chapter FIFTEEN
Jenny
It sounded like I was in the middle of an explosion, with the sound of clanging metal attacking my senses from all directions. I could feel the world beneath me shaking so forcefully it felt like I woke up in the midst of an earthquake. I had always had a fear of being buried alive and my horror was coming true. I pounded on the walls around me until my hands bled, but I was trapped. I was trying to stop myself from crying out, refusing to give in to my fears but I couldn't stop myself. My fears were so much stronger then I was. I was used to letting Wilson think he had full control, but I always had the power to sway him into my way of thinking.
Every speed bump and pothole felt like I was being dropped and thrown back up again as we made our way to wherever we were going. I was certain by the time we got there I would be covered in so many bruises that I would look like a Dalmatian by the time the car stopped. The exhaust was leaking up through the trunk and my eyes burned and watered. I struggled to breath and threw up numerous times.
Banging on the trunk, I screamed “I am dying! Help me,” but there was no Prince Charming to come to my rescue. There never was.
I must have blacked out because when I woke my wrists were burning and I could barely feel my fingers. My body trembled and goosebumps rippled down its entire length. I struggled to get free, but before I even started I knew that it was useless. I was strapped into what appeared to be a giant wooden chair. Each time I moved I could hear a wrinkling sound. I couldn't see a thing in the darkness and something in the air burned my nostrils and made it hard to breath.
"Where the hell am I?" I screamed and shook the chair even more.
I am not sure how long they left me there naked, wrapped in a thin plastic shower curtain and tied to a chair, but it felt like an eternity. There was a whooshing sound that was followed by a chucking noise. It just kept singing its haunting song over and over endlessly until I was sure I was half mad. I knew I was in a large empty room by the way it echoed and obviously some kind of industrial complex such as a factory because of the smell. I stopped twisting under my restraints as the burning was getting so strong that I just couldn't handle it anymore.
I could see shadows made by someone walking just beyond the door. It was their feet disrupting the light under the door that gave them away. I watched and waited, but they were just playing with me, using some kind of psychological intimidation. I had watched enough documentaries to know that they were just screwing with my mind. Kind of like the CIA or the KGB during the Cold War. The scariest part was that I had nothing to offer as far as information went and if I understood the conversation between Wilson and the thug, the only value I had was to be a sex toy. Through the fifteen years of marriage Wilson had treated me like one and I never felt cheap. It was part of our arrangement, but it was sealed by marriage so I saw it as part of life. This was something different, though. Being one man’s sex toy I could handle and enjoy, but being traded to pay a debt was another story completely. Wilson had better be dead, because I was a vengeful bitch and he was going to feel it.
A blinding light filled the room as the door opened. It made a loud screeching sound and a slow series of footsteps followed. Spots filled my visions as I tried to see what was happening, but I couldn’t. The footsteps grew louder and louder until I saw the outline of a massive figure approaching me.
"Are you going to claw and fight like a wild cougar if I untie you?" a slow, simple voice asked. "Because if you do, I am going to slap you and I don't want to. It's not the kind of thing a man likes to do." I nodded obediently, too scared to say anything. "I want to hear a yes," he demanded, but no matter how much I wanted to respond, my lips would move but nothing came out. "Ok, I guess you want to wait another six hours in the dark, then. Maybe you’ll be a little more co-operative after that."
"No, I won't fight you! I won't, please just don't leave me here in the dark," I screamed. I know everyone tells themselves that they will be strong in such circumstances until it happens. Yes, that's when they all cave and submit like little bitches. I whined, "I promise I won't fight you, just don't hurt me or leave me here naked and tied up like this."
"Good girl," he said. It was a strange feeling for me to hear those words. For so long I would do almost anything Wilson commanded just to hear those words, but suddenly they sounded so dirty and cheap. I saw a flicker of silver and the click of a blade. "Now remember Miss, if you scream or fight I am going to have to hurt you. I don't like hurting woman, but if I gotta smack you I will smack you."
"I won't fight you,” I said as I felt the ropes loosen with each cut. It felt strange that my hands were free and I could barely feel my fingers.
He dropped something onto my lap that felt smooth and silky to the touch. "Put these on. They might not be the fancy type that you are used to, but our girls never complain about them." Laughing, he added "And of course the men never complain about them, either." He stood there, watching me like he expected me to say or do something. "Well, come on now and get dressed."
"With you watching?" I didn't know what kind of women he called his girls, but I wasn't owned by them yet. Well, at least as far as I know. Either way, I didn't want to strip down naked in front of him.
"For Christ’s sake princess, we are in a dark room. What exactly could I see?" He sounded frustrated and I could only assume that he was used to woman obeying him.
