Page 127 of Voracious

I manage to look at him, refusing to accept I’m anything like these freaks as I snap, “No. It’s because you’re sick bastards and you all deserve to die.”

He takes a step closer to me as he smiles. It looks wrong and his eyes are filled with too much sickness, contrasting against his dark brown hair as he stays out of reach while taunting me.

“You can play with my dolls now, we can even make new games, as long as you take your punishment for misbehaving and become my good little girl again, you can join us.”

Dima always says good girl and it fills me warmth. This just adds more insects to live under my skin and crawl between my organs. They itch as their legs dig into each part of me and multiply. So many ants.

I clench my teeth, my body shaking along with the chains from the force of keeping my pained whimper back as he strokes my cheek with the tip of his finger. “I have so much to teach you, sweet girl, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

I don’t speak and remind myself of facts. I have a dad now, like B, he’s crazy and he’ll kill everyone. I think he will anyway, and uncles who might too. And I have a Dima, he’s not crazy but he promised not to leave me alone.

Everything crumbles inside of me at the reminder of how he was laid on the floor. I’ll meet him in Venus, yeah he said he’ll meet me there. Dima and me, no Yulia, and no Rowan. We’ll have two more planets until we get to the sun. It will just be Dima and me.

My silence makes everything louder and there’s a faint hum. Rowan takes a step back, taking out his phone. Whatever he reads on the screen pisses him off because his shoulder twitches outside of his usual pattern. He abruptly turns, walking towards the open door and says to Yulia over his shoulder, “Get rid of her, she’s no fun anymore.”

She gets up, listening to his every command like the little bitch she is. Rowan pauses at the threshold of the door to look at me with his lips in a stupid fucking smirk.

“I wonder if he’ll bury you himself for the second time. The first time was entertaining to watch.” He sighs and smiles to himself as he holds up his phone, showing a red dot. “We’ll find out.” And the door slams as he leaves.

Yulia doesn’t step closer to me. She goes to the side, out of my line of sight on the same wall as me and the chains groan as they’re loosened. My arms drop heavily at my sides, and I smile, seeing the knife she picks up. As soon as the chains give me enough freedom to walk, I drag myself towards her but she’s still out of reach.

“Come closer, you dumb bitch,” I dare.

She takes a step back and shakes her head. All the color has drained from her face and her beady little snake eyes flick from the door to me as though she’s expecting someone to walk in.

“I’ve learnt from your exploits how much damage you can cause.”

My limbs are weighed down from being stretched for so long and I can’t lift them with the heavy chains secured against my wrists and ankles. I still try and bite down on my own teeth through the pain as I stare at the bitch.

“That was me warming up,” I confirm. “But now, you don’t have Nina and I’ll get my reward for everything you took from me and what you did to my dad.” I lean forward and smile, unblinking. “It’s going to be fun testing out everything I’ve learnt and all my new ideas on you.”

Her anger comes out and she snaps her head to me. Some of the color is replaced in her face as she spits, “You think you are anything to harm me?” She looks me up and down and her lips curl up into a snarl. “You are nothing, nobody, you don’t even exist. I fed you, named you, and made you what you are.”

My mouth opens, ready to tell her that she’s wrong and I am a person but I’m cut off as the entire building rocks, a deafening crash that has concrete dust erupting from the walls, and I laugh to myself, knowing she’s going to die. I lock onto her, watching the fear on her face, and smile widely because this means Dima is alive. He didn’t leave me. If anyone found me, they found him first.

My voice is lighter at the knowledge I’ll see the twin moons soon.

“I told you I have a dad, uncles too,” I say then drop my voice to singsong, “They’re all crazy and they don’t like you.”

The knife clatters against the concrete floor at my feet and she shakily pulls her phone out of her pocket as she gives me an order.

“Slit your throat. And leave the knife in.”

Fuck her.

“Do it yourself, you lazy cunt,” I fire back.

I’m not dying when I have Dima. Val and Tali won’t let him die, they call him their stepdad and they care about him.

He was breathing, they found him, and they fixed him.

Yulia brings her phone up and I can’t make sense of what I’m seeing until she says, “Do it or that man you love dies.”

I don’t blink as I stare at the screen. It’s an operating table, the person’s chest is open with blood everywhere, I can see his heart but there’s too much blood.

The camera slowly pans up, showing above the blue curtain and the first thing I see is the ink on his neck.

Then Dima’s face with a tube in his mouth.

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