Post by Mimi on Aug 18, 2006 11:02:09 GMT -5
“Come out, come out, wherever you are?” Alex taunted Marlena as he injected an overdose of amphetamine into her system. Climbing on the bed, he laid down next to her and held her in his arms as her system became accustomed to the powerful drug running through her veins. He wanted to experience her fear, feel her body jerk, when she realized that it wasn’t her precious John holding her, but rather him. He hoped that Mason was enjoying the show.
“No,” Marlena moaned, moving her head slowly from left to right. She was so exhausted and disoriented, unaware of her surroundings.
“Come on Jules,” a voice from the past taunted her. She tried to open her eyes to see who was talking to her but didn’t have the energy.
“No,” she whispered as she fell back into a deep slumber.
“Dammit Julie, why are you ruining my fun?” Alex asked as he jabbed the hypodermic needle roughly into her arm and injected the remaining amphetamine. It would either wake her up or kill her. Either way was fun.
“No,” Marlena moaned as she tried to move her arm to grab her head. Something was wrong with her. The pounding in her head was incredible; the thump of her heart beat as her blood coursed through her veins reverberated in her ears, involuntarily her calf muscles started randomly twitching. Slowly she regained awareness of her senses. The stale sterile smell of antiseptic and bleach filled her nostrils along with familiar smelling cologne. She tried to open her eyes, but was lacking the strength or motivation to. She just wanted to sleep.
“Open your fucking eyes now or I’ll kill John,” Alex whispered in her ear as he climbed on top of her. This was going to be fun.
John. John. John. Marlena strained to hear what was being said, but descended deeper into slumber unable to stop it. John. Was he there with her?
“Dammit,” Alex yelled at her as he slapped her hard across the face and pinned her arms down against the mattress. “You are going to open your eyes now,” he hissed in her face.
Marlena was pulled out of her slumber once again by the feeling of fingers digging into the thin muscles on her arms. The pain in her muscles was incredible, compounded by the pounding in her head and pressure on her chest. She tried to open her eyes to see what the incredible pressure was. The feeling of someone hitting her face, set in motion as series of chemical events in her blood stream as her fear and pain triggered the body’s natural defense mechanism. As endorphins were released by the brain into the blood stream, steadily her heart started beating faster and faster. Slowly she was waking up.
“It’s so good to see you my dear,” Alex said facetiously, as he slowly stuck out his tongue and ran the wet tip of it up and down her cheek. Combined with his increasing pressure on her arms, she was bound to react. He could see the terror in her eyes and was pleased with himself. This was going to be fun.
Laughing, he pressed himself into her as she struggled on the bed. “You’re in restraints Jules,” he laughed in her face. “You’re not going anywhere,” he taunted as he slowly moved his body up and down hers. “You’re all mine.”
“Please, don’t do this to me,” Marlena slurred as she struggled against the restraints on her arms and legs.
“Come on, its time for a little fun Jules. Remember when we used to have so much fun,” he said as he released his hold on her arms and softly stroked her face.
“Please,” she begged him as her eyes fully opened. She tried to pull her arms free, but the restraints were too tight. This couldn’t be happening again. Tearing up Marlena begged Alex, “Please Alex, please…please let me go.”
“Come on Julie…Don’t you want to have some fun,” he taunted her, turned on by her terror and tears.
“Alex, please don’t do this to me…I’ll do whatever you want, please just release me.” Marlena was trying hard not to cry as she struggled against her restraints. She felt a tightening in her chest and was finding it increasingly hard to breathe.
“I want to see your fear…I want to hear you scream…I want you to beg.”
“Alex…Alex…Alex…stop this, please,” Marlena panicked as Alex laughed. Knowing what Alex had in mind, Marlena in her drugged state tried to calculate the various ways to get out of the situation. As she felt Alex’s hands slide up and along the smooth skin of her stomach, Marlena felt the bile rise up in her throat. Alex was going to rape her in this bed unless she did something.
