The laughter of the two rapists scarred me that day I started to lose hope in humanity.
Yury guided me into a big bathroom with three shower heads. No curtains. No privacy. Not even tile. Only more concrete and block. At least the screams had become too far away and faded from my ears. Hearing her pleas felt like being tortured with Crash’s video all over again.
“Put your clothes and shoes in the garbage can.”
Exasperated from what I had witnessed, I barely got out, “What-what will I wear?”
“Nothing.” I should’ve cared more when his jaw locked, but naked Shelly’s screams kept racing through my panicked mind.
I tried to catch my breath and erase my memory. The fear of being so accessible for Kirill and Aidan’s job was horrifying. “Ever?”
Startling me further, Yury slammed the bathroom door shut then marched toward me, growling, “I warned you about others overhearing our conversations.”
His speed was almost as blinding as his strike.
After my head jerked to the right as far as it possibly could from the explosion delivered by his palm, my body twisted and slammed to the ground. Blinking through complete shock, I laid on the frigid floor. Yury moved closer to me. As his shiny shoe recoiled, preparing to further my punishment, I decided I would do what it took to survive. I made up my mind to think as clearly as possible and do my best to build a strategy and outsmart my attacker. I held up my hands in an attempt to block a kick. “H-Hours. I’ve been here for only hours. I’ve already witnessed—” I couldn’t word the horror Shelly was going through. My mouth and cheek stung, but it was better than the alternative. “Give me a chance to learn your rules.”
When I saw his shoe set back on the floor next to my face, I took a chance to rise. Wobbly, I fought to get back to my feet, bracing myself against the blocks to do so. I was leaving a streak of blood on the wall. Still somewhat stunned from the powerful blow, I wiped at my mouth.
As if lost in a memory, Yury touched the scar on his upper lip. He was so close to me I could feel his body heat. I can’t explain the silent connection made that day other than I understood he knew what it felt like to be on this side of the attack. Our now matching scars were a bond. A much-needed one.
Shared battle blood.
Smearing blood from my lip, I nodded. “Making you angry is the last thing I want to do.” He had a fist at his side that I wanted him to lose. “P-Please, believe me.” Desperate for courage and to not be struck again, or handed over to the other employees, I gently touched his fist.
It took a few moments, but his hand finally relaxed.
When his hand went to reach behind me, I backed up until my back pressed into a water nozzle, wincing through the pain of the jab. I recoiled, but he only turned on the shower next to me. Hovering, he snarled, “Afraid?”
Face to face, panting each other’s breaths, I was unable to deny the absolute truth due to the multiplying reasons to fear him. So, I nodded.
He took only two steps back. “As you should be.” His jaw locked again. “Now strip.”
His eyes were full of malice and warning… convincing me to do what demanded.
With much sorrow, I stood before him in my bra, panties, and Link’s necklace. He shook his head. “All.” Grabbing the water charm, I silently pleaded. His nostrils flared. “You need Link close to you to survive?”
Swallowing, I nodded. “Y-Yes.”
I was surprised when Yury closed his eyes. “Undergarments. Now.”
It is hard to explain the urgency to run somewhere, escape, yet have absolutely nowhere to go. To stand and face your demise is… paralyzing. Yury studied my body in its disorientated, frozen state. His demeanor was now very dismissive and, fortunately, calmer. “Fire, to answer your earlier question, the girl from our monitor room, the one being picked up in two days, will not be coming here. She does not have the desirable appearance needed to be an Elite. Her cheap owner will most likely sell her twenty-five to thirty times a night.” Yury spoke as if HeartOfGold’s new owner was beneath him. “Shelly, presently enjoying my friends, will also be sold for a cheap price, to only experience what she is now, over and over, every day and night.” He shrugged. “We are simply making a few extra dollars with the live feed of her introduction to the rest of her life. Some prefer to watch rather than partake.” His hand ran under the running water now steaming up the cold bathroom. “Yet, their fate will pale against what your purchaser has in store for you over the six months he will force you to live.” He held up his wet hand. “I offer you warm water.”
Resilience and the desire to live had me replying. “H-How will you be allowed to…” I exhaled to gain the ability to keep speaking. “To keep me if I’m already sold?”
“Refund his deposit at my expense or find another redhead with mystic green eyes.”
I am a required type? “And if he refuses?”
Yury’s lower jaw clicked to the left. “What choice does he have? Call the police to file a complaint?” The bathroom continued to fill with steam while we stared at each other. It was as if we were trying to learn about each other with no communication. Not an easy task. He grumbled, “Ask what you are thinking. I can smell you doubting me.”
Tempted to raise my hands to block another slap, I forced my mouth to open. “Y-Your boss will allow this?”
“I’m second in command.”
This was crucial information and made me work harder to stay in his care. The alternatives were too gruesome. So, my abductor and I, in our twisted way, were starting a relationship of give and take. His takes were eventually going to become more than what I believed my body could withstand, but at least I wasn’t HeartOfGold or Shelly, for now.
Even though he wasn’t touching me, I felt the rape had already begun as I removed the last shred of privacy I would be given for the next ten months.
Bonds and Bondage
Warm water wasn’t the only commodity I had to earn…
Prisoners have to learn to play the deadly game of survival and buy the only safety that exists. Protection. The towel I was given after the shower was the size of a washcloth. With a disturbing hunger, Yury watched me dab myself dry. He wiped his mouth before asking, “Those years of dancing worked in your favor.”
Wishing I had a tarp to wrap up in, I kept drying my skin.
“I’ve seen you dance before.”
My hand slowed as my brain processed this information.
“It is quite amazing to have watched you be born then witness the talent you’ve become.”
Staring at him, dying to ask questions, Yury rolled his eyes. “Speak, Fire.”
“So, I was born in Russia?”
He pointed up. “In this very house.”
It was eerie to experience a full circle moment. I had returned to where I had begun.
Yury’s blue eyes squinted. “What is like to know nothing about yourself?”
My shoulders caved. “Lonely.”
“Explain this feeling.”
Every muscle of mine tensed when learning my captor was clueless of this emotion also. “Uh… Lonely is to feel like something is missing. It leaves an empty sensation. A hollow spot in my—”