The Broken Boy's Return from the Appalachians

Just because I made my adoptive brother unhappy, my sister and my wife sent me into the deep woods of the Appalachians to be taught a lesson.

Before leaving, my wife even handed the locals a stack of cash, whispering for them to give me a rough time.

After that, I became nothing more than a toy for the villagers to beat for amusement, the lowest form of trash for their release.

If I showed even a hint of resistance, the lashes grew harder and the violations became more brutal.

It only took three months for me to go from desperate struggling to numbly stripping myself bare whenever they approached.

Then one day, the village head burst into my shack.

I instinctively started peeling off my only tattered jacket, but she screamed at me.

"Put your clothes on! Mrs. Sterling is here to take you home!"

I wrapped the rags around myself in a daze, wondering silently: Do I even have a home left?

1.

Before I could even process the news, a sharp pain shot up from the bridge of my foot.

The village head stepped on me, her spit flying into my face as she hissed a warning.

"You know what to say and what to keep shut, you little rat."

"If you talk, we won't mind letting the whole world know what happened to you here."

"By then, a high-society golden boy like you won't have a shred of reputation left."

I lowered my eyes numbly. She actually thought Sienna would care?

If Sienna truly cared about me, she wouldn't have dumped me in this hellhole for over a year.

She had left me here to rot without a single word.

I shrunk back, pulling my torn clothes tighter as I caught the flicker of greed in the village head's eyes.

Over the past year, I had seen the true, ugly faces of these people.

As long as I could leave, I promised myself to stay far away from Sienna and Basil.

I would never show my face to them again as long as I lived.

I followed the village head out of the low mud hut, the sunlight blinding me so much it felt like a physical weight.

Sienna was standing by her black SUV, her gaze freezing on my tattered rags while her brow furrowed in disgust.

"What is this supposed to mean, Silas? Are you dressing like a hobo to remind me how miserable you were?"

Originally, she felt a tiny spark of guilt for leaving me in the mountains.

But Basil had warned her that I might play the victim to gain sympathy.

Looking at me now, she was convinced he was right. I wasn't even wearing shoes!

Her guilt instantly curdled into loathing. She thought I was pathetic for using such a low tactic to guilt-trip her.

The long-term abuse had turned my trauma into a reflex. I immediately dropped my head and began slapping my own face.

"I'm sorry, I was wrong, I shouldn't have done this"

I slapped myself again and again, showing no mercy to my own skin.

Sienna was startled by the sudden violence, reaching out instinctively to stop me.

She froze when she saw my cheeks swelling instantly, a thin trail of blood leaking from the corner of my mouth.

The village head panicked too, grabbing my hand and pretending to be concerned.

"Mr. Silas, what on earth are you doing? Why are you hurting yourself?"

Secretly, she gave me a murderous glare that made my entire body tremble.

"Fine, just get in the car. Stop acting," Sienna said, waving her hand dismissively as if looking at me made her feel dirty.

2.

I stumbled into the car. The cabin smelled faintly of expensive perfume, a sharp contrast to the sour stench clinging to my body.

Sienna didn't look at me once during the drive. She just coldly ordered the driver to start the engine.

As the car bumped along the mountain road, Sienna spoke with a tone of ultimate charity.

"I wasn't going to forgive you so soon, but Basil has a kind soul. You're only going back because he begged for you."

"If you're ever disrespectful to him again, don't blame me for being heartless."

My throat felt tight. I wanted to explain, but I felt too exhausted to even try.

This marriage had been a mistake from the very beginning.

Sienna had been drugged at a party and ended up in bed with me.

I knew she and Basil were in love, so I never intended to marry her.

But the elders of the Sterling family looked down on Basil because he grew up in an orphanage.

They used the incident to force the marriage, and Sienna was effectively sold to me.

I had loved her since we were teenagers, so I naively thought it was a dream come true. Instead, it was the start of a nightmare.

Because of one unhappy word from Basil, she and my sister dumped me in these isolated woods for over a year of living death.

I lowered my eyes to hide the bitterness, nodding faintly.

"Mrs. Sterling, I won't speak out of turn to Basil anymore. I won't make either of you angry."

"If it's possible can we get a divorce once we're back?"

Sienna glanced at me with sharp annoyance. "That's enough. What's with the sarcasm? As if you'd ever actually leave the Sterling fortune."

"Are you trying to make Basil look like the bad guy again? You're truly disgusting."

"No, I'm not. I mean it. I really mean it," I scrambled to explain.

