Chapter 42 Mother of Thy Serpent
Sapphire
I’m still thinking about Judas’s words into the night while I crouch on the washroom floor to lather healing ointment on myself.
The most recent enema and round of laxatives have left me raw and in constant throbbing pain. I hike up my panties once I’m done, and remain lying on the washroom floor, closing my eyes as the iron cools my cheek.
This room smells heavily of rust, urine, and drain grime. It echoes with groaning and jutting old pipes. And often the screams bleed through my vents, bouncing off the walls and waking me from a dead sleep.
But right now, it’s quiet. Its cold floor is soothing my warm cheeks. And I’m left alone for the time being. Left to analyze my thoughts and go over my memories to ensure I’m not missing any.
“You look rather ungrateful to be here.”
A woman’s voice jolts me from my semi-peaceful meditation on the floor. I shoot my head up to a pair of white socks and a white patient gown and robe. The long, gorgeous black hair sends a new set of stomach cramps gurgling in my gut.
“How did you get into my room?” I ask, wincing as I try to sit up.
Apple May holds her hand over her chest, taking great offense.
“I am the Senior Conformist’s mother.”
“That’s nice. Please leave.”
“You’re not enthusiastic to have my company?” she asks genuinely.
“No.”
Her thin, nearly hairless eyebrow goes up. “My daughter was right. You are an ungrateful little bitch.”
I prop myself up against the stone wall adjacent to my sink, never taking my eyes off this unhinged woman who has shown a twisted interest in me. She remains in the doorway, staring at herself in the mirror, fluffing the waves of her hair.
“What can I do for you, Apple May?” I want to argue with her so badly. It’s in my nature to run my mouth until it gets me into trouble. But I used up the last of my energy on Judas, which didn’t do much. I slept for hours after that encounter. And for what?
“I am bored,” she says, still combing through her thick hair in the mirror.
“My condolences.”
“And I am quite horny,” she adds.
I drop my head against the wall with a thump. “I cannot help you with that.”
“I enjoy looking at your husband.”
Goodie.
“Those eyes? His hair? How do you ever stop looking at him?” she asks with a devious smile.
Easy. Niklaus says something unforgiveable to me. I’m repulsed by him. And then I can’t stand the sight of him. Nothing to it.
“I was incredibly horny watching him finger you actually. It was rather arousing.” She snickers into her hand, then smooths out her smile lines quickly. “Oh dear. I’m getting wet thinking about it now.”
That immediate sense of danger prickles my fingertips.
“I’m trying to enjoy the post-enema bliss. Perhaps you could come back another time?” I suggest sarcastically.
But Apple May looks me up and down with thoughts circling her mind like vultures. Thoughts that should stay hidden in her head.
“Could you tell me what it felt like? His fingers inside of you?”
I shake my head.
“In immense detail, please.”
I shake my head again.
Yet her request summons that muddled memory swimming in the murky waters of my brain. It was so confusing being in agony one moment, then instantly replacing it with powerful pleasure. I blink away the feelings that return with an upsurge of warmth between my legs.
“You know, if I were you, I’d be very nice to me,” she purrs.
“Why is that?”
I wonder what would happen if I screamed for help. Would an orderly barge in and haul Apple May out of my washroom? Would they punish her for roaming the halls at night? Or does being Meridei’s mother hold as much weight as she claims?
“Because I can put in a good word with my daughter. I can assuage her to, hmm—oh, I don’t know—off the top of my head? Give you a break from your least favorite treatment?” Apple May twirls a wavy lock of black hair around her finger.
My eyes open wider. Electroconvulsive treatment.
“My daughter tells me you are a little scaredy cat when it comes to the shock therapy. Is that right?” She pauses, then smirks.
“That’s what I thought. But…if you’d rather let me suffer without giving me the proper mental images I request to absolve the crazed arousal I’m experiencing—I suppose I could tell her to increase your therapy. ”
“No!” The word half-explodes out of me.
Apple May’s smugness blinds me with rage.
“Go on then. I’m waiting.”
I drop my head. “His fingers were long and felt good. Okay? Good? Can I go to sleep now?”
“Pfft!” She throws her arms to her sides in frustration. “You could never write literature with such a lack of descriptive words! Make me feel what you felt, Patient Two, or I swear…”
“He started off pushing my panties to the side,” I say with a heavy sigh. “I wasn’t wet because the injection had me so nauseas. But he wet his fingers in his mouth, then slid the pads of his index and middle finger over my clit before…penetrating me.”
