Soul Survivor

Mama Maylene was her name, and she was only in it for the money. She used mind abuse, so no one could see the wounds of the evil horror that was inside of her, and she was the best at it. “Make you strong.” She would say in warning prior to a visit from my caseworker. “I am only doing this for our own good, so if you say something I will have to punish you. I am the only one that would take an ugly child like you, so don't forget what I tell you, no one else will want you, Davilla. You need to appreciate it here, because if you mess it up no one else will take you so they will put you in a state run home and I am not going to even tell you what they would do to you there. Everything I do is for your own good to make you strong.” No matter how hard I tried, it was never good enough for her. I would try to hide from her so she would not find reason to hurt me, but sometimes for no reason at all; she would search me out and drag me down in her deep dark cellar of her home. It was horrific with its rank musty smells, and she would tie me to a post in a puddle of foul muck, that would cause me to gag. She would tell me that the rats would come eat at my flesh, because that's what they do to evil little girls. So there I would be, in the darkness, crying and begging for mercy when I knew I had done nothing to deserve this with the exception of the dark hate that was so much a part of Mama Maylene it would cause her face to twist in ways that could only be described as demonic. I would cringe at every sound and then suddenly, I would feel something scratching at me, biting on my flesh. My screams of terror, would echo throughout the house, but the more I scream out the longer she would leave me there as punishment for being afraid. I would hear her laughing with pleasure, euphoric at knowing the terror I was going through and making me endure it for hours. “Someday,” She would growl at me through the closed door taunting me, “you are going to thank me for making you face your fears.”