Flying Free

by Abigail Davies

Huffing, he steps forward and grips my arm, digging his fingers into the soft flesh and yanking me towards him. “You’ll get in there right fucking now, girlie!” he spits in my face and I hold my breath from the stench that he emits.

  I stumble as he pulls me again and I’m frozen to the spot as the darkness consumes me.

  One, two, three... Four, five, six...

  My head starts to spin and my breaths come harder and faster the longer I stand here clutching the bag to my chest.

  “You got it?” he sneers again, pulling the bag out of my hands, causing me to lose my balance slightly.

  “It’s all there,” I whisper, the sound of the zipper echoing through the alley.

  “Yeah?” He looks up at me and laughs. “I don’t trust you, you’re a sly little bitch.”

  “What...” My heart starts to hammer in my chest as I see something move at the end of the alley. My fight or flight instincts kick in and I turn, about to run off when he grabs my arm again and yanks me against his body, effectively using me as a shield.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he whispers in my ear.

  “I... I...”

  He pushes me forward and I manage to catch myself before I hit the floor. I shake my head, not wanting to go any further and reach into my pocket for my cell.

  “I’ll be having that.” His hand comes out of nowhere and snatches it, throwing it to the floor and stamping on it with the bottom of his boot.

  I start to panic as I watch it break into so many pieces.

  “What are you doing?” I shout, trying to scramble after it to save the pieces and put it back together but it’s no use, I’ll never be able to salvage it.

  He pushes me down when I try to pick it up and I curl up into a ball, preparing for whatever he’s about to do next.

  “Don’t!” a voice from the back of the alley thunders.

  No... no, no, no.

  “You don’t touch her.”

  Goosebumps rise on my skin at the sound of his voice and I squeeze my eyes shut tighter. Maybe if I pretend he’s not here then he’ll disappear?

  It’s not real. It’s not real.

  “I was just trying to get her to you,” my dad says, all the bravado in his voice gone.

  “Yeah?” I hear him step closer and I gasp. “I told you not to touch her.”

  “I... I’m sorry,” he stutters and I open my eyes just in time to see him back away out of the alley, leaving me with him.

  He steps towards me, his boots coming into my line of sight and my eyes trail up his legs, over his wide torso and arms and up to his almost black eyes.

  “Miss me?” He chuckles, grabbing onto my arm and pulling me up.

  I yelp at his touch and step away, my back hitting the wall and stopping any possible escape.

  I stare into his eyes as the memories come back.

  One, two, three... Four, five, six... Seven, eight, nine...

  I shiver and close my eyes, trying to stop the influx of images that shoot through my mind like a movie reel.

  I couldn’t remember how long I’d been here now; locked in this small room with Lindsey and Kay. I was only here because my dad gave me to these people to cover his debts. Honestly though, I think I’m better off here at the moment than at home.

  All I ever did at home was look after my dad, clean up his puke, made sure he had something to eat and go and buy his drugs.

  Here though, I didn’t have it as bad as Lindsey and Kay.

  Kay had been beaten really bad and Lindsey had been taken from our little cell, we didn’t know what was happening to her.

  Wherever she was, I knew it wasn’t good. I’d been taken this morning and paraded in front of a line of men as they stared, assessing every part of me. Black eyes had kept his hands on me the whole time.

  I hadn’t been back in the cell with Kay for long before Max, her ex, came in and took her away; leaving me on my own.

  I sat and stared at the door, willing one of them to come back and when black eyes opened the door and threw Lindsey back in, I breathed the biggest sigh of relief.

  “Ava!” Lindsey shouted and threw her arms around me. I clung onto her, glad that I wasn’t alone now.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, pulling back and scanning her body; checking her over.

  “Yeah, I’m okay. Where’s Kay?”

  “They came and took her,” I said, averting my eyes.

  We sat and waited for a while, huddled up in the corner against the concrete wall. The room was freezing cold and as they had stripped us of our clothes, leaving us in just our underwear, we felt the chill even more.

  We both turned to the door when it was flung open and Kay was thrown inside, landing on her hands and knees. The bang of the door as it closed vibrated through the walls and I gritted my teeth from the sensations it sent up my spine.

  My breath caught in my throat as she showed us the key card that she’d stole off one of the men.

  It was our ticket out of here.

  Kay showed us some self-defense moves to help us get out of here and by the time the door opened, at the same time it did each day to provide us with that crappy cup of water, we were ready.

  We managed to get out of the cell with the help of Kay grabbing the guy’s gun and then we were running down the hallway, following Kay who said she knew the way out.

  After going through several doors in the hallway, Kay finally stopped and opened up the door to our salvation.

  Lindsey went through first as Kay held it open.

  Just as I was about to go through, I was grabbed from behind, an arm wrapping around my waist and pulling my back against their chest. “You’re not going anywhere,” he sneers in my ear and I instantly know it’s him, black eyes.

  My eyes are panicked as they meet Kay’s.

  “Go,” I whispered. They needed to go and get help, if she didn’t go then none of us would get out of this place.

  “Ava-”

  “Hmmm, I wonder what she’ll do,” he said, leaning down and trailing his tongue up the side of my neck.

