TRIGGER WARNING: ABUSE AND MENTION OF ABUSE
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Her arms wrapped around me, warm, steady, real. My throat closed as I clutched back, desperate to bury myself in her like I was still a childābut my arms wouldn't fit. They were too short, too small, straining uselessly against her sides.
Panic flickered. My breath hitched. Why couldn't I hold her?
Her hand cupped the back of my head, pressing me into her shoulder. I felt it thenāwetness. Not my tears, but hers, sliding down against my temple. My mind scrambled for answers, for sense, but thenā
Crack.
The sound ripped through the star-strewn air. A lash. A belt.
It landed across her back. She flinched hard, her grip tightening on me.
I froze, my pulse plummeting into terror.
And then I saw him.
Landon.
His face contorted into the familiar mask of rage, every vein and tendon standing out, the hatred rolling off him so thick it made the air curdle in my lungs.