Page 1 of Claimed by Him

One

He was coming.

My heart pounded as I ran through the darkened hallway.I could hear him behind me, and if he caught me, I’d die.

My hands were slick with blood, but I didn’t think it was mine. My sides hurt from running, and my feet were cold, but I wasn’t injured. Not yet. If he caught me though, I’d be worse than injured. I’d be dead.

Had he killed someone else? It certainly seemed possible.

I passed a mirror, and my reflection caught my eye. I missed a step. Something was wrong. I stopped and went over to examine myself in the mirror. This couldn’t be me. I was a grown-up, but the girl in the looking glass wasn’t a grown-up. She was tall, but not as tall as I knew I’d be someday. The ash blonde hair and china-blue eyes were the same, but the face was too round, too young. The hair too long.

If I knew I was older, did that mean he hadn’t killed me?

“Get back here, you little brat!”

Ice flooded my veins. He was close, and he was angry. He’d been angry for almost a year now. Every day, even if it was a good day, he found something to be angry about.

“Don’t you go hiding now! That’ll just make this worse!”

He was right. Hiding just made him madder, but I was scared of what he’d do if he found me. I’d been protected before, but never again.

I looked down at my hands, at the blood soaking my clothes. It was her blood. He’d hurt her. Killed her. She was gone, and no one would protect me anymore.

But I didn’t need someone else to protect me. I was an adult. I could protect myself. Besides, this wasn’t real. It was a dream.

The surrounding trees began to sway, bending low, reaching for me with their branches. I pushed them away, thin needles like razors that sliced my skin, mixing her blood with mine. I barely registered the pain. Pines. The smell of pines filled my nose. My chest tightened, and it was hard to breathe. I needed to get away.

I started running again, rocks cutting into my bare feet, bruising them, but I couldn’t care about that. Not when I could hear him behind me, breaking things. I slammed the door behind me and then looked around, trying to find something I could put in front of it.

But it was glass. Even if I did manage to block it, he could just break through.

But I couldn’t just wait here, unprotected either. I had to do something.

I spotted a rock. Not like a little stone or even some medium-sized flowerbed edging rock. This was huge. The kind of thing people put in their yards with their house numbers on them.

I went over to where it lay and put my hands on it. It was rough, like sandstone, but at least my hands wouldn’t slip. The blood was tacky now, clinging to the rock as I braced my feet and pushed.

A blow shook the door, and my muscles screamed as I put more force into it. I needed to get this in front of the door. He was going to get inside. I couldn’t make it easy for him.

Crying. Someone was crying.

An animal?

No, a kid. I was sure it was a kid.

He was screaming now. Not words. Just sound. So loud that people had to hear him.

No, wait, there were words. Bad words. Words that I wasn’t allowed to repeat.

The rock didn’t move, and the glass cracked. Fear dumped even more adrenaline into my body, and I could taste it in the back of my mouth. I was going to be sick.

I dropped to my knees and buried my face in my hands. The smell of blood filled my nose. It was sharp and metallic and made my stomach hurt.

I made a pained sound, and my eyes started watering.

This was more than just an upset stomach. It felt like fire was inside me, and I was being pulled apart. I retched, and it just made things worse. My head hurt, and I felt like I was going to pass out.

How could I pass out in a dream?

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