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And Ari still wouldn’t stop screaming. Only her piercing screams grew more jagged and terrifyingly strained, like she was losing her voice by the second. But she still wouldn’t stop.

And I stood there frozen, my bones submerged in a kind of pain I didn’t recognize as the men tortured Mother.

My mother’s pale blue dress was like tethers that clung to her body.

They did nothing to hide her modesty.

It was all gone.

It was being taken.

For once, I was glad Father was dead. He died a painless death rather than watch the love of his life suffer in the most cruelest way possible.

“Do you like it?” the man with evil eyes whispered in my ear. His hands proceeded to touch me in places I didn’t like. And every second of it felt like torture.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t flinch. I couldn’t fight.

In a blur, I watched them kill her right in front of my eyes.

Her screams were ingrained in a deep part of my brain as they burned her alive.

But I couldn’t cry, and Ari wouldn’t stop screaming.

At that moment, the front door burst open, and in walked a confused Ella. She was dressed in a bright yellow sundress, which she had taken hours to pick for her date with her boyfriend, who was the captain of the football team. Only I wished he had kept her longer.

“Wh…what…” Ella held a shaky hand to her mouth. “What happened?” she gasped, stumbling inside. Her pale-blue eyes were wide with terror as she took in the scene.

“Auntie Lylah,” she screamed, rushing to Mother’s side. “Oh no, oh no, oh no,” she muttered frantically as she tried to save her burning body, but it was too late. A painful cry left her lips when some of the fire caught onto Ella’s body, flaming the upper half of her arm.

And the men in the room laughed while she struggled, wiggling on the floor, howling in gut-wrenching cries as her skin burned.

Ari still didn’t stop screaming.

I could feel my end hovering like a ghost in my periphery. We were going to die, weren’t we?

But something in me couldn’t accept it.

I wasn’t going to accept this as my end.

“You can’t kill me,” I whispered. “You can’t kill me. I won’t die. I won’t die. I won’t die.”

“What are you mumbling, sweet Belle?” The evil-eyed man who tortured me shoved me with such force that I landed chin-first on the floor, rattling my teeth.

Uncle Ron.

He was still here in the house. And he knew how to use a gun.

He usually worked in the backyard shed because it was quieter there.

But he returned right at eleven, which was only two minutes away. I just needed to stall till then.

“You can’t kill me,” I spat at him, crawling to help Ella, but the man’s boot kicked my lower back so hard that I hunched over, pain spreading through me like an electric shock. Through the corner of my eye, I could see the fire on Ella’s body dissipate; she was still alive, but it did enough damage to burn her entire arm.

The evil-eyed man held me by my hair. “You think you’re in a place to talk back to me? I’m still not done with you.” He sent a sharp slap to my right cheek that sent a jolt straight to my head.

Through the corner of my eye, I saw the back door opening, and before the men could react, Uncle Ron walked in with a horrifying look on his face as he took in the scene. A roar of rage slipped past his lips as he hurled toward the men.

I didn’t waste any time. Ignoring my pain, I rushed to Ari and Ella, pulled them to their feet, despite their cries of pain, and shoved them out the door.