MasukTatiana
“You are an hour late.” Emily is standing by my locker when I get to school. She looks furious and a little concerned. I stuff my books into my locker before turning to her.
“My car wouldn’t start, and my foolish brother thought it wise to get on my nerves while I was trying to fix it. I swear, sometimes I think he enjoys watching me struggle.” I can see the tension in Emily's shoulders relax slightly as she rolls her eyes, her expression softening. “Well, at least you made it. Let’s just hope we don’t miss the first period again.” Just then, Hasan walks by with a group of friends. He smiles and winks at me before wrapping his hands around one of his friends, blabbing nonsense as they disappear into the hallway. “God! Isn’t he dreamy?” Emily gushes, bringing her hand to her chest whilst dramatically hitting her back against her locker. There’s a big smile on her face and her wide eyes are glued on Hasan’s behind, I swear you could see the stars in there. Bile rises in my throat, and I make a fake gag sound. “Jesus, Emily! That’s my f*ck*ng brother. Of course, he isn’t dreamy.” “Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t once had a nasty thought about Hasan since his transformation.” Emily looks at me briefly before turning back to stare at the hallway where Hasan and his group of fuckers were. “Because I sure have. Every night, I dream of him doing nasty, dirty things to me.” I roll my eyes, and this time, I almost vomit. Not from disgust at Emily’s thoughts of my brother, but out of jealousy because I have had those thoughts about him too. Hell, I even acted out on those thoughts, and I fear he may have caught me. But of course, I don’t tell Emily that. I leave her standing, dreaming about my brother, and walk to class. Seconds later, she’s by me, struggling to meet my pace. We march steadily to class, and she begins recounting the meeting with the cheerleading team I missed. Although it was the first day back in school, the school football team had a match. My girls and I spent the last days of summer practicing. While I had trust in them to do an amazing job, I still wanted to discuss some details with them. Thankfully, Emily was aware of this and did that in my absence. We made it to class before the tardy bell. The teacher walked in almost immediately after we took our seats. She scribbled her name on the board before addressing us. “Good morning, class. Welcome to AP Chemistry. I am Miss Treton.” Her introduction was brief. She took attendance, and each one of us answered present. Except for Hasan. She called his name the second time before it struck me that he took up AP Chemistry. I remember Mom’s orders. Suddenly, I didn’t want Hasan to get in trouble on the first day of school. “Miss, Hasan Olivera is part of the football team. They’re currently out for practice.” I regretted my lie as soon as I spoke. What if it comes to bite me in the *ss? True, the football team did have practice, but not until break. Miss Treton doesn’t say a word and begins class. An hour later, when the bell goes off, everyone walks out of class. “A word, Miss Olivera.” Miss Treton calls out. Emily and I exchange puzzled looks. I signaled for her to wait for me outside. “I understand Mr. Olivera is your brother— “ “Step.” I quickly corrected, shrinking on the spot when she looks at me with a look cold enough to freeze me on the spot. “He is my stepbrother.” She resumes scribbling in her jotter. “I understand Mr. Olivera is your brother, and you are trying to look out for him. Lie to me one more time and I will fail you. We don’t want that soiling your Yale application, do we?” her voice lowers into something low and threatening, a stark contrast to the sharp, happy voice she used when she introduced herself. I swallowed a gulp and nodded. She dismisses me. HOURS LATER The football game was about to start. The girls and I met an hour earlier to run our choreography one more time. The stadium was large and filled with students from Windsor High, our high school, and a few from the team we were competing against. Dressed in our cute little cheer dresses, the girls and I stood on the exit way that led to the field, cheering our poms as the boys walked out. Hasan was the captain and stood first on the line. He winks at me, and my insides do somersaults, and I almost forget my routine. My girls, however, gushed and squealed, thinking Hasan had winked at them. I roll my eyes and give them a stern look, silently telling them to be on their best behavior. In effect, I acted out of jealousy. I hated that they would even think Hasan had winked at them. He belonged to me and me alone. What? Wait? The roaring in the crowd tears me from my daydream only to realize that the girls had already transited to the next routine. I mentally curse myself for letting Hasan and his gimmicks get to my head. I rapidly fall into the routine, hoping that no one took notice of my fault. The game starts. The first shot from the Windsor team has the crowd roaring louder than when they had first sprinted in. In seconds, we hit our first touchdown, and the crowd went crazy, the cheer team included. By the end of the game, Windsor High was leading by a whopping twenty points. I mean, did the other team even practice? After the game, I am in the locker room cleaning up. A group of girls walk in, blabbing and gushing about being invited to a party being organized by the head of the football team. I slam my locker shut and immediately scurry for the boy’s locker room. I didn’t think twice as I walked in. It hadn’t occurred to me that the room would be full with a bunch of horny high school boys. But alas, the deed had already been done. I sprint for Hasan’s locker as though I had been in here a dozen times, ignoring the murmurs and coos that came in as I walked past. Hasan is talking with some friends when I slam his locker shut, drawing his attention to me. The brown of his eyes and the whiteness of his teeth almost knock me off my feet. He raises his left hand and rests it against the locker. My eyes follow his movements hungrily. “Yes, Taty?” he lifts a brow in a nonchalant yet s*xy way. “You’re hosting a party?” “I am. Matter of fact, you are invited.” Hasan retorts almost immediately. He picks a towel from the bench and begins to wipe his damp hair. He drops the towel and walks away from me. Momentarily, my eyes are glued to his hair, each strand seeming to have a life of its own. I quickly snap out of my daydream, remembering what had brought me into this horny trap in the first place. “No, you can’t. You’re under my care and I refuse to let you make a mess of the house. Mother will kill me if she finds out.” I follow behind him as he grabs his shirt and throws it over his head. “And you will take very good care of me, won’t you, Taty?” his voice lowers into something low and sultry that makes a tear roll down my thighs. “You’ll have to put an extra eye on me so you can report back to mummy dearest, right?” He winks and walks past, leaving. That f*ck*r! He knows. He knows what I did last night. He’s going to use that to taunt me to his heart’s satisfaction. I go to clap back only to realize Hasan had left the locker room. “Hey, Taty! Want to s*ck my d*ck?” I roll my eyes at Hasan’s dorky teammate. “S*ck what? The same d*ck you were born with? Yeah, no.” His friends burst into laughter, and I dart out of the locker room, hoping to finish my conversation with my hot stepbrother.__________
