Page 16 of When Hearts Awaken

Blond hair. Light eyes. That jawline.

No. No, no, no. It can’t be.

I shake my head, cold sweat forming on my neck. My breathing ratchets up into desperate gasps as I clutch my leotard, unable to tear my eyes away from the man striding toward us with a wide smile on his face, saying hi to the people around him.

“Are you okay, Taylor? You look pale,” Bethany whispers as she discreetly holds onto my arm, and I realize I’m trembling.

I couldn’t answer her.

Because I’m seeing things I shouldn’t be seeing. Hearing things I shouldn’t be hearing.

“Fly, Harriet.”

“Merci beaucoup, Mademoiselle Renoir,” Sir Ian speaks.

The unmistakable raspy voice.

The man I remember in my tattered memory—the blurry and ever-changing visage of the monster who’s haunted me since I was sixteen.No. I’m healed already. I have everything under control. The past is in the past, and I’m in the present, moving on. Stop it, Lochness Monster!

“No one would miss you, little beauty,”the ghostly voice whispers.

Sir Ian scans the room before his gaze lands on me. He beams and extends his hand.

A distinct whiff of peppermint reaches my nose. The same smell from that night.

The world spins around me, the thundering pounding of my racing pulse eclipsing the sounds in the room. My chest heaves.

It can’t be him. Do you even remember what he looks like? You were drugged.

I can’t breathe. Fuck.Why can’t I breathe?

The people in the room morph into menacing dark shadows, and every atom in my body screeches at me to leave. The looming shadows move toward me.

Danger. I need to run. To escape them.Not again.

Screaming, I dart forward, desperate to flee from the monsters, my blood frenzied and hot, when suddenly someone grabs my wrist and holds on tightly.

I can’t move. Again.

The room fades away and I’m thrusted into the nightmare of my horrid memories.

Darkness cloaked me, my limbs feeling heavy. I could barely keep my eyes open, but whenever I’d open them, I’d see lights and colors streaking across my vision. I was so dizzy. Disoriented.

Everything came in fragments. Sounds of belt buckles clinking, zippers wrenching down, low grunts and raucous laughter. My dress ripping.

Their large hands. Two of them. No four. Or was it more? How many of them were there?

Heaviness. Pressure. Lots of pain.No, I don’t want this. I don’t want any of this!

My body wouldn’t obey me as my mind slowly caught up to what was happening to me.

I’m not here. I’m nowhere. This is a nightmare, and I’d wake up at any second.

“My beautiful Harriet. Fly, Harriet.” The same voice again. Then something happened. A strange sensation between my legs—the fire morphing into something else. I tried to speak, but only a moan slipped out.

“We’re just having fun, little beauty.”

Stop it. I don’t want this. Stop.No words would come out. A flash of red winked at me. I focused on it.

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