“Thinking about daddy dearest now Jules,” Alex taunted. “Bet you secretly liked it when he used to tie you up and throw you into the closet while he had his way with Samantha huh? Did you like that Jules?….Maybe if I turned out the lights you could pretend it was just like old times…does that sound fun to you….sounds kind of sick to me…hey, but if you’re into that kind of thing…”
“Fuck you,” Marlena yelled as she spit in his face.
“That’s my fighter,” Alex said as he closed his eyes and wiped his face off against hers. The moment his face made contact with hers Marlena opened her mouth and wildly tried to bite him, coming into contact with his bottom lip. As hard as she could, she bit down on it, drawing blood. Alex tried to pull away from her, but Marlena wouldn’t let go. As he moved his head from left to right, her head moved right along with his.
“Bitch,” he murmured through the pain, as he brought his hands up to her neck and squeezed, cutting off her circulation.
“John,” Marlena screamed as she let go of his bottom lip. “John,” she screamed again willing him to save her. I need you; she silently called out to him. Help me. Save me.
“Don’t you fucking ever do that again or I will kill you,” Alex threatened as he pressed his thumbs against her windpipe and laughed as she choked.
He looked behind him at the monitor, hoping that Mason was enjoying his performance.
Licking his lips, the taste of his own blood an aphrodisiac, he once again faced Marlena. She was gasping for air underneath him. As he leaned over her contemplating his next move, he watched as one drop of his blood after another slowly fell and made contact with her gown.
“Why couldn’t you have left the past alone? Why?” The last time he tested her memory there had been no reaction, why was she remembering now?
Looking up at him with fear filled hazel eyes she questioned him, “What?”
“You heard me…why didn’t you listen to me when I told you what you needed to do?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Alex…I don’t.”
“Don’t lie Julie, you never were a good liar.”
“My name is Marlena,” she said defiantly, annoyed at herself for letting him call her Julie. Julie was dead; Marlena was very much alive.
“Julie, Marlena…Marlena, Julie…Whatever,” Alex said as he brought his thumb to his lips and wiped it. He then ran his thumb along her neck, the trail of blood quickly drying in its path.
“Alex, I don’t know what you are talking about,” Marlena stated once again.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. We had an agreement Marlena. You broke that agreement.”
“What agreement?”
“Don’t even try that Marlena…Just don’t…We’ve known each other for too long and been through too much together for you to go there.”
“Alex, I swear to you, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Liar,” he screamed at her as he got up off of her and walked to the corner of the room. He was scared that he would actually kill her, strangle her to death. “Don’t think that you’re smarter than I am and that you could actually outsmart me, you can’t.”
“I’m not,” Marlena whispered as she watched Alex out of the corner of her eye, afraid that he would snap at any moment and become violent with her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about…I swear I don’t.”
“I don’t believe you,” he yelled as he approached her.
“Alex, no,” Marlena pleaded as she tried to move away from him but couldn’t because of the restraints. “No.”
“You know what happens to liars Marlena,” he said in a threatening manner as he slowly approached the bed, each movement of his pronounced.
“I’m not lying, I’m not…I don’t remember all of my past, you know that Alex.”
“Convenient excuse for you, I’d say.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Whatever,” he said as he sat down on the bed and slowly touched her face. He took pleasure in watching her squirm as she tried desperately to move her face away from his touch. “Jules, you always hated this,” he said as he moved his fingers up and down, taking time to drag them over her lips.
“We had an agreement and you broke that agreement…you know that I don’t take too kindly to those that betray me,” Alex slowly ran his hands up and down her arms and watched with a smile on his face as she violently struggled against her restraints trying to free her arms and legs. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins, she had no idea what the hell Alex was talking about but was determined not to lie passively in bed and become his victim.
“There is something you can do to make it up to me,” Alex offered. Marlena stopped struggling and looked up at him. “What did he say to you right before you pulled the trigger?”
