Love Drained, Life Reclaimed

esperate gamble. "The Thompsons... they have money.

ke pity, but it was the kind of pity one

It's about you not existing. As long as you're alive, you're a threat t

. "Get the camera. I want to take some pictures

ut a phone and stepped forward. He angled it do

er humiliating vulnerability-half-clothed, bound, bleeding, and weeping. T

her voice turning shar

em approached Ava. One grabbed h

oing?" Ava cried, sensing a

firewood from a pile near the unli

g to survive, don't you think?" she mused aloud, a sick smi

words, Brittany swung the log do

t snap echoed t

scream tore from her throat, raw and animalistic. The world dissolved into a haze of

. She casually tossed the pie

n. "Now, blindfold her and put her in

he pain in her arm was a relentless, throbbing nightmare. They roughly untied her from the c

and thrown onto the cold metal floor of a vehicle. T

ay in the darkness, disoriented, terrified, and consumed by

ty, the van stopped. The doors

g sound. It was the sound of a large, expectant crowd. She could hear t

ime to a tall wooden post. Someone

latform, a stage, in the middle of a vast, opulent hall. Below her, dozens of people in expensive

ion. And she w

scene was too surreal, too

pped onto the stage,

ice boomed through the hall. "Tonight, we have a rare prize. Pure,

urmured wit

ultimate target. A chance to release your frustrations, to

nto her. She wasn't just f

. Through a large arched window, she could see the familiar skyline of the city. She recognized th

on was happening right in the heart of the city, in a place she had always seen as a symbol of safety, a symbol of the f