AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And they said horrible, vile things.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
But you do. Every time. You do.
I couldn’t get the words out. It didn’t matter anyway.
“Trish, we’re going to help you to the car. Is it okay if Daniel touches you?”
When had I ever had a choice? I shrank in on myself in an attempt to become as small as possible. I couldn’t stop it. So I drifted to the place that made this more tolerable. A clear mountain lake with a cabin on its shores surrounded by a field of yellow wildflowers. The sky was a brilliant blue. I watched the clouds roll over my head. There was one in the shape of a turtle. A cupcake was chasing him.
I became weightless, the ground no longer beneath me. Maybe this time I could reach the clouds. Would they feel as soft, cotton-like as they appeared? Or would my touch cause them to vanish? Someday I would know. For now I could pretend.
I waited for pain to come. Someone touched me. Pain always followed. Yet my cheek brushed against something soft. Where was the cold concrete of the basement floor? This surface was warm, leathery.
The plea to have mercy on me was on my tongue, but I remembered that it only made the pain worse when I begged. I clamped my lips shut and waited.
I didn’t want to feel the hurt between my legs, over my entire body. But it was familiar. Yet it didn’t come. They never made me wait. They took.
What did this waiting mean? I didn’t want to know. Couldn’t stand the difference in routine. I allowed the blackness that clawed at the fringes of my consciousness to overtake me. I’d stopped praying a long time ago, though I couldn’t help sending up a silent plea.
Please don’t let me feel it this time.
Please don’t let me feel it.
Please don’t let me feel.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Trish
I blinked my eyes open.
A soft glow illuminated the room. Not dark. I wasn’t in the dark.
I scooted up the bed.
I was in a bed.
With luxurious linens.
The bedroom door was ajar.
Not locked.
I was free to leave this room.Free.
Still uncertain, I gingerly slid from beneath the covers. My shoes were at the foot of the bed. Voices floated through the cracked door.Was that Vivian? And Sonya?
Like someone had snapped their fingers, recognition hit me. This was Vivian’s apartment. But why was I here? The last thing I remembered was walking home from Andrew’s.
I braced against the wall as a wave of dizziness washed over me.
Huxley.
Oh God, he was out of jail.
“Trish?” Vivian rushed toward me with Sonya on her heels.
