Chapter 5:
"See?" I released his hand and it fell to his side. His eyes softened and something- something I couldn't identify flashed across them. "You're not like those monsters. You're not your father."
Andrew went rigid.
"I told you to shut up." He snarled and took a step forward, forcing me to step back. "What happens when you disobey?"
Fear wrapped it's cold fingers around my heart. My body still throbbed in time with my racing heart. He advanced again and I retreated further, tripping over the edge of the dirty mattress and landing flat on my rear.
"Do you know what you're going to do for me?" His voice was low, almost guttural. "You're going to lay on that mattress, and shut up." He dropped to my level and gripped a fistful of my hair. "If you make one sound I'll make you scream loud enough to wake the dead, understand?"
I nodded and he released my hair roughly. As he paced, he pulled his hair and ran his hands down his face. He stopped briefly to pick up the shirt he had removed earlier and pulled it on over his head. He paced for what seemed like forever before finally coming to rest beside me on the mattress, stiff as a board. His fingers toyed with the bottom of his shirt before he reached for me. I instinctively jerked away him and pressed myself against the wall.
"Don't!" I slapped him away but he came back without hesitation. He pinned me to the mattress by my shoulders and straddled my body.
"Slowly," he said to himself.
I lashed out with my fists, then clawed at his face wildly.
"STOP STOP STOP!" I shrieked, tears already welling up in my eyes.
He pinned my arms above my head. "You can't stop me."
I threw my knee into his groin with as much force my adrenaline riddled body could muster. A groan parted his lips and he doubled over to the side. I slipped out from under him and ran door. I fumbled with the lock, wasting precious moments while Andrew staggered to his feet. My hands shook too much for me to get a good grasp on the stupid thing, and when it was finally between my fingers Andrew's arms were around my waist, lifting me into the air. Kicking and screaming, he threw me back onto the mattress.
"Stop it!" He yelled. Rather than hard and cold, his face was pale and pinched. His eyes were wide and he glanced back at the door fearfully. "Just stop!"
We stared at each other. I tried to gather my frantic thoughts to formulate some form of a plan to get past Andrew and through that door. I would deal with Jerry and Skip after I got past Andrew. One step at a time.
Loud footsteps climbed the stairs and Andrew scrambled away from the door as they came ever closer to the door. I pressed myself against the wall, willing myself to dissolve into the drywall. The door flew open and Jerry filled the doorway.
"Is there a problem?" He didn't look at Andrew.
"She tried to run again." Andrew's words were hardly above a whisper. Jerry barreled into the room and rammed one massive fist into my mid-section. I screamed and sobbed pitifully.
"You like to run?" Jerry roughly pulled me to my feet and threw me out into the hall. Before I could stand again, Jerry had yanked me up onto my feet and shoved me toward the stairs. I tried to make it down the steps before Jerry could catch another fistful of my hair. His boot connected with my spine between my shoulder blades and I tumbled down, down, down the impossibly long staircase. At the landing, I couldn't tell what part of my body hurt worse, nor could I discern my arm from my knee. Pain racked my entire frame and I barely felt Jerry pull me back onto my feet. Through the house and outside, I couldn't get my tortured muscles to attempt another escape. We rounded the house at a pace faster than my tired legs could keep and gravel scattered under my sloppy footsteps. A sizable shed half concealed by an unkempt bush came into view. As we drew near, the smell of feces and disease hit me like a brick wall. Jerry jerked the door to the shed open and threw me inside. The deafening barks of wild dogs filled my ears, stabbing daggers into my already pounding head. They were all jumping around in a frenzied rage behind a chain-link cage that took up over half the space of the shed.
Jerry bent down to yell in my ear, "These puppies like to run too!" He gripped the back of my head and brought my face close to the fence. The dogs followed the movement and tried to bite through the metal to get to me. "Do you want to see who's faster?"
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to force everything away; the barking, the foaming saliva hitting my face from the dogs violent attacks on the cage. Another blow connected with my head, then I was roughly dragged back into the house and up to the room again. Andrew hadn't moved and remained a statue when Jerry threw me back onto the mattress, sobbing and unable to pull myself up onto my shaking limbs.
"Last chance, son." Jerry spat out the last word like poison. "Do it right, or you'll get another demonstration."
Andrew nodded stiffly.
"I'll get it," he breathed. Powerless against my agony, I collapsed on the mattress, burying my face deep into its overused springs.