Alex watched as Marlena closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Pictures of that night flashed into her mind. She saw herself as she ran through the woods, his blood all over her torn nightgown. She ran as fast as she could away from it all.
“Julie, Julie,” he yelled as he trailed behind her in the forest, gun in hand.
Faster and faster she ran, not sure where she was headed, only that she couldn’t go back to the house or to the lake. She saw him out of the corner of her eye, his blond hair illuminated by the glow of the moon.
“Stop,” he said as he grabbed onto her nightgown. “Stop.” He held her in place as she broke down in his arms. She held tightly onto his T-shirt as he tried to comfort her, not knowing how.
“We’ve got to get out of here Julie,” he said as he looked into her tortured eyes, eyes that were far older and wiser than her thirteen years. “Just do as I say and I’ll help you.”
Opening her eyes to stop the flood of images, Marlena tried to calm her breathing. The last thing she wanted to do was to have a panic attack in front of Alex. “I don’t know Alex…I don’t know.”
“You do Marlena…its inside of you…think…think.” Alex sat on the bed watching her, knowing he was so close to breaking her, breaking her mind.
Marlena closed her eyes not wanting him to see her tears. “I don’t want to remember Alex…please….please don’t make me remember.”
“Jules, this is really important. Just think back to that night and tell me what he said to you?”
“He didn’t say anything Alex…he didn’t talk…Ask Mason.”
“Mason?” Alex asked. “What the hell would Mason know about it?”
“Mason, help me,” she begged, “Please help me.”
“If you can walk a little further we’ll be to the logging road. Alex is waiting there with his father’s car…. We’ll drive into town.”
“And then what?” she asked as she fell to the floor of the forest and hugged her knees, trying to stay warm. “Then they find out what happened and we both go to jail.” Back and forth she rocked, trying to figure out a solution to this mess that she had gotten him into.
“I’ll tell my father what happened,” Mason naively tried to reassure her.
“It won’t work,” Julie said as she looked down at her blood and brain splattered clothes. Although she knew it was his brains and blood on her, she was strangely detached. The thought didn’t horrify her as much as she thought it should.
“Yes it will…once we tell the police what happened they’ll let us go.”
“Mason, you heard him, that man was the police…oh god, Samantha…I’ve got to find her,” Julie said as she stood up and started running through the woods back towards the house.
“There’s no time Julie.’
“I am not leaving my sister here.”
“Marlena,” Alex said as he slapped her lightly across the face trying to get her to come out of whatever she was remembering. “Mason wasn’t there that night.”
“He was there Alex…I remember he was there,” Marlena said with conviction in her voice. She remembered him being there with her in the woods, trying to comfort her.
“He wasn’t there I was,” Alex told her, shocked that she was remembering Mason. He had spent years trying to fracture her mind so that she wouldn’t recall the events of that night in a sequential order. If he’d managed to fracture her mind enough, her memories would be so disjointed that no one would believe a word she’d say and she’d appear to be your run of the mill schizophrenic.
“No, you weren’t there…it was Mason…It was Mason.” Marlena stared to question her own memory. Was Mason there or was it Alex?
“No, it’s just your mind playing tricks on you again,” he said trying to act sympathetic. “Back to the original question, what did he say to you?”
Marlena closed her eyes, letting the memory of that night return. She saw herself hiding in the filthy living room closet of the shack. She crouched on the tips of her feet trying to avoid all the used hypodermic needles and empty miller lite cans strewn on the closet floor. Through the crack on the door she could see her father talking with three men. She recognized two of them as being frequent visitors to the house when her mother was alive.
“Slim, you are aware that your debt is substantial,” the younger man said to her father. She watched as her father nervously bit his nails and looked around the room.
She watched as her father said something to the man, but couldn’t make out what was being said.
“The police know, the FBI knows and now the DEA knows…You have brought us to the attention of the feds Slim…the fucking feds.”
