Evil Origins
chapter TWENTY six
Jenny
The air was dry and hot, making each breath feet like it was setting my lungs on fire and seemed to stick to my body like glue. Endless streams of sweat that ran from head to toe made me feel unbearably grungy and being bound here meant all I could do was suffer in silence. I could have sworn that the walls were shrinking. The longer they kept me locked up in here, the smaller the room seemed to get. My throat was hoarse from the hours I spent calling out for help, but no matter how much I screamed, begged, or threatened it always seemed to land on deaf ears.
The fading sunshine that danced its way through the little window taunted me with the knowledge that a day had been born and almost died while I was sitting here enduring my isolation. Idle time can be a terrible thing when all you have to think about is the sins and regrets from the past, knowing that the time to fix them and earn forgiveness is long gone. Renaud’s presence here had opened a lot of old wounds that even I had forgot existed. Love was once more than just a word that you whispered if it would give you what you wanted. Guilt changed the meaning and I guess it changed me because I had become everything I once hated.
Footsteps on the opposite side of the door made me aware that they were coming back. It seemed that all they did was march in and demand answers to use against Renaud, then they would storm out and me alone in the dark. They were afraid of what Renaud might be or who else might be coming and I truly thought it was that fear alone that kept me untouched. How long it would last I don’t know, but I was still trapped here in my little one windowed prison.
The figure standing on the other side of the door didn’t move but just stood there, waiting. A second set of footsteps echoed in a higher-pitched hollow sound. A series of booms shook the door and an even louder moaning sound followed. Each time the door shook a rain of dust fell from the ceiling onto to the floor below. My body trembled as two loud pops echoed so loud that the door vibrated. Two more loud pops rang out, followed by the light under the door being smothered out like rain striking a camp fire. My heart was pounding so fast that I was certain that I was going to faint or even worse, be struck down by a heart attack. I was alone in this little room and the fear was stronger than I ever have been. I guess this is how it started for Maria too. First she was isolated like I was now and then they started cutting away at her self-confidence bit by bit until only a shell of the young woman that she had been remained.
The door opened making a familiar screeching sound that I had come to despise. The light in the background was so bright that I was blinded and could barely see the faint outline of the figure standing there. I couldn't see his face, but he looked immense and powerful as he stood there. He held a gun in each hand like a hero from one of those 80s movies that I loved so much as a child but there were no heroes here, only criminals and victims. Unfortunately, I was one of the victims here in The King’s stronghold and I was weak enough to no longer have the strength to fight anymore.The silhouette of a female figure stepped around the larger, more powerful one and came towards me. Even this petite figure terrified me as she came closer and a clinking sound broke the silence.
I whined, "Please don't hurt me. I surrender to your will."
"Don't surrender, just help me escape this prison and let's hope that your guardian does everything he promised." She was running towards me with a silver object in her hand. My first instinct was to scream out as the streak of silver came at me.
"I won't hurt you." It was Maria's voice and I wondered how she managed to get enough backbone to steal the key to my cell while she was still trapped in her own.
She was unlocking the cuffs around my wrists and it sounded like freedom as the chains hit the floor.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked, remembering how broken she looked the last time I saw her. She willingly let a man beat her and almost thanked him for doing it.
"It's my time to escape the bonds of slavery. Your guardian must protect me as he promised to protect you. You need to make him protect me too." Pointing towards the figure standing in the door, "He scared Johnny enough that he would rather face his brother’s wrath then to face him." The figure in the door seemed to nod as he turned and scanned the hallway. "His fear is bigger than his greed. Your guardian is pure evil in his eyes and he is not foolish enough to face the fear if he can find a common ground. You are that common ground. I promised him that you would tell your friend what he did today."
"I don't even know who my guardian is," I said in confusion. "Renaud is in chains somewhere down the hall in another room. I have no knight in shining armor. They just don't exist in this day and age."
