PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 |

PART 6 | PART 7

When Kaidence came to she was in the basement. Hearing her mother’s screams, she sprinted up the stairs and found the door locked. She pounded and pounded, screaming and crying. The noise on the other side of the door stopped and she heard steps move towards her, then the bolts click: one, two, three. She stepped back to see her stepfather. His eyes were wild and he was holding a leather strap in his hand. When Kaidence tried to push past him he lifted his hand, the belt in the air. He paused. Kaidence looked at him defiantly, “Where is my mother?” He smiled a sinister smile but didn’t answer. She tried to move past him again but he pushed her. Hard. She stumbled down the stairs and tried as best she could to land without breaking a limb. Gus, her stepfather slowly descended.

“You just like ya mama, ain’t you gal? Both whores. I guess you need to be taught a lesson, too.” 

Kaidence knew what was next. She braced herself for the brutal violation that had been going on since she was twelve. At first she would fight, which never ended well. Now at fourteen, she just found another place to go in her  mind, sometimes pretending to be someone else. As he mounted her, she gritted her teeth in pain. No matter how much it hurt she refused to cry. Never again would he see her tears. Kaidence vowed that he would pay. Someday, he would regret that he was ever born a man.

Kaidence had begun reliving moments from her childhood ever since the police had paid her a visit and she was having a hard time trying to bury them. Her secrets were starting to ooze their way into her waking life. It would only be a matter of time before everything fell apart.