Page 15 of Never Give Up

“Yeah, bub?” I want to reach out and hold my son in my arms, but I don’t move.

“I don’t like her,” Jonathan says succinctly. “I think you should help Maya no matter what.”

“I’m going to try, buddy. Get some sleep.” Instead of saying anything else, I let it sink in that my son is right. I just sit there and rub Jonathan’s back, comforted by the rhythmic sound of his breathing until the soft snores mean he is asleep again.

As I push myself up from Jonathan’s bed, I send a silent prayer up to whatever powers there are to watch over him and keep the nightmares at bay as I enter my room.

I’m almost asleep when the phone starts ringing.

5

MAYA

Someone’s here.

Bile wakes me up as it rises in my throat. Every instinct in me switches on to high alert as a floorboard creaks in the hall beyond my open door.

Heart hammering, I throw back the blankets as quietly as I can.

Someone is here.

Run.

Fucking run.

Panic pushes at me, screaming inside for me to move and get out. But I can’t let it win. I refuse to let it take over. I need to get the machete next to my door. The one Brandi and I laughed about.

Now, it’s my only chance to survive.

Silently, I roll out of bed and creep to my bedroom door, where the glint of metal shines in the moonlight through the window. I’m reaching for it, my fingersso closeto gripping it, when everything stops.

In the doorway stands a man in a black shirt and pants, with a plain black mask on his face.

But his eyes.

His eyes are shining with something disgusting. Something deadly.

It’s too late.

My blood freezes, and I suck air in, managing to let out a single ear-piercing scream before he’s on me, pressing his hand to my mouth and forcing me backward until I feel like I’m falling, only to land on the bed with his weight pressing down on top of me.

“If you say a word or scream again, I’m going to kill you and then I’m going to wait until your roommate comes home and I’m going to kill her, too. Do you understand me?” I nod, because what other answer can I give in that moment? I know I’m going to die. I know there’s nothing else I can do except maybe spare Brandi from the exact same fate.

Eyes wide, I stare up at him, trying to control the panic. My mind flies into survival mode as I try to find a space to fight and time trickles down until it’s barely moving. Every second ticking by lasts longer than an hour, and I still can’t think of anything to get out of this. To save myself.

One wrong move and he’ll kill me before I can come up with a plan.

He pulls a rag from somewhere and shoves it in past my teeth, gagging me with the taste of wet cotton as I scream, sealing my mouth with a piece of duct tape that pulls at my skin.

It snaps something inside.

I fight back, scratching at his face and trying to knee him hard between the legs. Anything and everything I can think of to get away.

He’s bigger and stronger than I am, and fighting isn’t doing anything but aggravating him. I know I’m pissing him off but there’s no stopping now. Not when it’s literally life or death that I’m facing. If I don’t fight, then he’s gonna win, and I’m not going to go out that way. I try to ball my fists and hit him, but he catches my hands in one of his and holds them above my head.

Then he punches me in the face.

Everything wavers and my ears ring as pain ricochets through me, while I barely choke back the vomit already climbing my throat.

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