Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 102929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 515(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Until one last…
CRACK!
The rigorous sound echoed.
So blunt.
So final.
So cutthroat.
“Loyd!” His wife’s strained and frightened tone shredded through the dead-silent air between us.
There at my feet was Mr. Bates’s motionless body, staring right up at me. I jolted back in shock, yet nothing could have prepared me for the sudden presence of death that hung heavy in the wide-open space.
Is he dead?
“Look what you did!” Mrs. Bates screamed by the basement door, never taking her eyes off him.
Me?
I frantically shook my head, stepping back farther with my arms out in front of me.
In another strained voice, she coaxed, “Loyd...”
He didn’t stir.
Not a movement.
Not a breath.
Not an inch.
It wasn’t just his neck twisted at an unnatural angle that attacked my vision. It was his collarbone that was sticking out of his skin in such a way that made me sick to my stomach.
Still, from the top of the stairs, Mrs. Bates seethed, “You stupid bitch! What did you do?!”
Did I kill him?
Am I a murderer?
In true Isla Fox form, my body catapulted into autopilot. It shot toward the window as if I were a deadly bullet fired out of the barrel of a hot and heavy gun. And like a bullet, my foot broke the glass, shattering the window into shards before I quickly dropped to my knees. With the adrenaline rushing through my veins, I didn’t feel any of the cuts ripping into my skin as I crawled through the tiny opening.
“Loyd, baby…”
When her erratic footsteps seemed closer to me, I rammed myself headfirst, not giving a shit about the sharp pieces of glass that clung to the edges of the metal frame. As I tore through, cutting up my clothes and flesh, the frigid, bitter New York breeze began to kiss my face. Maybe it was an angel giving me strength.
But with one hard grip, Mrs. Bates yanked my foot back, and I almost lost my balance on a piece of glass sticking up off the frame. Instead of my stomach slicing open, my arm took the brutal impact. A loud, tortured shriek escaped from deep within my lungs, and I immediately felt nauseous again. Or maybe it never stopped. My heart dropped, and my blood ran cold.
I had to keep going.
I couldn’t give up.
The consequences were life and death, and I refused to stay trapped in there with her and her wicked husband’s soul. Our eyes connected. Hers were laced with this strong, blazing expression I’d never seen before. This mask of fury and hatred glared back at me, searing into my memory. I stayed lost in her gaze until the neighbor’s dog started barking, and it was enough to break my trance.
Struggling my way back to freedom, I roughly dug my nails into the grass and dirt below me, clawing my way out. My desperate attempts were much too slow, and I was unable to get away fast enough.
For the first time, I consciously did the opposite of fleeing.
I fought.
Finding power in the core of my being, I viciously kicked her face in with the leg she wasn’t holding hostage.
“You fuc—” I kicked her again.
And again.
And again.
I kicked her until I heard another bone crack. I kicked her until I couldn’t see anything but blood on her face. I kicked her until she was shouting, “Stop, you bitch!”
I didn’t.
Instead, I kicked her until she finally let go of my leg. I didn’t waste any time, scrambling out of that extremely tiny window. Every muscle in my body screamed in exhaustion as I lost more and more blood. Nonetheless, my survival instincts roared louder, propelling me forward onto the cold, hard concrete outside.
I hit the grass and dirt with a painful blow, rolling away from that window. The icy night air was a shock to my system, but I was determined to put as much distance as possible between me and that basement. My movements were clumsy and tiresome from the consequences of it all as I wobbled to my unsteady feet.
The dog continued to bark, probably freaking out at the sight of me.
I stood there with my hands on my knees, trying to find my sanity and my breath. My heart hadn’t stopped pounding, and I swear you could hear it down the street. It rang in my ears, echoing off the brick homes.
The only thing I knew to be certain was that I’d never be able to go back into foster care.
This marked the end of that era and the beginning of my new life, where I was truly alone. I was only sixteen years old, and now I had no roof over my head. No job security. I attended an online high school since I was constantly being moved around, and I only had a few dollars to my name. I was royally screwed.
All these thoughts flooded my mind, and just in the nick of time, my body defaulted to plain old instincts.