I stick my head out the door and look both ways, but there’s no one in the hallway. Surely there should be someone by the door. Surely they’re not stupid enough to leave their prisoner’s door open and not at least have someone around to make sure they don’t escape.
Or maybe they just underestimate me. Maybe they don’t think I’ll run, and that’s their first mistake.
My body aches to the point I can barely move, but it doesn’t stop me from creeping out of the cell they’re keeping me in and up the dim hallway. I decide to go to the left, for no other reason than I have to pick a direction and left is as good as right. It’s too quiet, and that’s all I can think as I approach the corner.
Shouldn’t there be more activity? Someone walking around? Something?
I lean against the wall at the corner and take a deep breath, flinching at the pain in my ribs. Fuck, I’m in so much pain. Part of me wonders whether I should have stayed put. I’m not sure I can believe the man I spoke to on the speaker, but I’m also not convinced creeping around an unfamiliar place while I’m this injured is a great decision either.
Once I’ve managed to shove the pain into a little box in the back of my mind, I peek around the corner and quickly slam myself back against the wall. Frank, the man who hurt me, who beat me mercilessly, is standing a few feet away. He’s alone, which brings me some comfort, but only a little. I’m in no condition to try to fight him off if he sees me, and there’s no way I’ll be able to outrun him either.
Maybe I should go back to the cell, I think as I press myself into the wall, trying to breathe as quietly as I can. Is that even a thing? Can you change the volume of your own breathing?
I look back the way I came and drag my bottom lip between my teeth. I can’t go around there, that much I’m certain of. But can I go back? Can I admit defeat and return to my cell? Especially if there’re cameras in there, they’ll already know I’ve tried to escape, and I doubt it will make much difference that I returned myself.
It’s only a few more seconds before I decide I’m better off in my cell than wandering through the halls aimlessly. At some point, they’re going to have to move me, and that’s when I’ll have my chance to run, and hopefully I’ll be a little stronger by then.
As quickly and quietly as I can manage, I creep back the way I came, constantly looking back over my shoulder to make sure Frank isn’t following me. I hate to think what he would do if he found me out of my cell, especially because he seems to be holding a grudge about me throwing up down his back. That’s what happens when you kidnap unsuspecting women, asshole.
The door is in sight and I allow myself a few moments to lean against the wall and breathe. Every step is like a hot poker stabbing into my lungs, and it’s getting harder and harder to drag in a breath. Maybe I should have taken those painkillers when the doctor offered them to me, because at least then I might be able to do what I set out to do and get back to the cell they left me in.
“Hey!” a voice shouts from behind me, and dread washes over me like a wave against the edge of a cliff when I see Frank standing at the other end of the hallway with a thunderous look in his eyes. “What the fuck are you doing out of your cell, you little bitch?”
I stay motionless in place, my eyes wide as I stare at him. I can’t run in the condition I’m in, but I also can’t stay here and wait for him to hurt me. Before I can think better of the decision, I turn and start jogging toward the other end of the hallway. I have no idea what waits around the corner, but it has to be better than facing the man who has already beat me black and blue.
“Where the fuck are you going?” he yells, his heavy footsteps echoing off the wall as he gains on me quickly. I can’t outrun him and I have no misconceptions about that, but if I can find someone else, another guard perhaps, maybe they can stop him from hurting me too badly.
I’m almost at the corner when I feel the warmth of his body against my back, and then I’m tumbling to the concrete below my feet. Agony shoots through every limb and I cry out in pain. Fuck, that hurts. Falling on already bruised skin is so much more painful than I would have thought.
As soon as I get my bearings, I try to crawl forward, to keep moving to find someone to help me, but it’s useless. His weight is settled on my legs, rendering me completely motionless.
“Did you really think you could run away, little girl?” he growls.
His malicious and cold words send a shiver of fear up my spine and cause a wave of nausea to roll over me. Oh my god. What have I done? Why did I ever step foot outside my cell? I should have known something like this was going to happen.
“I’m sorry. The door was open. No one told me to stay put.” Even as the words come out of my mouth, I realize how fucking stupid they sound, but I have to say something. I can’t just let him hurt me without trying everything to save myself.
“Of course you knew you had to stay in your cell, bitch. You’re a fucking prisoner, and prisoners are not allowed to walk around without a guard.”
His knees dig into the backs of my thighs painfully and I barely swallow down the cry that rises up my throat. If I thought I was in pain before, it’s nothing compared to the agony raging through my body. The fall aggravated every single one of my injuries, and it’s making it hard to breathe, let alone get away.
“I was waiting to get you alone, little bitch. Annalise and your buyer can’t protect you from me, and I’ll be doing them a favor by breaking you in. I’m certain Saint James wasn’t fucking you right. Do you want to be fucked by a real man, cunt?” His rancid breath whispers against my ear and nausea rolls through my stomach.
