Page 119 of Cruel Abandon (Fallen Royals 5)

Part III

The Deception

32

Sky

I’m lost.

My voice is gone.

My clothes are in tatters.

There’s something in my hair, on my skin. It was sticky, but now it flakes off. I’d scratch at it, but rope digs into my wrists.

Not my ankles, though.

I hoist myself up and force my legs to move. To carry me away from this godforsaken place. Rocks and branches tear at my bare legs, and I bounce off trees. I barely feel the sting of impact.

“Sky,” someone calls. “Skylar. Can you hear me?”

The voice echoes around me. We’re in a fun house of mirrors, and I don’t know where the exit is.

“Easy,” the voice says.

Hands guide me down to the forest floor, and I stare at the sky. I won’t shift my gaze away from the bare branches swaying above us for fear of what I might see.

So much blood.

“She’s here!” he yells. “I found her!”

He repeats it over and over again, until his voice grows hoarse.

His fingers tug uselessly at the rope. “Stay with me, Sky.”

I can’t. I won’t.

I drift away.

* * *

“Can you tell me why you’re here today, Skylar?” Dr. Penn asks.

Silence.

I can’t get the words out. My throat is incredibly dry. I rub my thumb over the tip of my index finger. It’s wrapped in bandages to protect them, but the pain is still bright and sharp. It’s a moment of grounding. “I don’t know. I, um, was in the hospital.”

“Yes, you were. You seem uncomfortable.”

“They said I was gone. And now I have to talk to you.” Pause. An eternity can live in a moment of quiet, and this one stretches, both near and far. I almost reach for it, but fear holds me back. I force my mouth open, to talk. To tell the truth. “I am uncomfortable.”

“What makes you feel that way?”

Another pause, and crackling silence.

I hate this, I think, over and over. “My skin.”

* * *