RECAP
Every day I wished I wouldn’t be raped, but at the same time I had to wish that I was raped enough to not be thrown out. Girls who weren’t good enough were thrown out, and the fate they suffered was worse than just dying. It was a slow and painful death. There were rumors amongst the girls that they would sell your organs one by one since you “weren’t useful anymore.” So I began to act the part like I enjoyed it. I played the role of the subservient woman there to please her “master.” I pretended to be really into it, but ever night I cried myself to sleep, and thought about my former life, about my parents, and about you. I didn’t know if I would be able to take all of it for an entire year like Kristen did. I think after about three weeks of that torture I decided I would end all the pain and end my life.
It was that night that a well-dressed man with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes came to visit me. His name was Baxter."
_____________________________________________________________________
Chapter 43
I was curled up in bed, planning what would lead to the quickest and least painful death, when the door to my room suddenly opened. I dreaded being used again. I was already so exhausted and I felt disgusting. I just wanted to be left alone. That man, Baxter, was standing in the doorway with Garrett.
“I believe this is the girl you were asking about, Baxter,” Garrett said.
Baxter nodded and motioned Garrett to leave. “Give me some time alone with her. I’d like to talk to her.”
Talk? No one ever wanted to just talk.
Garett took Kristen with him out of the room and closed the door behind him.
“So,” he began, “You’re the Jayden I’ve heard so much about?”
I simply stared at him. It had been a long time since someone had used my real name. It sounded foreign to me. Not to mention, I didn’t think I had ever seen this man before so how did he know my name? How did he know me? And more importantly why was he here to see me?
“You know Jayden, it’s rude to stare. It’s also rude not to answer the questions you’re asked. You’re just like your little friend Alaure. You both need to learn some manners.”
“My ears perked up at your name. How did he know you? Were you here as well? I prayed to God that you were okay. I knew you wouldn’t survive the life the girls here suffered. You were far too innocent in every sense of the word to have to suffer such torture. It would have torn me to see you as broken as the girls around there. If I couldn’t handle what was being done to me…”she trailed off in her narration and shuddered.
“You are a pretty little thing aren’t you? Quite different from your friend,” the man said holding my face and turning it from one side to another as if to examine it. “Your name is Jayden, isn’t it?”
I nodded, “Yes, sir.”
“Oh there’s no need for such formalities here. Sir, gosh that makes me feel so old. Call me Baxter. I’m not one of your,” he waved his hand around, “clients.”
After so much time there, such informalities with men felt strange and awkward. “Please. I would prefer to call you sir. I’m not acquainted with you.”
“Hm, if only your little friend would be as courteous. Maybe you are less ill-mannered than your little friend. She comes up with such creative and odd nicknames. They’re quite degrading actually. She calls me Barney, and she calls my cousin nincompoop. Though I don’t quite enjoy my own nickname I cannot disagree with the one she has chosen for my cousin.”
“Sir, please tell me, is she okay? How do you know her?”
“Oh she’s alright…for now, but she is very nosy and very much concerned for your well-being. As for my acquaintance with her, well that boils down to her nosiness as well. She was looking for you I believe and tangled herself up in some of my business as well as my cousin’s. It’s been rather inconvenient.”
“She’s been looking for me?”
“Yes. By the way, how did you become friends with such an ugly and boring girl?”
“I don’t think you actually care to know. I think you just wanted to say that to insult her,” I replied rather curtly.
“You’re a bright girl, and quite right as well. You know I have no problem getting you out of here and getting you back home with your pesky friend, but I’ve come to know Alaure and I know she won’t just let it go. She’ll dig deeper and get to the bottom of things. She’ll ruin me and my friend Garrett here, and I can’t let her do that.”
He stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers. “I’ll have to get her out of my cousin’s protection and kill her.”
He got up and began to pace the room.
I stared at him in shock. “Kill her?! Why? She’s about as harmless as a newborn puppy.”
“A kitten, more like. Quite a curious one too at that.”
“What could she possibly do to ruin you?”
He thought about it for a moment. “You want to hear a little story? I have time to kill, and you seem to be much better company than my cousin or your friend.”
Before I could answer he plopped down next to me and began narrating it anyways.
“You see, my cousin—actually I should call him my half-brother, but the more I can distance myself from him, the better—Damon, has always gotten everything he’s ever wanted—the spoiled brat. He has the looks, the money, the company that should have been mine, the women—my woman,” he scowled. “My only sin has been that I was born out of wedlock…a sin I didn’t even commit, but it has been my burden since the day I was born. I worked with my bratty cousin’s father on his company and he promised me it would be mine one day, yet he bequeathed the damned thing to my ungrateful, idiot of a ‘brother’. Ever since that day I have been slowly plotting my revenge. At first I tried to infiltrate his company, but I later realized there were some large benefits to simply overtaking a rival company and bringing his down. Knowing the inner workings of the company already it wouldn’t be that difficult for me. Besides I think it’s much more satisfying squishing the company I could never have like a cockroach,” he smiled deviously.
