"How dare you." she said in an icy tone. "How dare you enter without permission. You filthy scum. You deserve to be skinned alive for your insolence."
Levi fought back the urge to tell her to fuck off. Of course she didn't recognize him as her grandson, but then again even when she had known all those years ago, it had not mattered to her.
Nevertheless, speaking in such a manner should be despised by civilized society.
She reached out and grabbed his hair, yanking him to the floor. Levi cried out in pain as he fell face first into the pile of soil he'd dropped. Pieces of broken ceramic cut into his skin and he felt hot blood trickle into the inside of his mouth as he bit his tongue in an attempt to keep from fighting back. She was the same nasty woman alright.
Maybe she's changed. Vicky had naively suggested the night before.
Yeah right. Levi said. The day she does I'll dance naked in front of Axky.
Of course he wasn't going to be dancing any time soon. The bitch had pushed him so hard, he was sure he had sprained an ankle. This was quite obviously child abuse.
Levi fought back a small smirk. She could do whatever she liked. He just hoped the tiny breast pin he wore was working. If it wasn't, well he was better off just telling the old hag what a rotten piece of shit she was.
"I am only sixteen." said Levi in a meek voice. "Please don't hurt me."
The woman cackled cruelly kicking his shin with her heel. "You thought you'll get off easy?" she hissed bending low so she could stare at his eyes. "You will clean the mess you made, with this piece of thistle alone."
She grabbed the prickly flower from the vase on the table and tore off the pink petals to leave only the thorns behind.
"Use this to gather the soil and clean my carpet." she said throwing the thistle at his face. Levi's skin stung as he was pricked, but he didn't cry out. He was a man on a mission and honestly, a little physical pain was nothing in comparison to what Ted had planned for her.
"Yes Ma'am." he said timidlly.
"Good." she said, straightening up. She was shorter than Levi in height and quite plump. Fattened up by will gotten wealth, thought Levi. Expensive clothes adorned her shapeless body as she started to walk away. Finally.
Levi sighed with relief as he bent down to clean the carpet when she suddenly turned around and smacked him hard on the ear.
"Ouch!" retorted Levi, unable to keep the pain inside any longer.
"Shut up you worthless boy." she said slapping him hard. "Don't make a scene. I will lock you inside the Cabin otherwise."
Levi's head started to spin with the hurt, but he quickly caught on. Cabin...yes...he remembered that place. It was a bare room. White and containing nothing. It was silent and there were no windows. Anyone, let alone a child could go mad if locked in there. He'd spent a few nights inside on his own many years ago.
In retrospect, he was glad his father had disowned him. He'd rather die than have to call such cruel people family.
"I'm sorry Ma'am" he said obediently. "Please don't lock me in."
He picked up the thistle eagerly and started to stupidly clean the godforsaken carpet. It was an impossible task, assigned only to punish him. With each cut on his hands he realized just how horrid a woman she was.
But Levi would never give her the satisfaction of defeating him. She didn't deserve it. Instead he made sure he moved his breast pin in every direction he deemed suspicious. The tiny camera inside should have captured everything. He cursed under his breath as he realized his grandmother was still standing and watching him.
Damn it. He needed her to leave. He needed to reset his microphone as well, for some reason it wasn't working. Maybe Gavin had installed blockers inside the house...
wait a minute....that meant there was no CCTV, and perhaps his breast pin hidden camera wasn't working either. Did he just take all that abuse for nothing?
Anger threatened to take over, but Levi asked himself to have faith. Ted knew what he was doing and Vicky wasn't going to let him get lax with the plan. He needed to stay patient. He glanced at the blood running down his palms and cursed. Damn it, he needed to not kill the old woman right then and there.
Tring. Tring. TRING.
The phone inside the bedroom upstairs was ringing. Levi couldn't believe his luck.
"You keep cleaning." she barked orders as she hurried up the glossy marble stairs. Levi wished she would just trip, break her hip and save them all this trouble. But she didn't falter and quickly reached the bedroom.
