Page 20 of Dark Side of the Cloth

“Raquel!” she managed to get out before a large hand clamped over her mouth and nose, making it hard to breathe.

She pulled on the hand, her feet wildly kicking at air as she struggled. She tried to scream again, but the sound was muffled, and she could see out of the corner of her eye that Raquel didn’t hear her.

“You’re so pretty,” the man said. His hand petted her long curls—she whimpered and swatted at his arm with her hands, but he didn’t budge.

The lack of air and the building fear turned her swatting into full-on thrashing. She put every ounce of her energy and strength into getting free. She dragged her nails down his hairy bare arm leaving angry red marks and little dots of blood in their wake.

“Bitch!” The man released her mouth, and she gulped in air, but her victory was short as he slapped her across the face. She’d never been slapped before and never wanted it to happen again. Pain exploded behind her eyes as tears streamed down her face. She screamed Raquel’s name again, and this time her voice wasn’t hindered by a hand.

Even with her blurred vision, she saw Raquel sit up straight in bed, a small scream leaving her mouth as she pushed herself away from the man’s hands as he grabbed for her sister’s feet. Yasmine ripped off the light sheet covering her body and rolled onto the floor, her eyes clearing of the stream of tears just enough for her to see Raquel now hanging from the man’s grip. He held her feet off the ground as she whimpered and smacked at the large fist.

“Leave my sister alone!” Yasmine screamed and dove at the man, doing the only thing she could think of—she bit hard into his leg, and he swore bad words, but he let Raquel go.

“Run, Raquel! Go!” Raquel sat on the wooden floor, staring up at the man, eyes wide. Yasmine didn’t know why her sister wasn’t responding. “Raquel!” she yelled again as the man stomped the few steps toward her and grabbed her by the arms. His squeeze was so tight she whimpered in pain as his fingers dug into her tender skin.

“You think that was funny? You’ll be using that mouth soon enough, but first, I’m going to rip out all your teeth!” His breath stunk as he pulled her close to his face. She turned her head and closed her eyes as he trailed his nose up the side of her neck. She shivered in his hold, fear making her want to give up. “You’ll regret you ever did that, you little slut.”

Her inner voice screamed to escape, to get away and get help. She glanced at Raquel and saw she was still staring at the man, tears running down her cheeks. At that moment, Yasmine knew she was their only chance of getting help. She leaned back as far as she could in his hold and pictured his face like it was a soccer ball. She brought her forehead forward hard into his nose—there was a sickening crunch sound, and he screamed as he dropped her to the floor.

She crumpled to her knees but quickly scrambled to Raquel and grabbed her arm. She tried to pull her sister to her feet, but she was dead weight.

“Raquel, we have to go!” Yasmine jerked on her sister’s arm again. The man was still distracted as he swore and wiped his bleeding nose with his shirt, but that wasn’t going to last. Yasmine’s hand shook as the adrenaline raced through her body.

“Raquel!” Yasmine screamed. Raquel blinked and finally looked at her.“We have to run.”

Raquel nodded and jumped to her feet. Yasmine pulled her toward the door, and she made it to the hallway when they were brought to a sudden halt. Raquel screamed, and her hand jerked out of Yasmine’s hold. Yasmine didn’t know what to do. The man had one large arm around Raquel’s waist and held her tight to his body.

The man sneered at her showing off his stained teeth. “What are you going to do now, little bitch?”

Yasmine’s eyes flicked between her sister’s terrified expression and the man’s taunting expression. Raquel reached for her, calling out her name, and she wanted to go to her, to save her, but she needed an adult. She needed her dad.

“Don’t leave me, Yazzy!” Raquel screamed.

“Keep fighting,” Yasmine yelled as she dashed the remaining distance to the stairs.

“Yazzy!”

“Shut up, you little cunt!”

Yasmine’s feet thumped as she raced down to the front door and threw it open wide, and left it like that.

“Help! Daddy!”

Yasmine gasped as she sat up straight in bed. She reached for the bedside lamp and almost knocked it to the floor in her struggle to turn it on. Her nightgown was soaked and stuck to her skin, making her shiver in the cool air.

She had her comforter balled in her fists, her heart beating wildly. She stared around the room for any sign of a threat and jumped when she caught her reflection in the standing mirror. She pulled her legs up until she could hug her knees and held them tight as she tried to push the sounds of Raquel’s screams from her mind.

Yasmine rocked back and forth, trying to calm the rapid breathing that would bring on a panic attack. Two breaths in, two breaths out.

She hadn’t dreamt about that night in so long. She thought she had rid herself of the nightmare, thought at some point the images from that night would fade, but they only became more vivid with time. Like a constant taunt, it would come when she least expected it and brought with it the memories of not just her sister but her mother hanging before her eyes.

Her mother’s guilt and blame had transferred to her after her mother killed herself. Maybe she could have done something more to help Raquel. Maybe she could have found a way. The question was a torment to the core of her soul.

She stifled a sob, and hot tears freely ran down her cheeks. She’d left her sister to die a horrible death. She let her sister be taken by that masked man who raped her and beat her for weeks. Yasmine grabbed her pillow and buried her face as she screamed out the pain.

If she’d only fought harder… her mother was right. It was all her fault.

“I’m so sorry, Raquel. I’m so very sorry.”