"Turn around. I don't want you to see me."
Even in the darkness I could see his hand preparing to swing. I closed my eyes and waited for his hand to connect. I hadn't actually ever been beaten before. I have been spanked with Wilson's bare hand, his belt, and even a ping pong paddle and each time it hurt for a while, but no man had ever beaten me. Not like I expected this guy could and probably would.
“Don’t lay a finger on her. She is not to be touched.” I opened my eyes and saw the silhouette of a smaller figure standing in the doorway. “She isn’t to be touched. A woman just like her snapped my arm in two like it was kindling and as far as I can tell all we did was piss them off even more. If I have to choose fighting you or them, I am choosing you and you damn well know I bring guns to every fight.”
The room that they brought me to was small with dark brown dingy walls and there was a lingering odor of fire that never went away. It smelt like the ashes from a campfire only much heavier and it never faded. It just floated around the room and stuck to me like sweat on a hot day. I sat on the little cot in the corner and watched the dust floating in the sunlight that fell from the little window. At least I knew that it was daytime, even though I had no idea what day it was or where I was. It reminded me of a prison cell. A six by eight cell with twelve foot ceilings and a window so small that even if you could manage to climb up there your head would barely fit through the opening. They left me alone in my prison for some time, my only company the muffled sound of the TV coming from the other side of the wall and the creaks made by the footsteps of my captors.
I overheard someone call the smaller one "Handsome Johnny” which seemed rather ironic considering he looked like his family tree went straight up and had no branches. He was the one that protected me from the other thugs, but I didn't know why. Maybe he saw something that he desired in me or maybe he had a whole set of mommy issues, either way he was the one that protected me from all the others. I would need to remember his face and make him feel like he stood out from the crowd because if I was going to escape, he was the one that would help me. Of course, I would still have to charm him. There was no real desire or lust in his eyes, or at least not in the way I was accustomed to. He'd look away or to the floor with fear in his eyes like a shy school boy and he always called me “lady.”
From the other wall I could hear faint high-pitched girlish laughter and what sounded like a slumber party. Obviously, these girls weren't stolen from their bedrooms and dragged to God only knows where. I sat there staring around the empty room, trying to decide my next move. I was on my own now since I knew W
ilson wouldn't come to my rescue, Mike had no idea how to, and I truly doubted that Renaud saw me as his damsel in distress.
A deep, muffled voice boomed through the wall just loud enough so I could understand what they were saying. Handsome Johnny said, "We don't do nothing to the woman until this Renaud character has been taken care of."
"Since when are you in charge?" A louder, more powerful voice overpowered everything.
"I don't claim to be in charge, but I’m not stupid and I don't have a death wish. This Renaud guy and his bitch I mean, that woman aren't normal people. " Johnny stomped when he paced around and his voice kept climbing and dropping like he was singing opera. "Let's just use her to get Wilson to move his ass and then we’ll dump her back where we found her."
"We can't just dump her back where we found her. She heard us talking with Wilson and we didn't just beat him up Johnny, you pounded the hell out of him. You are lucky that you didn't kill him." The deeper voice bellowed even louder, "If we would have just left instead of grabbing her, life would have been a lot simpler."
“No, we have to end this and dump her body some place where nobody will ever find her. We can't leave a witness."
"I want nothing to do with this. You didn't see what saw. These people aren't normal. I don't know what they are, but they aren't normal. They are barely human. These demons can hurt a man and make him like it. That's not normal,” Johnny exclaimed.
The louder man was obviously the leader. "Don't be a momma's boy Johnny. You might be my baby brother, but when you joined the other family it was a life sentence and the last time I heard, I call the shots."
"Did you see what this Renaud did to the crew we sent after him? He didn't just kill them, he tore them apart. That's not normal and he made it perfectly clear that anything happens to the wife or daughter he is going to stop playing nice." That little tidbit gave me hope. Renaud always was a bad boy and now I wondered just how bad he was. A man like him could pick up a lot of bad habits in a decade or two and obviously he had learned a lot. If he had already fought for me maybe there was still hope I might survive.
"I am not blind or stupid. You don't become the king of crime by being stupid. I underestimated him, but I won't make that mistake again. Get the girl so she can answer a few questions." It wasn't the questions that scared me, but the way they were going to ask them.
I waited in the dark room like a naughty little child waiting for daddy to come home to punish her, only this daddy wouldn't just spank my bare ass. No, this daddy bought and sold naughty girls as easily as a bible salesman sells religion and he carried a gun. The door burst open and massive figure snarled.
"The boss wants to talk to you. Remember, don't give me any lip and I won't have to hit you. Johnny's not going to be able to stop me this time.”