Page 339 of Coal Hearts

God, not this again.

Get out, get out, get out!

I needed him.

Needed him to be the cop I believed.

Needed him to be good.

Needed him to save both of us because if he didn’t...I had a horrible feeling there’d be nothing left to save.

A few men ran past in the shadows.

I ducked behind a tree laden with apples.

So I’m in the orchard.

Perhaps there were sheds nearby I could hide in. Storage rooms for fruit and other fragile things.

A short celebration from someone who found a prize quickly smothered into pain as a Master found them.

The grunts of sex sounded to my left, followed by the rhythmic growls of someone who didn’t believe in restraint.

Monsters.

All around me.

Everywhere.

I ran again.

My toes found painful twigs and crunchy leaves, slowing my speed.

I aimed for the soft grass. I could cover more distance that way. I could perhaps run to the battlement and find an archer’s nook.

Darting onto the storm-drowning lawn, I put my head down and raced.

I almost ran over it.

A large plastic gemstone looked as if it’d been dropped by the raging thunder. It sat dull and cloudy as fat raindrops rolled down its fake yellow facets.

It beckoned me forward.

Memories of playing a similar treasure hunt with Krish when we were younger filled my head.

Back then, our parents had hidden large plastic Easter eggs in the garden, holding small toys and chocolates. There hadn’t been repercussions for finding them or rape waiting in the foliage.

My chest ached for innocence.

My body reminded me I’d fallen so far from grace.

I bent down to grab the gem...

...just as a man hurtled from the darkness.

He bowled into me, snatched my wrist, ducked and grabbed the large plastic stone, then hauled me into speed.

“Peter?” I gasped, licking at droplets cascading down my face. The wind pinched my bare skin, making my nipples as hard as the diamonds on my bra.