Ruin (Rhodes #1) by Rina Kent

                             Define anything, Mae.





                             Chapter Ten

                             Mae



                             Sixteen years ago,

                             I’m trapped.

                             I wanted to hide from Sydney. I didn’t mean to get lost and end up in this hole.

                             My eyes blink but darkness renders them blind.

                             “Syd!” I shout, my fingers clutching my doll with strangling force.

                             A voice similar to mine calls back Syd’s name, over and over, until it disappears. Something constricts the back of my throat. I open my mouth to scream. Only choked cries come out.

                             “Daddy! Mummy! Help!” Snot and tears stain my face.

                             I lift a shaky hand in front of me but see neither my flesh nor the doll. My sobs grow louder. So loud that the voices mimicking mine erupt in terrifying screams.

                             A shadow with no eyes emerges from the ground in a grey halo. I flinch, my cries become hysterical.

                             Incapable of moving my frozen feet, I punch the approaching figure with my free hand. My fist connects with thin air.

                             A similar shadow surfaces. And another.

                             Before I can count them, I’m surrounded by eyeless ghosts, like in the photo from the magazine Syd read to me last week. She said they’re not real, so why are they here?

                             They’re going to eat me.

                             My knees buckle, and I fall to the ground. I squeeze my lids shut, holding my legs and doll to my chest. Wetness seeps into my fingers as I shake from the force of my sobs. That doesn’t stop the ghosts from flying around me. Non-stop. Their unintelligible murmurs echoing in my ear like a broken record.

                             I don’t know how long I remain that way. My limbs turn numb, but I don’t get accustomed to the darkness.

                             Light tickles my lids. I seal them even tighter. What if a ghost is prying them open?

                             It’s shaking me. It’s going to eat me. It’s...

                             “Mae! It’s okay, baby girl. Daddy’s here. It’s okay.”



                             . . . . .



                             Present,

                             My arms press tighter around Aaron’s neck. I hold on to the safety of his embrace as my only lifeline.

                             I know he isn’t Daddy from sixteen years ago.

                             Worse, I’m well aware that he’s my stalker slash captor slash psychopath.

                             Yet, I can’t help hugging him. As long as he has warm skin, he’s a better choice than the monsters in the dark.