Her father stood in place, staring at the closet door. Did he know that she was in there? She slowly back herself into the corner of the closet, closed her eyes and tried to become as small as possible.
She heard the muffled sounds of them talking and the dragging of their feet as they shuffled along the decaying floor. Suddenly the closet door flung open and she was pulled out of the closet by her hair. The burning in her scalp was incredible. She cried out in pain as she tried to grab onto his hand to let her go.
“Are you sure this is the one you want?” her father asked the younger man as he held her firmly by the hair. The younger man looked to the older man for guidance. He nodded his head.
Julie looked up at the men in disgust. There was something about the older man that was familiar to her.
“There’s a room out back if you’d like to use it,” her father offered without even looking at her. “Rules are rules, touching only, no intercourse….in exchange for forgiveness of my debt to you.”
The older man looked to the younger man and winked when he caught her eye. She recognized him. She knew who he was. Holy shit, she knew who the man was. She watched as the older man pursued his lips and narrowed his eyes, unsure of what to say.
As her father pushed her towards to man, he reached out and grabbed her by the arm. “You are a pretty one,” he said as he stroked the side of her face with his well-manicured hand. The older man took her small hand in his. His diamond encrusted wedding band shone brilliantly against the layer of dirt that covered her skin.
“You’d better treat this man here well Julie,” he told her. “This is my brother.”
She tried not to cry as she stood there before the men as they inspected her. She knew what they wanted and it sickened her to think what he was going to do, what his disgusting and perverted brother had already done to her. She was tired of feeling degraded and ashamed, tired of being used as currency to pay off her fathers growing debt. She didn’t want to feel this way anymore.
“Julie, treat this man nicely or else,” her father warned her. He left the room and returned with a can of beer, handing it to her. “Drink this, it will make you feel better.” The men sat and watched her as she timidly opened the can, hands shaking, and proceeded to drink the beer. Its familiar taste slowly made its way down to her stomach. After drinking a quarter of the can, she was already feeling its effects.
Marlena opened her eyes, not wanting to remember. “I don’t remember,” she cried out. “I don’t, please untie me, please,” she begged Alex as her body betrayed her and she started hyperventilating. “UNTIE ME,” she screamed as she trashed in the bed.
“No,” Marlena moaned, moving her head slowly from left to right. She was so exhausted and disoriented, unaware of her surroundings.
“Come on Jules,” a voice from the past taunted her. She tried to open her eyes to see who was talking to her but didn’t have the energy.
“No,” she whispered as she fell back into a deep slumber.
“Dammit Julie, why are you ruining my fun?” Alex asked as he jabbed the hypodermic needle roughly into her arm and injected the remaining amphetamine. It would either wake her up or kill her. Either way was fun.
“No,” Marlena moaned as she tried to move her arm to grab her head. Something was wrong with her. The pounding in her head was incredible; the thump of her heart beat as her blood coursed through her veins reverberated in her ears, involuntarily her calf muscles started randomly twitching. Slowly she regained awareness of her senses. The stale sterile smell of antiseptic and bleach filled her nostrils along with familiar smelling cologne. She tried to open her eyes, but was lacking the strength or motivation to. She just wanted to sleep.
“Open your fucking eyes now or I’ll kill John,” Alex whispered in her ear as he climbed on top of her. This was going to be fun.
John. John. John. Marlena strained to hear what was being said, but descended deeper into slumber unable to stop it. John. Was he there with her?
“Dammit,” Alex yelled at her as he slapped her hard across the face and pinned her arms down against the mattress. “You are going to open your eyes now,” he hissed in her face.
Marlena was pulled out of her slumber once again by the feeling of fingers digging into the thin muscles on her arms. The pain in her muscles was incredible, compounded by the pounding in her head and pressure on her chest. She tried to open her eyes to see what the incredible pressure was. The feeling of someone hitting her face, set in motion as series of chemical events in her blood stream as her fear and pain triggered the body’s natural defense mechanism. As endorphins were released by the brain into the blood stream, steadily her heart started beating faster and faster. Slowly she was waking up.
