by Rusk, Day
He looked at her to see if what he was saying was sinking in. She nodded her head weakly.
“If you fail to please any of us, there will be demerit points and these will be taken out on your son.”
Her heart skipped a beat in her chest.
“One demerit point might result in a broken arm or leg,” he continued, “two, maybe worst. Of course, as you’re participating we won’t kill him, but he will pay a price for your disobedience. It’s best you forget that you’re a human being as tonight you’re not. You’re a plaything, to be used and abused as pleased. Accept that and the night will be a success, it will eventually come to an end, and your son will have a future. Are we clear on this?”
“I understand,” she said weakly.
“Excellent,” he said. “Now before I take you in there and start passing you around, I’ll be the first to abuse you.”
“What?” she said.
Lewis unzipped his pants and pulled out his penis. “Pleasure me,” he said.
Darlene looked at his penis and then at him. He didn’t look pleased.
“You see,” he said, “this kind of hesitation in there could get your son hurt; we will not stand for it. It’s best you do what is asked of you and in a timely manner. So, what’s it going to be, Darlene?”
Without hesitation, as the severity of her predicament had finally registered in her mind, Darlene took Lewis in her mouth.
She and Lewis entered the house via a side door and were immediately led down into a tastefully decorated basement where approximately twenty men of varying ages were enjoying drinks and socializing. They all greeted Lewis with big smiles, also taking the opportunity to look her over; most of them seeming to be pleased with what they saw. She was trying to take everything in, but was frightened; she could still taste Lewis in her mouth and she was desperately fighting the urge not to throw up; she was sure that would work against Eric. She couldn’t have that.
Along with the men in the room, all of them looking respectable, but not really, were about eleven women, all of them dressed provocatively and all of them looking as frightened and concerned as she felt. They were the last to arrive, as she heard one of the men say that now that they were there the fun could begin.
Darlene lost herself within herself. It wasn’t long after the one man said it was time for the fun to begin that she found herself stripped down to her lingerie and it wasn’t long after that before she was naked, as were most of the women.
I love you, Eric, she repeated again and again in her mind, as she tried to escape further and further from her corporeal body. Time went on forever; the pain constant, as men she didn’t know and didn’t want to look in the eye violated her in every possibly way imaginable; sometimes by themselves and sometimes in groups. What she was made to do and participate in her mind had decided not to register; it was best to just let it happen, to do as she was instructed and not think about it. These men, who were laughing it up and having a great time, were ruthless and heartless. One woman she heard had been begging them to stop, but that had only seemed to drive a certain number of them on to take it even further and torment this woman even more. Some of them, unlike her, were unable to escape into their minds. She knew it had got to the point where she was in fear of escaping too far and maybe losing her sanity forever, but based on what was happening to her, the pain of it all and the degradation, that was a chance she was willing to take.
Now she just wanted to die. Darlene closed her eyes and wished she were elsewhere as the man who had climbed on top of her, as she lay on her stomach on the mattress, spasmed and came. How much could her body take? She was covered in the filth of the men, their sweat, their stink and their semen. She was sore all over and even sure she was bleeding; they had not been gentle.
She just laid there, her mind numb, bent almost to the point of breaking based on the horror she’d been through over the last couple of hours. When will it end?
It was then she heard the scream; a loud painful scream from one of her fellow abused. It broke her out of her reverie.
“You did well, Darlene,” said Lewis as he approached her. She had rolled over on her back with the intention of getting up. She suddenly really wanted out of there. Were they killing one of the women? Was she next?
“I want to go home,” she said.
“It’s almost over,” he said. “The rules are the rules, Darlene. You honored your commitment and we’ll honor ours. You and your son are free to live a life without fear from us. You can grow old together. We will never call upon you again. As far as we’re concerned you’re damaged goods, anyways. And there is one way we can ensure you never fall prey to any of us again. Your final task of the night.”
As he said that, another cry of pain rang out; another one of the women crying out in agony.
“I just want to go home,” she said, terrified.
“But first come with me,” he said, reaching out to help her get off the mattress.
“I don’t want to.”
“You’ve done well this far, don’t ruin it,” he said, looking her firmly in the eye. She could see he was serious. She had endured a lot to mess it up now. She had to go the distance, for Eric’s sake. She reached out and took his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet. Her body ached as he led her out of the room she was in.
When they entered the main area of the basement, her heart nearly failed her, as fright consumed her body.
“You have the privilege of bearing our mark, Darlene,” said Lewis, holding her arm tightly to keep her from fleeing.
Darlene took in the scene before her. Someone had started a fire in the fire place. A long iron handle was sticking out from the fire. Two of the men were leading one of the frightened women to a contoured stool on the ground, the type that allowed a woman to lie over it so that her buttocks was in the air and a man could have access to her from behind. The two men forced the frightened naked woman over the stool and held her in place. No one was planning to enter her from behind; instead another man grabbed the long iron stick from the fire and pulled it out. It was red hot; it was a brand!
Darlene watched in horror as the man took the brand with a fair-sized ‘M’ on the end of it, moved behind the woman, who was trying to look back, and appeared to be terrified, and pressed it hard into the flesh of her one buttock. She screamed out in pain as it burned into her flesh, sizzling and smoking, the smell of her burnt flesh joining that of the other woman who had all ready gone before her.
“You’re next, and it’s all over,” said Lewis. “You get to go home.”
Darlene watched as the two men who had held the woman down, lifted her up and moved her away from the stool. They had shit-eating grins on their face; they were obviously enjoying the final torture they were subjecting these women to. Darlene didn’t want to be branded; she started backing up, despite the fact Lewis had her by the arm. It was too late. She hadn’t noticed two of the other men had closed in on her, one on the side opposite Lewis and one behind her. She was surrounded.
“Oh God, no,” she uttered to know one in particular. There’d be no mercy here, she knew that.
“You’re next,” said Lewis with a smile as he and the other two men started dragging her towards the stool.
About the Author
An entertainment journalist for over twenty years, Day Rusk learned the art of storytelling having written approximately 30 screenplays within the indie film marketplace, having optioned one, Deadly Focus to a Hollywood-based production company and having directed another, Annual Getaway as an independently shot feature film. Returning to his first love, books, The Merry Pranked, along with Tripping on Tears is his first serious foray into novel writing. Day Rusk resides in Ontario, Canada with his artist wife, Rhea and has recently completed his third novel, The Marquis Mark, a modern-day tale incorporating the writings and philosophy of the infamous Marquis de Sade. He is currently working on his fourth novel, Barkerton.
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