5. Chapter Five
CHAPTER FIVE
T iffany, Age 9, United States
“Bye, Elizabeth!” I waved to my friend as we parted ways. “See you tomorrow!”
The afternoon sun hung lower than usual, showing that fall was here. We were headed home from the slowest Monday ever in school. Ugh. I wish we had skipped and gone to the arcade instead.
“See you tomorrow, Tiffany!”
I watched her walk off, her backpack glittering in the light, as she waved over her shoulder. We lived on opposite sides of the hill. I was to the right, and she was to the left.
Tomorrow, we would meet again to walk together to school, as was our routine.
It took forever to convince my mom to let me walk with Beth. My parents were very paranoid that something bad might happen to me. But I assured them I could take care of myself.
And I could!
An eerie vibration that hung in the air, and a foul petrol smell, interrupted my musings. A few days ago, I told Elizabeth that I felt like someone was watching us. Every time I walked down the road to my home. Of course, Beth said that it was only because the scariest holiday of the year was coming. There were pumpkins everywhere. They hung lanterns that had scary faces on them up on each streetlight.
I could hear the slow roll of a vehicle creeping up behind me. The hair on the back of my neck stood on its end. I walked faster. I was almost home. I could even see the lights from our neighbor’s house as I sped up. My breaths came in pants that lightly frosted in the cooling air.
A white work van drove past me.
I shook my head, fearing the worst. It was usually men in vans that wanted to chat with me. Sometimes it was trucks. I seemed to always draw a lot of attention on this street. These strangers would call me weird things like ‘exotic’, and want to compliment my darker skin, usually comparing it to candy like caramel or toffee or chocolate.
I slowed down when I noticed all the windows were black. It stopped a few feet ahead of me. When the driver made no move to keep going, I walked past. My house was only a little way ahead of me. I could see the garden gnomes out front. I was so close.
The door opened. “Get in,” a gruff voice ordered.
I shook my head.
“I need your help to get my dog to the vet,” he grumbled.
There was a whimper from behind the seat and my shoulders relaxed, when I saw there was indeed a puppy lying in a dog bed.
“Why do you have his legs taped together?”
“So he won’t move them and hurt himself more. He broke his legs.”
I climbed into the back of the van. “The vet is in the center of town,” I whispered, turning in my seat so I could monitor the small dog.
“Let me know when to turn.”
The man didn’t really look at me, but I glanced at him. His dirty blonde hair looked like it needed to be cut. He also smelled of stale cigarettes and fast food.
“Take a right onto this one here,” I directed.
The van turned left.
“Hey,” I whined. “You missed the turn.”
The stranger said nothing. He drove to a secluded area right behind our neighborhood and parked. This was not the first time this had happened, so I kind of knew what to expect. Still, it annoyed me.
“This isn’t the vet’s office.” I stared at him accusingly. I tried to open the door, but found the handle was stuck.
“Don’t be afraid.” He climbed in the back of the van with me. “I won’t hurt you.”
Ugh. They always said that. His breath smelled of cigarettes and beer. It stank up the entire back of the van.
“I want to go home,” I told him firmly.
He shook his head. “You can if you’re a good girl.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Right now, I want you to pet the dog.” When I didn’t move, he said it more forcefully. “I said, pet the fucking dog.”
I knelt down to pet the poor taped up puppy. Meanwhile, he unbuckled his pants and pulled his wiener out. He then grabbed me by the hair and brought me toward him.
“No!” I struggled and swung out, hitting him in the thighs.
He popped me in the face. “If you don’t stop fighting, I’m going to kill you,” he growled, squeezing my chin hard.
I immediately stopped struggling. When he released me, I lifted my head and smiled, looking up from my position where his unbuckled belt hung in my face.
“Look at the smile. What a good fucking slut you are, yeah? You like this. Maybe I’ll keep you. I can already tell that once I get a taste of that cunt, I won’t want it to be my last.”
The mean men always said the same things, bad words and all.
“Put this in your mouth and suck on it.” He rubbed his man part against my chin and cheek. “Have you done this before?”
“Yes.” I finished unzipping his pants and helped him pull them down to his knees. I was always careful to make sure I did this part. And they always got so excited when I did.
“You little whore. I bet you have. You like it, huh? How old are you? Ten?”
“Nine.” I leaned forward and sucked him into my mouth. He smelled like old onions, and I gagged, causing him to groan and force himself deeper inside of me.
When he relaxed, I bit down hard.
He screamed as blood gushed in my mouth. I then violently pushed him back. Between the slippery blood and the tight pants around his lower thighs and knees, he went down like a tree. His wiener broke off from his body.
The painful screams sent a flutter of butterflies through my tummy. Like music, I found it pleasing to the ear. I spat the offending member out of my mouth into my hand, and shoved it deep into my jacket pocket. I then grabbed the puppy and went out the driver’s door.
My collection of appendages was growing, and I was excited to add this one.
As I took the shortcut to my house, I worked at getting the tape off the puppy’s legs. Once I did, he licked my face.
When I walked inside my house, my mother and father stopped talking.
My mom gasped. “Tiffany, what–”
“—the hell happened to you?” my father finished.
“I saved a puppy. I named him Hero. Want to pet him?”
They both shook their heads no. Bummer.
“You’re covered in blood again! Go shower, and I’m going to talk to the doctor about these awful nosebleeds you get. I don’t care what he says. This cannot be normal.”
I didn’t correct her assumption, but I did rush to my room to store my new addition. The books in the library had taught me loads of things, including how to preserve all of my treasures.
People called them trophies. I liked that word because it made them precious. Special. Something for me to look at, and remember the time I conquered a bad person in the world.
I knew I was not like other girls. I knew that I was different because I didn’t get scared or freaked out by blood. I wasn’t worried about all the bad men in the world. While my friends liked dolls, I liked real parts. I wasn’t a bad person, though. I only attacked those who tried to hurt me first…
There just seemed to be a lot of bad men who wanted to hurt me.