Page 17

MARA

D rip…drip…drip.

Hunger gnawed in my belly—a twisting pain that caused me to wake up. My eyes fluttered open. Light stung them, but I forced them to remain open. How long had it been? How long had I been hanging here like this?

Drip…drip…drip.

Bile charged up my throat, burning all the way, and it took everything within me to keep from hurling stomach acid on the floor as I stared at the ground. Red dribbled down my legs, slid down my feet to my toes.

Drip…drip…drip.

The drain wasn’t silver anymore. The stone wasn’t gray. Everything was painted crimson. Everything was painted red. Everything was painted with brush strokes of my blood.

Drip…drip…drip.

My arms ached. My whole body craved nothing more than to lie down, to rest in any position other than this one.

But there was no use in struggling. Struggling only caused the leather straps to dig deeper into the flesh of my wrists, placed more strain on my fatigued ligaments, and slowly killed the little spirit I had left.

Drip…drip…drip.

I liked it better in the dark. I liked it better when I couldn’t see. Because watching the life drip out of me was so much worse than facing my nightmares in the dark. The pain was coming alive. The agony was returning. Because nothing was spared this time around…except my face. He spared my face.

So your father knows it’s you, he had said to me.

My breath was labored. It hurt to breathe at all.

And I wanted so badly to die. I was beyond broken.

Beyond anything that could be repaired. There was nothing left of me.

If I was lucky, I would finish bleeding out before they came to take me.

Then maybe I would be spared more pain because I wasn’t sure I could take any more.

Everything had fallen apart. I was nothing but broken bones and mutilated flesh, hair and teeth, and eyes that couldn’t stop weeping.

Drip…drip…drip.

It was better when I was unconscious. It hurt so much less. So I sought it out. I felt into the burn, praying that maybe I would pass out again. And just when I thought I couldn’t stand the pain anymore, exhaustion overcame me, and I went out cold once more.

***

The metal hinges of the door squeaked loudly, startling me awake, and my skin crawled at the sound.

I didn’t bother opening my eyes. I knew what was before me.

I knew that my reckoning had come. I was going to be lowered to the ground, into the pool of my coagulated blood, and then carted off to Telvia.

I hoped I would die here. Be done with the pain and the torture and the anguish my heart carried. But no such mercy existed for me .

Exhaustion tugged at my senses—consciousness, a fleeting thing. Even when I tried to open my eyes, I couldn’t see. So I kept them closed.

“Mara?”

The voice sounded familiar to me…one I hadn’t heard in a long time. But the thought was brief. I couldn’t hold it.

“Get her down, now !” A different voice. So forceful. But even though I knew he was shouting, he sounded so far away.

“Hold on, Mara.” Just whispers.

Unconsciousness tugged at my mind. Dreams murmured in my ear.

“Careful! Bring her down slowly.”

“Damn, she looks—”

“Say it and I’ll fucking punch you in the face again.”

My body moved. My toes touched the ground. Then I was being held, but it wasn’t comforting. Everywhere my body touched stung and ached and felt like my skin was being bathed in the fire of the sun. I wanted to shout, but I had nothing left inside me to scream. All that left me were whimpers.

“Fuck,” I heard next to my ear. Was that a sob? A stifled cry? “I’m so sorry, Mara. Just hang on.”

I shuddered, the pain alive within me. But that voice... I knew that voice, and I wanted to see his face. I pushed back against the dark, clawed against the unconsciousness that threatened to steal me once more. My lashes fluttered.

“That’s it. Open your eyes for me...let me see those beautiful eyes.”

My vision offered me blurred brush strokes of color, but those colors stole my breath.

Green like fresh blades of grass in a meadow.

Gold like the rays of the dawning sun.

And I smelled rain. Like the first showers of spring pattering on leaves of eucalyptus.

My head lolled back as I felt him gently stroke my hair .

“Stay with me, Mara. Keep those eyes open for me,” he whispered, sounding so pained.

I shuddered again as my voice failed me…only a hoarse sound. “Wes?”

“Shh…” Another stroke to my hair. “You’re safe. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Just stay with me, okay? Just stay with me.”

I wanted to. I wanted to stay with him. I wanted to stay with him forever. But the pain was so great, I could hardly keep my eyes open any longer. Darkness circled back in on me.

“Mara?” A whisper. “ Mara! ” A desperate cry.

I didn’t hear anything else after that. I was gone.