“I really am sorry. I promise it won’t happen again.” I could have slapped my own forehead for forgetting. I should have known they would come to see me when I didn’t check in. It was my own damn fault they were there, and now I wanted to kick myself as well.

“You’ve been a bad boy, West,” Dad said.

I laughed. “What?”

“Do not laugh,” Dad bellowed. His hands kept gripping and releasing the wheel over and over again.

Shit, he was beyond pissed.

“It was one time I missed,” I said, suddenly annoyed.

His upper lip raised, he sneered. “I’m not talking about that.”

Fuck. “W-What are you talking about?”

Dad said nothing; instead, Mom did. “Your father and I have been in town for a while, West.”

I stilled. My stomach churned, and I wanted to throw up. “Really?” I managed to get out through a breath.

Mom hummed, then said, “Yes. We have witnessed a lot.”

Bile raced up my throat. I cleared it and swallowed thickly. “Like what?”

“Your sins,” Dad snarled.

No!

“It’s time for you to be cleansed, West,” Mom said.

A sharp pain touched my neck. I tried to turn, but Dad’s hand shot out to hold my head in place.

“What are you doing?” I slurred. My limbs, I couldn’t lift them. I couldn’t fight. Terror filled me as fatigue like I hadn’t experienced before washed over me. “W-What’s happening?”

“We’re going to purge your sins out of you, West” was the last thing I heard before sleep dragged me under.

Groaning, I went to roll over but realized I couldn’t. My body ached and my knees hurt. I shivered from the frigid air, and a headache pounded in my head.

Had I been out drinking?

I blinked again and again. Slowly, I lifted my head, waiting for my eyes to focus. When they did, I gasped.

“No, no, no, no.” I was naked.

Naked.

I reared back, only to cry out and fall forward. Chains rattled, tears blurring my vision, but I still saw and felt them. Cold steel wrapped around my wrists, the chains bolted to the ground, keeping me in place.

“Please, please, no,” I begged the silent room.

I glanced around at the shelves, the food on them, the bench next to it, the only light shining down in the dingy, cold room.

Why?

Why the fuck was I chained naked in my parents’ basement?

A basement I had always been scared of because my father used to lock me down here when I’d done something wrong. He made me read from the bible over and over until my throat hurt.

“Mom? Dad?” I yelled. Anger filled me, warmed me. They’d gone too far. Way too fucking far. They were crazy. I didn’t want anything to do with them. Never again.