“It’s so good to see you my dear,” Alex said facetiously, as he slowly stuck out his tongue and ran the wet tip of it up and down her cheek. Combined with his increasing pressure on her arms, she was bound to react. He could see the terror in her eyes and was pleased with himself. This was going to be fun.
Laughing, he pressed himself into her as she struggled on the bed. “You’re in restraints Jules,” he laughed in her face. “You’re not going anywhere,” he taunted as he slowly moved his body up and down hers. “You’re all mine.”
“Please, don’t do this to me,” Marlena slurred as she struggled against the restraints on her arms and legs.
“Come on, its time for a little fun Jules. Remember when we used to have so much fun,” he said as he released his hold on her arms and softly stroked her face.
“Please,” she begged him as her eyes fully opened. She tried to pull her arms free, but the restraints were too tight. This couldn’t be happening again. Tearing up Marlena begged Alex, “Please Alex, please…please let me go.”
“Come on Julie…Don’t you want to have some fun,” he taunted her, turned on by her terror and tears.
“Alex, please don’t do this to me…I’ll do whatever you want, please just release me.” Marlena was trying hard not to cry as she struggled against her restraints. She felt a tightening in her chest and was finding it increasingly hard to breathe.
“I want to see your fear…I want to hear you scream…I want you to beg.”
“Alex…Alex…Alex…stop this, please,” Marlena panicked as Alex laughed. Knowing what Alex had in mind, Marlena in her drugged state tried to calculate the various ways to get out of the situation. As she felt Alex’s hands slide up and along the smooth skin of her stomach, Marlena felt the bile rise up in her throat. Alex was going to rape her in this bed unless she did something.
“Thinking about daddy dearest now Jules,” Alex taunted. “Bet you secretly liked it when he used to tie you up and throw you into the closet while he had his way with Samantha huh? Did you like that Jules?….Maybe if I turned out the lights you could pretend it was just like old times…does that sound fun to you….sounds kind of sick to me…hey, but if you’re into that kind of thing…”
“Fuck you,” Marlena yelled as she spit in his face.
“That’s my fighter,” Alex said as he closed his eyes and wiped his face off against hers. The moment his face made contact with hers Marlena opened her mouth and wildly tried to bite him, coming into contact with his bottom lip. As hard as she could, she bit down on it, drawing blood. Alex tried to pull away from her, but Marlena wouldn’t let go. As he moved his head from left to right, her head moved right along with his.
“Bitch,” he murmured through the pain, as he brought his hands up to her neck and squeezed, cutting off her circulation.
“John,” Marlena screamed as she let go of his bottom lip. “John,” she screamed again willing him to save her. I need you; she silently called out to him. Help me. Save me.
“Don’t you fucking ever do that again or I will kill you,” Alex threatened as he pressed his thumbs against her windpipe and laughed as she choked.
He looked behind him at the monitor, hoping that Mason was enjoying his performance.
Licking his lips, the taste of his own blood an aphrodisiac, he once again faced Marlena. She was gasping for air underneath him. As he leaned over her contemplating his next move, he watched as one drop of his blood after another slowly fell and made contact with her gown.
“Why couldn’t you have left the past alone? Why?” The last time he tested her memory there had been no reaction, why was she remembering now?
Looking up at him with fear filled hazel eyes she questioned him, “What?”
“You heard me…why didn’t you listen to me when I told you what you needed to do?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Alex…I don’t.”
“Don’t lie Julie, you never were a good liar.”
“My name is Marlena,” she said defiantly, annoyed at herself for letting him call her Julie. Julie was dead; Marlena was very much alive.
“Julie, Marlena…Marlena, Julie…Whatever,” Alex said as he brought his thumb to his lips and wiped it. He then ran his thumb along her neck, the trail of blood quickly drying in its path.
