It All Started With Hate

mall (e)

Enjoy!🤍 I am going to be busy with finals all of this week (absolutely DESPISE college) so you get a double update now (edited these last week to save time lol) & an extra one Saturday! I will see you then! Thanks for reading! 🤍

"True friends are those rare people who come to find you in dark places and lead you back to the light." — Anonymous

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Chapter 64
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Maggie

My chest tightened under the panic, first. In every direction, I expected a change, specifically a source of light, but none came. It was all a game, and I didn't have a point in the scoreboard, right now. My father was controlling it, as well as me.

My mind pulled and rearranged around some of the trepidation in order to find a reasonable solution, but not even that, exactly. I'd take anything, right now.

Think.

Think, Maggie.

Just as the demand became more of a torture than a help, the very request was met. My phone buzzed again, producing a quick source of light.

It was quick, but it was one, nonetheless.

I can do this.

My jittery fingers barely helped in turning the phone on, again, but I managed. In my path to the flashlight, I caught glimpse of another message from Luke.

Luke.

Our lessons in the dark came full swing.

Wall. I need to feel a wall.

I pulled in a breath, then pushed it out so hard, I became lightheaded.

I'm untouchable.

Slowly, so slowly that it barely felt like moving at all, my feet shuffled across the slick floors. Every step I took nearly had my figure crumbling.

Nonetheless, I recognized the cool, hard wall under my palm. It cracked through the barrier of hot, burning fear the dark had burnt me with.

"There's a wall," I breathed out, the relief biting at me until I had to swipe at my forehead. My skin was beginning to clam up. "You're okay, Maggie."

In the trek, I  managed to turn on the flashlight from my phone, thankfully. It wasn't perfect, but it was enough to sustain me until I could figure something else out.

A hand remained against the cool wall for a sense of sereneness. It did enough.

In my case of a shattered mind, I managed to recover my grounding before all others: Luke. His voice. His comfort and encouragement. How he'd reassure me that there was nothing to be afraid of, then prove it to me. How we would see proof of it, together.

Thinking about Luke, the one I cared for most of all, had me returning to the others. My family. My friends.

My friends.

The messages. The lights. The threat.

My father's goons were watching me. Us. And, they were here. And, Kimberly and Raven were out there, possibly with the danger. Whoever was behind that unknown number...they turned off the lights to distract me in order to reach them, easier.

No. Fuck no.

My father would have to shoot me dead before I ever let him hurt them.

I jerked around with a newfound quickness. Just as I made the move, I was being slammed back into the wall by one quick, hard shove.