Member-only story
She stared at the blonde-haired bully, wondering what she’d done to warrant being treated like this. The moonlight that trickled in through the doorway caught on a rhinestone-covered barrette the girl had in her hair, and Reaina stared as it sparkled. It was so dainty and pretty, and didn’t seem to fit the angry red-faced girl who was wearing it.
“Truth or DARE?” the bully yelled again.
Reaina hugged her knees to her chest and buried her head in her lap. The floor of the abandoned house was filthy; so filthy she could feel the dust beneath her. The rocks and debris poked her skin through her clothes. She didn’t care, and she supposed she deserved it as she sat there cradling herself like a coward. Not once in all these years had she ever had the nerve to face her tormenters. She heard one of the girls giggle at her humiliation, and cradled herself tighter.
Her hot breath filled the small space enclosed by her arms and legs, and she felt her face start to sweat from the heat. The heat was suffocating but she didn’t have the courage to see what was happening. Maybe if she just stayed this way everyone would leave her alone, she thought. The crunch of a leaf next to her forced her head up, and she recoiled seeing the blonde bully standing over her.
“Where did she go?” one of the girls asked.
