Chapter Seventeen

Lexi

The sound of someone rustling around in the darkness pulls me a little from the depths of unconsciousness. I strain to see through the fog that still clouds my mind and eyes. It isn’t Mirima, her body is too small. Even in the darkness I would recognise her. In all my years here he has never brought a new girl into the house. Not even for a night. Who is this girl and why has he brough her here. Maybe he will leave me alone for a while and take some of his aggression out on her. I feel awful for thinking it and guilt fights for a place in my body alongside the pain that already fills me. I close my eyes when the sound of her rummaging stops. I hear her make her way over to the bed and her stifled gasp as she kneels on the floor beside me.

Her hands are gentle on my body as she applies the cream Miriam usually uses after he has battered me. I try not to cry out into the empty, dirty cellar, but the pain is too much. I wish he would just end me, but he enjoys breaking me over and o