Page 75 of When Kings Fall

That nightmare.

That horrific abuse.

That degradation.

That pain.

The adrenaline already tearing through me threatened to be undercut by one of my episodes that I could feel trying to breach the surface.

The flash slammed into me before I could stop it, taking me down to that dark place.

Royce appeared and dragged my mom in. Her jeans and t-shirt were caked in mud, her leather jacket even torn, and her black hair, just like mine, was matted.

“Baby girl!” she shrieked, staring at the glass.

“She can’t see you,” Malcolm told me. “I’ve just had Royce tell her you’re here being railed by me like a good little whore bitch.”

I couldn’t even fight as he tightened his grip on me, then fucked into me like a madman, as Royce slapped my mom hard across the face.

I screamed into his hand as he started beating on her until she collapsed onto the concrete.

“All this fear from you is turning me on. Go on, squeeze my cock, and I’ll make it quick for her, no more drawing it out.”

I couldn’t process any of it, I just shrieked and bucked in his merciless hold.

And then Royce drew a gun.

I blinked back to reality to see Royce still holding my jaw and calling me pretty princess in that creepy way that Lynch had.

His free hand was stroking my hair now and trailing down to my throat, along to the tops of my breasts accessible through my now open puffer jacket.

I swallowed hard as a shudder took me, threatening to spark a full-on episode which would completely incapacitate me.

As if it wasn’t bad enough already.

I hadn’t been able to do a thing back then.

To save my mom.

To stop any of it.

Another flash took me.

As we were making our way down the corridor, one of the doors to the left opened, and a guard wearing one of those awful ski masks stepped out.

“What the fuck are you doing free?”

He came at us in the next second.

The hell I was going to let him stop us from finally making our escape from this nightmare.

As I came out of it, I locked onto the memory.

We had fought back.

I’d gone to that dark place fueled by desperation, rage and terror.

I hadn’t been trained to fight then.