CHAPTER FIFTEEN
HOPE
At some point they must have let me down, I think I can remember looking into a sea of chocolate and an intense heat wrapping me up in a cloak of protection, but it’s gone now.
Was it a dream or was it real? Something was different, I felt fear, but I also felt safe for the smallest amount of time as three figures stood before me. There was only one figure, only Mark and all the pain he brought.
It must have been a dream, there is no safety in this world. Only pain and it is directed at me. The next thing I know I’m back on the cold floor. Every part of my body feels sore and alien, like my limbs are no longer a part of my body. I try to move my arms, legs, even my neck from side to side but it’s as if the demands from my brain aren’t registered by the relevant body parts. I stay limp on the floor just hoping that something, anything, will take me away from this place, but nothing seems to happen. Everything around me is constant and I want to scream for change, I want to scream and push it all away so I can go home, but no matter how much I scream nothing happens. Everything stays the same and I want to scream more. I want to attack but my body just feels to weak, so I just succumb to the coldness and try to go somewhere where everything is back to normal, where I can be Hope Bryant again.
My dreams
****
The creak of the door opening pulls me away from another blissful coma and my whole body is suddenly on high alert.
What does he want now?
What will he do to me today? Light shines in, attacking my sensitive eyes with its brightness as the creak of the door gets louder. I try to shield myself, hide back into the safety of the darkness, but the light seems to find me anyway and casts itself over me showing my hiding spot.
“Take the chains off.” Mark says but it’s not Mark who comes to do it. It’s not even the other man who has done his bidding before. I had had the feeling that there are more of them, but I was sure it was just a dream. I try to look up and I just make out three figures. His father and someone else, someone who isn’t like the others. Only one figure steps forward, it’s not Mark and not even his father but the other man. I think they called him Zac but as he crouches down in front of me the normal sense of fear doesn’t claim me as it has with the others. Instead, as he detaches the chain that keeps me attached to the wall I don’t feel scared, I don’t get the sense of dread that would normally claims me and all I can see is the sea of chocolate from that dream I’d been sure wasn’t real. I was so sure it was just a dream. I feel calm, I feel somewhat protected like I did before but I have no idea why because this man is just as bad as the others. He’s here, doing these things to me, he has to be. He is just as bad as them. I hear the chain rattle against the floor and if I were brave enough I could try and make a run for it but right now I just feel too weak and that one thought exhausts me. I keep my head hidden between my arms, I don’t make a sound, just hoping that they will leave me alone, but nothing happens. I feel Zac’s presence over me somewhat like a protective shield around me. It disappears all too soon when I hear wheels against the floor. I look up, wondering what will happen now and I see Mark and his father wheeling in a long trolley with cuffs attached to each corner. My body begins to shake in a new fear as both men step closer to me. As soon as someone’s arms take a hold of my legs I try to kick them away, but it does no use and before I know it Mark has a hold of my arms as well. They don’t pick me up, instead they half drag me across the floor and I feel the sharp shards of concrete slice across my back. I scream in response and try to fight both men, but they are both too strong for my fragile body to outrun them. The cold base of the trolley is no relief to my back as they slam me down on top of it. My legs are forced up, so my knees are bent and as Mark keeps them in place his father attaches the cuffs around my ankles. I try to move my arms, try to sit forward so I can attempt to get them off of me, but Zac comes around to the back of me and takes my shoulders and pushes me back down making quick work of attaching more cuffs to my wrists. The chains rattle and limit my movements as I try to fight against them and I can see all three figures to the left of me watching my useless efforts.
“What are you going to do? Let me go!” I keep repeating but they just carry on watching me as if I’m a trapped animal. I laugh when all I can think is that’s exactly what they’ve made me. I laugh. I laugh at this new predicament as if I have no care in the world.
“Let me go.” I try to say again but they don’t notice me.
“Let me go, please.”
“You say she’s a virgin?” Mark’s father asks him.
“Yes.” Mark answers.
“Yes, I’m sure Dad. I was her first and only boyfriend and I didn’t touch her.”
“Must have been hard.”
“It was when she was begging for it like a dirty slut.”
Tears escape my eyes as I hear his words. I thought he didn’t want sex with me because he wanted to make it special but all along he just had his father’s plans in sight. I was nothing but a game, a toy to be played with. He thinks I’m a slut. I guess I am now, he’s making me into one, anyway, no matter how much I might protest. Primed and ready for the next part of this sick journey they’re forcing me on.
“I should check just to make sure. Too much rests on us getting this right and I won’t let her fucking family do it again.” Mark’s father says. What does he know about my family?
He puts a glove over one of his hands and steps towards me, another sinister look on his face - far worse than his son. He steps between my legs and raises his gloved hand and I know what he’s going to do.
“No.” I start thrashing around on the table, but the cuffs give me no leeway.
“No. No, please don’t touch me.”
Without warning he forces his whole hand up towards my womb and all I feel is intense pressure from deep inside and a burning that sets me on fire. I scream into the air, but no one is there to help me. No one who cares is here to hear my pleas. As quickly as his hand forced itself into my vagina he quickly pulls it out again with a pop. He pulls his arm up towards his body and his hand is covered with my blood, I can feel it drip from between my legs and I just want to be sick, I want to disappear back into the darkness where I can feel somewhat safe again.
“She’s still intact. We’ll be able to fetch a good amount for her virgin pussy.” He says as he pulls off the glove that glistens with my blood. He puts it in a small clear bag and then ties it off before walking away with it, only to return a few moments later with another needle. Dread consumes me as I see the liquid bubble as he taps the vial.
“No. No, not the needle again please.” I can’t stand another episode of that drug. Please, anything but that. Mark steps forward and brushes back my hair that is now wet from my nervous sweat and looks down at me with loving eyes. Loving eyes? What is he playing at now?
“You don’t want the nasty needle, my love?” I shake my head as his father steps closer to me again. I look over to just behind him and I can see that Zac is still in the room. He’s just looking in my direction, but he doesn’t do anything to help. Why won’t he help me? I try to plead with my eyes and unspoken whispers, but they aren’t loud enough to be heard. Nothing seems to get through to the human that I know must be hiding behind the body of another monster.
“Don’t worry, my love, it will be ok.” Mark says just as he steps away from me so his father can come at me with the needle. The sharp point penetrates my skin again but I can’t feel the liquid as it enters my blood stream.
“No special quests are wanted.” He winks at me and everything becomes clear. It wasn’t the same drug, they’ve just given me an anti-pregnancy drug. Thank God, but that would also mean they expect to take that from me too. I’m a virgin, I don’t want my first time to be taken like this. I had always hoped that it would happen with someone I loved, I had wanted it to happen with Mark but once again they are taking away my choices and making me do what they want me to do. Fresh tears start to fall and there is nothing I can do to stop them.