Chapter Five
Helene
Eleven Years Ago
“Yo, Hell,” Kane yelled over the kitchen counter. “You want onion and sausage, right?”
“Yeah.” I went back to scrambling around, trying to get the place squared away. I was ready to be done with this night.
I could hear Kane clanking around in the kitchen, and I knew he was tossing pizza grates up onto the shelf without even looking. I entered the walk in fridge that ran behind the built in beverage cases, and I started restocking as quickly as I could, peering out between the wire shelves to make sure no customers were walking in last minute.
Kane walked by toward the front door with a bag of garbage in his hand, and I faintly heard the bells on the door tinkling out their sound as he exited. I busied myself with restocking until all the shelves were full for the next day. And when I walked back out, it was just as the bells on the door jangled out again.
“You’re not burning my pizza are you?” I asked as I rounded the end of the aisle near the front door. But my gate stopped instantly when I saw Kane standing there with a man behind him. It was the same man who’d been in the store less than thirty minutes before, and he held a knife to Kane’s neck.
A vibrating pulse of terror coursed through my body, radiating out from my heart, and I inadvertently clasped my hand to my chest as though I could make it beat again.
“Wha…wha…what—”
“Lock the fucking door.” When I didn’t move quickly enough, the man’s face pinched in anger. “Now, you stupid cunt!” he yelled.
I pulled the keys from my pocket, my hands trembling so much I could barely grasp the ring.
“It’s okay,” Kane said softly as I stumbled toward the door.
“No, baby, it’s not fucking okay,” the stranger said, and then he chuckled cruelly. “Unless you want to see what it looks like for your boyfriend to bleed out, I suggest you get your ass in gear.”
I whimpered as I fumbled with the lock on the door, and I contemplated for a half a second pushing through the door and running like hell down the street. But I couldn’t do that without killing Kane, and I closed my eyes as the realization sank in that I might very well die because of that decision.
“Get in the back room,” the man barked at me once the door was locked.
He followed me as I walked toward the stock room that sat behind the kitchen, and he flipped the lights out in the main store as we passed through the door. No one would even know we were in there once he closed the door behind us, and a dread I’d never felt before creeped over my skin at what that meant.
This monster could do anything to us, and there was absolutely not even the most remote of possibilities he could be stopped. When I heard the door latch behind us, I started crying. My chest lurched, and I bit my tongue as I tried to stifle the sound. It was useless, and when I turned around to face them, I saw Kane’s eyes had filled with tears too. He watched me, his body held rigid as he tried not move against the blade that was held tightly to his neck, and I focused on the knife, unable to look away.
“Take your clothes off,” he said to me.
The sobs I’d been biting back erupted from my mouth, and my body tried to double over as panic hit and coursed through me in a very physical way.
“No. Please don’t fucking do this to her,” Kane begged. “Please. I’ll do whatever you want, but don’t—”
“Don’t worry. You’re going to do it to her.”
Kane’s eyes flashed to mine, but then his focus dropped and started bouncing quickly around as his own panic hit. His mouth was open, his lips trembling.
“Take your fucking clothes off!” the man yelled.
When he suddenly shoved Kane toward me, it was just as he pulled a handgun from the back of his pants. He pointed the gun at both of us, and when Kane slowly turned to face him, he stepped in front of me, reaching back and holding me in place behind him.
“Please,” Kane begged again, and I could feel his fingers trembling against my sides as he corralled me and shielded me.
The man quickly stalked straight up to Kane, raised the gun, and placed the muzzle directly to Kane’s forehead. A strange gasp escaped Kane’s lips, and just as quickly as the stranger had walked to Kane and threatened to kill him, I started scrambling with trembling fingers to take my clothes off.
Kane’s hand met my arm, and he squeezed, but I paused for only a moment before pulling away and stripping my shirt off over my head. My hands shook as I undid the button and lowered the zipper of my jeans, and by the time I pushed them down to my ankles, I was crying as quietly as I could, tears streaming down my face.
I hugged my arms around me and let my forehead drop to the middle of Kane’s back as I closed my eyes. A hand reached around Kane, clutching my forearm, and I was yanked out from behind him by the stranger.
“Was there some part of take your fucking clothes off that didn’t make sense to you?” the man asked coldly. He tucked the gun in the back of his pants, and when he pulled his hand back out, he was holding the knife again. He reached for the center of my bra, clutching it and yanking the fabric forward as he slid the blade under and snapped it through the fabric.
I cried out, clutching at my breasts to cover them. But he wasn’t done, and the second he had my bra destroyed, he yanked at the fabric of my underwear over my hip, slicing through first one side and then the other, tugging me around as I stood there trying to hide my body.
“Lay on the floor and spread those fucking legs open. If you don’t want to listen, I’ll put a bullet in your boyfriend’s brain, and then I’ll force you to do it anyway.”
I sat down on the floor where I stood, glancing up at Kane. The man instantly crouched beside me, grabbed the front of my throat, and slammed me backward into the cold dirty cement floor. He pinned me there, pressing on the front of my throat. It felt like I couldn’t breathe for a moment, and I struggled, my eyes moving around wildly.
Kane was staring in wide eyed horror as I fought for air, but then the man’s hand on my neck loosened.
“Spread your legs,” he hissed quietly.
Every part of my body trembled as I parted my legs, but I didn’t hesitate that time. Kane’s eyes flashed between my thighs for a moment before he looked away. He was standing in front of me, his arms crossed and his hands tucked under them. His jaw was tight, and his nostrils flared as he breathed. He looked back at my parted legs again, and then his eyes moved up slightly to the man who was still crouched over me.
“Get your fucking face between her legs. Don’t make me ask you twice.” The man’s hand on my neck released me, but it was replaced with the knife blade.
Kane knelt at my feet, and his eyes met mine for a moment. A tear ran down his cheek, and he brushed it away. His lips were trembling, and he shook his head as he closed his eyes for a moment. When they opened, he met my eyes again. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
And then he leaned forward and put his mouth on me.