Page 54 of Dollhouse

Greg and Andrea were trying to adopt her, and when her caseworker, Millie, told her what she thought was great news, Lee freaked out.

Andrea convinced her it was no big deal, and Millie believed her and left.

Greg immediately dragged her into her bedroom and locked the door.

I begged Andrea to make him open the door, but she said that she must be punished, then left to work, leaving us behind to face the wrath of Greg.

Lee knows not to disobey or do anything that would upset Greg, though I couldn’t blame her for being angry that they’re likely going to adopt her. She’d been trying to escape ever since she learned how bad this house truly was. We’ve both been trying to leave. Which is impossible to do, because we’re always locked inside.

I was beating on the door yelling for Greg to unlock it and hit me instead, but he just yelled for me to go away then he would hit her again.

I had never heard Lee scream and cry so loud before.

Every time she screamed, it tore me apart.

Lee was thirteen now, and I was sixteen. We had been together in this house for three years, and every day that passed, I realized that no one would ever come to save us.

No one cared about us.

My caseworker had stopped coming a year ago, and her caseworker only visited once a month and believed that Andrea and Greg were saints for caring for two teenagers.

I kept promising her I’d protect her, and I continued to fail day after day. All I did was deliver her one broken promise after another.

Her screams were ripping me apart from the inside, just as my anger was increasing by the minute.

I’m pretty sure I had an out-of-body experience or blacked out for a moment because one second I was listening to her screams, the next second I was breaking the door down, yelling for him to leave her alone.

“Get out of here, boy! This doesn’t concern you,” he spat, raising the hand that held the belt in the air. I had grabbed his wrist, preventing him from swinging it at her again.

“That’s enough! Get the fuck away from her!” I roared, rage flowing through my veins.

Lee was on the floor in a fetal position, her body bright red with welts from the belt, and from underneath her white t-shirt, I could see the crimson stains.

This was the last time this motherfucker made her bleed.

It’s now or never, he must be stopped.

Lee’s terrified turquoise eyes looked up at me and held my gaze.

Lost in her eyes, the only thing I could focus on was her scared but beautiful eyes.

I hadn’t even realized what I was doing until I’d felt the warm liquid cover my hand and Greg collapsed to the ground.

My heart was pounding in my chest. I was certain if I looked down, I’d be able to witness it beat out of my chest.

Her eyes had widened as she stood slowly on shaky legs.

Greg’s fat lifeless body was a mutilated bloody mess, and I could feel the blood splatters on my face and see it cover my hands.

What the fuck had I just done?

I‘d been too consumed by my rage to realize what I’d done.

An overwhelming feeling of calmness had came over me.

I wasn’t afraid of the fact I’d just killed someone.

I’d done it to protect Lee, the girl I loved.

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