Page 80 of Dollhouse

They’re ready for you.

I step off the stairs, ready to lay the foundation for whatever comes next. Purpose, meaning. I’m ready for it, even if it reignites the pain of what’s happened. Even though it will lift the barrier Noah has firmly placed between me and the evil still operating in the world.

It’s not his sheltered peace that I want. It’s to help. Tosave. I’ll do it for me, and for the parts of Bo he might never get back.

His hand grips mine, squeezing as I knock on the propped-open wooden door.

“I’m ready,” I say, nervous, but that’s okay because sometimes taking the next step isn’t easy. Sometimes it’sterrifying to put trust back in the universe when it fucks over. But I’m loved so roughly by the man at my side that it’s a little less scary to try and make my life something I like again.

I’m finding that this path I’m on with Noah is somehow broken and beautiful and full of hope, all at once.

Just like me.

…EPILOGUE?

Drip. Drip. Drip.

It’s a single drop of water, one falling after the other in a rhythm that’s gone on and on and on. One drop, it’s nothing. But the spot on my back that it splashes across is raw, and every drip agitates.

That’s the word I would use for all of this, an agitation. Except once you pile one irritant on top of the other and multiply it by however many fucking days we’ve been locked up here, it’s enough to make you lose your goddamn mind.

That fucking bitch. That petty, useless fuckingbitch.

My wrists flex, but the leather ties refuse to allow me a moment of rest for the muscles pulled taut. At first, I shuffled constantly from kneeling to sitting, the only movements I can make since my arms are secured with a band at each wrist, pulling my arms toward a hook on the wall.

The pain is everything. All I can focus on for every second of the day and night.

Emma, the fucking whore that did this to me. After everything I did for her, the way I tried to keep her out of the world I found myself in. She was always too weak, too naive and sheltered to handle a single moment in the real world. In aman’sworld. I did what I had to do, made the sacrifices I needed to make to keep her happy and comfortable and hidden. And what did I get in return?

A slut making a fool of my dedication to her. She got me good, I’ll give her that. Not in a million years would I have guessed she had it in her to cheat, let alone fuck half the goddamn mercenary group.

Teeth clenched, a growl rumbles through my chest, the pain in my taut arms flaring as I tug again on the restraints. Never any movement. It’s hopeless, and at this point I’d fucking beg for death than spend another agonizing moment in this…place, with the leak on my back and the concrete floor beneath my knees. Eternal darkness, a feed bag strapped to my head every so often so that I never quite reach death. The fire hose that beats my skin when the smell of the room gets to be too much.

If I had one wish, it would be a few more moments in here with her. I’d make that cunt feel every single humiliation that I’ve endured, and then some. I can’t believe I’d had the chance ripped away from me, when I’d been so fucking close to snuffing the light out of those pretty brown ey?—

Something slams, maybe a few feet away, but in the total darkness it’s so hard to know. Am I in an open room, aside from the walls I’m chained to? The black, soundless void I’ve been bound inside has kept me from guessing what my enclosure looks like. The last thing I remember was being knocked out cold by some green haired freak and waking up here, like this?—

The low shuffle stops right in front of me, and my heart gallops in my chest. Any second the freezing water from the hose would smack into my screaming muscles…or a rough feedbag would be strapped around my head.

The silence echoes in my head as I strain for a clue of who’s here, my fingers jerking as anxiety floods my nervous system.

A lighter clicks, and even the minuscule flame after total darkness makes my eyes throb. I squeeze them shut, jerking away from the sight. The orange haze persists against my eyelids, pulsing as the flash of a silhouette registers to me.

The fuck? “Who’s there?” My voice betrays me, the fear clear as day in the shaking words.

A low chuckle comes from only a few feet away, and I know from the sound alone that this is not a friendly visit, or the prelude to my violent showers. It grates, a warning that something dangerous is staring at me from the dark.

The lighter clicks again, and I blink past the dots in my vision to see the crouching figure of a man, dark hair tousled over his blank expression. His eyes rove over my binds, my gaunt body, just to land back on my face with the hint of a pleased smile.

Noah. This is who stole Emma from me and made her the slut she’s become.

“If you’re here to hurt me, get it over with,” I grit out, though I can’t manage the steely tone I wanted. The words just sound weak, hopeless.

“No.” He stands, looming tall over me and I drop my gaze to the concrete floor. I fucking hate looking up at him, the reminder that I’m at his mercy.

Mercy, ha. How fitting, I suppose. As if the men who claim to be a part of it would ever grant it to me. I tried to be good, I did resist all of the little tugs that pulled me toward theimpure.I am not a monster, I am not a fucking MONS-

“I just came to see you this way. Filthy.” He smirks. “Fucking wasting away, aren’t you? Finally getting to feel a taste of what’s coming.”