Suddenly, a sharp, twisting pain flared in my lower abdomen. I clutched my stomach, shaking uncontrollably.

Sienna saw me and scoffed. "Doing this once or twice is fine. Any more and it just gets irritating."

My face turned deathly pale. I gritted my teeth and whispered, "Can we can we pull over?"

"What now?"

"Please, just stop the car for a second"

Sienna ignored me and closed her eyes, acting as if I didn't exist.

I couldn't hold it anymore. A warm, humiliating liquid ran down my thighs, and a foul odor began to fill the luxury cabin.

I covered my face with my hands, waves of despair and shame crashing over me.

During that year of inhuman torture, I had lost all dignity as a normal human being.

Sienna caught the scent and her high heel slammed into my side.

"Silas! You're filthy! You couldn't even hold it like a civilized person?"

The pure hatred in her eyes was no different from the villagers, but it hurt a thousand times more coming from her.

I curled myself into a tight ball, repeating in a low whisper, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry"

Sienna wanted to keep shouting, but the driver spoke up hesitantly.

"Ma'am, let's just get home. Something is wrong with Mr. Silas."

It was then that Sienna noticed the spot where she had kicked me. Blood was beginning to seep through my thin pants.

She froze, falling into an eerie silence for the rest of the trip.

2.

We drove in silence all the way back to the villa.

Basil was sitting on the living room sofa playing video games. When he saw me, he immediately dropped the controller.

He hid behind Sienna, looking up at her with fearful eyes.

"Sienna, Silas is back. He's not going to be mad at me, is he?"

"I didn't mean to stay here while he was gone. Please don't let him yell at me"

His eyes turned red, making it look like he was the one who had suffered a great injustice.

Sienna hugged him tightly, her voice softening with comfort.

"It's okay, Basil. Don't be afraid of him. He doesn't have the guts to touch you now."

She turned to me, her eyes snapping back into cold daggers.

"Silas, you better stay in your place. You don't run this house!"

"If you dare bully Basil again, I will make you regret ever coming back!"

I let out a hollow laugh. I had never actually done anything to him.

Since we were kids, Basil loved telling everyone I hurt him, acting fragile to get what he wanted.

I was used to it, but this time, I didn't even have the energy to argue.

I ignored the pain and knelt down in front of them, my voice low and submissive.

"I'm sorry. Everything was my fault before. I shouldn't have wanted things that didn't belong to me."

"Stop pretending to be pathetic!"

Sienna kicked me right in the chest. I fell hard against the floor, my vision going black for a moment.

"Don't think you can gain sympathy this way. I will never forgive what you did!"

"Sienna, he's so scary I'm frightened" Basil whimpered, clutching Sienna as if I were a monster.

I lay on the floor, helpless as they rained insults down on me.

I was numb. A year of torture had ground my pride into dust.

I even started to wonder if this was all just some cosmic punishment I deserved.

"Drag him to the basement," Sienna said, waving her hand like she was shooing away a fly.

Two bodyguards grabbed my arms and hauled me down into the cold, damp basement.

They threw me onto the concrete floor, and I felt like every bone in my body had shattered.

I curled into a corner, my consciousness drifting away.

In my mind, I was back in that mountain village, seeing the twisted faces of the men and women.

The memories of their rough hands and cruel games replayed in my head like a horror movie.

I groaned in pain, but there was no one there to hear me.

3.

I don't know how much time passed before a blinding sting woke me up.

I opened my eyes to see Basil standing over me, holding a leather belt stained with old blood.

"Silas, you used to be so high and mighty. How did you turn into such a pathetic dog?"

A twisted grin stretched across his face, his eyes full of pure malice.

My survival instincts kicked in, and I curled up tighter.

"Why? I thought I always treated you well growing up"

Basil didn't stop. The belt lashed down again and again.

The force was so violent that my vision began to flicker into darkness.

"Your very existence is a mistake! You were just born into the right family, and you got everything I wanted!"

His eyes were filled with a distorted, serpentine hatred.

Ever since Basil was adopted, the entire White family had treated him like a prince.

They gave him the best food, the best clothes, and everything he asked for, as if they wanted to strip my life bare to feed him.

I was the one who was cast aside, ignored, and sacrificed.

And yet, it still wasn't enough for him.

The belt tore through my skin. The agony was so intense I nearly fainted, my mind beginning to wander.

Through the haze, I thought I saw my sister, Beatrice, standing at the door.

She looked shocked, but her voice remained chillingly calm. "Basil, what are you doing?"

