Page 42 of Amethyst

He jerks upward. “Jen?”

“Hey. I… Thank you.”

He cocks his head. “Thank you?”

“Well, yeah. For doing what I asked of you. For bringing me back into sex.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sure. No problem.” His voice cracks a little.

I grab my panties, my shoes, and my dress, and escape into his bathroom. I dress quickly and then look in the mirror above Max’s sink.

The scar on my cheek. Sometimes it’s all I can see.

No.

No.

No, I won’t go back.

No…

But the images blur, and as I grasp his granite countertop, blood drips from the cut on my face…

* * *

No!

The searing pain as my flesh is cut.

Mr. Brown.

Not his real name, of course. None of these men use their real names. Smith, Jones, Brown, Miller.

We have a lot of them.

This one is Mr. Brown, and he always wears a mask. A simple black mask like the Lone Ranger.

But still I can see his eyes. They’re dark blue, and they’re so full of hatred.

He likes to fuck me. Chase me around the hunting grounds and then fuck me. He’s not usually too cruel.

But tonight, he’s different. His eyes are different.

He pulls out a knife, and he cuts my face.

Tears stream down my cheeks, and the salt from them make the wound hurt more.

“Not so pretty now, are you?”

I bite my lip, try to keep from crying out.

But I’m not as strong as some of the girls. Garnet, Opal… they’re all much stronger than I am.

They never cry, and they get tortured so much worse than I do.

Garnet was in the infirmary for weeks one time. So was Moonstone.

He taunts me again. “You’re ugly now. No one else will want you.”

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