“Please would ya come in here,” she mumbled in a low deep voice, wishing just once her Da would treat her like a person instead of a thing.
A snort as she passed The Hulk had her stopping short, and looking up into his stone cold face. But his eyes betrayed his amusement. A small smile graced her lips as she walked into the study before fixing her face into a blank stare.
Ember’s Burn
Annelise Reynolds
Prologue
Ember
I tried to scream, but couldn’t. “Not again, please not again!” My mind screamed the words my voice couldn’t over and over again.
My breathing was erratic and shallow. I couldn’t quite catch my breath as I relived the hell of my past. I could feel his hands all over me, again; grabbing me too tight, pinching my flesh and leaving his marks behind.
His rage was unleashed as he pounded my unyielding, weaker body. I tried to move, tried to fight with everything I had, but it wasn’t enough. My arms and legs were useless to me. When I tried to scream out, no sound was heard. I couldn’t speak around whatever he had gagging me. I fought him. Always fighting him. He loved to hear me scream, but this time for some reason, I couldn’t.
“Please, please,” I silently begged and pleaded with God, hoping he was there and would pull me out of this hell. “Please, just let me die!” I felt the tears flowing from my eyes, and then I felt the hand holding mine, rubbing tenderly across the back of my knuckles. The action didn’t match the torturous hell I was reliving.
I tried to open my eyes, but like the rest of my body refused to cooperate, so did my eyes. I felt myself waking up little by little becoming more and more aware of my surroundings. There was an annoying sound that was beeping loud and fast, too fast. The more I focused on it, it began to slow down and even out. I heard and became aware that someone was speaking to me softly. It was a man’s voice and so familiar. I knew that voice, it was one I’d heard a lot over the last eight months since my arrival in Belle. He was whispering words of assurance and comfort. ‘Shhh. You’re safe, honey. I’ve got you. Nobody’s going to hurt you again.’ The words so simple, yet, so soothing and reassuring.
“It’s not right”, my thoughts screamed at me. “Men aren’t to be trusted”, but for some reason, I wanted to trust this man and the words of comfort he was offering me. I held onto his voice as the darkness took over again. When it pulled me under, I saw him. The owner of that low voice that lulled me back into a calmunconscious sleep. I was no longer in hell but still in the presence of a Demon.