Finally face to face with Rivera
For the first time in quite a while, Alyssa hadn’t been awakened by a ghost from her past. She only woke when the person under her arm stirred. When she opened her eyes, Rachel was next to her and grinned.
“Good morning,” Rachel said, flipping over so they faced each other.
This was a very new experience—waking up to someone that she wanted next to her, unlike the other times when she was forced to be there. It wasn’t like she knew any differently because she couldn’t remember a time when that wasn’t her life as a child. There was no memory prior to Rivera and his men. There wasn’t anything that said it was bad or wrong or that life could be better elsewhere.
It just was life.
Her life.
And now her life was different. Better. It always had been after escaping the compound. There was a bright, vivid world where she was free to run and roam. As much as she tried to bask in the wonders of vastness, she always felt trapped within the walls and shackles of Rivera’s dungeon. Something that had never gone away.
Maybe that is why she had never given anyone a chance. That, and the horrific display of hatred toward her body, which started after she had begun to watch television and movies. Pretty girls got attention. The men liked pretty girls. She couldn’t be pretty.
At first she cut her hair, then she shaved it completely off. And still, people called her pretty, even beautiful.
Rachel patted down her hair. “I know I probably look horrid. How are you so pretty in the morning?”
And there it was.
Pretty.
THE REST OF THIS POST IS AVAILABLE FOR USERS WHO HAVE PAID FOR BACKROOM ACCESS. IF YOU'D LIKE TO CONTINUE, PLEASE VISIT OUR REGISTRATION PAGE TO RECEIVE YOUR TICKET TO PARADISE.