Page 1 of Severance

PROLOGUE

Dahlia

Lying on my back, my vision is blurry and my surroundings are out of focus as my eyes adjust to the blinding lights in the room. Rubbing my eyes, the fuzziness slowly dissipates and the ceiling that I’m staring at is all too familiar.

The room isn’t clean like it once was. It’s dusty and dingy with chunks of drywall hanging from large jagged cracks in the walls. The bed beneath me is lumpy and falling apart after years of use and the years that have passed.

Underneath the thick layer of filth is the room where I spent many long hours.

It’s the room which brought Kai and I together. It tied the knot that left us connected for the rest of our lives.

Through the unspeakable things we were forced to endure, we were bound together.

But, like all things in life, the good and the bad coexist. The unbreakable bond that we shared came with a cost.

My life.

I had to leave the girl that I once was behind and I was forever changed because of this place and these people.

I became someone entirely different, but my soul would always be tethered to Kai’s.

Despite it all, I wouldn’t change a single part of it. Every moment in our lives brought us together. No one knows my soul like Kai does.

He’s my weakness and it’s a force that’s stronger than me. I was done fighting against us and it was time to fight for us.

???

Slowly sitting up, my eyelids droop as my mind becomes fuzzy. I’m caught in a temporary haze as a whooshing sound rings in my ears.

I’ve done my fair share of drugs so I know that I was given something.

Luca’s face flashes into my mind.

“Welcome home, princess…”

He laughed in my face as I stared at the farm in shock and as I turned away from him, something pricked the side of my neck.

A warm, tingling sensation quickly spread through my body as I drifted off into the dark abyss.

And here I was… Luca brought me back to where it all started.

But, why?

Much to my surprise, I’m lying freely on the bed, with no ropes or chains holding me down. As I gain my balance and sit upright, the door slowly creaks open. I squint my eyes against the bright light as I make out the large, burly man in the doorway, inhaling sharply as we make eye contact.

“Well, well, well.” Stan smirks as he walks farther into the room. “Look at how grown up our little princess is now.”

When did Stan get here?

I only remember Luca…

My throat is like sandpaper as I swallow hard. “Where is Luca?” I croak.

Stan chuckles as he stops in front of me. “You would rather him be here than me?”

My face remains stoic as I narrow my eyes at him. I give him nothing. I have no words for him.

I would rather them both be here at the same time. They deserved to see each other die.

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