Swamp Murder

Swamp Murder. 42

Zhan's pov

She turned it into a habit. Every time, without fail.

I remember the second time it happened. It was a nightmare because I still hadn't gotten over the first. The pain, the humiliation, the fear, it all lingered, poisoning my thoughts. But she didn't care. If anything, she seemed to enjoy it more, as if she derived pleasure from beating me. And not just me but whoever she wanted me to have sex with suffered too.

The swamp became my hell. Every time she led me there, I knew what was coming. The fear, the helplessness. The sick satisfaction in her eyes as she recorded everything, capturing my suffering like it was some kind of entertainment. It wasn't just the beatings. It was the way she controlled everything, the way she decided who I would be with, the way she turned my pain into a spectacle.

Then one day, she got bored.

She stood in front of me, tapping her fingers against her phone, her expression unreadable. "Let's do something different," she murmured, almost to herself.

I didn't move. I knew better than to ask questions.

Her eyes flicked to the girl beside me. "You're done," she said, waving her away like she was nothing. She left without hesitation. She was just as trapped as I was.

I knew what was coming before she even spoke again.

"Xue Yang, You do it."

I froze. My chest tightened. "What?"

She smirked. "You heard me."

I had never done it before, not like that, not willingly. But I had already lost count of the hands that had touched me, the bodies that had used me. What difference did one more make?

Still, something in me resisted. Maybe it was the last shred of myself that I had left. Maybe it was the small, desperate hope that if I refused, she would stop.

But she didn't stop. She never did.

The first slap sent me reeling, pain exploding across my cheek. Then came another. And another.

She didn't stop until I was gasping for breath until I was too weak to resist.

And then, she told me to do it again.

This time, I obeyed.

Because what else could I do?

It didn't matter anymore.

Xue Yang didn't mind, and neither did everyone else, but we didn't take him to the swamp.

Then, she got bored of watching.

That was when she started taking me home with her. Every night. Whenever she was drunk, whenever she was high, she would come to my house and drag me with her. It didn't matter if I was asleep if I was exhausted, if I was barely holding myself together, she always came.

And I went.

Because what choice did I have?

At first, I thought maybe it would be different at least she wasn't taking people's children to the swamp. Maybe without the water, without the mud swallowing their screams, it wouldn't feel as bad. But I was wrong.

Her house was just another kind of prison. A different kind of nightmare.

Some nights, she laughed like we were friends. She would wrap an arm around me, her breath reeking of alcohol, and whisper things I didn't understand. Other nights, she was angry, shoving me, hitting me, and calling me names until her voice went hoarse. And then there were the nights she didn't say anything at all, just looked at me with those empty eyes, like I wasn't even a person anymore.