Chapter Text
Frank knew his father always had a problem with gambling, it was why his mother had left them years ago; he had just never really knew how bad it truly was. He hadn’t known his father had borrowed money from important men, and he hadn’t known the prices that would be paid for it.
He was curled up in his bed, resting since it was almost three in the morning when he heard his door slam open. The light quickly turned on and he squinted in the brightness. “Dad? What the hell?” He grumbled tiredly but when he got back his vision he realized there were two men coming towards him and they pulled him from his bed. “What are you doing?! Who are you?!” He had hollered loudly and did his best to fight back against them but it was all in vain since they were much strong than him and much taller.
They dragged him downstairs and into the living room where his father was sitting in his recliner, his hand cupping his eyes, his mouth turned down in a frown. There was a man beside him, dressed in all black and as he rose from his spot on the chair beside Frank’s father he seemed to sigh out in relief.
“Ah, he is quite good looking,” the man said softly and came over to Frank, looking him up and down. “He’s a bit scrawny and lacks muscle but his arms look decent and we can build up those legs,” he said thoughtfully as he brought his pointer and delicately touched it to his chin, seeming to be talking out loud to himself. “Your debt is paid,” said the man, turning to Frank’s father who looked up with weakened eyes. “I will take him with me and he shall work off the money. Feel free to borrow more whenever you need it, he can just work it off,” said the man with a devious smile before he turned towards the door, taking two steps before he stopped and turned, his coat seeming to swish as he did. “I’ll let you two say your goodbyes. I’ll be in the car,” he said before he seemed to merrily skip down the steps. The two men who had their hands on Frank’s arms stayed put and didn’t ease up on the tight grip.
“You…You’re selling me?!” This was all such a shock to Frank and his mind seemed to be spinning as he was taking everything in, in his tired state.
“Frank, the man would have killed me, and then you would have been sent to the state, it would have been the same thing,” his father pleaded, holding out his hands like he was innocent. “You’ll be much better off in his care,” were his father’s words, more to comfort his own guilty mind than to comfort Frank’s worried one.
“Better off?! I’m losing my freedom to some man and he’s going to do God only knows what to me?!” Frank tried to pull out of the tight grasps but they held firm and he stomped his feet a few times, trying to wiggle free.
“You’re only going to be working for him. You’ll just clean up around the house and do yard work for him,” his father explained as he looked to his seventeen year old son, being held by the two large men. A piece of his mind was telling him this was wrong and he should just let the man kill him but he let his thoughts remain quiet.
Frank found his eyes flaring up and he fussed softly as he looked down. Everything was happening so fast, he couldn’t wrap his mind around it. It was like he was reaching for an invisible object and just couldn’t grasp it. He wondered, for a moment, if it was all a nightmare, and that he would soon wake up in his bed with the birds singing outside his window. “What about everyone? They’ll ask where I’ve gone, my school, neighbors,” Frank tried the best he could to point out the flaws he saw in this insane plan.
“I’m going to say your mother has come to take you to live with her in France, no one around here will look for you,” said Frank senior as he rested his head back on the chair, drained from all the emotions, and the drama from the evening. “Take him,” he whispered softly to the two men and they pulled Frank towards the door.
“No! Dad you can’t do this to me! Stop it,” Frank yelled as he pulled at the men’s hands and tried to scratch them, he kicked his legs around but stopped when he painfully caught his ankle of the edge of the door frame, it sending a shot up through his nerves. The man who had his left arm placed a hand over his mouth once they got outside and walked up to the black car parked in front of the house. The men opened the back door and tossed him into it before they got in the front. Frank pulled at the door handles but it wouldn’t open from the inside. The windows were black and he could hardly see out of them. He pounded harshly, trying with all his might to break the glass, and to get out.
“Hush all that nonsense,” he heard from behind him and only now noticed the man that had been with his father was also in the car. “They’re bullet and sound proof, you will not be heard, and you will not break them,” the man sighed out softly and seemed to be bored of the ride already. “I can’t wait to get you home, introduce you to all your new friends,” the man said, almost seeming giddy.
“I want to go home,” Frank said with a bit of anger in his tone but he curled up on his seat and hugged his naked legs, in nothing but the boxers and shirt he had put on before bed. “I don’t want to stay with you and I won’t listen to anything you say,” he growled bitterly and shot the man a harsh glance before looking away to the floor.
“Oh, you say that now but you will listen, they all do. One’s have been placed in situations far worse than yours have said the same and they behave perfectly now. They’re the best little workers anyone could ask for,” the man said as he fiddled to get out his cigarettes. “Of course, they did not get that way without a bit of punishing, so it’d be best to just behave,” the man said as he flicked his lighter and took a deep inhale of the toxic stick. Frank’s nose scrunched up a little, his tired senses being harshly woken by the scent of the smoke.
“How…How do you punish them?” Frank found the curiosity in the back of his head spiking up and he lightly lifted his cheek away from his knee, looking back to the man who took another delicate drag from his smoke.
“Lots of ways, depends on their area of expertise one might say,” the man smirked. “For instance, if you misbehave once, you’re taken to the barn, stripped of your clothing, and beaten with a whip. If you do it twice, you will go spend the weekend with my friend, Master Darrell, and let me just say, he’s nowhere near as fun as I am. Three times, you get dragged around the yard, completely naked by a horse, and down through the woods.” The man took a drag of his smoke and Frank blinked violently, trying to wake himself, believing this truly was a nightmare and he needed to wake up.
When he didn’t wake up and was still in the car with the man he swallowed hard. “What about the fourth time?” His voice had trembled over the sentence, thinking about just how horrible the first three sounded to him.
“There is no fourth time,” the man said to him as he looked to him, seeming like after the third time he just gave up punishing you and you went back to one.
“Then what happens when you get to four?” Frank blinked softly and pushed himself back against the door a little further, biting his lip gently. He was truthfully afraid to know the answer and the man seemed to be thinking of how he would word it, so Frank could properly understand him.
“Then the horse drags you across the lawn and through the woods,” the man stalled here, taking another drag off his cigarette and holding it inside his lungs. Frank figured this was probably to add effect. “But on the fourth time you won’t come back.”
Frank swallowed deeply and hugged his knees tighter. He closed his eyes tightly and rested his head on his knees once more. He wanted to wake up; he just kept telling himself it was all a dream, a dream that felt so real, his mind was mistaking it for an actual occurrence in his life. He kept his eyes closed tight and wished that he would wake up.