“Alex, I don’t know what you are talking about,” Marlena stated once again.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. We had an agreement Marlena. You broke that agreement.”
“What agreement?”
“Don’t even try that Marlena…Just don’t…We’ve known each other for too long and been through too much together for you to go there.”
“Alex, I swear to you, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Liar,” he screamed at her as he got up off of her and walked to the corner of the room. He was scared that he would actually kill her, strangle her to death. “Don’t think that you’re smarter than I am and that you could actually outsmart me, you can’t.”
“I’m not,” Marlena whispered as she watched Alex out of the corner of her eye, afraid that he would snap at any moment and become violent with her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about…I swear I don’t.”
“I don’t believe you,” he yelled as he approached her.
“Alex, no,” Marlena pleaded as she tried to move away from him but couldn’t because of the restraints. “No.”
“You know what happens to liars Marlena,” he said in a threatening manner as he slowly approached the bed, each movement of his pronounced.
“I’m not lying, I’m not…I don’t remember all of my past, you know that Alex.”
“Convenient excuse for you, I’d say.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Whatever,” he said as he sat down on the bed and slowly touched her face. He took pleasure in watching her squirm as she tried desperately to move her face away from his touch. “Jules, you always hated this,” he said as he moved his fingers up and down, taking time to drag them over her lips.
“We had an agreement and you broke that agreement…you know that I don’t take too kindly to those that betray me,” Alex slowly ran his hands up and down her arms and watched with a smile on his face as she violently struggled against her restraints trying to free her arms and legs. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins, she had no idea what the hell Alex was talking about but was determined not to lie passively in bed and become his victim.
“There is something you can do to make it up to me,” Alex offered. Marlena stopped struggling and looked up at him. “What did he say to you right before you pulled the trigger?”
Alex watched as Marlena closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. Pictures of that night flashed into her mind. She saw herself as she ran through the woods, his blood all over her torn nightgown. She ran as fast as she could away from it all.
“Julie, Julie,” he yelled as he trailed behind her in the forest, gun in hand.
Faster and faster she ran, not sure where she was headed, only that she couldn’t go back to the house or to the lake. She saw him out of the corner of her eye, his blond hair illuminated by the glow of the moon.
“Stop,” he said as he grabbed onto her nightgown. “Stop.” He held her in place as she broke down in his arms. She held tightly onto his T-shirt as he tried to comfort her, not knowing how.
“We’ve got to get out of here Julie,” he said as he looked into her tortured eyes, eyes that were far older and wiser than her thirteen years. “Just do as I say and I’ll help you.”
Opening her eyes to stop the flood of images, Marlena tried to calm her breathing. The last thing she wanted to do was to have a panic attack in front of Alex. “I don’t know Alex…I don’t know.”
“You do Marlena…its inside of you…think…think.” Alex sat on the bed watching her, knowing he was so close to breaking her, breaking her mind.
Marlena closed her eyes not wanting him to see her tears. “I don’t want to remember Alex…please….please don’t make me remember.”
“Jules, this is really important. Just think back to that night and tell me what he said to you?”
“He didn’t say anything Alex…he didn’t talk…Ask Mason.”
“Mason?” Alex asked. “What the hell would Mason know about it?”
“Mason, help me,” she begged, “Please help me.”
“If you can walk a little further we’ll be to the logging road. Alex is waiting there with his father’s car…. We’ll drive into town.”
“And then what?” she asked as she fell to the floor of the forest and hugged her knees, trying to stay warm. “Then they find out what happened and we both go to jail.” Back and forth she rocked, trying to figure out a solution to this mess that she had gotten him into.
“I’ll tell my father what happened,” Mason naively tried to reassure her.
“It won’t work,” Julie said as she looked down at her blood and brain splattered clothes. Although she knew it was his brains and blood on her, she was strangely detached. The thought didn’t horrify her as much as she thought it should.
“Yes it will…once we tell the police what happened they’ll let us go.”