Johnny snapped, "He's coming as sure as a bear shits in the woods. He told me if we touched you or your daughter that he'd rip my family apart and I know that he is coming as soon as the sun sets." I looked toward the little window and saw the rose and orange colored sky glowing in the background. Pointing towards the window he cried out, "We are running out of time! He will be coming and you must tell him that I didn't hurt you." He was walking closer pleading, "You make sure he knows that I saved you. That I set you free."
"I don't even know him," I shouted, finally able to move my arms after hours if not days bound to that chair. I felt like I was doing a math test, but didn't have any of the answers. To make it even worse, it seemed like everybody was cheating off my paper and I knew that they were going to fail too.
Maria looked scared as she grabbed my hand, "You might not know him, but he sure the hell knows who you are. Johnny is setting me free and now I need you to make sure that I am protected too. Will you do it?"
Maria looked like cat as she pulled me towards the door. She had this way about her that made it appear like she was trying to slither in-between the shadows like a thief.
“We must move quickly in case Johnny gets cold feet or even worse, The King finds out. We don’t want to be anywhere near this place if he does.” Every little sound made her jump like she expected something to leap out at her. I guess she was struggling with the desire to be free and the memory of all the pain life had brought her.
“Where are we going?” I asked, following as close to her as I could. My hands were sweaty and felt sticky. “Will we run away to a different city?”
Maria yanked me close to the wall and covered my mouth, “Don’t say a word. I hear something.” I froze in place, imaging the worst possible situations and scenarios from being beaten to death to things much worse. “Don’t move, I hear footsteps. Too many footsteps.”
Johnny was dragging the dead bodyof the guard who stood watch over me into my cell, grunting and cursing as he went.
“They’re coming, so you two stay against the wall and keep quiet.” He was struggling to pull an even bigger man into the room. “Don’t say a word or we are all screwed.” Dropping the body and jumping forward, he slammed the door behind him. With a loud bang, we were trapped in this dim little room again like caged rats.
Maria grabbed hold of me, “We are trapped inside here with two dead men.” She was trembling and squeezed my hand so hard that it burned as she whispered, “I don’t like this. It’s scary. Just the idea that they are bleeding on the floor grosses me out.”
“Shush, girl” I whispered, trying to sound brave. “I can’t hear what they are saying.” I didn’t like the idea of being trapped here with two corpses either and I didn’t want to think about it. I moved closer to the door where I could hear muffled voices in the midst of a heated argument.
“The boss says to bring the broad,” a deep voice said. After a slight pause, he followed up with “He doesn’t believe in fairytale monsters and neither do I.”
The door rattled with great force and Johnny’s crackly voice spoke.
“What do you think you are doing?
“I am getting the woman like the boss ordered me to. He will be back soon and he wants her ass in the main hall.” The door rattled and banged as someone screamed, “You aren’t the boss. You?
??re just his little shadow. When he kicks the bucket only then I will take orders from you.”
Another voice sounded.
“Where is Gino and Kelly? They were told to guard the door until somebody came to relieve them.”
Johnny’s voice kept sliding up and down in pitch. “They needed to eat, so I told them I would watch her until they retuned.”
“Where’d the blood come from then?”
“You know Gino and Kelly. One wanted to sample the Bailey bitch and the other knew that it wouldn’t go over well.”
“Damn that Kelly. He is always sampling the merchandise like he owns the place. We’ll need to straighten that bastard out when we see him, before the boss decides to drop him in the river with cement floaties.”
From behind us I heard something rough and savage. We both tensed up and squeezed closer to the wall as if it would protect us.
Something garbled out "Help me," but whatever came after I couldn't understand.
"What is he saying," Maria asked. Before I had a chance to respond she stepped away from the wall, "We must keep him quite or they will hear him."
"How?" was all I could say. It reminded me of my first boyfriend. He was one of those tough self-confident types that always seemed to think he was invulnerable. Nothing ever scared him, or at least he never admitted it. One night, he was leaving the strip club and heading to his car when a man came at him with a knife demanding his wallet. I would have expected him to fight off the attacker. He towered over him like a giant and was half his age, but he didn't. He just handed him all his money and his wallet. He just stood there frozen, watching the man run away.
