The engine revved.
Then I was dragged.
My body scraped against the road. Stones ripped through my clothes, my skin, my bones. Pain was everywhere, loud and sharp and endless. My arms felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets. My knees burned. My back screamed.
They laughed.
Someone filmed it.
Like I was nothing.
Like pain was entertainment.
I don't know how long it lasted. Time broke apart. I remember stopping. Hands loosening the rope. Someone kicking me once more for good measure.
Then nothing...
When I woke up, it was quiet.
Too quiet.
Moonlight spilled over rows and rows of gravestones. A cemetery. Funny. I felt safer there than anywhere else. Dead people never hurt me. Living ones always did.
I dragged myself to the road. Every step felt unreal. Like my body belonged to someone else.
When the sky started to lighten, my strength finally gave out. I collapsed right there on the roadside.
....
“Ma’am? Can you hear me?”
I opened my eyes to bright lights and white walls. A nurse was adjusting something in my arm.
Pain hit all at once. Everywhere.
“Where’s my son?!” I croaked. “Where is Ryle?”