CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY TWO

LUCAS

The setting is familiar.

It’s a village.

A village I never I want to return to.

It’s the place where I lost everything.

Every corner of it haunts me.

As I love closer, inside, drawn by some invisible force, I stand in front of a motel. I recognise it. How could I not?

But it’s empty.

However, my eyes linger on a door and I remember forced touches, the screaming in my head, the desperation to escape and yet the inability to do so. My heart begins begins beating wildly and I start looking around for my salvation, for the one person who can soothe me.

But the motel is empty and that door that was my personal hell is growing bigger and bigger.

My hands are shaking as I try to move back but the door looms closer and closer. It’s getting difficult to breathe as that familiar feeling of disgust and horror overwhelm me.

And then my eyes fly open.

For a moment, my breathing is hard, my heartbeat unsteady, as I try to take stock of my surroundings.

I’