Down the Abyss Dinner was horrible. Lolita felt like a pawn in a game between two brothers. They sat side by side next to each other while she sat opposite them, watching quietly. Hayden held an ice pack to one side of his face while he ate with his left hand. She hated that his eyes rarely left hers. It made her itchy and needy. She was still reeling from the adrenaline from the recent events and she needed a release from it; anything but his eyes.“Your face doing okay?” Jarrod asked his brother after a prolonged silence. Hayden shrugged in response. “Nothing I haven’t been though before.”“That’s right. It’s not my fault for having hit you, but I feel guilty for not trusting Lolita.” He smiled adoringly at her. “She’s one of the decent bunch.”“Yeah, decent,” Hayden concurred, his eyes bright with mischief.Lolita couldn’t take it anymore. She pushed her chair back and stood up with her plate in hand. “I’m gonna go upstairs and finish this alone. You two can catch up in my absen

The Long RunHayden stepped forward, somehow blocking her view. It was the smallest step, but she noticed. Lolita’s eyes went everywhere, looking for an escape. She never wanted an earthquake to happen as much as she wanted it at that very moment. The door was open; which means Hayden had invariably forgotten to lock it and now Jarrod had caught them in a loving position. Worse than that, he probably heard all they said. “How long have you been standing there?” She managed to ask, her voice quaking.Jarrod sort of chuckled and scoffed at once. “Is that what you want to really ask me, my dearest?”It creeped her out, the way he was taking this so lightly. The Jarrod she knew would have flared up, maybe grab her throat and push her against the wall. He didn’t always act out, so she was actually scared of seeing him upset.“This isn’t her fault,” Hayden said, shifting his body again so he could cover Lolita’s frame. “I pushed her into this.”His brother rolled his eyes dramatically. “Of

TakenHours turned into days and days became weeks, but Lolita did not have one moment of sleep. She felt tortured, abandoned, tormented. She was in her own little hell on earth. She thought about so many things in so many ways, like living through different timelines of earth.Perhaps if she had remembered Hayden from the very first time she set her eyes on him, she’d be able to set her foot down and make some boundaries. Better still, she could not have started the affair at all. In another universe, another life, she would truly love him. Now… now was the worst timing of all. Samantha barged in unexpectedly, causing Lolita to gasp and push back into the bed frame in fear. Exasperated, Samantha slapped her thighs with a pillow. “Would you stop doing that?” Her friend asked. “You jump at the slightest little thing, it’s sad to see.”“I thought it was—”“Stop thinking. Stop moping around like this and do something fashionable with your time. I wish now that you actually have a job.

One Who Cries FirstLolita’s eyes slowly fluttered open. She felt exhausted, weak and alone. She opened her mouth to speak, to ask that someone dim the bright light that was solely focused on her eyes, but no words escaped her dry, useless tongue. She closed her eyes once more and concentrated on breathing deeply, hoping that with deep breaths, the pain would dissipate by the time she awoke an hour later.The second time she reopened her eyes, she noticed that the sunlight had softened, though it still lingered, targeting her face at just the right angle. She adjusted her position slightly, shifting her body to avoid its piercing intensity.“Help,” she croaked out, but the word barely left her lips.Feeling useless as ever, she tried to sit up. A sharp pain attacked her ribs, almost tearing her apart. Lolita cried and curled into herself on the cold, hard floor.“Ouuh, she’s awake,” someone said.Lolita opened her mouth again, hoping to ask for help. No words left, as she expected. Sh

The Wounded“Wakey-wakey, sunshine.”Lolita gasped, dragged back to the surface by the water splashed on her face. She was soaked, everywhere. For days now, she couldn’t even stand on her feet. Now she could see; now she could feel, even if it was only little and mostly engualfed with her pains and torture.Tessa was grinning down at her. They were still in the dark room with the single ray of sunlight shining through. She’d been dreaming, she realized; of flowers and ice cream and a warm bath.“Say hi to Dr. Banners,” Tessa sang.Lolita’s eyes moved slowly to the man standing beside her. She could barely see his face, but his beady little eyes and his fat figure gave her the chills. She hugged herself, trying to pull away from them.“Now, now, don’t do that,” the doctor said.Tessa took that initiative to smack her on the face, forcing Lolita to release her knees and fall back on the ground. She giggled wildly when this happened, almost dancing at the pleasure Lolita’s tears brought