  I shivered and gagged at the sensation.

  I watched as Kay’s hand twitched with the gun and she hesitated. She’d never be able to get a clean shot because he’d held me in just the right position so that I covered him.

  “Go get help,” I pleaded.

  The faster she got out of here, the faster I could leave.

  The doors in the hallway banged open as men started to run down the hallway towards us and that was the turning point as Kay met my eyes, a silent apology in them and turned, leaving me.

  Half of my mind was screaming for her to come back and not leave me with him but the other half was telling me that she’d get help.

  Black eyes dragged me down the hallway in the opposite direction to where we had come from and opened up a dark green door, pushing me inside. My hand clashed with the wall and he locked the door behind us, the sound echoing throughout the room.

  His meaty hand flicked something on the wall and the room illuminated with muted light.

  I looked around the space, my eyes zoning in on the ceiling. A beam ran along the length of it with a thick metal chain wrapped over it and dangling down.

  I squeaked as he wrapped his hand around both of my wrists, pulling me closer. I pulled back, trying to fight him but I really wasn’t any match for his size.

  He may as well have been pulling on a rag doll.

  “Please don’t do this,” I begged, but all it seemed to do was make him happier.

  “That’s it, beg me,” he groaned, pulling a cord around my wrists and knotting it together, creating a loop and tying it to the chain that dangled from the beam.

  “P-p-please,” I sobbed, tears streaming down my face, not knowing what was about to come.

  I watched as he moved to the other side of the wall and pulled on the chain, making my arms go higher so that only the tips of my toes touched the floor.

  Stalking towards me, he ran his meaty finger
along my shoulder and down to the front of my breast, ripping the fabric of my bra off me and exposing all of me. I started to shake uncontrollably at the thoughts running through my head.

  What was he going to do to me?

  Leaning down, he took my nipple in his mouth and bit down so hard that I screamed until my voice cracked. I looked down when he pulled away and saw the blood trickling down onto my stomach, the sight almost making me pass out.

  The only thing keeping me upright was the fear of what he would do if I wasn’t conscious.

  When he stepped away and out of my sight, my breathing became even heavier and the more my chest lifted, the more it burned from where he’d broken my skin. My shoulders started to ache from being stretched, I gritted my teeth not knowing what hurt more.

  The tear of my panties as he ripped them off my body was so loud that it even made its way past my erratic heart beat that was thumping in my ears.

  His hand stroked my ass and dipped around to my private area, his finger thrusting straight into me.

  “Stop!” I shouted at the intrusion. It burned so bad and he didn’t let up, he thrust it out and back in again.

  “Say it again,” he moaned, pushing his erection against my ass. I gagged and tried not to throw up but having not eaten for days, all I did was dry heave; the burning in my throat making me wince.

  When I stayed silent, he pulled back and walked away.

  I pressed my legs together, trying to find some relief from the burning, hoping that it was over now.

  “I’ve wanted to do this since I first saw you.” I felt him come closer. “You’d be perfect for me to train, to show you how to take it... you’d end up liking it,” he said, stroking his hand down my back softly.

  I shook my head.

  There was no way that I’d like this. He was sick in the head. I didn’t want any of this.

  My father’s face flashed in the front of my mind and I swore then that I’d have my revenge for what he did. He was the reason that I was here in the first place.

  “One.”

  My back bowed and I squealed from the first hit that smacked across my ass and round to my hip. My mind couldn’t compute on what he was using.

  “Two.”

  He did it again, only this time it came around to my stomach and I caught a glimpse of it.

  A whip.

  But it wasn’t just any kind of whip, it had metal divots attached to it and every time he would hit me, they’d dig into my skin.

  “Three.”

  He whipped me over and over again, each time in three successions, calling out the numbers as he went.

  I listened intently to his counting, needing to try and focus on anything but the lashings that he was giving me.

  My back was burning and I could feel the blood pouring from the cuts. The more he whipped, catching the already open cuts, the more I screamed.

  My throat was raw from screaming so loud but he didn’t let up, he kept going and I gave in on begging him to stop. He wasn’t going to stop, he was in a world of his own and I was starting to detach myself. Sending my mind to a safe place. Somewhere that this wasn’t happening.

  I hung my head, watching the cuts on my stomach ooze with blood, mesmerized in the way it dripped onto the floor.

  “Twenty-eight.” Whip. “Twenty-nine.” Whip “Thirty!” Whip.

  Each hit became harder until he stopped at thirty, the sound of his zipper opening had me on high alert. My mind came back fleetingly and I struggled against the restraints. The muscles in my back moving and ripping the cuts apart the more I struggled.

  He moaned, the sound so raw and guttural that I stopped, keeping still and trying to work out what he was doing. I tried to struggle again when he went silent but I’d lost all of my energy.

  I was dangling, barely holding on, when I felt something warm hit my back, the liquid seeping into the cuts and making then sting so much more.

  “You’re mine now, little butterfly,” he whispered in my ear and planted a soft kiss on my neck. I shivered, hating the feel of it but also glad that it was something gentler, softer.

  Bang, bang.

