Page 40 of The Doll and The Domination

“Who are you?” I ask within the safe barriers of my own thoughts.

Something sharp and hard hits my back; the sting is shocking enough to make me trip and stumble. Ugh! Are they throwing rocks?

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she says with wisdom buried deep in her tone.

I cough, fighting to breathe past the pain and the blood running from my nose down my throat. “You’d be surprised!”

“No, actually I would not.” She pauses, as if waiting for something. “Duck!”

I bow my upper body to waist level, keeping my pace in a hunched form. What sounds like stone crashing into stone bangs against the ground in front of me.

“Leap over it now!”

I jump over whatever it is they tried throwing at me.

“How far are we?” I ask her.

“We are almost to the stairs.”

Stairs?! I don’t dare ask how many flights there are. It’ll sicken me to find out. One step at a time. One challenge at a time. I can do this. I have help now. And that notion warms my heart. Behind this blindfold, within this darkness, there’s a woman who is helping me.

And somehow, I trust her more than words can describe.

“Slow your pace. There’s a door coming up directly in front of you. Turn your back to it and reach for a long, metal latch.”

I spin halfway, reaching my shackled hands in a grabby motion, desperate to feel it entering my palm. Coldness touches my skin.

“There!” she exclaims. “Pull upward, and open the door.”

The door scrapes against the floor, creaking on its hinges as I drag it open.

“Good, Skylenna. Now slam it shut, and push the latch down to lock it!”

Relief floods every limb, every organ of my body as I complete her task backward.

She directs me up the stairs, each step one at a time until I’m able to run without tripping. But sprinting uphill is so much harder than running through a long hallway. I’m wheezing, gasping like a fish out of water.

“Fuck!” It’s had to be at least seven flights by now.

“Two more!”

“No.” I shake my head, doubling over to relieve the sharp pain in my sides and the fire in my lungs. “I can’t.”

“Skylenna, you are the Fallen Saint. You burned the Emerald Lake Asylum to the ground. Avenged every death and freed the patients held prisoner. You’ve endured Mind Phantoms and the death of your true love. You. Must. Keep. Going.”

The Blood Mammoths manage to kick the door down several floors below us. But they’re roaring like hungry lions. And I’m filled to the brim with a black flame, a smokeless fire gifted to me by this woman. This being that is guiding me.

I nod my head, brushing my forearms against the serrated railing as I continue to sprint upward. The stairs are pounded by footsteps below. And I can imagine they’re skipping steps, covering more ground.

“One more!”

With bleeding feet and quivering legs, I pivot backward, swinging open the door on the last flight of stairs, and take off.

“Don’t panic.” Her voice is calm, but her words are lethal. “There are more on this floor looking for you. You know how to fight. You must maneuver your body exactly as I say. Understand?”

“Yes,” I whisper out loud.

“Good, now run!”

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