Page 141 of Gift from the Nexus

Her face morphs into fury before she takes the dagger in her hand and slices me quickly. Then again. And again. My back bows off the table, and I want to keep from screaming. I don’t want her to have the satisfaction of tearing more than my skin apart. But my heart doesn’t get the memo. It shreds to bits as her betrayal slices deeper and deeper.

The dagger hitting the wall across the room with an echoing clank is the only warning the traitorous girl…woman…bitch gives me. My voice is back, but the movement in my limbs is not, so all I can do is brace myself as her outraged bellow hits me right before her fists.

Over and over and over. Until my head hits the stone table too many times and the darkness saves me again…

The hours roll into days, the days into weeks.

Every day is the same miserable routine and by this point, I know what’s coming. And I pray every day it’s the last day my eyes open.

Silvia comes in every morning and wakes me with kisses that I can’t fight off and she runs her claws down my chest as the stone holds me in place. Her torturing privileges were stripped away after she almost killed me my first night because her beating carried on even after I passed out, so she’s only allowed to stand in the corner and watch now.

And watch…she does. Watch and laugh. Watch and laugh.

Every fist that pounds into my body, she laughs at.

Every dagger that leaves a never healing slash on my chest, she laughs.

Every time I cry, beg, or plead, attempt to bargain or cooperate, she fucking laughs.

The scientist or whoever the hell they are test me ten ways to fucking Terian. Needles are shoved in my arms, drugs are forced down my throat, different variations of knifes, daggers, elements, gifts are skirted across my skin just so the reaction of my body can be recorded.

The men who are now in charge of my torture sessions have recently started a game where they’ll dim the Star gems enough to rouse my gift from its groggy state and wait until it’s pressed against my pores to turn them back up to their brightest ability. It causes my gift to wither and run chaotic inside of me. Any day now, it’s going to rip me open.

The brink of death always seems so close, and I crave its presence. I want so badly for it to come for me. Finally take me away. I wholeheartedly believe death has to be better than this.

When her high-pitched voice rings in my ears this morning, I run my scraped and busted knuckles against the coarse stone around my hands and count…

Day thirty-three…

Elementra, please take me away. I don’t want to live anymore.

“Time to wake up. We’re having a morning ceremony this time, honey.” Her psychotic voice echoes around my stone prison and the look I shoot her makes the smile melt from her face.

I’m ready for her move this time. As soon as she snatches a handful of my hair forcefully, I quickly tilt my head back, then slam my forehead into her nose as hard as I can.

I relish the sight of blood pouring from it.

Revenge is a sweet, sweet nectar. And I’m starving for more.

My small victory is short-lived when, with a screech so loud I swear my eardrums bust, she rears back and clocks me right in my nose, breaking it instantly. The horrid taste of the tonics mingles on my tongue with my blood when she forces them down my throat as soon as my mouth falls open on a scream.

“Now we’ll match for our ceremony, you little fucker. Like it or not, in just a few minutes, you will be mine.”

The blaring sound of an alarm smothers her haunting laugh, followed by multiple footsteps pounding down the hallway.

Please, fuck, Elementra, let the building be on fire and let them forget me in here.

The bitch goes running through the door after a muttered curse and my world begins to tilt as the drugs start coursing through my veins.

I’m hallucinating. This isn’t real.

“Stay with me, Cas. Stay with me.”

“Aunt Tilly.”

“Cas, I’m here. Hold on, we’re going home.”

The shadows finally call me home.

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