Luna

Chapter 18

Aurelius

'WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE.' Ozouf howled in pain as the heartbreak from my actions tore through us.

I hadn't rejected the female, but from the look of sheer disappointment laced on her face, the hurt consuming her eyes, and the way she withdrew completely, I might as well have.

Pacing back and forth in my head, Ozouf howls in anger and frustration.

'I'm sorry,' I say to him, but he shuts me out after crawling into the back of my head.

"Will he hurt her like Dave did?" A small voice asks, bringing me out of my pity party.

"What do you mean sweetie?" Lucia asks.

"When Dave was mad, he took her to the basement to punish her," Princess says. "Sometimes I would hear her scream so loud, and I would go hide under my bed until she came to get me."

"How would he punish her?" Lucia inquires from the rather unsually talkative girl.

"He hit her a lot," she says. "One time, I saw him get on top of her when she didn't have any clothes on. She was screaming and crying, but Mrs A was holding her so she couldn't get away."

What!?

Standing just out of view outside the kitchen, I hear gasps fill the room and silence follows the girls shocking words. Had she witnessed the females rape?

"Wh-Who's Mrs A, sweetie," Lucia asks with a sad voice.

"She's Dave's friend."

"And who's Dave?"

"He says he's my dad, but Hope says my dad died before I was born."

I fall against the wall as shock consumes me from the revelation of the females past. She's been through a lot from what I hear, and I've just dropped the ball on her a few days after she escaped an abusive household. She probably found comfort when she realized she had a mate, but the only thing I have been capable of doing so far was proving to her that there's no good in this world.

What have I done?

"Di-Did he ever take you to the basement?" Lucia's sad broken voice asks. She isn't taking this information well, and from the sound of it, she's on the verge of tears.

"Only one time. Me and Hope got woke up after we heard someone breaking things downstairs. She told me it was nothing and said to go back to sleep," Princess says. "But when I woke up again she wasn't there. I was scared, so I went downstairs to look for her and I saw the blood on the floor. I heard a noise in the kitchen and I ran there looking for Hope. Dave had his hands on her neck and I could tell she couldn't breathe."

After a little break, the little girl continues, "She told me to go back to my room, but I was too scared and didn't move. Dave got mad. He let Hope go, and took me to the basement. He killed Gummie," she says with a sob.

"Hope came in when he was shaking me. She pushed me out of the room. Then I heard him hurt her again," she says as she cries. "I couldn't get in to save her. She locked the door. Then when she came out, she didn't walk right. She made me wear my shoes and she took a bag from the closet and we ran away."