I let out a small yawn as Austin wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling his face into the crook of my neck, his favorite spot. I sighed in contentment as I was only filled with joy. There was no pain right now, but the raw smile on my face.

“Sir, I should go to bed.” I yawned again. It was nearly midnight and the man had kept me up by watching a movie. A light rain pattered outside as I moved from his arms. Austin followed me as I went towards the stairs. As I started to climb the first two steps, he took my arm and turned me around.

“Goodnight, Kynder. I love you.” He whispered to me as his lips kissed the tip of my nose. I blushed as red as the roses outside before going upstairs.

He really loved me.

He really hated me.

Austin hated me and there was no denying it. The man looming over me with a whip wasn’t the man who kissed me tenderly or used to wrap his arms around me to make me feel safe and surrounded.

This wasn’t the man who took the time to pick up my broken pieces and glue them back together with my trust. Austin set me back together after Miles destroyed what I had. Now Austin was shattering me again.

I was beyond shattered. Was there still hope for this boy? Could I ever trust him again?

“Austin, please stop!” I whimpered to him. He walked away for a moment, disappearing out of my vision. Without moving or speaking, I curled up on the floor. The flames crackled from the fire. Glass was piercing my arm, digging into my skin. He had thrown me onto a shattered bottle. The bruise on my spine was from the second beer.

“You worthless piece of trash! No wonder Miles didn’t want you; you’re too ugly to bear for more than a month. I’m surprised Alan and the other hadn’t wanted me to get rid of you earlier!” Austin screamed back at me with a hiss. Once the words stopped, I attempted to sit up on trembling arms. My muscles felt like they had been melted and dripped out of me from each large scratch.

I could only sob as more whips turned my pale skin to a red flow of blood. My tears were pouring out as if I could drown the room. Tino and Phil laughed in the background. It sounded like they were nearing me. No, they were still in their bedrooms.

I had no help, no one to save me.

Austin returned to my field of view. His hand reached down to my neck, grasping the silver chain collar and twisting it. The skin was pinched between links and his hand choked me so I couldn’t breathe. I wriggled in his grasp.

“Shut up!” Austin screamed over and over as I cried and held limp in his grasp. Without warning, I was thrown against the wall, slamming my bruises and whips into the hard side. I yelled as extreme agony raced through every nerve and sent my spine to a numbed state.

When I could finally open my eyes, I looked up to Austin holding the worst possible item in his left hand. A deep snarl was clenched on his face.

The fire iron was red hot.

No, no, no. Austin knew about the burns. He knew that I hated the fireplace and I never wanted to be submitted to that pain again. Austin was kind enough to understand this.

But Austin wasn’t here anymore. A demon stood in his place.

How could I have ever trusted the devil who hid in angel’s skin?

“Be quiet, mewling girl! How could your parents stand you for so long? You’re an ugly human who should’ve never been born.” Austin sneered and flashed the tip of the poker. Every time I attempted to run away, Austin caught me and flung me against the wall.

“THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR DISOBEYING ORDERS, SLAVE!” Austin shouted. With that battle cry, he pushed the poker forward, right as I dodged to get out of the way.

It pierced the skin and was shoved straight to my stomach.

My lungs were emptied of air as I screamed my head off in pain. The hot iron melted the flesh and boiled my blood as I stood on the pain. Austin pulled the iron poker out, but the damage had been done. The skin was burned black, the muscles telling me that I was scarred, my mind saying that Austin was just like Miles.

He was heartless, cruel, without emotion. Aus never loved me, it was just a ruse that I fell so head long for, I gave myself a concussion.

“HELP!” The tears mingled with the blood as it gushed from the large impaled wound from my stomach. I fell to my knees, screaming for anyone to save me.

This time, I was going to die. I knew it.

Miles had always touched the iron to my skin, over and over. The difference between Miles and Austin, was that Austin had fully pushed through the skin a few inches. Miles had never done that.

It was worse than anything my old Master had done.

Austin threw the poker away as I sobbed from the pain. It was unending and cruel. He must’ve touched my stomach because it felt like it was burning in an inferno. My whole body was wracked as I knew that if he had actually pierced my stomach, he could’ve killed me.

Maybe the burn would eat through the lining and actually give me relief from this pain.

Strong hands grasped my neck and dragged my body up the stairs. Each time I landed on a new step, I let out another sob until I choked on the lack of air in my body. The man I once knew threw me on the bathroom tiled floor where the blood freely spilled all over my skin. I sat in a small pool of the scarlet ink. Austin kept kicking me, yelling that I was of no use, that I was disobedient and deserved this torture.

I kept believing every word.

Where was the man that said he loved me? Where did he go? He surely wasn’t standing in front of me. That man yelled that I was hideous and deserved to die with my parents.

Eventually, Austin left the bathroom where I lay spread out, my vision blurring. The inferno inside of me died down as the blackness overcame my body in a sweet tide of release. My hair was sticky and dried with my own blood and my spine was still numb.

As I closed my eyes for the last time, I could only think of why I was so foolish to trust another man. For the first time, I had thought that maybe I was beautiful and smart and loved. No, Austin told me that I deserved to die. I still believed him, no matter how much I tried to convince myself.

A final breath shuddered out of my body.

I think I had just died.

Notes