“It’s about time you woke up.” The pain. Oh my God! The pain in my leg is unbearable. I try to bring my leg up, but realize I can’t. When I open my eyes, I see I’ve been tied to the bed. I look down at my naked body and see Frank standing at the foot of the bed. There’s a plastic paint sheet under me. This is worse than I ever imagined.
“You know.” He inspects the knife. “I really do enjoy the little gift you left me with. I think it will come in handy, don’t you?”
“Go to hell!” I shout out as loud as I can. I need him to know that no matter what he does to me, he won’t break my spirit. “I hate you!”
“Oh, Lanie. That’s not very nice.” He takes the blade and slowly, drags it over my skin. It’s sharp but not sharp enough to cut through my skin. He trails the point up and over my legs until he gets to my stomach. His fingers make their way between my legs and I feel like I’m going to throw up. “Did you let him in here?” I don’t answer, I close my eyes and turn away from him. I refuse to let him get the best of me. “You did. You little whore. I always knew you’d be unfaithful.” Instead of touching me there, his fingers trail up my body. He grabs my face and forces me to look at him.
“Look at me when I talk to you!” Anger surges through me and I spit at him.
“Get fucked!”
“You little bitch! Oh, I’ve got something better.” He says. “I’m going to make sure that no man will ever touch you again.” He kneels on the bed beside me, takes the knife and begins pressing it into my flesh of my belly. When I scream, he covers my mouth with his hand and continues cutting my stomach. “Don’t wiggle, Lanie. I may just make a mistake and push too hard. Then what would happen? You’d bleed to death.” He’s so calm while he’s doing this. I try to scream and get loose, but it’s useless. He’s right. The more I move, the more I can feel the blade sinking deeper.
“You know what? This is no fun.” He climbs back off the bed and brings my backpack to me. “Maybe we should add some fun to this.” He grabs the phone from the side pocket and holds it out to my hand. “Unlock it.”
“NO!”
“Unlock it.” He repeats, pressing the blade against my wrist.
“Why should I? Go ahead and cut me. You’re going to kill me anyway.”
“You’re right. I am. But first I want to have a little fun. Now UNLOCK IT!” He shouts so loud, I jump. My fingers touch the screen and unlock the phone. “Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?” He looks at it and after pushing some buttons, I can hear the video feature activated.
“Jesus, Lanie…”
“She’s not quite with Jesus, yet.” Frank laughs.
“I swear to God, if you hurt her, I’ll kill you!” Jax threatens.
“Describe hurt.” He flips the phone around, so I can see Jax’s face. His eyes are filled with fear and they’re bloodshot.
“Jax.”
“Lanie, baby. Are you okay?” I don’t get a chance to answer. Frank takes the phone and scans it over my bleeding body.
“Does she look okay?” Frank teases. He takes the blade and presses it against the skin on my thigh. I begin to scream again, and I can hear Jax crying and yelling for him to stop.
Frank repeats the process two more times. By the end of the last one, I’ve become numb. I can’t scream, I don’t even have the energy to cry anymore. I want to die. The only thing keeping me here is the fact that I don’t want to give Frank the satisfaction that he won. He ends the call and throws the phone on the ground. “That will do for now.” He seems satisfied with his work and leaves me alone to bleed in pain.
I don’t know how long I’ve been laying here. I’ve pretty much become numb with all the pain. The blood on the plastic sheet that was once warm has become cold against my skin. If I try to move, I can feel warmth leak from the cuts and dribble down the sides of my body.
I think hallucinations have taken over because all I see is Jax. He’s hovering over me like a guardian angel.
“Jax.” I whisper.
“Lanie. I need you to be quiet. Can you do that?” He’s asking me if I can be quiet. I can barely move my head. I don’t think I could scream even if I wanted to.
“Jax. Help me. Please help me.” Why isn’t he helping me? Where is Jax? I glance over at the clock on the dresser that used to force me out of bed in the morning and realize this is all a hallucination. It’s only been a few hours since I’ve been back and there’s no way he could be here by now.
“Shhh.”
“I love you, Jax. Always know that.” I begin crying and when I do, I can feel more warmth coming from my stomach.
“Brad, its Zane. Call for back up. I already called an ambulance, but I’m not sure she’s going to make it.” Zane? Oh God. I’m dying. Tears fall and every time they do, pain surges through me. “Jax. God, Jax. I’m so sorry.” I cry. He’s trying to hush me, but the more it hurts, the more the pain hurts so bad that I can’t help it. He turns away and runs from me. “Jax! No! Don’t leave me!”
The door comes swinging open and Frank steps in. “What? Still want more?”
Now, after all of this, I’m done. “Please. Frank, please! Kill me. Just don’t hurt Jax or his family. Tell him I love him and tell him to protect Laura for me. I love her so much.”
“Laura?” He steps up to me. “You’ve lost a lot of blood. Laura’s dead.”
“She’s not. We tricked you so she would live.”
“That was you!” He seethes. “You fucking bitch! That’s enough from you!” He takes me by the neck and brings the knife to my throat. When he applies pressure, I start coughing. I can feel fresh blood coming from the new wound. This is it. Finally, I’ll be free from Frank Morris. The blade and his hand withdrawals. I choke when I gasp for air.
I can’t focus any longer. I let my body do what it needs to do. When I hear my name, I open my eyes one last time and the last thing I see are two images of Jax….