Maria whispered, "I don't know." There was still an innocence in her voice that reminded me of Jade when she was a young child. She was still daddy's little girl then, but heading towards adulthood faster than I was prepared for.
The figure groaned as he struggled to his feet, but wobbled from the side to side like he would tumble at any moment.He was gasping for air and kept stopping as he bent over, placing his hands on his knees. He kept crouching and even though I couldn’t see what was happening I could imagine blood dripping from his mouth like drool. He started stomping as he struggled to make his way closer towards us, reaching out with his hand. I don’t know how, but I knew he had a knife in his hand.
“He’s coming for us?” Maria whimpered. “He will kill me for this.”
Even in this state, the brutish beast hobbling towards us was intimidating.
“Yes bitch, I am going to slice you up.”
I guess that was the breaking point where the fear went from motivating to crushing, because the poor girl cowered placing my body between us like I was a shield. Her hands were digging into my sides like knives as she kept twisting my body between herself and the intruder. It seemed to amuse him and he kept hobbling along, struggling for each breath as he came towards us.
“I’m trapped,” she whined as she backed away into a corner.
He was stabbing his way through the fading light and I could see a small flash of silver. I could hear it as it sliced its way through the air as he came closer and closer. I jumped backwards, slamming my head into the wall. I was holding my head, slowly scraping along the wall as the figure neared, slicing in wide long swipes as he went.
Through his muffled groans he said, “Help me or die.” He was stumbling closer, but if he wanted our help trying to kill us wasn’t in his best interest. I felt trapped as his blade tore through my shirt, ripping my flesh with a wide clumsy stroke.
I tried to muffle my scream as the pain started and I could feel the blood gushing from my stomach, splattering onto the floor. I’m not sure if it was shock or the rapid blood loss, but almost immediately I started to feel lightheaded. I held the wall trying to balance myself as my legs started to shake. I tried to calm myself, knowing that the faster my heart pumped blood through my body the faster I would bleed to death, but I couldn’t slow it down.
The door banged and somebody shouted, “What’s going on in there?” A series of booms and groans started like a boxer pounding on a punching bag. Each snap sent a vibration along the wall and was followed by an even louder moan. With a low garbling scream the pounding stopped and that’s when I felt it. Three pops followed and I heard a twang sound which flew through the door and struck the wall sending little shards of stone flying everywhere.
I was breathless as I looked down and saw his shaking hand forcing the blade deeper and deeper inside me. He was swaying backwards, but kept fighting to stay on his feet like he was challenging death to come and claim him.
I heard a savage scream then saw a slight streak of silver flashing through the air in a random order.
"Bastard," I heard as Maria jumped on his back forcing him forward along with the sharp blade in my chest. He fell to the floor and brought me along with him. I tumbled to the floor, hearing the rattle of the metal chains that she had wrapped around her hand.
She was still screaming, "Die you bastard! Die!" I wanted to scream for her to stop because the more the man struggled to defend himself, the more force he applied to the blade that was ripping away at my body.
There was a bright flash of light that burst under the door and lit up the room like it was on fire. It was so bright that I was blinded and my eyes felt like acid was scorching my pupils, leaving only a charred hole in their place. I think I was screaming but everything was a blur except for Maria's rage, which was overflowing over the edges of her mind. She was trapped between the vision she had in her heart of what she dreamed of being and what she had become.
I was choking, struggling for each breath and panic set in as the realization that I would never see home again took over. There was something inside my throat that blocked the air from entering my lungs and I could feel the sensation of warm water running down my chin. Weakness was taking over and my eyes were getting heavy. Maria's screams went from absolute anger to a blur. I don't know why, but I kept thinking that I was going to die and there wouldn't be anyone mourning my passing. Nobody would share the amusing stories that most people built up over a life time. No, for me there would be judgment and insults tossed around like seeds leaving a farmer’s hand. Each one earned over a lifetime and each one a true fact about the whore I had become. If I were list them I was sure I would create not just a single book, but endless volumes.
Something grabbed my hand and I thought I heard a scream crying, "No!"