Page 103 of I Am Salvation

He tries to get to his feet, but I have the upper hand here. I grab the knife and stab him again. Then three times. Four. Five.

I lose count.

His blood is everywhere, soaked through his T-shirt. Puddles of crimson seep into the carpet.

But he’s still fucking alive.

I anticipated this.

I grab the pillow and force it over his face. His muffled shrieks still ring through the cushion, but no one seems to hear him.

No one heard me the night he raped me. Guess people have learned to tone out the screams.

Or they just ignore them.

He keeps kicking, but he’s starting to slow down. I hold the pillow over his head strong, not wavering once.

I shouldn’t be able to keep this pillow against his head so forcefully, but something inside me has stirred some extra strength to the surface.

Finally, after several minutes, he stops kicking. I hear a small shudder from under the pillow. I remove it from his face and meet the cold, impassive stare of a corpse.

He’s dead.

And I’m the one who killed him.

And I feel…

Elated.

Fucking elated.

And I know, in that moment, that I’m evil.

It’s not this place. It’s not my parents.

It’s me.

I am sin.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Diana

My blood runs cold.

“You going to say something?” Dragon says.

I don’t know what to say. I can’t imagine that Dragon—especially as a young boy of thirteen—is capable of taking a life.

What did that kid do to him?

For already I know this was revenge.

Do I ask? Or do I let it lie?

I gulp. “What happened next?”

“I got caught, of course. I couldn’t run. I had nowhere to go. I knew it was a one-way street when I chose to take that walk. I knew what the consequences would be, and I accepted them.”

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