back to the streets, to the horrors I left behind there, but I’m not sure I want to be here forever either. As his slave. If we do what he asks, then he’s good to us, but if we don’t ...
Maybe there is life beyond these walls.
Maybe ...
“I don’t want to be anywhere else,” Cova says, sweeping the corners of the room with a brand new, expensive broom that she got, because she asked for it.
He likes her.
If I had asked for it, he would have beaten me.
He would have made me work.
He would have withheld food, or worse, drugs.
“We could go together, get a job, and ...”
“And what?” she asks, looking up. “You think we can work, afford drugs and food and a roof over our heads on our own? We have no experience. We have nothing to give employers. We’ll end up back on the streets. Stop acting like we have other options, Merleigh. We don’t.”
I grit my teeth, forcing my words back.
I know she’s right, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt to hear it.
I’m only young, being here forever is ... terrifying.
Cova glares at me, and then continues to work, her feet shuffling across the floor as she sweeps.
I get back to work, my mind way too clear today. He hasn’t given us anything for a few days, and because of that, I’m feeling flighty and desperate. I’m agitated and my head hurts. Is he holding back on purpose? Cova seems fine. Has he taken anything from her? Or is it just me?
“There you two are.”
I glance over to see Bryant standing in the doorway, suit on, cigar in hand. His eyes go right to Cova, like they always do.
“How much longer until we’re done here?” Cova asks. “It’s hot, and Merleigh is too busy talking to help.”
My eyes widen, so do hers when she realizes what she’s said. She didn’t mean to call me out, it just came out, but now she understands that her words are going to cause serious punishment for me.
“I mean, we’re both talking,” she says quickly, but it’s too late.
“Don’t worry, I’ve heard the entire conversation,” Bryant says, his voice low and steady. “Merleigh, come with me please.”
I stare frantically at Cova, and she looks scared for me.
“Don’t be angry at her, Bryant. Please. We were just having a conversation.”
“About leaving me,” he growls. “About taking what I own. I won’t have conversations like that under my roof. Merleigh, come here.”
I stand, feet firmly planted on the ground. Not because I’m defiant, but because I’m too terrified to move.
“Now,” Bryant orders.
“I didn’t mean it,” I say softly. “I just ... I was just thinking out loud and ...”
“You have one second to be in front of me or you’ll suffer.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, but clearly I don’t move fast enough because he steps forward, curling his fingers into my hair and jerking me toward him. Then, as if I weigh nothing, he turns and drags me behind him by my hair. I screech and claw at him, but I can’t reach anything solid enough to make him stop. He drags me down the halls, the burning in my scalp far too much for me to handle.
My screaming only gets louder.
“Hey.”
I jerk from my position by the pool, legs dangling in the water, and see Bohdi sitting down beside me. I didn’t even hear him approach, I was so lost in a memory, so tangled up in the anguish I feel when I’m anywhere near my old life.
“He heard me tell Cova I wanted to leave one day and she accidentally said something about me not working,” I say, without prompting from Bohdi. The words just flow out. “I thought maybe there was something out there for us, that if we went together, we might just have a chance. He lost it, he dragged me down the hall by my hair and put me in the basement. He didn’t feed me for a week, I only got small rations of water and he withheld all my drugs. I was heavily addicted to drugs, so I laid there crying and screaming, sweating and vomiting. Then, I had nothing left so I just slept. All day and night I slept. He wanted me to be reminded what life without him would be like. I never did consider leaving again.”
“That motherfucker,” Bohdi growls, his voice low. “If he wasn’t dead, I’d have his throat.”
“Well, he is dead.”
“Is that why you and