Like a spring Levi jumped up and ran to the study room, effectively locking the door behind him. He didn't care if she broke the door down, as long as he found it. Ted had said to look for a safe...a safe...a safe...Levi's eye's darted around all the walls of the large room until it landed on a terrible painting of his grandmother and father posing with sickening smiles.
Levi ripped the painting right off the walls. Ah...there it was a big steel safe.
Gavin Walters, keeping secrets the old fashioned way. But Axky was skilled. He didn't just know how to crack codes and passwords...he knew how to deduce possible pass-codes as well. If you asked him how he did it, he'd claim to have invented top secret theorem of deduction, that he would take with him to the grave. Levi thought Axky was full of himself, but right now, heart thumping and blood surging with adrenaline, he sure as hell hoped, that at least one in the list of passwords that Axky had given him, would prove accurate.
"Come on, come on..." muttered Levi twirling the knob to the desired numbers. "Open up..."
Fail.
Fail.
Fail.
Fail.
Fail.
Fail.
The list was running out and Levi was short of time.
He heard footsteps behind him, and his body stilled in fear.
"You boy, I will kill you!" she screeched from outside as she banged the door. "Thief! Scoundrel!"
Levi shivered at the accusations, but continued, with shaking fingers to try the last password.
"Please." he said hoarsely. "Please open."
It was the magic word and the steel safe sprang open, revealing a couple of files. Levi didn't bother checking what was what and grabbed them both. Ted could pick and choose what he would like to get the Walters charged for.
There was loud thumping on the door and Levi knew he was only minutes away from being caught, locked up and thrown into juvenile prison. He had to escape.
Oh God. How could he escape?
The room had no windows, there was no space to hide...what could he do?
He reset the tiny speaker inside his collar but nothing was working. The blockers were quite strong in this part of the house...
Wait. Blockers.
There was a computer inside the study room. And a computer was Levis playground.
Within seconds, he hacked into the welcome page and changed the settings of all the devices.
"Levi...Levi...please say something!" came Vicky's desperate voice immediately into his ear. She sounded like she was about to cry.
"Vicky, get Ted and come pick me up." he said happily. "I got it all, but I can't escape. I'm locked inside the study room."
"Okay. Okay." said Vicky instantly. "We're right outside, we're coming in. Oh Levi, thank god you're okay."
Levi heard the bangs on the door and heard a hinge dislocate. Shit. He didn't have much time.
His ankle hurt with the sprain but he knew he had to fight back. If he was going to get arrested for trespass and theft, the old hag would come to prison with him.
He scoured through several personal files on the computer and sent them all to Axky. He could sift through them later.
BANG!
The door fell open, and a very angry looking grandmother stood, with the old gardener, holding a pair of huge scissors. Levi knew those hedge trimmers were a safety violation.
She grabbed the tongs and sprang towards Levi, who thankfully managed to dodge as teh scissors stabbed the table. Levi couldn't move as freely and his ankle hurt like a bitch. He found himself being pushed backwards into the room, dead ended and trapped.
He clutched the files close to his chest. They could hit him as much as they liked, but if he died, he died with the documents.
"I will kill you." shouted his grandmother. "I will throttle you like the piece of shit you are."
Levi dodged again this time preferring to stall her with words. "You made me clean the carpet with a thistle." he said. "My hands are bleeding."
"Serves you right you ungrateful scum." she said, throwing a lamp at him. Levi ducked just in time, thanking his lucky stars.
"You slapped me and hit me, because I accidentally dropped the pot." he said circling the sofa, trying to stay away from the old gardener who was trying to catch him as well.
"You deserved it." said the woman, lunging forward and getting a hold of Levi's collar.
Shit.
The old gardener knocked him down, and he felt the old woman slap him hard and kick him. He held the files close to his chest and screamed for help. Someone had to hear, someone had to know. At least he knew that the blockers were gone now.
The blows continued and blood dripped down Levi's back. He continued to yell for help thrashing around trying to escape. But they were angry and too strong for his injured self. He endured the pain for long, but then they hit him on the head.
He thought of his mother and Vicky as he drifted into unconsciousness.
A/N : This was a tough chapter to write. Hope you liked the climax scene!
Let me know your thoughts. I'm super excited to hear your comments. :)
Lots of love,
Andy