“Oh my.” Apple May slides down the washroom door, one hand on her stomach, the other massaging the back of her neck. “Continue.”
I wish to God I had the strength to break one of her bones right now, but I can barely hold my own head up.
“Nik—my husband pushed his fingers in and out of me slowly, curling and gently pulsating inside me until I was very close to having an orgasm.”
“Mmmm. Mmm-hmm, yes, oh.” Meridei’s fucking creepy mother touches herself right in front of me, on my washroom floor. Her hand moves fast and hard, like she’s naturally so comfortable with masturbating in front of a perfect stranger.
Do it so you don’t have to lose anymore memories, Sapphire. Please. You can do this.
“I got so wet—I was spilling around his fingers. I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if he finished me off. If he licked my clit and…” I trail off.
Apple May’s lustful eyes snap open. “And what?!”
“Nothing. Your daughter stopped him before anything could happen.”
Her veiny fists pound the floor in a small tantrum. “That stupid, awful girl! I didn’t raise her to be so selfish!”
I slump against the wall, relieved that Apple May’s grotesque session of harassing me is over and that I won’t have to keep suffering through Electroconvulsive Therapy anymore.
Yes, what I had to say to this disturbed woman might haunt my nightmares like a cursed apparition for the rest of my life…
but at least I’ll stop fucking up my memory.
“Get up!” Apple May snatches my elbow and with shocking strength, tugs me to my feet. “Move! I do not have all night for this.”
“Where are we going?”
Symptoms that could only be compared to the influenza slam into my body like a train as I stumble out of the washroom and to the exit of my room.
I ache from head to toe. I’m out of breath.
My eyes throb with heat. My spine is being held together by a string of pins.
I look back at my hard bed longingly, desperately wishing I could crawl into it and sleep for the next twelve hours without interruption.
“Your husband’s room!” Apple May knocks twice and an orderly opens the door to let us out.
“Found yourself some fresh meat tonight, Apple Sweetie?” The orderly asks in a nasally, congested voice.
Apple May feigns a gasp. “Shame on you! I’m just a delicate, Godly woman!”
“Right, right.” They laugh together. “You want into Room Three?”
“Yes. Is he sedated?”
The orderly nods, stepping around us to unlock Niklaus’s door.
“Asleep?” Apple May presses.
“I don’t think so. We’ve had to keep increasing his doses over the last few days. The man builds a tolerance quickly, and it takes five of us to hold him down.”
God, Niklaus.
A swell of pride briefly replaces the ache in my bones. I should have known he’d keep fighting back. No matter how much they sedate him, Niklaus Demechnef is a fucking killer through and through. For once in my life, I’m thankful to have him on my side.
“But he should be fairly easy for me to play with?” She pokes the orderly’s side with a sheepish giggle.
“Yes, dear. He should be a good little toy for you to ride tonight.”
The door opens, and I’m drilled with the instinct to protect Niklaus. To cause this woman irreversible pain. Does she plan on assaulting him? Is she going to make me watch? A stroke of irate flames licks the inside of my chest as Apple May shoves me into his room.
The door clicks shut behind us.
Niklaus doesn’t say anything as he sits up from his bed. And my stomach turns sour as I note that he’s restrained to the bed. But as his alert gaze shifts from Apple May to me, he only seems concerned as to why her nails are digging into my arm.
“I can only imagine my daughter did not let you two finish what you started because she’s been so overworked dealing with that woman she used to work with in the thirteenth room.
Sky-something!” Apple May releases her vicious grip on my elbow and kicks me in the back toward Niklaus.
I land on my knees in front of his bed, hissing at the zap of pain that crackles up my femurs.
Niklaus tries to stand to catch me, tendons corded under his chin as the leather straps cut into his wrists.
A guttural sound rumbles in his throat. He snaps his head up to stare at Apple May, and it’s as if the room shrinks to nothing but the deep, endless violence in his stormy blue eyes.
“Now, your wife pushed me right to the edge of my orgasm with the vivid description of your fingers inside of her. It was exquisite, but I wasn’t able to reach my climax because you two were robbed! Argh! My stupid, imbecile of a daughter!”
I drop my eyes to the floor feeling the weight of Niklaus now staring down at me.
“I’m sorry, you had my wife do what now?!” Niklaus remains calm, but each syllable is clipped as if he might explode if he lets his words out too fast.
The word snags in my chest. Wife.
“I had her give me a detailed recount of you performing your marital duties to finger her. It was just what I needed,” Apple May explains.