Golden [Bedtime stories 1] Read Online Free PDF Page B

flashing his sharp teeth at me.
“I’m not a child. I can have chickens if I want to,” I whispered. He took a step closer and I curled into a ball, using my arms to protect my neck and face. “I’ll take them back.”
“Boris, stop this!” Boone shouted as he shoved his brother, finally having snapped out of his shock at what was going on.“He can have some damn chicks if he wants. I will build the coop and help him take care of them. Why can’t he have something of his own? Look at what he brought. There’s a full lamb there and enough bread for weeks. He bought that for us with his money. When has anyone done something like that for us and you’re being a brute over a few chicks?”
“He doesn’t listen to me,” Boris replied. “He’s a slave, not a partner. I should be able to tell him something and not get an extra headache because he wants a pet, extra meat coming with him or not.”
“I can’t do this,” I whispered, rocking myself back and forth, tuning out their argument. “I can’t. I can’t be a slave and have everyone treat me like shit the rest of my life. Mitchell was only nice to me when I showed him the gem. Boris sees me as a possession, I can’t live like this!”
I hadn’t even realized I was talking out loud until there was silence around me. I peeked out from under my arms to see everyone staring at me. It was humiliating and I wanted to die right where I sat.
“What if I bought my freedom? I could pay you back and then some for what I cost you,” I begged.
“No,” he snarled, pulling away from Boone and forcing me to lie back on the ground as his large frame surrounded me. “I like having you at my disposal. You are ours to do with what we please, Golden. Why would we give that up?”
“Because you’re not monsters who don’t have a heart,” I answered as tears clouded my eyes. “Do you really not care if I’m not happy or scared of you all the time?”
“I prefer it.” He leaned in and sniffed my neck. “The scent is enticing and we are monsters. Never forget that.”
“Then just kill me now,” I pleaded as I closed my eyes. “I just wanted to do something nice.”
“For yourself,” Boris clarified as he ran his hands over his body. “You thought if you acted like we were equals and a family, getting food we all could share like one, we would treat you as such. You were manipulating us when the one thing I asked you to do for us you forgot.”
“I wasn’t manipulating anyone!” I exclaimed as I beat my fists against his chest. “I’m not the bad guy here.” I froze as the rest of his words sunk in. “I forgot the books.”
“You did,” he agreed as he grabbed both my wrists and pinned them over my head. “And now you will pay for it.”
“No!” Boone snarled and tackled his brother off of me. “This madness stops, Boris. Golden isn’t our enemy and isn’t property. You’re going to make him hate us or run. Is that what you want?”
“Run to where?” he threw back, trying to hit Boone in the face. “He doesn’t know his way out of the forest and he’d be a fugitive.”
I stopped listening after that, having my fill of all this drama and anger. I stood with a heavy heart and upset stomach and walked over to the chicks. Lifting the cage out of the cart, I set it on the ground and did the same with their food. Then I opened the bag, took out a handful, and opened the tiny door.
All six started peeping as they hopped out and started eating out of my hands. “I’m sorry, guys. I just wanted to give you a nice place to live where you could be loved and lay some eggs. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was going to be happy and take over my father’s businesses when it was time, giving lots of people jobs, helping out the town when I could. Sure, I’d never marry a nice girl like my parents would have wanted, but I could have still been happy.
“Now I brought you into this misery and you’re too young to know such realities about