Page 9 of Wings of Destiny

I felt the air in my lungs thicken as the memory of one of the worst times of my life shrouded me in darkness and plunged me right back to the day it truly hit me that it was justme. And no one was coming to save me.

I had cried for days. There was no one to tell, no one to confide in. It had always been just me and Dad. And then Seth and hismom. Everyone was gone. I was all alone, without anyone close to me.

Except…I do have Seth.

The thought had slivered in the recess of my mind as I numbly combed through my schoolbag the day before class began for the new school year.

I gathered myself and wiped the crusted tear trails from my cheeks.

I need to tell him.

I wrote him a letter and stamped it with as many postage stamps as I could find, saying I was okay but that Dad was gone and I was alone.

Seth wrote me back with the promise that it’d be okay. And I believed it, at first.

A week after my dad disappeared, I walked home from school and narrowly avoided tripping on the cracked sidewalk that led straight through my small neighborhood. As I drew nearer, I noticed there was a car parked outside my small ranch-style house. One I hadn’t recognized. An eerie feeling settled in the pit of my stomach and I slowed my steps as I grabbed my keys from my pocket just in case. I peeked through the car windows and found that the car was empty so I made my way to the house. I shook the alarm in the back of my mind and walked up the pathway that led to my front door.

Probably one of the neighbors’ or something. Maybe they got a new car.

I went to unlock the door, only to find it opened. “Erin, is that you?” A high-pitched male voice I didn’t know. I stopped. Someonewasin my house. Panic swelled and coursed through my veins. As I turned to high tail it out of there and down the street, a heavy thump rang in my ears as I was struck from behind. My vision blurred before it went black.

I woke up in my room, blind folded, and tied to my desk. I heard some shuffling around me. “You couldn’t have waited until she walked in? This chick’s neighbors could’ve seen us. Idiot.” A deep grating masculine voice huffed. I felt my heart start to race.

There are people in my house.

I’m trapped.

Hell, I’m tied to my desk.What is happening? Dad, where are you? Why the hell did you leave me?

A presence shifted closer to me as I fought back the panicked tears that threatened to rain down my pale cheeks. Their hot breath brushed against my face. Their calloused fingers gripped my chin, squeezed my face between their fingers, and roughly tilted my head upwards, exposing my neck. “She sure is pretty. This might be more fun than we thought.” It was the same grating voice that had spoken moments before.

Shit. Shit. No, no, no. Come on, Snow, think of something. Distract them. Reason with them, anything.

Bile rose from my stomach.

“Where’s Mr. Snow, Princess?” Poison laced the guy’s voice. My mouth was clamped shut, fear raked my body. I was frozen. “Not gonna tell us? That’s not nice.” His breath brushed against my skin again as if he was only mere inches from my face.

His hand went for me once more; I fell out of my frozen trance and spat in front of me, with the hope that I’d hit my target. That pissed the guy off. “You bitch.” His buddy was laughing not far off. Suddenly, the blind fold was ripped off, taking some of my hair with it. I blinked rapidly as my eyes quickly adjusted to the sudden light. I bared my teeth and gave the men the bestleave me the hell aloneglare I could manage. “Awe look, Princess here is trying to scare us.” This time they were both laughing, their shoulders shook with the movement. In my peripheral vision, I spotted the second guy as he inched closer, a sinister look inhis molten eyes. I made the mistake of moving my head in his direction and left myself vulnerable to the man with a cheese grater embedded within his vocal chords.

The first guy, closest to me, grabbed my face in his burly, calloused hand and shoved it back toward him; his eyes locked with mine. A pointed smile crept across his face.

This isn’t good.

Fear gripped me. I shoved it down as I tried to remember some of what Dad had taught me. He had been adamant about teaching me self-defense from a young age. I had always thought it was stupid. In that very moment with my back literally up against my wooden desk, not so much. Cheese Grater Man moved closer, and pushed, no, crushed his mouth on top of mine. He jabbed his tongue in and out of my mouth as I gagged and choked back the vomit that rose from the back of my throat. His hand reached under my uniform and slowly inched up my stomach.

I fought back tears. I had to find a way out of this. He grazed the small space below my chest when I had my opening. While he was distracted and intent on his attempt to steal what remained of my innocence from me, I shoved my knee straight up and right into his groin. It knocked the wind out of him and sent him to the floor withering in pain.

“MotherFucker. You prissy-assbitch!” The second guy lunged toward me.

I pushed myself to the side the best I could while my wrists remained restrained and he landed with his head smacking right into the corner of the desk. He slumped over, unconscious.

One down. One to go.

I had to move quickly, so I started yanking my hands out of the rope. I silently prayed that I could get myself free before either one got up. The first guy started to catch his breath. I was running out of time. He rolled over with death in his eyes, readyto finish what he started, or worse. He grunted as he pushed himself up from his spot on the floor and stalked toward me.

Now or never.

I yanked my hands free, grabbed a pen from my desk, and stabbed him as he pounced. The pointed tip impaled his eye, blood violently spurted from the wound. His burly hands shot to his eye socket as he fell to the floor, screaming profanities. I sucked in a breath and bolted straight out of my room, out the front door, and didn’t look back. I kept running, the wind whipping through my tangled hair, until I reached Seth’s old house.

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