1

ALLISON

Smack!

My father's hand landed with a sickening force across my face. "You bitch! You can never get a thing right!" he snarled, his breath smelling of cheap whiskey. "All I asked you to do was to please Mr. Blaze, but what did you do?" he bellowed.

The next minute, he grabbed my hair, pulling it savagely until my head felt detached from my neck.

I couldn't scream. I couldn't cry for help. I was already too used to this torture, and I knew no one would ever come to my rescue. Not even my grandmother, Ellen, the one woman who should have protected me. To them, I was the cursed child, the one who should have died alongside my mother twenty two years ago. My mother had died while giving birth to me and even though it's been twenty two years, my father has never forgiven me for it. He keeps blaming me for taking her away from him. He never ceases to remind me how my mother would have been alive if it weren't for me.

Apparently, my mother had been asked if she wanted to have the child, even though it was dangerous for her at that moment. She chose me over herself.

And maybe my father was right. I was responsible for it. If it weren't for me, she would still be alive.

"You had just one task. Just one damn task!" His voice boomed through the damp room I'd been locked in most of my life. "All you had to do was open your legs and pleasure Mr. Blaze. That's all!" he hissed through gritted teeth.

I've seen my father angry, but he has never looked this way; bloodshot eyes, like someone who was on the verge of spitting fire.

"Because of you, I'm ruined!" Orion said as he added pressure to his hands on my hair and all I could do was stay mute, because I knew what was gonna happen to me if I made a sound. It was gonna give him pleasure and he'll hurt me more than he was doing right now.

He finally released my hair and turned to face his mother.

“It's all your fault, mother.” He cursed. “It's all your fault. She wouldn't have turned out this way if you weren't always stopping me from scolding her.”

I bit back the urge to laugh. My grandmother has never asked him not to hit me. In fact, she has never stood up for me. The only time she ever did was because she feared that no one would want to buy a badly wounded girl at the auction house I was forced to a few months ago.

“Shut the fuck up, Orion. How the hell is it my fault, huh?” My grandmother shot back.

“I should have killed her a long time ago. I should have buried her alongside her mother, but you stopped me. You fucking stopped me. Now see where it landed us. She turned out to be an ungrateful wench.” He spat, venom dripping down his voice.

My grandmother rolled her eyes. “Well, you know what, it's not too late. You can still do it. After all, she's worthless. A worthless child can never be my grandchild.”

I could only stare at her in disappointment. She should be protecting me. My grandmother should be protecting me from my beast of a father. Yet, here she was, giving him a go-ahead to do whatever he wanted with me?

I wasn't surprised. In fact, I shouldn't feel hurt at all since I already knew this, but I just couldn't help it.

“Of course I will. I won't die without taking her with me. Mr Blaze is gonna kill me after all.”

I whimpered when my father took two steps close to me. "You think you won by stabbing him in the eye?" He turned back, his voice low but deadly.

"He's not just taking his money back, Allison. He's coming here tomorrow. At eight in the morning, he’s coming to claim you as his sex slave, forever. And I won't be dying alone, you ungrateful wench. I’ll make sure he kills you too."

He was going to sell me as a sex slave to a monster like Blaze? My stomach twisted. I knew what Mr. Blaze was capable of doing. It was no news how he treated the people who worked for him. And now that I had wounded him, he wouldn't just break me….he would savor it. That was the last thing I wanted.

I have to get out of here. I can't let such a thing be my fate. My mother didn't sacrifice her life to have me become a slave. My father slammed the heavy door, plunging the room into darkness. Tears of pure terror streamed down my face.

What the hell have I done to deserve all these? I didn't ask to be born. I didn't choose myself. My mother did. More tears streamed down my face.

“You're such an ungrateful child!” My grandmother's voice tore me away from my thoughts. “After everything your father has done for you, you couldn't even help him out. It was just one fucking task,”

Help him out? By letting a beast like Mr Blaze have his way with me? That old hag? Even if he wasn't old, I'd never do such a thing. I'll never sell my body to anyone, especially now that I am carrying my child.

“Anyways, be ready for whatever happens to you in Mr Blaze's house, because you brought it upon yourself.” She hissed before walking away.

If they think that I was going to sit back and have them do whatever they wanted with me, then they're in for a shock, because that'll never happen. I had been planning this escape for weeks, clinging to the promise of the one person I could trust.

I wiped my cheeks, fumbling under the loose floorboard for my cheap phone. The screen flickered to life, illuminating the room in its own way. This was the only source of light in this room. I've been made to stay in a dark room all my life. My father knew how much I hated the dark, yet he never seemed to care.

I quickly sent a message to Elliot, as calling him won't do any good. My father would hear me and that'll only worsen the case. “I can't wait anymore. Mr Blaze is coming tomorrow morning. We need to act fast, Elliot. We need to leave.”

Elliot, my kind, trustworthy boyfriend, had promised me freedom from this house. He was my rock, my secret savior, the one person who saw past the shame my family heaped on me. He promised a new life, a safe place. He was the reason I was fighting to survive.

A familiar wave of nausea hit me, and I had to lean against the wall until it passed. It was barely five weeks, and the events of the past few days hadn't helped. I hadn’t told Elliot yet, but I would. As soon as he helped me escape, I would tell him that I was carrying his child. That news would surely cement our future.

Despite how I have been locked in this room, I still found a way to meet Elliot. And surprisingly, my father never hit me whenever I left the house to go meet Elliot. Till date, I find myself wondering why he never said anything about it.

The phone vibrated in my hand. It was a message from Elliot. It's not like I had any other contact on my phone.

“How can your father be so cruel, huh? You're his daughter for goodness sake.” He added an angry emoji after the text.

“Please get me out of here, Elliot. My Blaze is coming here tomorrow to take me away. He wants me as his sex slave.” I pleaded through the text.

“I’m coming, Allie. Don’t panic. I’ll be waiting for you outside the fence. We need to leave before sunrise.”

When? I typed back, my hands shaking.

“Four AM. Don’t be late. He gets you at six. I get you at four. That's the best time to leave.”

Relief washed over me as I read the message over and over again. He agreed to save me from all of these. Four AM. Two hours before Mr. Blaze. Elliot was coming.

I pressed the phone to my chest, closing my eyes. I didn't care that he was a stranger compared to my family. Elliot had promised me a future, and for the first time in twenty two years, I believed in one. I would jump out that window once it's three AM, and I would finally be free.

I’ll tell him about the baby once we’re safe, I vowed as I laid back on the mat to sleep. My freedom from this hell hole starts tomorrow.