Dream Turned to Nightmare

*Maddy*

I expected the blows to my body, the rough knuckles raking over my skin until bruises bloomed yellow and purple on my arms and stomach. I expected the bitter words in a language I didn’t understand, and the tight grip on my wrists as I was dragged through wet snow back into the house I’d just escaped.

I wasted so much time. I couldn’t help but beat myself up over it. Had I not run into Princess Ella, I’d be on a train right now traveling far, far away.

Cool night air was replaced by dry, fiery heat, and then it all went black.

For a moment, at least.

I wake to someone shouting, and suddenly, I’m lifted and thrown against the wall, my head banging against the weathered floorboards with a violent smack. Stars fill my vision before faces blur into view. Reginald is standing over me, the toe of his boot pressing into my chin.

“How the fuck did she get out?” he sneers to a large man standing beside him.

“The kitchen window, I think.”

I wince as Reginald’s boot clips me hard,