Neglect (3)

For a long while, I stared blankly at the beads scattered across the sheet.

Reda's command to put them in myself.

Nausea surged up.

Into that place on my body.

This horrific symbol of humiliation.

My hands trembled.

Everything inside me was screaming that I couldn't do it.

It was the exact opposite of when I had removed the plug in the forest.

Back then, it had been a struggle for freedom and survival, but this was the opposite.

This was the act of shackling myself once more with my own hands...