Total pages in book: 260
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 245483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1227(@200wpm)___ 982(@250wpm)___ 818(@300wpm)
He grips my shoulders with a bruising force and rips me up so quickly my ass lifts off the table and for a moment I think he’ll throw me off. Maybe into the old walnut cupboards. But he doesn’t. Thump, thump, thump, my heart races, but I push down the fear.
There’s nothing he can do to me anymore.
There’s nothing left to take.
My shoulders shake uncontrollably, making me feel even weaker as he looks me in the eyes and reaches into his back pocket. It’s a wrinkled polaroid picture, and I can’t help how my eyes dart to it and then to his face. I wait, still as stone and cold as one too as he flicks it with his fingers, not showing me fully and teasing me with it.
I don’t know what it could be. Really anything, I suppose. Whatever it is, it’s a threat and it won’t work. There’s nothing more threatening than simply living at this point.
He flicks it again and the thwack of the paper just annoys me. My teeth grind together as I slowly turn away from him. It doesn’t matter. Whatever he has to threaten me with, I don’t care. It’ll all be over soon.
My throat seems to clench, painfully scraping as I take in a sharp breath. The sight of my father’s hand so close to my face prepares me for the inevitable blow. But it doesn’t come. It’s only when he takes a step away that I finally look down at my lap. The photo is face down against my worn dirtied jeans and I almost don’t pick it up.
Almost. But the curiosity is too strong.
I flip it over, prepared for the worst, but my forehead scrunches when I realize what it is.
It’s just a girl. Huddled into a small ball, her t-shirt and jeans are dirty like she’s been dragged through the mud. Her sneakers are still on her as well. It takes a moment for me to understand what I’m seeing, but when I do, my heart stops beating right. She’s in my room. That cement floor is the same floor I was just sleeping on.
She’s in the punishment room.
“Get her out,” I say and the words are pushed through my lips the second they reach me as a thought. I will my tired body to move, but my father’s quicker than I am. So fast that the back-hand smacks against my cheek and mouth, splitting my lip open and flinging my head backward. My body flails as I attempt to stay on the raised metal table, but my fingers slip along the smooth metal and I fall. I stumble down on the ground, my side hitting the knob of a cupboard on the way down and my elbow landing hard on the linoleum floor.
I suck in a breath between clenched teeth, but remain still on the floor. Not daring to move from my awkward position. Another lesson my father has taught me well.
My heart races in my chest, feeling as though it’s trying to get away. Trying to go to her. But I stay still.
I need to listen. “Don’t hurt her,” I say the words in a hoarse voice but it’s nothing but a plea. A pathetic plea that will fall on deaf ears. “Please,” I add weakly and hang my head.
I don’t want her hurt. No one should ever go into that room. It’s a place for nightmares and monsters. Maybe my father should be locked away in that cell. But not her.
I chance a peek up at my father, watching as he nods slightly and then runs his fingers over his jawline. His knuckles are split from striking me and the knowledge makes me smile slightly. But I hide it. The tip of my tongue runs along the cut on my lip as I look down and away, trying to remember every detail of the girl on the floor.
“Is she okay?” I dare to ask him.
“Fine,” he says gruffly, stopping in his tracks and walking toward me. He has to shove the table to the side in the narrow kitchen to bend down close to me. Again his scent drifts toward me, and this time it’s stronger. So strong I nearly vomit, but I hold it back.
“She’s going to be good. I already know that,” he says and I can feel his eyes on me. Waiting for a reaction and my response.
Whatever I do, I need to save her from this fate. I take a steadying breath, making sure I don’t react in the least. I just need to get to her.
“Do you want to see her?” my father asks. “I got her for you.”
Finally, my eyes reach his and my chest rises with a disbelieving breath.
“All you have to do is listen. And she’s yours.” I watch as the smile slowly stretches across his face as he adds, “Listen to me and she stays safe.”