Chapter 233: Flashlight

I’m not afraid of the dark or even what’s in the dark. I’m afraid of what the tazer can’t keep away. – Rye

RYE’S MEMORIES

It had been two and a half years since her father died. Rye lay on the makeshift palette of blankets and clothes on the closet floor hiding from the noises in the bedroom. She wasn’t stupid, she knew what was happening. She knew it was only a matter of time before she had to do it to. That thought scared her.

Rye had been offered up once before. She fought and Leigh Anne took her place. Her mother was beaten. They ran after that and lived in the car for nearly a month.

It was how Donna Leigh paid for things once the monthly check ran out. It ran out sooner and sooner every month. Which is why Rye slept in the floor of the closet of the small one-bedroom apartment.

Leigh Anne made her sleep there. She had gotten a locking doorknob and only she and Rye had a key. Rye didn’t ask how she got it or if she even paid for it. She was just grateful f