Page 57 of Twist Me

I frowned and linked my hand with his big palm. Seeing this side of Pharaoh was strange, but it made me certain that my search for the truth about his case needed to continue. He loved that little girl with everything he had to give. I could only imagine that it was love that created her.

“You are a good person, Pharaoh,” I said.

He didn’t respond. He just looped his hand around my back and continued walking me forward, but I saw the smile he thought he had hidden.

Looking forward, the menacing height of the massive structure grew closer. It made me shiver.

Was this Goliath’s plan all along?

I was naked as the day I was born, and I couldn’t catch my breath. Goliath didn’t want me to experience sin…he wanted me to want it.

Damn him and his brothers. I was practically begging for it at this point.

How did I fall so far from grace?

Losing sight of Pharaoh in the twinkling lights up ahead of me and that warped music getting louder in my ears, I tried to look around for him.

There were so many broken carts and disfigured animal-looking things. They had melted plastic running down them and molded to their eerie faces either from age or heat. Cages and big box cars blocked most of my view out of this place, but it wasn’t like I could scale those fences even if I had tried.

I walked past the haunted house and mirror maze.

No way was I going in there. Up ahead, I saw two hulking shadows run past me, the unmistakable spice of the triplets.

I looked in front of me. There was a looming, strange silhouette covering a tunnel. The closer I got, the more I realized what it was— a warped, deteriorating mouth broken and open. The only way forward was straight inside. Even closer now, I could see the dirty red paint and the beady black eyes of the wooden form. It was a freaking devil.

Tryingto shut out the awful clown sounds and the creepy child screams and tones, my adrenaline was so amped up as I finally arrived at the end of this fucking horror show. The tilted sky wheel was in view. They were truly insane if they thought I was getting on that! The massive structure was still securely cemented and only slightly tilted at an angle after all this time. Admiring its beautiful permanence, I missed the skulking shadows at the corner until a huge bag was shoved over my head.

The memories of my pain and the fear of that night choked me, my body going still and unable to fight.

The loudspeaker boomed beside me. “Do not let fear control you, Little Lamb. Fight the darkness.”

I struggled with the sac as my hands were being drawn behind my back. The two large forms were simply walking me forward, but to what I didn’t know.I could see metal under my bare feet now and hear creaking like a ship that was moaning from the battering of the seas.

Water, so much water I felt choked, and there was no oxygen tube in my mouth assuring me I wouldn’t drown this time.

Tears started to fall from my eyes, the pain, embarrassment, anger, and helplessness all flowing from my body without permission.I grabbed the wrist of one of the shadows from behind me and spun around. My fear spiked, but my need to survive pushed me harder.

I thrashed out, punching whatever limb was in my reach, and another pair of arms wrapped around my center, locking my arms against my sternum. I bucked and kicked, not allowing myself to be taken this time. I was going to be free. I was going to leave this hell. And if I had to take everyone down with me, so be it.

My body was being lifted now, held like the dead, jostling me with each step past those waves and onto some steps—up and up and up.

The tilted angle of my head made me even more dizzy. Chains rattled as they accepted my weight, the groaning so much louder now.

Mingling sounds vibrated around me as my body literally shook with the noise. A breeze blew on my skin, chilling my body the higher we went. I shivered within the arms of my captors, those waves long gone, replaced by the creaking of metal and the roar of the wind.

My body was freezing up from the fear and the cold. We had to be incredibly high now. It was the only answer to all of this, walking up steps and the sounds of the vibrating metal noise.

God, where was I?

I managed to free a hand and reach out, my arm smacking into a hard structure that made me and my captors shake.

“Fuck! Hold the fuck still, or we’re going to fly off.”

“I believe I can fly!”

I froze at the mention of flight. I couldn’t possibly be on the….

The bag was ripped away from my head, and I blinked as the light of the full moon blinded me. Looming over me, I saw the blue devil mask intact and the red devil mask with the left eye visible. A piercing green crystal eye stared at me with intensity…and one I sort of recognized. To my left, a white mask came into view. It was another devil. But this mask had half the face visible from the right brow, slicing across and down the lips to expose the chin.

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