Page 2 of Deadmen's Captive

Her palm cracked across my face leaving a stinging pain. I knew better than to cover my face.

"Disgusting little slut," she spat, her voice seething with venom.

"No, Mum, I—"

"Silence!" She reached out, her fingers entwining in my hair, yanking hard. I stumbled, forced to follow or risk clumps tearing free from my scalp.

"Please, Mum, don’t…"

She dragged me past the living room door, and my father glanced up from his normal position on the sofa, eyes bloodshot, a bottle dangling from his fingers. His gaze slid back to the blaring tv, ignoring me and Mum in the hallway. I wouldn’t have expected anything more. He never intervened.

"Pathetic," she hissed, as I stumbled painfully up the stairs. She pushed me into the bathroom, and finally let go, ripping my coat and my school blazer down my arms.

“Mum, stop please. I didn't do anything!”

“You’re a fucking whore, and you need to clean yourself now!” she barked at me.

She shoved me into the shower cubicle still fully dressed and turned the water on full blast. I gasped as the icy stream hit me, drenching my hair and clothes.

"Mum, please," I gasped between shudders, water smothering my words. "It was just a kiss."

"Silence!" The word was a gunshot in the echo of the tiled room. My teeth chattered, body convulsing under the relentless cold. She held me under the water, until I was completely soaked through.

"Mom, I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't clean your filth. Now get out."

She turned the water off and I stumbled from the shower, soaked and shaking. She grabbed my arm, her grip like iron as she marched me down the hall, past my bedroom door,and I knew where we were going.

“No, Mum please, I'm sorry. I won't do it again!”

“No, you won’t. I did not raise my daughter to be a slut. Now, get in there.” The spare room was empty, with bare floorboards, and only a thin mattress on the floor in one corner. I knew it well. Her shove sent me sprawling onto the floor.

"You'll stay here and think about what you've done, you dirty little slut." The door slammed, and the lock clicked.

"Mum—" My voice cracked, but I knew it was no use. I heard her footsteps going back down the hall. Tears and pleas wouldn’t move her, they never had before.

I crossed the room, sinking down onto the mattress and huddled in the corner, my arms wrapped tight around my knees. The spare room felt like a freezer, stripped of warmth and humanity. Just an old mattress with stained edges, and a tiny ensuite that echoed with the drip-drip of a leaky tap. The shivers racked my body, uncontrollable, as the dampness of my clothes and my hair clung to my skin.

"Stop it," I whispered to myself, focusing on slowing my breath, trying to calm the tremors. My head throbbed where she had yanked at my hair and the sound of the tv blasting downstairs only made it worse. I closed my eyes as tears began to fall. So stupid, I thought to myself. I’m so stupid. It was just a kiss. But even as I said it, the memory of Ben's lips ghosted on mine, bittersweet. A moment of light in my dark world.

The days blurred together, each indistinguishable from the last. Light crept in and then slinked away, leaving me in darkness. Hunger gnawed at my insides, an ever-present ache that became my world. My body felt lighter, emptier, like I might just float away on my next breath and be free. I’d been here before, so I knew to make sure I drank water from the tap. By what I thought might be the fifth day, it took me longer to get there each time, the world spinning every time I stood up.

When the door finally opened, it was morning. I laid still, looking up at the figure in the doorway, not daring to move.

"Get up," she ordered.

I tried to, but my legs were weak and I stumbled, my knees hitting the ground.

"Look at you," she spat, disgust twisting her features. "Pathetic."

"Mum," I whispered, my voice a faint shadow of itself. "Please."

"Come on," she commanded, turning on her heel.

I got to my feet again, holding onto the wall until the swaying eased, then followed her downstairs.

"Sit," she commanded as we reached the kitchen.

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