01. Gone

TRIGGER WARNING

The following chapter includes content not meant for young audiences or audiences who do not wish to read about mature topics such as rape and child abuse/ psychological abuse. Please read at your own risk or skip the chapter.

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Secrets.

We all have them.

The ones we hide from the world. Be it to protect who we are or to hold onto the last strand of sanity, to know that your secret is still safe with you.

No one should know.

No one will know.

... No one was meant to know.

Sophia had one too. One that she carried with her for years. One that caused her sleepless nights and with no soul she could share it with.

Let's be realistic here, these secrets drive us to our graves, does it not? No soul is meant to find out, this burden itself is enough to cause us endless sleepless nights. What more of secrets that would shatter the life you're living? The life that you've worked so hard to build could and would be shattered to a million pieces the minute, no, the second anyone got wind of it. Who wouldn't be on the edge trying their best to hide this secret?

Sophia had carried 'her secret' with her for years, so why? Why was she here right now, on the stone-cold floor, stark naked with her fingers all smashed and her legs from the knee below all cut? Why was she moaning like a maniac, craving for someone to touch her all over? Or for someone to give her the drugs that had her addicted for months? Why was her half-sister whom she pampered since her arrival to the family, or even her ex-fiance here in front of her dressed to the nines watching her make a fool of herself?

She's been here for who knows how long. Each passing minute felt like an eternity. She felt hot and empty along with the coldness of the floor but she also felt nothing. These trivial feelings didn't bother her anymore.

Her secret was exposed or rather the 'secret' that was planned from the beginning to guilt-trip her was finally brought to light. Ironically, the one behind this masterpiece secret was none other than her biological father! Her father that had been doting on her the most since she was young, the one that brought her precious gifts and played with her despite his busy schedule. He, who lived and cared for her for the past 29 years of her life was the one behind the 'secret' that tortured her day in and day out for more than fifteen years!

He conspired with her 'sister' for years to make her work hard so that they can live a blissful life of luxury while she slaved away her days making money. Not to think about these two trashes that have been with her for years, even that trash that pestered her every day to marry her was paired with her father and half-sister! Her fiance even said he loved her half-sister more than her when she caught them in bed?

Could she have lived a life any worse than this?

A life more ignorant than this?

From finding out the person behind her nightmares to the betrayal from her fiance to seeing a whole new side of the once adorable sister she loved and pampered, Sophia was done with being in pain.

She was in pain when she realized her father planned everything from the beginning. She was heartbroken when she found her beloved fiance rolling in the sheets with her half-sister. Her world continued to shatter to bits when she came to know that her half-sister planned together with her father and ex-fiance to have her tortured as they partied all day and enjoy the luxury of the riches that Sophia exchanged with her life.

Now, she wasn't bothered by these things anymore.

Getting prostituted every week for more money, or getting physically abused wasn't as painful as it was in the beginning. Her mind and body had already gone numb. Her body still craved s*x like a wh*re and she still had her mind consciousness intact as the aphrodisiac took over her body every time. She still felt the way her body reacts to those filthy hands of hundreds of men, and how she has hated herself for craving them in the first place! She still had them and she still felt them but she was used to it already.

When she felt herself screaming from the agony of not getting the drugs till her body almost reached the limit, she was not bothered by it. They could even throw her out on the streets stark naked in a crowded street for all she cared, just as long as they let her free at the end of the day.

All she cared and longingly waited for was the time she would be set free from this all. But rather than giving them the last victory by killing herself, she would wait until they killed her. After being played by them her entire life, she deserves to get at least one victory, don't you think?

"Jackson~" Layla Harper, Sophia's half-sister was standing in the room a few feet away from Sophia's naked body, acting lovey-dovey with her fiance Jackson. That same Jackson that was supposed to marry Sophia, not more than a year ago. "Our wedding is tomorrow, should we give her an early gift?"

Jackson smirked, "Of course dear~ we need to show Sophia how grateful we are to her help." Jackson gave Layla a quick peck before clapping his hands.

Several men in blacks suits marched into the room in an orderly fashion. Not at all fazed by the gory sight of Sophia who was on the floor. With practiced ease and no hesitation, they formed a ring of clothes around Sophia before dumping a big bottle of gasoline all over the clothes and even Sophia. When they were done they left the room. If one looked closely they would see that those were the clothes all the clothes she had bought for Layla before she caught them in bed, but it didn't matter now did it?

Layla freed herself from Jackson's grasp and walked over the clothes ring and over to Sophia who was still moaning on the ground with her eyes half-closed. With her 6-inch heels, Layla rested her foot on top of Sophia's naked chest. Her head lifted high and might like those of a queen. Not at all reflecting the viciousness she displayed with the actions, she spoke with her voice as gentle as the summer breeze. "Sister~ we decided on an early wedding gift." Layla looked down at Sophia who didn't seem to be bothered by anything at all.

"It's been a few years and your drug addiction is wasting our money we could use for the honeymoon~ We also had to get you man every time! So we decided to let you have an early death!" Layla lifted the foot from Sophia's chest only to stomp down at the heart with her pencil heels. Still not satisfied, Layla stepped back a little before she started kicking Sophia's stomach as hard as she could for the last time. Only when she saw Sophia coughing violently and curling up her body like an infant did Layla let out a gleeful smile before waltzing away towards Jackson.

"You could've hurt your foot~" Jackson wasn't at all concerned for Sophia. "Can we leave now~" He wanted to enjoy a romantic dinner outside with Sophia before they get married tomorrow. When Layla nodded her head, he took out a lighter from one of his pockets before handing it to Layla in a doting manner.

"Goodbye Sister~" Layla's melodious voice rang across the empty room as she threw the lighter into the clothes ring. She and Jackson stood by the side watching the fire blaze up like there's no tomorrow for a good few seconds before leaving the room. Their faces revealing the great pleasure they were feeling inside their hearts.

As the smoke from the fire build inside the room, Sophia found it hard to breathe. Her eyes were red and filled with tears from all the heat. Though she was on the verge of death, she had on a little smile. One that couldn't be seen for the past few years that she had been locked in the room.

'I won.'

'I didn't kill myself.'

The heat intensified and the clothes on her body burned. Going straight for her skin but Sophia was eager for this moment. She was finally going to be set free! For some reason, this fire that was about to end her life was warmer than anything she was ever felt for the last 29 years of her life, but it didn't matter now.

Right now, she was going to be free from this cruel life and it was something warm that is going to take her life. That thought alone comforted the broken Sophia so much that her small smile broke out to one that was even bigger and brighter than the sun on a hot summer day. The smile stayed on her face up until the last second when a tear of grief fell. As she lost consciousness for the last time, a thought that had been bothering her for months made its way to her mind.

'Where did it all go wrong?'

As the fire continued to gnaw on her now cold and lifeless body, Sophia's soul left her body. She was finally free from this world that played with her life from the very beginning.

Sophia Harper was gone.