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“It’s funny how you can remember something so vividly, even years later. I can still hear the sound of my footsteps on the wet grass. The snow had finally melted, and with each step I took, I could hear the sloshing sound of my feet hitting the puddles. It echoed in the silence of the late afternoon.”
Stopping my pacing, I shut my eyes again and take another deep breath in, as my body shudders with the memories that come flooding back. “The sun was starting to set. Only small rays of sunlight pushed through the branches that towered above me. I shouldn’t have been walking alone. But in my mind, it wasn’t dark yet, and I missed you. I needed to be somewhere that I felt close to you.” I open my eyes at that and see Aiden staring at me. His large blue eyes watching me intently. Waiting.
“When I got to the opening by the lake, I didn’t see him at first. He must have been off behind a tree.” I shake my head.
“I don’t know how I didn’t see him. Maybe I was lost in my own thoughts, but by the time I was standing beside the water, he was there. Right behind me.”
“Ace?” Aiden’s voice is thick with emotion when he says his name.
A name I’ve avoided for years.
“Yeah. I took a step away from him, closer to the lake, and I remember thinking my shoes might get wet. I should have run. But—the closer he got to me.” I shake my head. “I don’t know. I guess I just froze. Fear will do that, I guess.”
“Fear?” Aiden’s voice is hard, with an edge of something I can’t quite place.
It borders on menacing.
“His treatment of me might have temporarily stopped when you were there to protect me, but it didn’t take long after you left for him to start up again. Only this time, it was worse. Much worse.”
“What did he do to you?” Aiden’s eyes narrow, and I can see the hate there. The blind rage building with the mention of how bad things were.
I have no doubt that if Ace were alive today, it wouldn’t be me who ended his life.
I close my eyes again. It’s too much, and when I do, I see it all playing out in front of me. My mouth opens, and words fly out, but in my mind, I’m there…
“Look who’s here…all alone,” Ace says, making his approach.
“Leave me alone.”
“Why would I do that? Now I have you right where I want you. Alone. No one around. I couldn’t have planned it better myself.” I turn to see him steepling his fingers, looking like a cartoon villain. Except he’s no cartoon. He’s real, and he’s very dangerous.
“I’m going home.”
He steps closer, his hand reaching out to hold my arm. “I don’t think so.”
“What do you want from me?” I snap, trying to stand as tall as possible.
“You can’t be that naïve. You know what I want. I want to make you bleed.” His words make everything inside me start to shake. Bile rises up my throat. “Can’t wait to feel that virgin blood all over my c—”
“Leave me alone!” I say again. This time, my voice cracks as I scream.
“How about this? If you don’t fight, I’ll take it easy on you. I’ll even try not to hurt you. That bad.”
His grip tightens, and I fear I’ll pass out.
As he holds me steady with his one hand, the other hand fishes in his pocket. He pulls something out. I don’t look at him, though. Instead, I search for an exit route. The best way is to cut through the trees and back to the trailer so he won’t catch me. I hear a loud sniffling sound and then his hand holding me tightens to the point of pain.
Fear surges through my veins as I struggle to break free from his grasp. It’s now or never, as his grip becomes excruciating. I use all of my body weight to pull away. It feels like my encased arm will fall off as his fingers become more rigid, but I pull with all my might, my arm coming dislodged from his death grip, but the momentum I’ve built up has me falling headfirst toward the ground.
The moment I hit the ground, pain ricochets through my body. My head throbs, and I feel a sharp pain in my wrist.
It’s hard to open my eyes, but when I do, they widen in terror. A sharp stick is stabbed into my arm, blood oozing around the wood.
Time seems to slow down as I try to move, and the wood pulls away from my skin. Blood
gushes from the wound. The pain is unbearable.
A cry escapes my lips.I grab at my shirt with my good hand and pull it over my head, trying to break free so I can stop the bleeding.
