Page 81 of Trick or Treat

“Did anyone else make it, or am I the only one?”I closed my eyes and held my breath, bracing myself for the answer.

I didn’t know whether I wanted the masked men to live or die. I was truly torn about it, especially remembering all of the things they put me through. Still, a part of me hoped at least one of them was, and I couldn’t figure out why. My heart hurt, though; I could feel it breaking as the reality of my situation began hitting me all at once.

I might be alive, but all my friends were dead, my life was ruined, and things would never be the same no matter how hard I tried to fix it.

I looked up into the doctor’s eyes, waiting for his answer. He smiled at me and took my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry, Scarlett, it doesn’t look like any of them survived. You were the only one.”

I felt like I got hit by a bus when he said it, and I could finally feel tears falling down my cheeks. I no longer had them to guide me through this fucked-up world. But deep down, I knew I didn’t need them.

I had a chance at a second life, to move on from the horrors of my past, and I sure as fuck was going to take it instead of dwelling on the fact that my captors had lost their lives—that I killed them.

A smirk curled across my dry, cracked lips as I remembered how they died. I fought for my life. I didn’t just give up and let them win. I won in the end, and I took my power back.

I had a new life to live without having to look over my shoulder, and I was going to make sure that living it was exactly what I did.