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Before he can respond, I hear another whimper coming from behind the shower curtain. What the fuck?
Keeping my gun on Benjamin, I use my free hand to peel back the curtain. I should’ve checked behind it in the first place, but I’m not thinking clearly, my emotions are clouding my judgment.
I’m startled when I find an older woman, lying naked and bound in the tub. Her eyes are big and round, she’s terrified. She whimpers again when she sees the gun in my hand. Understandably, she doesn’t know I have no intentions of hurting her as they have. I tilt my head, taking in her features, and then I finally recognize her. Miss, looks more like a librarian than a secretary, from the Sheriff’s department.
I slowly closed the curtain back, restoring the small screen of privacy she had.
“Where are her clothes, Benjamin?” He doesn’t respond, he simply squeezes his eyes shut, as if he can ignore me.
“Did you rape her? Like you tried to rape Callie?” Like a light switch, the consequences of his actions register, regret evident on his face. Except, I suspect his regret is due to being caught, not remorse for his perversions.
I shouldn’t shoot him right now, it’ll blow my cover, but I hate rapists. I can’t stand the thought of them walking this earth, lying in wait, ready to force themselves on unsuspecting victims. A man like that deserves to be put down like a dog.
Callie’s tearful words sweep through my brain, Bub tackling her to the ground, trying to take what wasn’t his. I imagine his grimy hands pawing at her, the crude words he spoke to her.
The repulsion I feel for her sake, for what he and his brother put her through, is enough to make my hands shake. A thought flashes through my brain. What if it was Callie lying bound and gagged in the tub, with no clothes, at the mercy of this man in front of me? The thought of it is too much, and all I see is red.
I press my gun even harder into Bub’s forehead. “You’re a sick mother fucker.”
POW!
* * *
Callie
I feel myself being dragged. My shoes must’ve fallen off at some point because my bare heels are taking a beating. My thoughts are still jumbled, and the fog in my brain is starting to clear, but I realize I’m having trouble focusing because of the loud music playing. It’s so noisy, the words don’t sound like words and the base is too strong. Why can’t someone just turn the music down?
My feet thump over a threshold, and I realize I’m being dragged into another room. Instantly, the music is the least of my concerns. I open my eyes, my dizziness finally starting to cease, and take in the room around me. I’m in a bedroom, same dirty floors and wooden walls as before. This room is colder, and I immediately feel the chills across my skin. Or, maybe it’s from the terror coursing through me.
I don’t dare look behind me as I’m hauled up onto a bed and dumped. I can only imagine it’s Tony, the stench of body odor and stale beer clings to the air. Tears sting the backs of my eyes. I don’t know if a person can eventually run out of tears to cry, but I have to be getting close. It feels like this entire situation is draining all of the life out of me.
Maybe it’s better that way… The less liveliness I feel, the less it will hurt when I’m shipped off to the next psychopath. I think that I’ve accepted what I’m about to succumb to physically. Tony will rape me. Then he will probably let Bub rape me. Then who knows who will violate me after that? It makes me sick to think about, but maybe accepting that it’s going to happen will prepare me to get through it, mentally.
I’ll never be the same after tonight, and my life as I know it is over. The tears slip from my eyes as I mourn the version of me that had a normal life, with loving parents, and Nathan. My heart bleeds for him and the life we never got to have together. The life that this man has taken from us. My sadness quickly turns to rage.
My body lurches as a hand grabs my shoulder, pulling me to the side of the bed where I’m forced to finally look Tony in the face.
“Ah, so she is awake. I was worried I’d be stuck fuckin’ ya while you were passed out. It’d be too much like fuckin’ a corpse,” he laughs. “It’s no fun like that, trust me,” he leers at me, his eyes traveling up and down my body. The body that’s covered in bruises that he inflicted.
“You’re disgusting.” I spit in his face, the burning hatred I feel is spurring me on. If my life is over tonight, then I’m going to go down fighting.
He slaps me across the face, and even though I expected it, my jaw cracks from the sudden force. The taste of copper quickly fills my mouth as my ears ring from the impact.
“I’ll show you disgusting.” He slides his belt off and loops it around my neck before I can lunge out of the way. My reflexes are still too slow after passing out. He has it pulled through the buckle, tightening the leather against the flesh of my neck before I can get a chest full of air.
The belt tightens around his fist at the back of my head, forcing me to crane my neck to look up at him. “If you wanna keep breathin’ girl, you’re gonna behave.” He pulls the belt tighter again for added effect, making the leather bite into my skin painfully.
I claw at it, but it’s no use, it’s too tight already and he’s right. If I fight him too much he’ll just strangle me to death, or at least until I pass out again.
A loud noise from the hallway makes him loosen his grip on the belt slightly, giving me enough room to suck in some air. After a couple of seconds, he stops paying attention to the door, satisfied we won’t be disturbed, and resumes his attention on me, tightening my noose.
“On your knees,” he demands, but I refuse to move. I think I’d rather die than get on my knees in front of him. I don’t think I can suffer through any more degradation at his hands. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of my compliance.
“FUCK-” I suck in a ragged breath through the tightness of the belt, “YOU!” The hoarseness of my voice is hardly audible through the screamo music still being blasted from somewhere in the cabin, but it doesn’t matter. Tony sees my defiance and his anger is evident. He raises his hand to strike me again, and I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing for the blow, instead, I hear -POW!
A gunshot rings out, so close there’s no mistaking the sound. I scream as loud as I can. “HELP ME, PLEASE!” Though the sound comes out no louder than a whisper, the air is hardly able to escape through my closed windpipe.
“Shut up, you bitch!” Tony hauls me up by the tail of the belt, squeezing my throat painfully. He forces me flush against him, my back to his front, making me a barrier to whoever he suspects is about to come through the bedroom door.
