Page 81 of In the Light of Sin

Jordyn was the popular, sporty girl.

I was just her sister.

“Go put your bags in your rooms. Pick whichever one ya want.” Uncle Brian told us once, since twice would’ve been too much around men like his friends, and I was already feeling extremely uncomfortable with the amount of attention they were giving us. Jordyn and I ran to the hall, her picking the first open room while I settled for the second. It was a small room, but it wasn’t bad. It had a bed, a closet, and a window overlooking the trashy backyard. My nose scrunched as I saw a broken beer bottle and shards of glass on the floor.

Looks like I would have some cleaning to do—after Uncle Brian’s friends left.

“Like your room?” I froze. Thirty minutes after entering my new home, I packed away most of my stuff when one of his friends barged in. He held his hands up in defense, and I noticed he had a wine cooler in his hand as he made his way to the bed. “Not gonna hurt ya, just wanted to introduce myself. My name’s Douglas.”

I didn’t respond, but he took it as an invitation to sit next to me on the lumpy mattress. “What do you like to do for fun?”

I shrugged. “Study.”

He snorted. “Don’t drink?”

I shook my head. “Not old enough.”

“That’s a pathetic excuse.” He shoved the fruity cocktail into my hands. “Live a little.”

I tried to give it back to him. “No, thank you.”

“One sip?” He was relentless. “I got it just for you.”

I frowned, looking at the bottle. It was a pretty pink. It said strawberry kiwi on the side. He popped the tab open for me, and it smelled exactly like the fruit it said it was on the side, mixed with a musky-type scent. I knew what it was. That was the alcohol.

“Brian told me a bit about you.” His smile was charming. He told him about me? “Told me no boys liked you because you’re deaf. That true?”

Of course, anything anyone ever said about me related to the fact that I couldn’t hear. I hung my head, still not sipping my drink. “Yeah.”

“They’re just boys,” he whispered in my ear as I shivered. No one’s ever gotten this close to me. “I’m a man, drink up. Let’s have some fun.”

I don’t know whether it was the fact I was actually getting attention from the opposite sex, but I found myself dumbly agreeing to an idea I knew wasn’t good. “Okay.”

I sipped on the bottle until it was gone, Douglas giving me drink after drink—some lighter, some heavier. After a few, my head went light, and black spots started to spread in my vision when I moved. Douglas was there for me the entire time, eating up the fact that I was drinking with him.

“You’re beautiful, though.” His hand went under my chin, my tipsy state warming me up, making Douglas’ touch scorch where it touched my skin. “I know another way we could have some fun.”

“I’m only sixteen,” I told him as I pulled away from his touch, his intentions with me sobering me up slightly. I wasn’t interested in having sex with a man who was almost a decade older than me, even if the attention he was giving me felt nice after a life of being ignored by everyone but my family. I wanted someone who I loved and who undoubtedly loved me back.

“That’s okay.” He shrugged, standing up and leaving the room briefly before coming back with a few more wine coolers. “Drink up.”

The drinks kept coming until my eyes shut. Douglas’ smug grin was the last fleeting thought before I became blissfully unaware of anything around me, weightless as the alcohol clouded my senses.

When I’d gone to bed, the sun was setting, now it was rising.

When I’d gone to bed, I wasn’t in any pain, but now there was a stinging pain between my legs.

I groaned, sitting up, my mouth dropping open as I saw blood on the sheets. I didn’t recognize the scream that left my lips. I just scrambled off the bed, knees hitting the floor and my hand brushing something cold and sticky. I froze at what I saw.

A used condom.

My eyes welled up with disbelieving tears.

It was like a trophy to him. He wanted me to see the aftermath of what he did to me.

My tears fell on my hand, the world around me stilling as my mind tried to wrap around what undeniably happened. Something I never thought would happen to me.

In less than a day, I lost more than my parents…

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