Page 174 of Psycho Devils: Aran's Story 2

Hours later, tears streamed down my face as I contorted on the shower floor to try to relieve the torment.

It felt like my spine was snapped in half and poking out of my skin. Like my bones, jagged and sharp, protruded from my flesh like gruesome spines.

But when I patted my skin desperately, all I felt were the gashes of a slur. Normal.

Yet things were cracking and shifting inside me.

Have I not suffered enough? What did I do to deserve this? I asked the sun god.

He didn’t answer.

Choking on a watery sob, I was too delirious to care that after twenty-four years of dry eyes, I was finally crying.

Tears fell like rain.

All I knew was anguish.

My brain was empty of thoughts as bright lights and colors twisted behind my eyelids.

Time didn’t exist.

At some point, John banged on the locked stall and shouted, “Aran, please get out of the shower. It’s time for lunch. We’re all worried about you.”

My back was arched, jaw cracked wide and throbbing from the force of my silent screams.

A part of me knew what was happening.

I was being punished for what I’d done to John. I should have refused to do it. I should have removed myself from the games and accepted the consequences.

I was a coward.

The pain quadrupled.

I shoved my knuckles between my teeth and bit down until the water ran red. Kicked my legs and convulsed, desperate to relieve the sensation.

Panting quietly, I garnered every ounce of strength I possessed to sound normal and yelled back to John, “No, just let me be. I need this.” My voice cracked. “Please leave.”

Silence.

Finally, footsteps echoed as John walked away.

I sobbed harder and gagged. How could I live with what I’d done?

I’d taken advantage of my friend.

I could have fought harder, but instead I’d violated him, and this was my penance.

I deserved it.

As if to punctuate my thoughts, a loud CRACK echoed through my skull, and my back bowed at an impossible angle.

Something snapped in my back, but only I could hear it.

I choked on water.

Everything went black.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

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