Reluctance/non-con warning
All of the characters are 18+
First time trying to write this kind of story so hopefully it isn't too cringey.
*****
For the fourth day in a row, I woke up to an obnoxious beeping. No light spilled into the room through closed curtains. It was probably around four in the morning again. I tried to ignore the noise, to mute it with a pillow over my head and the blankets pulled up, but the noise was insistent. Muttering curses under my breath, I climbed out of bed and began my search for the damned device. Five minutes later, I found it taped to the bottom side of a dresser drawer and smashed it.
With the noise quelled, I tried to fall back asleep, hoping for at least another hour before I had to get up for work. Instead, I laid in bed seething. My older sisters were back from college on winter break, and whatever hope I held that a half a year at college might change them had been shattered early.
As far back as I could remember, the twins had enjoyed torturing me. Sometimes, in moments of depression, I imagined I had done something to deserve the mistreatment, but no one deserved that level of cruelty. Forcing me up at four in the morning was for them a minor thing compared to most of their pranks. I opened my eyes and stared up at the ceiling; the memories fueling my anger.
When I was eleven, I went through a period of bedwetting, which grew so bad my parents took me to therapy. It stopped when I woke up one night to find my sister's pulling my hand from a cup of water and sneaking from the room. My parents didn't believe me when I told them, but my sisters did at least stop.
My freshman year of high school, on the first day of school, they replaced my shampoo with Nair. It was only after it was well lathered onto my scalp that I noticed an odd smell, but it was too late by then. The short hair that had covered my head was a splotchy mess. With nothing else to do, I hurried and shaved my head with a razor, leaving my lumpy head bald and nicked. My entire freshmen year people made fun of me for that.
It was my junior year that they pushed me over the edge, to the point I could honestly say I hated them. I was the first junior in the history of our school to be asked to captain our varsity wrestling team. The day of our first meet, I was so excited I thought my heart might burst and my stomach rumbled in nervous anticipation. Except, it wasn't the nervous anticipation that moved my stomach. It was the laxatives that my sister's had slipped into my breakfast that morning. I shit myself in the middle of my second match.Many nicknames were invented that year, but the one that stuck even to this day was Daniel "the dumper" Dunn. Everyone enjoys alliteration, right?
That saying, 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' was bullshit because my senior year with my sisters away at college had been the best yet. I was even close to getting my first girlfriend. But there was the briefest moment when they first returned that I was glad to see them. I thought maybe it wasn't as bad as I remembered, maybe we could get along.
Anna had covered the toilet paper in my bathroom in itching powder that first day, which led me to spending that evening at dinner fidgeting uncontrollably and the rest of my night trying to tame that insufferable itching. The next morning I had woken up to the first of Emma's nefarious creations and every morning since.
I rolled over to look at my alarm, my blood boiling under my skin. It was 4:30 AM, still a couple hours until I had to leave. Fantasies of storming into my sister's room and destroying their things played through my mind. I knew better though, every time in the past I had retaliated it had only made things worse.
With nails digging into my palm, I rolled out of bed, put on some clothes and went for an early morning run. The air outside was cool, and small patches of ice still covered the ground in spots. My sister's would be gone again in five days and I would be going off to college in less than a year. The best thing to do was not let them get to me, I just needed to stay calm and survive. I let my mind empty as I made my way towards the nearby Park. An hour and seven miles later, I returned home feeling calm.
"Good morning, you are up early again." My dad remarked as I passed by the kitchen.
"Yea, I guess."
I didn't stop to talk, preferring instead to shower, which required a few minutes of shaking towels out to check for various powders, sniffing shampoo and ensuring the door lock was working. Mostly satisfied nothing horrible was going to happen, I turned on the shower and reveled in the warm water, trying once again to banish my demon sisters from my mind. Five more days, just five more days.
After a longer than normal shower, I got dressed in my brown khakis and a blue-white long sleeve flannel. I had twenty minutes before I needed to leave, so I went downstairs for a quick snack. Emma was at the stove cooking eggs.
"Morning half-pint, couldn't sleep?" The bitch asked, the smugness clear in her voice.
