Page 80 of Vega

We hit the floor hard. We had too much bad history between us. He punched me in the ribs. I drove my knee into his side. He grabbed the back of my neck and slammed me into the floor. I caught his jaw with my fist, and his head snapped to the side.

He smiled with blood on his teeth. “I should fucking kill you,” he growled, grabbing for my throat. “You’re part of the reason I had to walk away from my wife and son.”

I clawed at his hands as his grip closed around my neck. My oxygen cut off. I kicked, bucked, shoved at his arms, but Renzo held me down with every year of rage he had saved for this moment.

His face hovered over mine, red with hate and grief. “Do you know what it’s like to live without your child because people you trusted decided you were an inconvenience?”

Black spots crept into my vision. I tried to speak, but nothing came out. For one second, I thought he was going to do it. Then he let go.

I breathed air in hard, coughing, rolling onto my side while my throat burned.

Renzo stood over me, breathing hard. “I’m done running.”

I couldn’t get up fast enough to stop him. He grabbed the back of my shirt and dragged me across the floor. My shoes scraped against the wood as he hauled me to the front door.

“Renzo!” I rasped.

He opened the door and threw me onto the porch. I hit the boards, pain tearing through every part of me.

Renzo stood in the doorway, staring down at me. Then he slammed the door in my face.

I lay there in the dark, fighting for air, knowing Renee was waiting for a call I no longer knew how to make.

15

SONNET ELLISON

Iwas back in the home.

The hallway smelled like bleach, old carpet, and whatever had burned in the kitchen that morning. Doors lined both sides of the hall. Every one of them was closed, and each room was filled with girls who had learned not to ask for anything unless they wanted to be reminded they weren’t wanted.

I stood barefoot near the office while one of the employees yelled at me. “You think you’re special because you’re smart?!”

Another woman laughed from behind the desk. “That little attitude is why nobody picked you.”

“I just asked if I could call my mother,” I pouted.

The first woman leaned closer. “That woman doesn’t want you. Nobody does. The sooner you understand that the easier you’ll be to deal with.”

The office door slammed in my face.

I grabbed the knob, but it wouldn’t turn.

Then the hallway changed.

The walls narrowed. The ceiling lowered. Every bedroom door locked at once.

I ran toward the exit, but the end of the hallway stretched farther away with every step.

“Let me out!” I screamed.

But nobody answered.

I pounded on the doors until my hands hurt. “Please! Let me out!”

Then suddenly the lights went out.

I woke with a gasp and shot upright.