Justyce

Prelude

The cold concrete grates across my bare feet as I desperately blink back tears I refuse to let fall. Squinting into the darkness, my eyes slowly adjust to the lack of light within the dank smelling dungeon of a room. How long have I been here?

I pull my feet up from the coarse floor and bring my knees to my chest and slowly rock back and forth on the lumpy, dirty mattress under me. The stench wafts up and hits my nose as I cling to my filthy jeans. They were the last choice I had as a free woman, and I chose the most uncomfortable pair I own. My mind continues to plague me, festering and scalding my insides. Why the fuck did you come back to this hellhole, Kenzi? You were actually doing something with your life, something for yourself.”

A loud drip echoes throughout the room, drawing my attention away from my self-loathing and toward the decrepit shower, with the protruding busted pipe and bucket that acts as a toilet sitting in the corner of this fucked up space.

How I yearn for a scalding shower to wash away this nightmare, but all that shower can offer me is tinnitus and ice shards sluicing down my body when he decides to turn on the water. The latter is more than true because I test the water every time I hear the pipes clamoring, signaling he’s switched the water on down here. I’ve almost succumbed to the cold shower more times than I care to admit, but I refuse. Kind of like my last fuck you to him.

Tears prick behind my eyes once more, threatening to escape and flood like a damn tsunami. I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing them. No fucking way in hell. Melancholy settles deep within my marrow. Hell, that’s where I am now. It’s my life.

Shuddering in remembrance, the frigid air washes over me like a vine of poison ivy, making my skin prickle and itch. Despite the coldness, a bead of sweat trickles down the back of my once white shirt. I hate this fucking room and everything it stands for.

There’s no light bouncing off any off these walls like a in a normal room. Again the anger cloaks me, holds me like a lover in distress. I’d kill for a window to see the sun, to feel those rays hitting my once flawless skin. Yet all I see is a blacked out glass pane in the far corner. Even so, it calls to me, beckons for me to scratch at its darkness until I can see out. Knowing it’ll never work, I turn my attention from the mockery of a window and focus back on the wall in front of me, ignoring the loud rumble in my stomach. I’m so fucking hungry.

Hunger pushed aside, I pull my long, dyed midnight blue hair over my shoulder and loosen the knotted strands before weaving the locks together into a lame ass attempt of a plait. A heavy sigh escapes my chapped lips as I take in the small room for the umpteenth time, knowing I have nothing but these four corroding walls to keep me company. They’ve become my only ally, my only friend, and I’m losing my damn mind, I’m certain of it.

This is no place for a human being. Not even an animal deserves this kind of treatment. Infuriated with the circumstances that landed me in this mess, in his grip once again, I dig my nails into my shins and hiss at the pain. I know what he wants. I’ve seen the hunger, the desire, and the hunter after its prey look in those smug, stormy graphite hues, and there’s not a damn thing I can do because my fate was signed away. My life for a debt that has yet to be paid.

One name comes to mind, one name that has haunted me since I can remember. It has lodged itself so far under my epidermis that I don’t know if I’ll ever be free of it. Who am I kidding? Look where my life has landed me, right into the sinister, depraved, and diabolical palms of Justyce Fucking Travino.

He thinks I’ll fall for him, for the incubus within, I can see it in his eyes. However, I’m not the preppy little school girl he once knew. Sooner or later he’ll find that he’s wrong. Feeling the manic rise inside, I toy with the silver collar-like locket Justyce put around my neck. My face kicks up into a smile at the mere thought that Justyce may be some bad ass mafia underboss. Rough around the edges and difficult to decipher, but I see him. I’ve always seen him, and that’ll be his downfall.