  “What the-” I turned my head at the sound of something banging on the door. I dared to hope that someone was about to get me out of here but my hope was short lived as I met black eyes and shivered at the look he gave me.

  The door started to split but still my eyes didn’t move from him.

  “Doesn’t matter where you go, little butterfly, you’ll always be mine.”

  I gasped as the door came down fully and two men walked in, dressed in combat gear.

  One went straight to black eyes, who was still watching me, and hit him over the head.

  He went down like a ton of bricks.

  I breathed a sigh of relief. Kay had got help.

  I lifted my eyes to the other man who came towards me, his brown eyes captured me. He looked down at me briefly, at all the cuts, before calling for someone.

  I hung there, waiting, watching, barely holding on.

  Another guy walked in, his eyes going wide at what he saw.

  “Holy fuck,” he gasped, his eyes not moving from where he had whipped me.

  “Get him the fuck out of here, Daley,” brown eyes said, pulling on the chain and letting my feet touch the floor fully.

  My knees gave way but he ran over to catch me. “Ow!” I squealed as his hands landed on my open wounds.

  “Fuck, I’m sorry.” He shook his head, wrapping a blanket around me and untying my hands.

  His smell invaded my senses and the first thing that came to mind was, ‘I’m free’.

  His hand came under my legs and he picked me up, careful not to touch the cuts. I buried my head in the crook of his neck, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to stay awake much longer with all of this pain.

  You can let go now, Ava, you’re safe.

  I was wrong... so very, very wrong. I hadn’t been free, not since that day. If anything, I’m still locked in that tiny room, not being able to get out. At least, that’s what it felt like inside my head.

  “Did you miss me, little butterfly?” he asks, his eyes lighting with a fire behind them. I shiver at the name that he calls me, trying to back away but I have nowhere to go because of the wall that’s behind me.

  “W-w-what...”

  “Didn’t think you’d see me again, huh?” I shake my head, pushing back against the wall, wishing I could disappear into it.

  He’s meant to be in jail, not here with me. My hands start to shake uncontrollably and I place them against the cold bricks, hoping that I can get them under control.

  One, two, three... Four, five, six...

  “I... I don’t understand,” I whisper, watching as he steps forward, caging me in. His meaty hand rests against the wall beside my head and I suck in a breath at the smell of his cologne, he’s wearing so much that it’s making my head spin.

  “I’ve been watching you, little butterfly.” I swallow the lump in my throat, knowing that this is it. “And keeping tabs on you. You didn’t think I’d forget about you, did you?”

  No one knows where I am, I now have no cell and no possible way out. I can fight against him but I know it won’t be any use. He stands at least six foot four, he’s as wide as he is tall and is built of pure muscle.

  I flinch when he brings his hand to my face, curling his fingers around my neck. “I missed your skin,” he growls, stroking my cheek.

  My chest rises and falls faster, panicking.

  His other hand trails down to my waist, grasping on to it where he knows the scars are.

  The feel of his hand wakes me out of the fog I’ve been drifting into ever since I saw his face again and I try to push him away but he doesn’t budge.

  His sinister laugh vibrates through me and I grit my teeth against it. “Well?” he asks, pulling away, but keeping his hands on me. “Did you miss me?”

  I frown at him, searching his face. “Are you serious?” I ask, not believin
g what’s coming out of his mouth.

  He’s mental, full on, not right in the head. He took me as payment to cover my dad’s debt, he kept me locked in a room in just my underwear for days without anything to eat.

  He whipped me, he took a part of me that I thought I’d never get back. He left physical scars on my body that will never go away. He left mental scars which made me feel like I was going crazy.

  I’ve spent the last two years recovering from what he did to me, what he took from me, and now that I’m just starting to get back too normal, feeling like myself again, he turns up and brings all those feelings and memories back.

  “No,” I whisper, clearing my throat, trying to say it louder. “No, I haven’t missed you.”

  I regret saying it as soon as it’s out of my mouth.

  His face turns red as he stares at me, his nostrils flaring and his hands grasping at me with a bruising grip.

  I clench my jaw against the pain, not willing to show him how much it hurts because I know he’ll like that.

  “You been with someone else, little butterfly? Huh?”

  “What?” I splutter.

  His hand moves from the side of my face and around to the front of my neck, pushing me against the wall as he squeezes. “I told you,” he growls, moving his other hand from my waist and down into the front of my jeans, cupping me roughly.

  I gasp from the intrusion and try to squirm away but he holds me tight. I look around, hoping that someone will walk by and help me but it’s so dark and we’re almost halfway down.

  No one will see us in here.

  “You’re mine,” he sneers, moving his hand further around and thrusting a finger inside me as he buries his face in my neck.

  “No!” I shout, shaking my head and trying to push away from him. A cold sensation hits me at the bottom of my back and I remember Corey’s gun, the one I put there before I left the apartment. “I’m not yours.”

  He growls into my neck, biting down on the skin causing me to squeal. “You are.”

  He pulls back, his eyes at half-mast and thrusts his hips against me as he pulls his hands out and unzips my jeans. I try in vain to push him away. I’m not the same girl I was back then. I’m stronger. I won’t let him do this to me without a fight this time.