Chapter 22: Magic Milk

Arisara

I covered Dtengmo’s ears with my dainty hands, trying to reduce the noise of the violent moans from the floor below. Each shriek sounded like a train switching tracks, grinding against the hot-rolled steel at the exchange. The noise brought me back to the nights when my husband would drag me out by my hair to the jungle to violate me so no one would hear. I winced as the pitch of the screams successively turned an octave higher. A foray of goosebumps germinated from my arms when the sound ceased. Whenever it was this quiet, something bad happened.

“Dtengmo, I need you to wait here for me, okay? I’m going to check on our friends,” I calmly instructed, acting more tender than I expected to be capable of.