“I’m not afraid to admit I’ve become consumed with revenge.
"And you think Alaure is going to get in your way?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "What do you think she's going to do? Kill you?"
He chuckled, “No, but even if she did, the show doesn't end with my death. I've taken certain precautions to make sure I can go through with my revenge. Although I would prefer to put an end to Damon and his company myself, I've left Garrett and his men the task of killing him and ruining his company. The rewards are just enough to ensure that he'll go through with the deed."
"Why don't you just kill him now and get t over with?"
"Information, data, business deals. The time isn't quite right yet. Sun Microsystems needs just a little more well-hidden information from Vanguard Technologies to completely overtake their business. If I live then I want my company to be the wealthiest and most powerful, and if I die, I want Damon's to be reduced to dust. Either way, I win," he smirked
"If you already have all these precautions in place why do you care of Alaure figures anything out. She's just a 22 year old girl."
The smirk on his face immediately disappeared. "Because I've seen such an intense determination in her. It's almost frightening. I don't underestimate her abilities to ruin everything. She's nosy and unrelenting. If she hadn't become so involved with Damon and I and if I knew what a problem she would have posed I would have sent the both of you back to your little school in California, but it's too late for that now. That's why I need to take one more precaution and get rid of her."
"Now then," he said as he advanced towards me, "no more questions. I'm tired and I need to...loosen up a bit." He had a hungry look in his eyes that I had come to know all too well. I began to fear what would happen next.
"Dear Jayden, I'm sure I've shown you much more kindness than any of the other men you've encountered lately. And I've told you so much about your friend. Won't you return the favor and help me out?" he smiled deviously as he pushed me down by the shoulders and climbed on top of me.
I didn't plead and holler anymore like I would in the beginning. I simply accepted it. It made things much less painful. I knew this wouldn't be the last time either. In that moment that Baxter had told me about you I had decided I would keep pushing to survive a little longer, that I would get out, find you, and hopefully bring you back home safe and sound. My rebelliousness is why you found me overdosed on drugs on the verge of death. Their one last attempt was to control me by getting me addicted on cocaine. At first they forced it into me or mixed it into my food, but soon enough I began to crave it...not just the drug, but the hallucinations, the high that came with it, the little piece of artificial happiness. I lost sight of what I was fighting for. I lost more of my humanity. I lost sight of you, and those were some of my darkest moments. "
We sat in silence indefinitely as I tried to soak in everything Jayden had just told me. There were so many different things running through my mind, Baxter and all his crazy scheming, Jayden's well-being especially and that she endured, but the one that kept blaring in my mind like an alarm was that Damon could still be in danger.
"Jayden, I have so much to tell you, and I wish such horrific things didn't exist in this world. I used to cry about how my daddy would hit me when he was drunk and how my life couldn't get any worse, but what you have been put through..." I sniffled and scrubbed away at my wet eyes.
Jayden hugged me, "It's okay Alaure. I'm just glad you found me when you did."
"How has adjusting back to life been?" I asked.
"It hasn't been easy at all. That's for sure. It's gotten a little better, but not by much. Not yet. I wake up from nightmares in the middle of the night a lot. The therapy is helping some too. They've been easing me off the drugs too, but sometimes it's hard not to cave in. My parents have been a lot of help with that. When I have you and my parents, I feel happy on my own, but..." she turned her head away and frowned, "when I begin to think of the reality of this world, that there are thousands, millions even, of girls out there that suffer every day the same fate as me, nothing helps except the drugs. They help me forget. They help me get away. It's not enough that the other girls with me and I escaped. There are thousands more like us. Garrett got away. He's still out there and he could easily kidnap more innocent girls and create another brothel. I’ve been thinking lately about starting an organization to help girls like me. It’s only an idea right now, but that’s the only thing that has been easing my mind a little.”
“I think that’s a great idea Jayden. I know I don’t need to say it, but you know that I’m always here for you, so if you ever need any help I’m only a phone call away…or a one and a half hour drive away. Forty-five if I break a few rules.”
Jayden laughed, causing me to smile. “I can’t believe you would even think about breaking the rules. What happened to you in Alaska?”
I sighed, “Right, it’s my turn to tell stories.”
Jayden nodded rather eagerly. I lied back onto Jayden’s bed, sprawled out, and stared at the ceiling. “After listening to your story, I almost feel guilty for the life I was living while you were suffering. Sure I was kidnapped, imprisoned, and had to put up with my asshole of a captor, Damon, but after a while I was almost living a luxury life.” I began.
Happy New Year Everyone!
Sometimes I wonder how I can work on a chapter for such a long time and end up with only 3 pages...bleh. It takes me like 30 minutes to write on paragraph...and I don't think that's an exaggeration.