TATIANAThe first thing that returned to me was the pain.It wasn’t sharp enough to make me gasp, nor sudden enough to jolt me upright. It settled instead, slow and heavy, like something that had been waiting patiently for me to wake so it could make itself known.My hand moved before I fully registered the motion, fingers pressing against my temple, then dragging slightly upward as if the pressure alone could quiet the ache.It didn’t and if anything, it made me more aware of it.I inhaled slowly, my eyes still closed, my thoughts slow to gather, slipping in and out of coherence like fragments that refused to settle into something whole. For a moment, I remained like that, suspended between sleep and wakefulness, unsure whether I wanted to open my eyes and confront whatever waited on the other side.Because something felt wrong. Not in a way I could immediately define, but enough that my body registered it before my mind could catch up.Still, I opened my eyes and they landed on the
HASANAs soon as I stepped further into the brothel, something in me recoiled so sharply it almost translated into movement. For a fleeting second, I was ready to turn around, walk straight out, get into my car, and leave this place behind as if I had never set foot in it. The instinct wasn’t subtle, nor was it something I had to think through. It rose from somewhere deeper, something instinctive and unfiltered, like my body had already judged the environment and found it unworthy of my presence.But Tatiana was here.Or at least, she was supposed to be.And that alone forced my feet to keep moving.The smell of cheap, stale whiskey clung to the air with an almost aggressive persistence, as though the walls themselves had absorbed years of it and were now exhaling it back into the room. I could taste it at the back of my throat before I even took a full breath. It coated my tongue, settled into my lungs, and I knew—without doubt—that it would follow me out of here, seep into my clothe
HASANThe ringing of my phone forced its way in the air, slicing through the stillness of the night with a persistence that refused to be ignored. For a brief moment, my mind resisted waking, clinging to the remnants of sleep, but the ringing continued without mercy, dragging me out of unconsciousness with a steady, unrelenting pull.My eyes opened slowly at first, unfocused, staring at nothing in particular as awareness began to return in fragments. The ceiling above me came into view, dimly lit by the faint glow of the bedside lamp that cast long, stretched shadows across the room. I didn’t remember leaving it on, and for a second, that detail lingered in my mind, as though my thoughts were searching for something simple to hold onto before confronting whatever had disturbed the night.The ringing continued.My head turned slightly, my gaze landing on the bedside cupboard where my phone lay vibrating against the wood, its screen lighting up in intervals that punctuated the darkness.
TATIANAIt wasn’t the kind of silence that soothed. It pressed in from all sides, thick and contained, like the air itself had been stripped of anything unnecessary. My head throbbed faintly as awareness sharpened, my breathing uneven for a moment before I forced it to steady.I tried to move.My hands didn’t.The realization settled heavily, not as panic, but as something more measured. My wrists were bound tightly behind a post, the position pulling my shoulders back just enough to make every slight movement strain against the restraints.There was something in my mouth.Cloth.Rough enough to dry out my tongue, to make swallowing uncomfortable.I exhaled slowly through my nose, grounding myself in the sensation rather than fighting it immediately. Panic would only make this worse. It always did.So I stayed still.Listened.Waited.Footsteps broke through the silence.Slow. Deliberate.They didn’t rush. Didn’t hesitate. Each step carried a quiet certainty that made something uneasy
TATIANAA breath left my lungs quietly, controlled, like my body was trying to hold itself together despite what my mind had already understood.Out of everything they could have used—They chose her.Because they knew. They knew exactly where to aim.Emily, who had already paid for my mistakes once. Emily, who had struggled on her own to rebuild her life after everything fell apart. Emily, who had nothing to do with any of this.I locked my phone, the image still burned into my mind, and pushed myself off the shelf.The bottle remained where I left it and moved toward the door without hesitation.The hallway felt colder when I stepped out, quieter in a way that made everything seem more deliberate. Like the house itself had withdrawn from me the moment I crossed that threshold, leaving me to stand in the open with nothing but the weight of my own decisions pressing down on my shoulders.And then I saw the van sat just beyond the gates, exactly where the message said it would be. The
TATIANAI knew Hasan hated me.It wasn’t something I had to guess at or piece together from fragments. It was there, plain and unhidden, in the sharpness of his voice, in the way his eyes held mine like I was something he would rather erase than face. He had said so a thousand times.If given the chance, he would ruin me. I had no doubt about that.And yet, standing there with my back pressed against the door I had just been kicked out of, my palm flat against the wood like it could somehow ground me, I found myself thinking something far worse.I would rather he run me over with a truck than touch another woman the way he had touched me.The thought was ugly, and painfully honest.Because no matter how much hatred lived between us, there had always been something else tangled beneath it. Something neither of us had ever been able to bury properly, no matter how much time passed or how far we tried to run from it.He hated me. But he had never been able to stop wanting me. And that wa







