Page 4 of Little Liar

Heart thumping heavy in my chest, I hold my breath—it always helps not to cry when I hold my breath, even if it hurts me and makes my eyes water.

The boots come closer to my bed. I gulp and try scooting away.

My heart goes faster as I gather Rex in my hands protectively. I won’t let them hurt Rex. I—

A hand grabs at my ankle, and the noise I want to let out makes my lungs burn as I’m dragged from under the bed to see a bearded man grinning down at me.

I close my eyes and scream so loud in my head, my brain aches and I get dizzy.

I hold Rex to my chest, my eyes stinging with tears as the man grabs my jaw. I open my eyes to see the other one grinning with a toothless mouth. His gaze drops to my hands. “What do we have here?”

He grabs Rex, and I panic, unable to pull the words together to tell them to stop as they start throwing Rex back and forth like it’s a game. The bad man wraps his fingers around Rex, and I stare at him with wide eyes, desperate for him not to hurt my best friend. I want to scream for them to leave him alone, but I can’t.

I can’t. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.

Rex is the only part I have left of my daddy until he comes for me.

“Your mom is dying,” he says. “Do you want us to help her?”

I nod, my bottom lip trembling.

Please save her. Please, please, please.

“Use your words, boy.”

My lips part, but no sound comes out. I can’t. What’s wrong with me?

He laughs loudly and looks at his friend. “I think we traumatized the kid.”

“Take him downstairs. Show him his whore of a mother taking her last breaths.”

I’m grabbed by the shoulder and dragged to my feet, and then he laughs again. “He’s wearing a goddamn shitty diaper.”

“I want my fifty bucks back,” his friend replies, grimacing.

They take me downstairs, and I can hear the dogs barking, trapped in the kitchen. The man drops me onto the floor, and I open my eyes to see Mommy on the ground, vomit dripping from her mouth, unblinking, staring right at me as her chest struggles to rise and fall—she’s making a horrible choking noise.

Oh no. Mommy? Are you okay?

I can’t form the words.

“Beg us to save her, and we’ll get the paramedics here.”

I look up at the bearded man, my teeth rattling with fear.

I can’t.

I can’t save her.

“Hmm,” he hums, grabbing something from the table. “The kid has a voice. Elise showed us those videos of him, remember? We just need to drag it out of him. What’s in this?” He lifts the pointy thing I’ve seen my mommy play with, and his friend shrugs.

Pain explodes in my arm—I hold my breath and close my eyes as the men chuckle. “He’s stubborn like his mother.”

My eyes go funny—I can’t control them or my body, and I grow weak and tired real fast.

Hours later, I sit up from the floor. Mommy is still in the same position, but her lips are blue and her eyes are still open. The bad men are sitting on the sofa. “Look, the little fucker is awake again.”

My feet hurt. My arms hurt.