Page 15 of Tortured

I stand up and walk away from him when I feel my belly pulling again. I don’t like the way he makes me feel. I don’t want to feel.

I pace back and forth in the small space but I don’t leave and he growls under his breath, glaring at me out of the corner of his eye.

We live like this for a long time. I watch him and he glares at me. Neither of us say anything. But neither of us leave.

And as I’m trapped in this small space with him, I can taste him around me. Can feel the way my body leans towards him.

It pushes at my throat, the desperation to get the hell out of here but all I see is space out the front view screen.

He stands and stomps over to the door. “I will return, female. The auto is on.”

And he walks out. My eyes dart around and I wonder if I can do it. If I can take this ship and head home by myself.

Once again, I envision my children and I know that I’d do anything to get home to them.

I’d even kill.

So I wait, holding up a heavy piece of metal that I found. Hiding behind the door and praying that I don’t kill him and yet knowing that I have to.

My heart pounds when I swear I hear steps outside the door. It opens with a swoosh and I bring the damn heavy thing down on him as soon as he comes inside.

He’s too tall for me to hit his head but I hammer his hips and cock and he grunts, falling into the wall. His eyes lock on me, surprise and anger there and I almost stop. Almost back away.

But my jaw locks and I slam that heavy thing down on his head and he drops to the floor.

And I feel tears pour down my cheeks but I run to the dash and start pushing buttons, not sure how to change where I want to go. I need to find home.

Over and over I search and study but I can’t find anything that looks familiar.

How am I going to find Earth? I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s not like there’s a big damn button that says “Earth” on it.

My eyes burn and I can’t stop thinking about my babies. I need to see them. It’s been too long. I miss them so much.

I close my eyes and Lyssa smiles at me. “Mama, mama!” Her pudgy little arms wrap around my neck and she grins as I pick up her sturdy little body.

“Hey, baby. How are you doing? I’ve missed you.” I can smell her adorable little girl smell. Like baby powder and sweetness. I close my eyes and hold her tight, tears in my eyes as she hugs me tight.

“I missed you too, Mommy. Where have you been?”

“Oh you know. I just took a little trip. But I’m back now. And I promise that I’ll never leave you.”

Charles runs through the door at home. “Hey, Mom!” He launches himself at me and I grab them both tight, shivering and struggling to hold in the tears.

“Hey, big guy! Did you get that project fixed?”

“Yep!” He pops the “p” in that whistling way he talks since he lost some more baby teeth.

I close my eyes and fight to stay with them, to hold them.

Eric walks through the door and smiles at me, his bright blue eyes just like our daughter’s making me smile. But then they change to lavender and I frown. That’s odd.

Charles tugs at my arm to be let down. “Down, down, Mom!”

I grunt when he kicks my side so I bend down and release him, watching him run away and out the door.

Eric walks up as I hold Lyssa tight and watch for Charles to come back.

“Where did he go?”

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