I was too much.
How could she leave me to this fate?
I don’t know how much time passes, but I know something bad is coming. The wait is almost too much to bear.
Sitting in the corner of my room, I grip a soft teddy bear until pain aches my fingertips. The chime of the doorbell signals the visitor who haunts my nightmares.
Please go away.
Please go away.
Mumbled voices followed by footfalls stopping outside my room blast like a siren in my head.
The latch clicks. The handle drops, and so does my stomach.
No. Go away.
Panic seizes my joints. I can’t move.
The door creaks open, the imposing figure filling the space. “Hello, little love.”
Sickness roils my stomach.
“I want the drink,” I plead, the words clawing up my throat.
The man steps into the room, licking his lips. “Remember, no visible bruises,” Grandpa tells him, he and Grandma standing behind the man looking in at me.
What about the internal ones? The mental ones?Why don’t you love me?
“Grandma, I want the drink,” I plead.
“You should have thought about that.” Her evil face twists.
The man reaches for his belt as the door slams and the lock engages. “Be a good girl. I’m not going to hurt you,” he spills his lies, taking off his jacket and hanging it on a hook on the door.
I want to die too.
Mama went to heaven and left me in hell.
The man pulls off his collar and places it on my doll house. The devil disguised as a man of god.
“On the bed, Lily. Be a good girl.”
One day, I’m going to kill them all.
Heaven be damned.
CHAPTERTWO
Present
LILY
Twenty years old…
“She’s fucking crazy,” the little wimp cries out, nursing his hand against his chest, red liquid dripping to the floor at his feet.
“Why the fuck did you stab him?” Rage exhales, sick of my shit. He’s sitting at a table in the main room of the clubhouse with our prez and two guys I don’t recognize. My gaze is drawn to the one fidgeting with a lighter, twirling it in his hand, glacier blue eyes focused on the action.