Page 81 of Merciless

I wake with a start, vomit burning the back of my throat and I scramble off the bed and rush toward the toilet, heaving into the bowl.I was only thirteen. A child. I should have been out playing with my friends, doing homework. Not being forced to endure that kind of abuse and pain.

Leave me alone, I silently scream. Begging for mercy.

It’s been years since they touched me. Since they irrevocably broke me in every way possible.

I retch until there is nothing left, desperately trying to expel the memories of their touch, their words, their pain, their everything.

Pain grips my stomach as I curl up on the cold, hard floor and hug my legs to my chest.

Mav might have taken me away from hell. But I never left. Not really. Those monsters imprinted themselves on my soul, and even when their deaths finally come, I know they’ll still live on through me.

I’ll never forget them. Ever.

It’s why it doesn’t matter what happens to me down here. Reid can do his worst. It still won’t be as bad as the memories I’m forced to live with daily.

I don’t cry, but that doesn’t mean my cheeks aren’t soaked.

I hate shedding tears over them. They don’t deserve it.

All they deserve now are painful deaths.

It’ll happen. Somehow, I will find a way to make it happen.

Mav and I were working on a plan. Discovering all their secrets, ready to bring them to their knees. Shame them, just like they have me, before finally giving them the kind of ending they deserve.

I want it to be painful and bloody and I want it to haunt them long after they turn up in hell.

But like always, Victor storms in and ruins everything.

Now I’m locked down here useless, and Mav is out there running around Harrow Creek trying to find me.

It’s pointless. If Reid doesn’t want me found, then I won’t be.

Mav might as well give up. I may as well be dead.

After long, painful minutes, I finally wipe my cheeks with the backs of my hands and walk over to the sink to attempt to freshen my mouth with the tepid water from the faucet.

Feeling, and I’m sure looking, like shit, I fall back down onto my bed.

My entire body trembles with lingering fear and disgust from that nightmare. Yet my stomach is empty and growling once again, making me regret tossing those extra burgers out yesterday.

I glance at my wrists and I’m amazed to find that this time, they’re not red and angry. They’re… almost normal.

I didn’t even fight.

That motherfucker stuck two needles through my nipples and I didn’t fucking fight.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

I’m so lost in my own head that a shriek of fright spills from my lips when my locks disengage, and the door flies open.

Reid stands there in the doorway, looking larger than life. Totally unfazed by what’s happening in this basement.

Looking at him, you’d never know he almost beat a man to death down here a few hours ago. The blood he’d covered himself in has been long washed down the drain.

“Let’s go,” he says quietly. “You’ve got a visitor.”

My heart jumps into my throat and hope rushes through my veins.

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