"Do you understand now?" He sat down on the edge of the mattress. "I can't just-"
"Why are you doing this to me?" I sobbed.
"You really don't get it, do you?" He sighed. "If I don't do it, he will. He's- I can't-" he sighed again.
Then why don't you? I wanted to ask, but knew better than to challenge him.
"You're not like him," I said. "You know how wrong this is and you don't like it any more than I do. We can get out of here. He trusts you. At least enough for him to let you wander around the house. Just- get us out of here. We can go to the police."
"Shut up." He said through his hands. After a tense moment, he stood and paced the room. Indecision clouded his features and expressed itself in quiet groans. Finally, he stopped at the table and leaned against it.
"Come here," he said.
"Please." I began to cry again.
"Come here!" He raised his voice and I shrank further into the mattress. My body still ached and I couldn't bring myself to get closer to him. He whirled around and marched back to me, scowling.
"Andrew, please!" I slid away from him as he advanced toward me. I tried to swat him away when he reached for me but his size and strength was too much for my pummeled body. He dragged me onto the table and strapped my hands and legs down again.
"Let me go!" I yelled. I knew it was fruitless to scream or try to demand my freedom, but it was all I could do, the only thing I could think of that would lend me some power from the helplessness of my reality.
Andrew held up a hand to silence me and leaned over me. He raised a hand to touch me, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Tension coiled in the air around, thick enough to cut with a knife, or a sharp word. A million things flashed behind his eyes but he remained a statue, hardly even breathing.
My heart thundered so painfully against my chest, it felt like it was about to burst free and start flopping around on the floor like a fish out of water. The silence was unbearable.
"Think about it!" Strapped down, I was vulnerable in all the worst ways. The air in the room felt too thick to pull into my lungs. Every labored breath felt like needles in my chest and I couldn't get enough oxygen. I wanted so badly to wrap my arms around myself or hug my knees to my chest, anything to make me smaller, less vulnerable to these strange men. "We could make a plan and get out of here."
He stared into my eyes, looking for something.
"Scream," he told me.
I hesitated.
"Scream," his eyes were hard as stone, "or I'll make you."
My throat was already raw, but my screams were still very audible.
"Tell me to stop," he whispered.
I did.
"Like you mean it," he growled in my ear and set his hand on my thigh.
"Stop it!" I screamed louder.
"Better," he said. "Cry."
Like that was difficult.
"Harder." He gripped my thigh tighter and forced a fearful cry from my lips.
"SHUT UP!" His open hand slammed the table next to my head and I screamed again. A string of foul curses flew from his lips and spots of saliva landed on my cheek. He gripped the edge of the table and shook it, knocking it against the wall rhythmically; slow at first, then faster.
Understanding dawned on me when he moaned. The mind-numbing fear the consumed me lost its edge and I finally felt like I could breathe.
"Scream." Andrew glanced back at the door fearfully. For another thirty seconds, I shrieked and cried like never before. Andrew 'finished' and backed away from the table pulling in heavy breaths and wiping beads of sweat from his forehead. I fell silent.
"When I leave," he whispered, "cry quietly to yourself. If you don't sell it, it won't be pretend next time."
Without waiting for a response, Andrew left the room. I drew in a deep breath and closed my eyes. The room was silent and Andrew's retreating footsteps comforted me as he descended the stairs to the main floor. Per Andrew's orders, I cried quietly until the tears stopped flowing. In only a few hours my lips were chapped and my mouth felt dry. I tested my restraints to the point of rubbing my skin raw. Red blood crusted around the leather straps on my wrists and ankles by the time Andrew returned. In one hand he held a plate of food, in the other a glass of water.
"These are for you." He set them on the workbench. "I'm going to untie you, but if you try to run again, you don't get dinner for the next two nights."
A/N: Revisions stopped here for tonight :) More tomorrow!
Days passed that way; Andrew would tell me what to do and as long as I did what he commanded Jerry stayed out of the room and I wasn't touched.
One morning Andrew held a finger to his lips, telling me to be quite. His lips brushed my ear when he whispered his next command.
"Beg quietly," he said. "But- not a lot. This is around the time you would break."
Around mid-day, someone began stomping up the stairs toward Andrew room. Panicked, Andrew cut me loose from the bedposts and straddled me on the floor. My shoulders popped and ached so badly I began to cry.
