#Chapter 93 – Locked Away

I don’t know how long I’m in the cooler, not really. I cried for hours, I know, and then somehow fell asleep – or went unconscious. I don’t really know what the best word is for that state. Just…out. Not in the world anymore. But I’m ripped back into it the moment I hear the jangling of my padlock. My eyes go wide, and then I gasp at the bright light that floods into the cooler when the lid is lifted off of me. I flinch, and shout, trying to cover my face with my hands. There’s no time, though, before Bruno grabs me by the arm, hauling me up and then over his shoulder. “Time to get up, little girl,” he growls, cruel. “Time for another little chat.” I cry out then, knowing what’s coming for me, shaking my head as I hang upside down over his shoulder and am carried back to my chair. I beg, softly, a little unintelligible to be let go – insisting I don’t know anything. But Bruno ignores me, hauling me off his shoulder and tossing me into my chair. I gasp in pain as the metal edge hits