I didn't reply, heading to the fridge instead to grab a yogurt, banana and Gatorade to replenish my electrolytes after my run.
"You aren't going to have some eggs? I made extra just for you!"
"I'm late." I lied, deciding I would go now and eat in the parking lot at Walmart. There was no way I was having any poisoned eggs for breakfast.
"You have twenty minutes don't you?" My dad asked without looking up from his iPad.
"Jeffrey wanted me to come in a bit early for something." I lied again and walked from the kitchen.
"That's too bad, have a great day at work!" Emma called after me.
If I could have seen her face, I was sure it would be covered in a smug smile. I drove to work blasting Linkin Park, which had a way of calming me with its aggression. As I pulled into the parking lot, I twisted open the Gatorade and took a big gulp, thirsty after singing along. My mouth was filled with an intense salty flavor, making me gag a moment before spitting the liquid back into the bottle. I shut my eyes tight and tried to stay calm.
"Fuck!" I screamed and threw the bottle out the window, causing it to split open and spray its contents all over the parking lot.
It was an old favorite of Anna's, dyed salt water to replace my Gatorade. I still didn't know how she managed not to break the seal when she did it. My eyes wandered to the yogurt and banana. I couldn't trust them either. With a sigh, I gathered my things and then left the car. Grabbing my Gatorade trash, I made my way inside throwing it away and the probably tainted food along with it. Any of the anger I had managed to quell since that morning had returned ten times over.
Alicia greeted me as I walked in. I replied with an angry grunt. I bought a new Gatorade and a yogurt, which I had to eat quickly, not even getting to enjoy in order to make sure I could punch in on time.
Stocking shelves was mind numbing and more tiring than it should be. Exactly what I needed to distract me from five more days of this torture, five more days of relentless bullying by the twin bitches that occupied my house. And this was the last day I worked before the holidays, meaning long days at home with them. Maybe I could ask Jeffrey for more days.
"Damn Dan, you look pissed."
I looked up from my work to see Max, another senior on the wrestling team. He was a good enough guy, and after having his ass handed to him enough times, had stopped using my nickname.
"I am pissed." I said, continuing to stock the shelves.
"Aw man, it's Christmas broski. You shouldn't be pissed."
"I woke up at four again to one of my sister's little pranks, and she replaced my Gatorade with salt water."
"Damn broseph, they must really hate you. It's too bad they are so fucking hot."
I slammed a bottle of laundry detergent onto the shelf and glared at Max. Every time I complained about my sister's all I heard was how hot they were, and no one ever seemed to take the torture seriously.
"Sorry, brolin powell, but hey, they are only here a few more days right?"
"Five more days."
"That's not so bad then! If you need to escape your house, you can always come chill at mine."
"Thanks."
"Anytime brohammed and let your sisters know the offer extends to them as well."
I threw a box of gushers at him, which he dodged as he scurried away down the aisle. A small smile did find its way onto my face, he had managed to cheer me up a small amount even if he was an ass. That was how messing with people was supposed to be. Harmless, healthy ribbing not merciless and scaring abuse. Just five more days and my life would return to its normal, average highschool level of torment.
My mind wandered to Amanda. She wasn't the prettiest or most popular girl in school, but she was far and away the kindest. In fact, of all of my classmates, Amanda was the only one that I couldn't remember ever calling me some cruel nickname. I smiled and moved down the aisle, stocking shelves as I went. Sometimes, Amanda would come by when I was working and just hang out. Jeffrey would eventually find us and yell at us, making Amanda giggle and run off like a scolded child even though she didn't even work here. I wouldn't mind being fired at all to hear her lilting giggle. Almost the entire rest of my shift, I spent daydreaming about her. I resigned myself to ask her on a date for new years.
Of course, my joy filled day dreaming wasn't to last. As I was mopping up a spill, I heard a cackle that made my hairs stand on end and my heart beat faster. It was Anna, a few aisles over and talking to Max. She was looking for me. A strange mixture of anger and terror drove me to hide in the back. It was only thirty minutes until my shift was done, with luck I could hide until then and no one would notice me missing.