"I I just came to see him. This this wasn't me."

Beatrice glanced at me with contempt, looking at me like a pile of trash.

"It's fine. Someone like him needs a good beating to learn his lesson anyway."

There wasn't a hint of concern in her voice. It was as if I weren't her brother at all.

I lay on the icy floor, no longer having the strength to speak.

I was just cold. A cold that seeped deep into my marrow.

4.

When I woke up again, I was in a hospital bed.

Beatrice was standing by my side, looking down at me with zero warmth in her eyes.

"I know Basil was the one who hit you."

"Keep your mouth shut about it. You owe him so much anyway, so you probably deserved it."

I stared at the ceiling, my voice sounding hollow. "What exactly do I owe him?"

My sister frowned, her voice dripping with impatience.

"You bullied him since you were kids. You even stole Sienna from him. Isn't that enough?"

I was so tired of those two lies.

Since we were small, whenever Basil cried, I was the villain.

If he tripped, I pushed him.

If his toy broke, I ruined it.

If he failed a test, it was my fault

As for Sienna, I was a victim of that drugging too.

I closed my eyes, refusing to argue.

In their eyes, any explanation from me was just a manipulative lie.

I was done. Truly, deeply done.

Right after Beatrice left, a doctor walked in with my chart, his expression grim.

"Where is your family? I need to discuss some things."

"I don't have a family. It's just me."

"You can tell me directly."

The doctor hesitated but finally spoke.

"Your internal organs have suffered severe trauma and displacement. Especially your kidneys they are failing."

I wanted to smile, but I couldn't move the muscles in my face.

I had forgotten that during the repeated fevers in those dark mountains, my face had become partially paralyzed.

"So, what happens next?"

"With perfect care, you might have six months. If things continue like this you have maybe two weeks left."

I felt a sudden sense of peace. I was finally going to die.

I had expected it; my body had felt like a hollow shell for a long time.

Six months or two weeks didn't really make a difference to me.

Staying alive was just being a ghost in a shell. Death was a release.

I nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Doctor."

The doctor wanted to say more, but Sienna burst in, looking furious.

"What kind of stunt are you pulling now?"

"You couldn't stay in the basement? You upset Basil so much he ran away from home!"

"How can you just lie here like you've done nothing wrong!"

I didn't say anything. I just watched her.

She grabbed the collar of my hospital gown, trying to rip me out of the bed.

The IV needle was torn out of my arm, and blood sprayed across the white sheets.

I let out a muffled groan as a metallic taste flooded my throat.

I clamped my jaw shut, forcing the blood to stay down.

The doctor rushed over to stop her. "Mrs. Sterling, the patient needs restD"

"If any of you help this piece of trash, I'll see to it that you're all fired!" Sienna screamed.

This was a Sterling-funded hospital. The staff looked at each other, terrified to move.

5.

Sienna's bodyguards dragged me across the floor and threw me into the main hall of the Sterling mansion.

My cheek scraped against the hardwood, burning with pain.

My body wouldn't obey me anymore. I just lay there like a dead dog.

Basil was curled up on the sofa, being pampered by my parents and Beatrice.

He kept glancing at me, his eyes full of triumph and mockery.

"Silas, why are you doing this? Are you trying to frame me again?"

Basil faked a look of terror, his voice trembling perfectly.

Sienna kicked me in the stomach. The pain turned the world black for a second.

"Apologize to Basil right now, or we are getting a divorce!"

I struggled to lift my head, looking at my family sitting high up on the sofa.

There wasn't a flicker of worry on their faces. Only coldness and disgust.

Beatrice seemed slightly bothered, but she only muttered, "Stand up. You look pathetic."

I knew I looked like a monster, not a man.

But I literally didn't have the strength to crawl.

Basil immediately "panicked" and knelt on the floor in front of me, crying.

"Silas, please don't do this. I know you want to look like the victim, but I never meant to hurt you."

Sienna looked at Basil with pity and kicked me again.

"Get up! I'm the one who told Basil he could live here. You have no right to kick him out!"

My parents' attention was entirely on Basil. My mother sighed.

"Silas, why are you so bitter? You just got back and you're already picking on him."

"Maybe it was better if you stayed in those mountains."

They couldn't see the blood soaking into my clothes. They couldn't see the gray tint of my skin.

I tried to speak, but the moment I opened my mouth, a huge spray of blood erupted.

Sienna paused for a second, then scoffed. "Nice acting."

In the next heartbeat, blood began to pour from my mouth in an unstoppable stream, staining the floor deep red.