"I'm sorry." He whispered. He pulled my shirt over my head, and tossed it aside. With trembling fingers he unbuttoned his jeans, then my shorts. One quick yank and my shorts were down my thighs, exposing my baby blue panties. "Be limp. Look hopeless or we're both dead."
His cold, sweaty hands grabbed the curve of my waist and slowly moved downward as he kissed my neck. He didn't get too far before the door opened behind him.
"Andrew." Skip wasn't even phased by my half-nakedness; he barely glanced at me. "We have company. Bring the girl downstairs."
"Can I finish?" He gestured to his unbuttoned jeans crudely and then to me. I stared up at the ceiling for a moment before slowly rolling my head to look at Skip. I prayed that I looked hopeless and- well- broken.
"No." His answer was firm. "These guys aren't patient and they're new buyers."
Andrew breathed out a complaint, but began hiking my shorts back up around my waist.
"Leave those here." Skip rolled his eyes and turned down the hallway. "Haven't you learned anything about selling? Presentation is key."
My shorts were yanked completely off of me and left me feeling completely exposed. Andrew roughly hauled me to my feet and shoved me through his door, down the hall, down the stairs, and into the main room. The two chairs that Skip and Jerry had been sitting in were now side by side, facing me. Jerry sat in one, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin in one hand, stone faced, while his foot tapped nervously on the floor. In the chair beside him sat another man that was dressed in a magenta suit that made Jerry seem very- grubby. The mans hair was combed upward and to the side and had a goatee which he stroked almost nonstop with ringed fingers. Steel grey eyes were shining savagely under his thick eyebrows when he scanned my body.
"Have you given her anything?" His words were altered by a faint Russian accent.
"Nothing." Jerry stood and crossed to me; I instinctively took two steps back but ended up being shoved forward by Andrew. "That's what makes her such a good item. You don't need to pay for drugs or sedatives to keep her under control. I like to break them the old fashioned way. It's cheaper, and easier."
"Let me see you then." The man twirled his pointer finger, motioning for me to spin. I remained rooted to the spot, simply refusing to do what I was told.
"What happens when you disobey?" Jerry clenched a fist at his side. My legs moved before my brain did and I spun around frantically.
"Slower." The man rolled his eyes.
"Make me." The words shot out of my mouth before I could stop them. The mans eyebrows shot up and he stood.
"I am a kind man," he said. "So I will give you another chance to listen; a rare thing. Let me see you."
For a split second I couldn't decide whether or not to stand by my previous words. That moment if indecision lasted too long and Jerry raised a hand to hit me. I threw my hands up to protect my head and ducked away, narrowly dodging the blow. Jerry growled and snatched up a handful of my hair and tilted my head back to face him.
"What happens when you-"
"Stop!" The man stood and pointed an accusing finger at me. "She is still too much trouble. The market for 'spirited' girls is too small and I refuse to pay for merchandise that might get up and run away when someone isn't watching, or when her chains come off.
"Since this is your first deal with me, I will- what is the word?- forgive you for wasting my time as you just did. I'll come back in two weeks to- reevaluate."
"I understand, Demetri." Jerry reluctantly released my hair and held his hand out for Demetri to shake. "No funny buisness." They shook and Demetri was gone faster than I could blink. I instinctively stepped away from Jerry and closer to Andrew when he slowly turned back to me.
"What have you been doing to her?" The question wasn't directed at me.
"What?" Andrew shifted nervously.
"What have you been doing to her?" He repeated, louder this time. "Why haven't you done what I have taught you? Do you know who that was?" His gaze finally moved to Andrew and he advanced forward causing both Andrew and I to step away. "Do you know how much money he was willing to pay for that little slut? You have five days to break her, or I'll do it myself! I'll make you watch and when I'm done I'll make you practice on her. I know you don't like an audience, but if you can't do this right then you need instruction and supervision- close supervision." He was an arms length away from Andrew when he cuffed his son. Andrews head snapped to the side and his arms flew up in an attempt to save himself. Jerry snatched up my arm and threw me at Andrew. We stumbled over each other and fell to the floor.
"Is it really that hard, son?" Jerry took one large step and threw me off of Andrew. "You've had her for a week already! She's not even halfway to where she's supposed to be! Lesson one!" He cursed and hauled his son to his feet by the collar of his shirt. "Now get it done."
Andrew nodded vigorously and was released. I was roughly yanked to my feet and shoved all the way back to Andrews bedroom. Once the door slammed shut Andrew crossed to the window next to his bed and threw it open.