Page 50 of Free Me

I stumbled, falling against the hall wall as I passed the stairs, heading toward the back of the house. Blood from my arm smeared against the wall, reminding me that Mr. X had cut me.

I picked up my pace as I headed past the entrance to the kitchen and entered the mudroom that led to the door to the garage. I didn’t dare turn on any lights. Mr. X would come looking for me soon. Lighting up where I was in the house would only get me found faster.

Going right to the door that led to the garage, I turned the handle and went to pull it open. It wouldn’t. I could see that it was unlocked; the handle wouldn’t have been able to turn otherwise. I pulled on the door a few more times as I looked up and saw why it wouldn’t budge. At least ten nails were hammered along the top of it.

Not wanting to waste a moment, I went into the laundry room just off of the mudroom. There was a window in there that faced the side yard. I rushed to it. After unlocking it, I tried to push it open. It didn’t budge. I searched the sill and found that it was also nailed shut.

The doorknob in our parents’ room was gone and now I was finding a window and door nailed shut. Mr. X had turned my house into a trap.

Not wanting to give up, I moved on. My inner arm was bleeding a lot. Blood dripped from my fingers as my arm dangled at my side limply, leaving a bloody trail in my wake as I quietly snuck through the house.

“Shiiiii…looooohh! Come out, come out, wherever you are!” Mr. X shouted from another room.

Dashing into the kitchen, I scooped up one of the kitchen towels hanging in front of the oven. Biting my lip to keep myself from crying out, I wrapped the towel around my arm. I made quick work of my makeshift bandage and kept moving. I couldn’t linger or he’d find me.

Walking as silently as possible, I headed for the back door just off the dining room. Reaching out for the gold doorknob, I turned it. The door wouldn’t budge. “No!” I whispered as I vainly tried to slam my body against it.

The feeling of being trapped made it hard to think of what to do.

“Shiloh,” a voice whispered from behind me.

My heart accelerated to a speed so fast, I was afraid it’d give out. Panting, I turned to find Mr. X right behind me. I screamed as loud as my lungs would allow, hoping the neighbors would hear, and fell backward to the floor.

Mr. X dove with me, landing on top of me. I tried to fight him. I tried to get away. I was able to smack him across the face, which angered him. He let out a snarl, covered my face with his hand, and slammed the back of my head to the tile floor.

My vision went in and out. I didn’t feel myself being lifted off the floor or carried through the house. I started to really come to as Mr. X was carrying me up the stairs. We were almost back on the second floor. I started to wiggle and buck in his arms as he reached the top of the stairs, so much so that he ended up dropping me with a frustrated growl.

I hit the carpet with a grunt. Before I could attempt to get away, Mr. X grabbed my ankles and began dragging me down the hall. I grabbed ahold of the corner of the wall trying to stop him. Mr. X yanked with what seemed like all his strength to force me to let go. My nails tore into the wallpaper as he continued dragging me. The towel I had wrapped around my arm fell off. I let out another pain-riddled scream, despite knowing that no one could hear me. That knowledge had been proven when our neighbors hadn’t come running to my earlier screams. Our houses were just too far apart.

I tried to kick my legs free, but Mr. X’s grip was too strong, and his steps didn’t slow. I was so focused on trying to grab ahold of anything that came into reach that I didn’t realize we were passing Shayla’s body until I felt something wet seep into the back of my clothes. At the sight of her pink hair, my throat closed, and I began choking on my sobs. I grabbed her hand as it came into reach, desperately hoping to find some flicker of life still left in her. When our eyes were level with each other, I saw hers were open and vacant.

“No!” ripped out of me. “Shayla!” I wailed, squeezing her hand as Mr. X continued to pull me away from her and into my bedroom.

As soon as we were in my room, Mr. X pulled me off the floor by my hair. My throat was so sore from screaming, all I could do was grit my teeth through the pain. He was trying to get me on my bed. I couldn’t let him do that. He’d rape me. I just knew he would.

The moment my feet were flat on the ground, I hit him, kicked him, and scratched him. He grunted a curse when I clawed his cheek.

His hand wrapped around my throat and squeezed. Digging my nails into his hand and wrist that held me, I tried to suck in what little air I could. His other hand appeared out of nowhere. I only got a glimpse of it before pain flared like lightning on the left side of my face and everything went black.

When I came to, I was alone and lying in the center of my bed. I went to rub my sore cheek and found that my wrist was caught on something. That was when I realized my wrists were tied with rope to my bed posts. As I tried to sit up, I realized my ankles were tied up as well.

Panic made my chest cave in, and I cried. Everything that had happened came crashing down on me. My parents were dead. Shayla…my lip trembled as I remembered her lifeless eyes.

I was alone.

I was all alone.

14

THAT NIGHT

It would have been soeasy to just give up—to just let him have me.

Bury it, Shiloh.Shayla’s voice filled my head.

I closed my flooded eyes. Tears spilled from them. Two chest-shaking, silent sobs escaped before I was able to take a deep breath. “Okay,” I whispered. I took another deep breath, and with that breath, I found the strength I needed to push back the pain and heartbreak.

“Okay,” I whispered to myself again and opened my eyes.

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