Chapter 33 – Mariah
The next thing I knew, I was on a plane. I remembered fighting with Elie’s goons, trying to get away from them. I remember them giving me something that I didn’t really have a choice about, and I clearly remembered what Elie had told me. I knew who I was with, and instead of looking around at where I was I snapped my eyes shut again and waited for the other shoe to fall. I knew that Travis was going to realize I was awake soon, even if that was the last thing that I wanted. I couldn’t pretend forever.
“I wonder how much he gave her. If he killed this one, I don’t want to hear anything from him. This isn’t like Lisa. Lisa was my fault. He covered it up, so I will too if I have to.”
The words were not as clear as I would have liked. I was straining to hear Travis and the person he was talking to. I had no idea who that might be, but I was sure that whoever it was, they weren’t there to help me. No one around me was going to help me. Somebody who was working with Travis would already know what kind of man they were dealing with.
That left me stuck in a very bad situation. I could remember some of the conversation that I’d had with Elie, although I knew that it didn’t mean anything. Elie had sold me off, and I didn’t know if I was going to ever come back.
The longer I sat in silence with my eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, the more my brain was able to clear. I didn’t know what they’d given me, but I felt much like I had the day I’d woken up next to Scott. It seemed so long ago, but I knew that it was only a couple of days in the past. So much had changed since the auction.
“Why don’t you see if she’s awake yet? I’m starting to think that they gave her way too much. I should have known that Elie was going to screw this up. He already screwed up the auction.”
I heard footsteps coming towards me. They took a while to reach me, and I realized that the plane must be bigger than I’d imagined. Travis had money, and a lot of it. Obviously, this was a private jet and there was zero chance of help. I controlled my breathing as I felt someone standing over me.
“She’s still out, but at least she’s breathing.”
They talked about me like I was some insect that they were studying. I didn’t get anything good vibes off of them. They didn’t care who I was or what Travis was doing to me. No doubt it was one of his lackeys.
“Just let her sleep. She’s a handful when she’s awake, and I don’t have the time to deal with her right now.”
“We can always help you out, boss, if you need anything.”
“No, that will be fine. Don’t you dare touch her until I’ve had my fill. She’s here for a week, so there’s plenty of time.”
I heard some mumbling, and I tried hard not to show my revulsion. Just because I’d had sex once didn’t mean that I would do it with just anyone. I wasn’t ready to go to that level, and I didn’t think I ever would be. I was getting out of this life. I just had to wait until we touched down, and then I would find some police and get out of Travis’s clutches. I didn’t know where we were going, but it really didn’t matter. All I had to do was get away from him and then I would be able to get back home.
I worried about Sasha as I listened to the three or four men talking amongst themselves. I wasn’t on their agenda anymore, and I was thankful that I was left to lie there alone. I had to pee and my head was hurting badly, but I didn’t dare move a muscle. Nothing would have been as bad as having them realize I was awake. I couldn’t have been happier that they had no time for me.
My luck didn’t last much longer. I was thinking about Sasha and what I was going to do when I got home when I felt someone touching my chest. It wasn’t hard, I was just surprised, but I made a noise that gave me away. Now they knew I was up, and I opened my eyes to see a tall, dark man standing over me.
“Who are you?”
“What the hell are you doing, Carl? I said keep your damn hands off of her!”
“I barely touched the bitch and she was hollering out. I bet she’s been awake this whole time.”
The man had a kind of drawl to his voice that made me think he was from New Orleans too. The other voice belonged to Travis, and I knew I wasn’t ready to see him again. The last time I saw him had been enough, and I had told Elie that I never wanted to see him again. Nothing had changed, especially not that.
“Well hi there, Mariah. Are you ready to come and play?”
I pushed the man that had touched me away. “I can see that you’re not. Give her some more of that drink. I don’t want her fighting me until we get to the hotel.”
Travis moved closer to me and smiled in my face like a Cheshire cat. “I’d save all of that energy for later, Mariah. You’re going to need it, because I’ve got some big plans for you.”
I wanted to spit in his face, but I wasn’t that stupid. Travis was evil, and even though I had always liked pain, Travis wanted to make marks that would be there for life. He liked the marking more than anything else, and there was going to be no one there to stop him this time. I had already seen what he did to Sasha, and I let myself worry about me for a moment.
When the first guy came towards me with something in his hands, I had every intention of fighting. I was going to scratch his eyes out if he got close to me. No, I wasn’t going to let him get close to me. I just couldn’t. I didn’t want any more of that drug, because I knew that if I had any more I wasn’t going to be able to fight back. And I knew that I was going to have to fight back. Even though Travis liked it, he would leave me no choice.
As the man with the bottle of drugs in his hand got closer, I steeled myself for the fight that would ensue. I was stuck on a plane with them, though. There was literally nowhere for me to go. I had to get out of here, but at the moment all I could think about was staying away from the drink in his hand. At the very least, I wanted my wits about me.
“Don’t come near me with that. Travis! This isn’t necessary.”
I couldn’t see the man, but I heard a voice telling his employee to do it anyway.
“She’s just saying that. Drug her up so I don’t have to tie her up. There will be too much attention given to us if that happens.”
“Sure, boss.”
I was so worried about the man in front of me that I didn’t see the one coming up behind me. I felt his hands move around my neck. He wasn’t even trying to be gentle with me. He just hauled me up where my feet couldn’t touch the ground and pulled me back against his chest. I couldn’t move, and that was the point.
My mouth was snapped shut, but that didn’t last long. When the first man got closer, he just grabbed my jaws and forced my mouth open. I was able to spit out the first bit of vile liquid that went into my mouth, but I wasn’t so lucky the next time. I’d pissed him off and he was even rougher than before. I could feel his fingers biting into my cheeks as I tried to fight him. This time I swallowed. I didn’t have a choice.
Everyone around me was out of breath. I could barely breathe, and I fell to the ground when the guy behind me stopped holding me up. Gasping for breath and clutching my throat, I stared up at him with an evil eye. He just laughed and told me that he was going to have fun with me when the boss was done.
I shivered at his comment, because the reality was a lot closer than I would have liked. I didn’t want to think about that being a possibility, but the fact of the matter was that it was. I had no reason to think that Travis was anything short of a cold-blooded sadist. Why wouldn’t he give me away when he was done? I didn’t even know if I was going to be taken home. I’d heard about Lisa, whoever that was, and I could only imagine what kind of a fate she’d suffered. I don’t even think her dead body would have been safe from monsters like them.
The drug was doing what it was supposed to do. I was starting to feel groggy, and when I tried to get up off the floor, I fell back down with the soft sway of the plane. I didn’t have to know where I was to know that we were a long ways from landing. Travis was taking me somewhere far away. No one was ever going to find me.
Tiredness segued to paranoia, and by the time I closed my eyes for the last time, I was overcome with a sense of doom. I didn’t know where I was going to be when I woke up, and I realized that I didn’t want to. Wherever it was, I wasn’t going to be where I wanted to be. Scott and my place back in New Orleans were the very last things that I thought of before I passed out. I kept thinking about how I was never going to see either of them again.