Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63565 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 318(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
11
The cattle prod hits my side, and I scream with wild agony as my back slams against the back of the cage. My head is pounding and I’m not certain the stitches will hold if I keep thrashing around the way I am, but if I don’t keep moving, the pain only comes harder and stronger. Like a wild animal, I’m caged and being tortured. Indeed, a circus is exactly what this place is.
Only instead of animals, Marek uses humans.
I don’t want to speak; I’m trying everything I can to keep it in. I can handle pain, I can. If I keep saying that I don’t know, over and over again, maybe eventually he’ll believe me. I know, deep down, that he won’t stop. He doesn’t believe me because he knows I’m lying. He always knows when I’m lying. At what point did I ever think I was going to get away with this?
The electric shock hits me again, this time in my thigh. The man outside the cage is shoving it in, over and over again, hitting me until the air is sucked from my lungs and I can’t breathe, let alone scream. My body is on fire, and I know my heart will stop soon. I’ve seen it happen. The more they hit me with this, the less my body will be able to handle it. Marek knows that I know, and he knows I’ll break.
“Tell me where she is,” Marek orders, standing by the cage as his minion shoves the prod in again.
“I don’t know,” I gasp, rolling to my side as another bolt shoots through my shoulder.
My heart stutters, my breath stops, my mouth opens, and, for a second, I can’t move.
He’s going to kill me soon.
I know it as well as he does.
I also know he won’t stop.
He will kill me, and it will mean absolutely nothing to him. He won’t lose sleep, hell, he would likely forget my name in a matter of minutes.
“You’re running out of time, Acacia,” Marek says, so calm it’s terrifying.
“I don’t know, Marek. For god’s sake, I don’t fucking know. If I knew, I would have said something by now. I don’t want to die, dammit. I don’t know!”
My pained wails are loud and desperate as I try to cram my body against the back of the cage to avoid any more shocks, but they keep coming until my wails turn into silent screams and I can no longer move. I’m on the ground, curled up, gasping for air and nothing I can do will seem to stop the excruciating pain that is traveling through my body, seeming to shock me over and over again, even though they’ve stopped. I can’t take it anymore, my heart is racing and know soon, it’ll stop.
“I killed her,” I choke out, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Stop,” Marek orders, and I have no doubt that I was about to be hit once more. “Repeat yourself.”
Lifting my head, my sweat-soaked hair falls over my face as I stare up at the monster looking down at me. “I said, I killed her.”
My vision swims as I watch his expression change to that of admiration. Like he is proud of me. This evil son of a bitch is acting like I told him I just won a running race. His face breaks out into a cold smile as he leans down to the cage and stares in at me. “Well, well, the plot thickens.”
“Let me out,” I spit at him, wheezing through the pain.
Marek straightens and nods to the man who was happily torturing me. That man then leans in, curling his hand around my arm, and hauls me out. My legs don’t work, so when he tosses me, I simply crumple to the floor. The man leans down, hauling me back up with such force my head spins. He doesn’t let me fall again, though, instead he holds me in front of Marek who reaches forward and carefully tucks a strand of damp hair behind my ear. “Aren’t you in a world of trouble?”
“What do you want from me?” I moan.
“Your mother and I conducted important business, business that brought me in a lot of money. So, you see, with her gone, we have a problem.”
“You think I can’t keep that going?” I hiss, wincing at the crushing pressure on my chest.
“I’m starting to think I don’t know you at all. I can’t say I’m not impressed, Acacia. I figured one day your mother would be taken down, but I never thought it would be from her own flesh and blood ...”
I cast my eyes to the ground, rage gripping my heart.
I don’t regret it, and that’s what hurts me the most. Knowing that I can feel nothing at the thought of my own mother rotting in the ocean somewhere is terrifying. I fear it means I have no heart, but when it comes to her, my heart was turned to stone a long time ago. It certainly wasn’t how I planned on things turning out. I wanted to be free of this world. And now, I fear I’m more tangled up in it than I ever have been before.