttered.

"I'm willing to give it a try," Stacy responded.

"Me too." I reached my arms out for a hug and for the first time, I willingly hugged Leila.

•••

"Cieco, hurry up or you'll be late for school," Leila called out to me from my room.

It has been a month since we were kicked out of the house and we were now living in a small, crappy apartment.

"Coming Leila," I said and threw on some old clothes then dashed to the living/dining room.

"What subject should we start with today?" Leila said as we sat down. She was homeschooling us.

"Math?" Stacy suggested.

"Ew, no. English!" I shot down her suggestion.

"I agree with Parker. He says we should get the worst subjects out of the way first," Leila said.

"Fine," I groaned.

"Let me go print off the worksheets," Leila said before walking downstairs leaving us kids alone.

"Give her a break Cieco. She's basically a single mom with three kids. All with health problems," Stacy grumbled.

"Whatever." I laid on the floor and shut my eyes. I was bored of this life already. I wanted a better living, but half of my dream was complete. We had a decent mom and I was with my siblings. Now all I needed was a dad, Hunter and an actual house.

"Okay, here's your math guys," Leila exclaimed once she was back.

"Parker gets long division and multiplication," she paused as she gave him his paper. "Cieco gets grade 9 algebra," she paused again and gave me my paper. "And Stacy gets grade 11 geometry and algebra!" she exclaimed. "Come over here Cieco so I can read the questions out for you," Leila called me over.

"Okay, what's the first question?" I asked.

"After a 20% discount and 6% tax, a guitar cost $530.00. What was the original price of the guitar?" She asked.

"$625.00!" I said.

"Correct," she said.

"Car A leaves at 8:00 a.m. at 40 km/h. Car B leaves 2 hours later at 60 km/h.

How long does it take Car B to catch up to Car A?"

"4 hours," I answered.

"Yup," she paused. "The area of a rectangle is 72 square metres. The length of the rectangle is twice the width. What's the width of the rectangle?" Leila read the question.

"6 meters," I responded.

"Yeah. You're doing great with this Cieco. Only a month and you're basically caught up." She said.

"That's enough today, I want to do short lessons today."

"But you asked 3 questions?" I said.

"I know, I've got big plans for today. You know what, let's have a day off of school today and just hang out?" She asked.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Is it a bad idea?"

"No! I will happily ditch school today!" I exclaimed.

"Then good. All of you go throw on some warm clothes, we're going on a picnic!"

"In the snow? It's winter," Stacy said.

"Yeah, I know a good place that rarely gets too cold for a picnic. We will have hot cocoa and we can have a mini fire to roast hot dogs and marshmallows."

"Okay," I said and ran off to my room to change. I got on warm clothes and then got my jacket and snowpants on.

"I'm ready to go!"

•••

"How's the hotdog Cieco?" Leila asked.

"It's great, thanks for taking us on this picnic, leila." I smiled

"Good," she said. She sounded distant.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm just thinking of what could've happened to Harold? He used to be the kindest man," she said as if she were in a fantasy.

"Wanna tell us the story?" I edged her on.

"Why not," she took a deep breath. 

Sorry this is so late. School has REALLY been getting crazy. I'm going to take a break, but I promise I will 100% continue with the every Saturday schedule soon. School ends next Friday, but I'm going to have to write more so I'll start updating regularly again.  Until the next update (then it will be normal again, I promise)

-Creative_hooman

Oh and thanks smmm @dumplingbabe you helped me SOO much