At this twisted angle, I could barely make out the people aroundme, and maybe that was for the better. I didn’t want to see their pitying faces or worse, smug smirks as they saw my humiliation.
He left me like that for the rest of class, making my limbs lose all feeling. The shame I felt became a living, breathing thing that nestled inside my chest as I endured the punishment.
When the class was finally over, Pastor John released his belt from my wrists. As he did, his fingers lingered for an uncomfortably long time on my forearms. He took a deep breath in as I stood, like he was committing my scent to memory, and I felt Cain’s eyes on us, tracking Pastor John’s movements while everyone else filtered out of the room. It gave me an odd sense of peace knowing that he was watching. Almost like he was trying to protect me in his own way. Though we both knew there was nothing he could do. If I, or anyone else tried to fight back, the odds were telling me that we’d be on the receiving end of that gun he’d holstered.
Pastor John frightened me in a way that made the hairs on the back on my neck stand up. His overbearing presence felt terrifying on a primal level. Like I was trapped in this school with an unhinged nightmare, and I’d unknowingly become his prey.
“See you tomorrow, Eve,” he said as I wobbled out of the class with my limbs feeling numb and worn out. I wanted to vomit.
Cain was right outside the door waiting for me with understanding in those mossy colored green eyes of his. “You okay?” He asked, his words coming out hushed.
I scoffed, not knowing how to answer that.
“Sorry. Stupid question.”
Students filed past us, eyes cast down and movements so stiff they could pass for a military parade. They looked like they were afraid of what would happen if they looked up or moved out of step. It was eerie. At my old school, the hallways were boisterous. Full of laughter and chatter. But here? There were hardly any whispers and only an occasional squeak of someone’s shoe sliding against the scuffed-up linoleum floor.
“I don’t know how anyone survives this place,” I finally said, quiet enough that only Cain could hear me.
He winced as my words landed.
But before he could answer me, a hall monitor yelled out at us. “You two! Get to class!” I jumped at their tone, not wanting to push my luck any further.
“See you around,” he said, swallowing whatever it was he had been about to say.
If this was only day one of Kingston, I shuddered to think what the rest of my time here was going to look like.
CHAPTER 4
DELILAH
“Didyou see the way Cain was looking at her?” One of the girls’ voices came through the door. I was standing outside my room, hand hovering over the knob as I tried to find the courage to go inside. The first day at this school was a blur of rules, body aches, and expectations that I would never live up to. I saw at least three people punished in ways that chilled my soul. Some far worse than what I went through. My wrists still hurt from the bindings Pastor John had used in theology and I hoped I wouldn’t have nightmares from the experience.
But now, I was too fucking tired to go into my room where my new mean girl roommates were waiting for me. I’d been dragged out of my bed, tossed into this school, and it all had me feeling like I was fighting against a rip tide that wanted nothing more than to see me drown.
With all the resolve I could muster, I forced my hand to turn the doorknob and enter the den of vipers who all turned to look at me with malicious smiles and daggers in their eyes.
“New girl! We were just talking about you,” the one on the bottom of my bunk said. She flipped the ends of her honey blonde hair over her shoulder as she talked. That smile of hers was unwavering and sharklike. She was waiting for me to take the bait she had set, ready to pounce.
I didn’t say anything though. Instead, I dropped the pile of supplies I’d been given by a staff member on a shelf and blew out a breath as if that would help steel my fraying nerves.
“It’s Dolores, right?” The one on the bottom bunk continued.
When I turned, I met her stare and finally responded.
“No, it’s Delilah.”
The three girls all looked at each other like they were all in on some kind of inside joke as they silently communicated with their expressions. It made my chest constrict, not knowing what their deal was with me.
At my last school, there were cliques of people that acted the same as these girls were right now. And what I’d learned was the more attention you gave them, the more they attacked because at the end of the day, they were looking for a reaction. It made them feel more important if you got emotional or lashed out. They’d revel in being able to hurt you. It didn’t matter if what they said was true or not. What mattered to them was how they were perceived. And being mean and loud made them look powerful.
I started climbing up the rungs of the ladder when something hard hit my back.
“Whoops. My hairbrush got away from me,” the girl on the opposite end of the room said. There was no remorse in her words, but I kept climbing, wanting nothing more than to be left the fuck alone.
“Bethany, you’re such a klutz,” the one below me said with a laugh.
“What? It slipped! You know how I am, Lauren,” Bethany said with a playful lilt to her words.
