[Suggested song for this chapter – Selfless, The Strokes]
"He's a fucking degenerate!" Alton hissed, as he held Delphi's hair for her while she was sick.
She climbed out of the swag and swayed on her hands and knees, letting the sharp rocks that dug into her palms and her knees, bring her back to the present moment and out of her own head.
Miro came trotting over and dropped his head down to her level, looking into her face.
"I'm okay Miro," she panted, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
When she had brushed her teeth, she climbed back into the swag with Alton, who had shifted it across to the other side of the fire. She could feel that his whole body was stiff with anger, his jaw tightly clenched.
"I'm sorry, Alton," she said hopelessly. "I fought as hard as I could, but I wasn't good enough."
She really did feel like such a failure for allowing herself to be abused and humiliated like that. She felt like she was both a failure, and somehow also to blame…