“Mason, you heard him, that man was the police…oh god, Samantha…I’ve got to find her,” Julie said as she stood up and started running through the woods back towards the house.
“There’s no time Julie.’
“I am not leaving my sister here.”
“Marlena,” Alex said as he slapped her lightly across the face trying to get her to come out of whatever she was remembering. “Mason wasn’t there that night.”
“He was there Alex…I remember he was there,” Marlena said with conviction in her voice. She remembered him being there with her in the woods, trying to comfort her.
“He wasn’t there I was,” Alex told her, shocked that she was remembering Mason. He had spent years trying to fracture her mind so that she wouldn’t recall the events of that night in a sequential order. If he’d managed to fracture her mind enough, her memories would be so disjointed that no one would believe a word she’d say and she’d appear to be your run of the mill schizophrenic.
“No, you weren’t there…it was Mason…It was Mason.” Marlena stared to question her own memory. Was Mason there or was it Alex?
“No, it’s just your mind playing tricks on you again,” he said trying to act sympathetic. “Back to the original question, what did he say to you?”
Marlena closed her eyes, letting the memory of that night return. She saw herself hiding in the filthy living room closet of the shack. She crouched on the tips of her feet trying to avoid all the used hypodermic needles and empty miller lite cans strewn on the closet floor. Through the crack on the door she could see her father talking with three men. She recognized two of them as being frequent visitors to the house when her mother was alive.
“Slim, you are aware that your debt is substantial,” the younger man said to her father. She watched as her father nervously bit his nails and looked around the room.
She watched as her father said something to the man, but couldn’t make out what was being said.
“The police know, the FBI knows and now the DEA knows…You have brought us to the attention of the feds Slim…the fucking feds.”
Her father stood in place, staring at the closet door. Did he know that she was in there? She slowly back herself into the corner of the closet, closed her eyes and tried to become as small as possible.
She heard the muffled sounds of them talking and the dragging of their feet as they shuffled along the decaying floor. Suddenly the closet door flung open and she was pulled out of the closet by her hair. The burning in her scalp was incredible. She cried out in pain as she tried to grab onto his hand to let her go.
“Are you sure this is the one you want?” her father asked the younger man as he held her firmly by the hair. The younger man looked to the older man for guidance. He nodded his head.
Julie looked up at the men in disgust. There was something about the older man that was familiar to her.
“There’s a room out back if you’d like to use it,” her father offered without even looking at her. “Rules are rules, touching only, no intercourse….in exchange for forgiveness of my debt to you.”
The older man looked to the younger man and winked when he caught her eye. She recognized him. She knew who he was. Holy shit, she knew who the man was. She watched as the older man pursued his lips and narrowed his eyes, unsure of what to say.
As her father pushed her towards to man, he reached out and grabbed her by the arm. “You are a pretty one,” he said as he stroked the side of her face with his well-manicured hand. The older man took her small hand in his. His diamond encrusted wedding band shone brilliantly against the layer of dirt that covered her skin.
“You’d better treat this man here well Julie,” he told her. “This is my brother.”
She tried not to cry as she stood there before the men as they inspected her. She knew what they wanted and it sickened her to think what he was going to do, what his disgusting and perverted brother had already done to her. She was tired of feeling degraded and ashamed, tired of being used as currency to pay off her fathers growing debt. She didn’t want to feel this way anymore.
“Julie, treat this man nicely or else,” her father warned her. He left the room and returned with a can of beer, handing it to her. “Drink this, it will make you feel better.” The men sat and watched her as she timidly opened the can, hands shaking, and proceeded to drink the beer. Its familiar taste slowly made its way down to her stomach. After drinking a quarter of the can, she was already feeling its effects.
Marlena opened her eyes, not wanting to remember. “I don’t remember,” she cried out. “I don’t, please untie me, please,” she begged Alex as her body betrayed her and she started hyperventilating. “UNTIE ME,” she screamed as she trashed in the bed.
