The Academy: Uncaged

1. Sing For Me, Mourning Dove

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Graphic descriptions of physical assault, sexual assault, implied rape.

Some of the following content is unsuitable for some readers. Reader discretion is advised. If you cannot read content with such tags and trigger warnings, please skip the chapter. Future chapters will summarize the events of this chapter in a less graphic detail.

A/N//: Hello everyone! Welcome to the first chapter of The Academy: Uncaged. I made the decision to split this into two books. I hope you enjoy it. PLEASE advise the above warnings. This chapter is going to be pretty graphic. There will be chunks of italics, dictating Amelia's thoughts as she'll be pretty indisposed.

Although it happened all of thirty seconds before, the deadbolt sliding shut was still ringing through Amelia's ears, loud and heavy with finality. Her mind was racing, fight or flight instincts fighting one another for dominance. Sweat formed on her palms as anxiety coursed through her. Even if he hadn't said it explicitly, he'd already made it clear what his intentions were. The stinging from her cheek and eye was telling enough. He was there to hurt her.

She didn't have many options. Erik stood in front of the door. There was no way that she was going to get through him. She could barricade herself in her bedroom, but what would that achieve if she didn't have the phone Christopher left her on hand. The device was sitting innocently on the kitchen counter, charging. If she went into the kitchen, she risked getting trapped in there. Her priority had to be getting out of that fucking front door.

Erik took one step toward her, and she took one step back into the apartment. But her one step was quickly out-balanced by two more of his. He meant business. Momentarily, her fight instinct decided to rear its big, fat, ugly head, and Amelia quickly jammed her knee toward Erik's crotch. She hit her mark, and she heard Erik groan. She didn't wait to see what happened. Amelia immediately took off into the living room, eyes frantically searching for something to defend herself with. All she had was a basket of laundry. Fuck. Why did she have to clean the living room at the most inopportune time?

"You're going to regret that, Mourning Dove," Erik gritted out as soon as he had gotten over the initial pain of her nutshot.

She heard him thunder after her, and suddenly, she was being yanked to the ground by her ankle. A scream died in her throat as all of her breath was stolen from her lungs as she crashed down to the carpet.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I'm fucked.

Her lungs stung as they struggled to get air within them. Her movements were sluggish and faltering as her head swam a little bit, but she couldn't stop here. She'd be dead meat otherwise. Amelia looked back at him and gave him a swift, harsh kick to his shoulder. With a grunt of pain, Erik released Amelia's ankle.

She took that as her opportunity to scramble to her feet. Her heart was beating in her chest a mile a minute. Her pulse thundered in her ears. Her body was on autopilot as she stumbled toward the kitchen, toward the cell phone that Christopher left for her. But before she could even make it past the entrance of the kitchen, she felt Erik's hand dig into her hair. He pulled roughly on it, dragging Amelia to the ground. She cried out in pain.

"Yes, that's what I want to hear," he said from behind her. "C'mon. Sing for me, birdie."

"Fuck off!" she roared back.

Her hands shot up to his and clawed at his skin, but he didn't budge. Amelia opened her mouth to scream for help, but she felt his hand slap down over her mouth, muffling her cries. He didn't let go as he dragged her toward the center of the apartment where Amelia saw that he had discarded his bag.