10. Emily
Pain erupts in my eye and cheek when Nikolai punches me. When I don’t give him the reaction he wants, he hits me again. This time, harder and I can’t hold back the whimper that leaves my lips.
My hair is brutally pulled into his grasp, and he jerks my head back so forcefully, I’m surprised I’m not decapitated.
“How dare you think you can tell me no! I own you.” He growls. Droplets of his spit land on my face.
Today is the first time in a few days that Nikolai has made a move to rape me. I’m not sure what came over me, but I told him no. I fought him when he tried to force me and now, he’s beating me for it.
His hand wraps around my throat and I’m shoved against the wall. He lifts me until the tips of my toes barely reach the floor. I claw at his hands when he tightens his hold.
“I own you, Suka . If I want to fuck you, you’ll lay there and take it. If I want to have my friends fuck you, you’ll lay there and take it. You will take everything I give you and be fucking grateful you’re still breathing.”
My lungs burn and my head pounds from the lack of oxygen they receive. I can’t muster even a whimper in response.
I roughly collapse onto the concrete floor when he releases my throat. My fingers rub against where he dug his fingers into my flesh.
Despite my better judgment, I shoot him a glare which causes him to laugh and then land a kick to my ribs. The crack is instant, and I cry out in agonizing pain.
“Take her to the hole. It seems like she needs to be reminded of her place.” He says to the guard in the room before he leaves. The door slams shut behind him and the force reverberates through my body.
I fight through my pain when the guard hauls me up to my feet and pulls me out of the room. His grip is unyielding but still, I fight and claw at every inch of skin I can reach.
He descends into the bowels of the basement and panic coats my very soul.
The Hole is a single, windowless room deep within the basement. There are no guards down here. No light. Not even the sounds of scurrying mice can be heard. It’s a Hell I’ve experienced plenty of times and each time, a piece of me is carved out.
“Please, no. Please. I’m - I’m sorry.” My heels scrape against the concrete when I dig into it. The guard completely ignores me and continues his path toward Hell.
The silence is petrifying. It’s as though we’ve entered another dimension. One that is absent of all things.
Not even the door makes a sound when it's pulled open. I’m thrown into the darkness and land on my hip. I shriek when the pain shoots down my leg and into my toes.
I scramble to get to my feet and dart to the door, but it’s slammed shut before I can stop it.
My fists pound against it repeatedly as I scream in panic.
“You can’t leave me down here! Please! Please! I’m sorry!”
I slump down onto my knees when no one comes to release me. I press my head and hand against the cold metal of the door as tears fall freely down my face.
“Please…” I cry quietly.
I’m met with nothing but silence.
I wake on the dirt floor to the sensation of someone’s fingers caressing my face. I can’t see anything, but I can feel it. No, I can see him.
“Liam?” I whisper into the void.
“I’m here, Féileacán.” The gentleness of his voice coupled with his calling me butterfly, causes unbearable grief to course through me. I’m never going to see him again. I’m never going to get the chance to tell him that I love him.
“Liam… I – “
“Shh,” he silences me.
I feel the ghost of his touch on my skin, and I lean toward it. His scent invades my nose and absorb as much of it as I can. I don’t know if he’ll ever come back as the Liam I love. As my Liam.
“Everything will be okay, Féileacán.”
My lip quivers and I softly shake my head. “I don’t see how.”
I feel his presence sitting next to me against the concrete wall I’m leaning against.
“Do you remember the day in the garden when we watched the clouds?” he asks.
“How could I forget?”
I remember that day so vividly as if it happened just yesterday. The smell of freshly cut grass and wildflowers flow through my senses and I can feel the soft breeze against the strands of my hair.
That was the day Liam gifted me with a butterfly necklace to replace the one I had lost.
A small smile spreads across my face when I picture how his eyes softened when he watched my reaction to the necklace. It quickly became one of my most prized possessions.
My hand moves to play with the pendant, only to be reminded that it was ripped away from me when I was taken. My eyes burn when tears begin to fill them.
“Don’t cry, Féileacán.”
I swipe at my cheeks, “The necklace is gone, Liam. They took it from me.”
The sensation of his arms wrapping around me warms my skin, but only slightly.
“The necklace isn’t what’s important, Em. The feelin’ is. The happiness you felt that day. That moment. That’s what’s important. Hold on to that.”
“Why?” I ask in a broken whisper.
“Because you need to hold on. I’m comin’ for you.”
I let out a humorless snort.
“I’m comin’, Em. Just hold on.”
I can feel his presence begin to flicker in and out. I know my time with him is coming to an end. I feel his lips press against my forehead and I choke out a sob.
“Please don’t leave me here alone, Liam.” I reach out a hand, but it falls onto my lap. Mocking me for even trying because he’s not really there.
“Keep holdin’ on.” He whispers.
And then he’s gone.
“WAKE UP!”
I shoot up to the demonic scream that fills my ears. My heart is racing and my body trembles with uncontrollable fear.
My head whips around, trying to find the source of the sound. Do I really want to know? No, but I can’t fathom not knowing who or what made that sound.
The energy of the room becomes heavy with the promise of overpowering cruelty.
My heart lurches into my throat when my eyes meet glowing red ones boring into me from the top corner of the room. I press myself tightly against the wall, trying to make myself smaller.
The eyes move lower, and I can make out the dark figure in which they inhabit. Fear, unlike anything I’ve ever felt, dominates every cell in my body.
“Who – who are you?” I stutter.
The chuckle that the creature let out, makes my blood curdle in my veins.
“Why, I’m you. ”
I’m frozen in place. My muscles refuse to move as I watch the creature crawl down the wall. When it reaches the ground, its body twists in broken movements until it stands in a hunched position. Its height is otherworldly.
“I’m what is living inside you, right now.”
Its voice skates down my body like ice and I shiver. I whimper when it smiles and reveals sharp, jagged teeth that are dripping with a black, sticky liquid.
My eyes slam shut. “You’re not real. You’re not real. You’re not real.” I mutter.
The creature laughs loudly, and it pounds into my head. It echoes against the walls of my prison. I can’t contain the trembling of my limbs or the coiling of my stomach.
I can feel its face sitting just centimeters from mine. The putrid stench of death permeates the air.
“I’m as real as you are breathing.”
When I don’t answer, its claw grazes my flesh.
“Look at me.” It demands.
I shake my head violently.
“Look. At. Me.” It emphasizes each syllable with an anger-filled growl.
I shake my head again and tears scorch my skin when they slide down my face.
“LOOK AT ME.” It shrieks.
My eyes fly open as the feel of something slithering over my arms and legs. Dark shadows wrap around me and trap my body where it sits. I thrash against them but it's no use.
A hand with long, skeletal fingers grips my jaw and I’m forced to face the creature.
Its eyes pierce into my very soul but I’m at its complete mercy. My body refuses to cooperate when I try my damned hardest to close my eyes.
“You think that boy will come to save you? You’re nothing. He didn’t even fight for you. He threw you away like the disgusting, sad excuse of a woman you are. He will never come for you.”
“Pl – please let me go,” I beg.
Its head tips back and it laughs demonically before disappearing.
The shadows release me, and I scramble away from the wall and toward the direction of the door.
My fists pound and pound until they scream in pain. My throat is raw from my terror-filled shrieks. I have no tears left to stream down my face.
“Please let me out! Please! Please!”