“No, please don’t.” I choke on a painful sob.
“I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want, you little slut.” His hand fists into the back of my hair, and he slams my cheek into the cold concrete. Agony tears through my face and hot tears immediately fall against the bruised skin. “No one here to save you now. No one to stop me.”
He shoves at the loose track pants I’ve been wearing for entirely too many hours, easily pulling them off my hips and down my legs. Dread seeps through my body, seizing each part of my body as panic follows in its path. This can’t be happening. I can’t have been kidnapped, beaten, sold, and now about to be raped, because no one has luck that bad, not even me.
“Please stop. Please don’t do this,” I cry and kick my legs as hard as I can. I won’t allow this to happen to me without fighting like hell, even if every movement hurts more than anything I can remember.
Frank’s fist tightens in my hair again and he slams my face down even harder than the last time. “Shut up, bitch. Someone’s going to hear you,” he growls.
I barely stop myself from telling him if he didn’t want anyone to catch him, he probably shouldn’t be doing this in the middle of a hallway, but his stupidity actually works in my favor. If someone comes across the scene, hopefully it will mean they stop him. But then again, I can’t imagine many of the men who work for Annalise have much of a moral compass, so that may not be enough to save me. I may just be fighting the inevitable, and that thought is truly horrifying.
My panties are torn from my body harshly, the light cotton digging into my skin before it gives way and leaves me bare. My hands press into the cold concrete as I attempt to drag myself forward, but his weight is too much for me to buck off, especially in my weakened state.
“I bet Saint James likes it when you fight too, bitch.” The venom in his voice disarms me and the sound of a belt buckle echoes through the quiet hallway, making me fight that much harder.
This is not happening.
I refuse to allow this to happen.
I still for a few seconds to get a hold of the panic that rages through my veins and center all the strength I have left. An eerie calm washes over me as I wait for my opportunity. It will be fleeting, and I’ll have to strike without hesitation, but if I can just throw him off when he shifts his weight, I’ll be able to run. It may not be far, but it might just be enough to save myself.
I squeeze my eyes shut and wait, breathing deep despite the pain in my lungs. His weight shifts as he shuffles forward, his intent to violate my unwilling body, but when he lifts from my legs, I shove myself up, using all my strength to throw him off before clambering forward until I’m on my feet.
I don’t look back as I run in the direction I was going because looking back will only cost me valuable time I don’t have. I open my mouth to yell for help, but before I can, a heavy body slams into my back again. It’s like déjà vu, except this time, the pain is so much worse. His entire weight lands on my back and knocks the air from my lungs until I can’t drag one in through the panic.
“You little cunt,” he growls, his body moving up mine until his hardness presses against my ass. He grabs a fistful of my hair again, and instead of slamming my head into the concrete once, he does it over and over again as his other fist slams into my side. Tears stream down my bruised face as black spots dance in my vision. This is really happening. I’m really that unlucky. “I’m going to make this hurt for all the trouble you’ve caused me.”
A broken sob rises from my chest and I make no attempt to swallow it down. He’s defeated me. There’s no fight left. All that’s left is pain. I allow the agony to distract me, only barely aware of him positioning himself. My heart beats loudly in my ears, making it impossible to hear anything around me.
Time seems to stand still for long seconds as I wait for his invasion, wait for him to take something that doesn’t belong to him. But instead of feeling his cock, his body slumps over mine and wetness drips onto my back.
What the fuck?
The cool concrete beneath my cheek brings me a weird calm I don’t expect as the weight presses so hard into me that I can barely breathe. But then again, maybe that’s not such a bad thing. All that awaits me is a life of pain and misery, and death seems like a much kinder fate.
The weight on my back is torn from me, and a second later, I’m turned onto my back, but I can’t force my eyes open. The darkness calls to me, beckoning me to succumb to whatever awaits me on the other side.
“Ayvah!” A voice penetrates through the pounding in my head, but the voice has to be my imagination, because it sounds so much like Storm, and what would he be doing here? He has no reason to come for me. No reason to save me from this fate. “Ayvah! Baby girl. I need you to open those pretty brown eyes for me.” But if it’s not him, why does it sound so much like him? And why are they using the same nickname he uses?
“Is she okay?” another voice surrounds me, but it’s farther away, and nowhere near as familiar.
“Does she look okay?” he snaps.
“Let’s get her out of here,” they say.
“What about Annalise?”
“Let’s burn this place to the fucking ground.” Their words are so sure of themselves, but all I can focus on as I allow the darkness to take me is the warm arms wrapped around my agony-filled body, bringing me a peace I have no right to feel in the midst of chaos and pain.
