“I miss you. If you can hear me, give me a sign. Reply. Anything. I just want you back.”
When he failed to receive a response, he decided he must return home, as it had grown much too late. But upon returning home he didn’t retire to the bedroom for sleep, he went down into the basement with a remaining few ounces of Pepsi in the bottle and the pack of Kools stuffed into his jacket.
“Wake up,” he told Julia with a booted prod to the ribs. “Wake up. I have something for you.”
She needed help raising onto her knees, due to shackles and bar. He held the bottle to her lips and allowed her to drain it.
“Now,” he said, tossing the plastic bottle aside and sitting down, “I want answers. I want to know where to find Sharon.”
Julia didn’t answer. In fact, she looked frustrated or torn, like she didn’t know how to respond.
“Take your time,” he said, removing the package of cigarettes. “We have all night.”
He didn’t smoke now, but for a brief period in the past he had given it a rebellious try. Nicotine had an added effect on him. He found the menthol worked to excite him sexually. Or perhaps it had been the rebellious act in general. He methodically unwrapped the cellophane as she watched, still having not replied. Then he thumped the pack like many men did, presumably to pack the tobacco more tightly. He tore open the foil and shook out a cigarette which he gripped between lips and pulled free. He struck a match and put fire to tip before inhaling deeply. The smoke nearly elicited a cough but didn’t. He exhaled a plume of smoke into her face before saying:
“You’re going to tell me where to find Sharon. And then, by your own choice, since you’re here and she isn’t, I’m going to fuck you. I’d much prefer to make love with Sharon, but a man has needs and if I can’t have what I want, I’ll take what I need. Now, I repeat…” He took the lit cigarette and, though she tried to shirk away screaming, touched its tip to the swell of a breast. “Tell me where to find Sharon.”
Chapter 15
Metal bit arms as muscles strained uselessly to break free, to maintain balance, to break her fall. Julia collapsed onto cold concrete, cigarette burn exciting nerve endings at a breast. A booted foot jarred ribs and her scalp burned as the man righted her by the hair.
“Tell me where to find Sharon,” he demanded.
I don’t know where the fuck she— “Ahh…!” Julia twisted in agony as the lit cigarette found flesh at a shoulder.
The man puffed the cigarette, presumably to maintain a red-hot tip, and yelled, “I’ve got all night. And so do you.”
“I don’t know. I swear!”
The cigarette again:
On her back.
Julia screamed.
On a shoulder.
A forearm.
A buttock.
An open-handed smack across the mouth caught her attention.
“I’m not playing games. Now tell me.”
“I. Don’t. Know,” Julia whimpered.
I fistful of hair kept her still. The glowing tip of the cigarette came dangerously close to her face. Tears streamed down Julia’s cheeks as she watched it move closer. Close enough she could feel heat.
“Tell me, you stupid bitch. Why protect Sharon like this? I don’t understand.”
Julia didn’t understand either. Only thing understandable about the situation: This lunatic will kill me if I don’t tell him what he wants to hear.
But what could she say that would sound believable?
Think, damn it. Think! Your life depends on it.
Smoldering tobacco met flesh on Julia’s face, just below her right eye. I’ll be scarred for life, her mind screamed. Fuck you! FUCK YOU!
Tears audibly hissed as they doused the cigarette’s fire the man mashed out on her face.
Thank god, she thought, but then saw him reach for the pack.
“Tell me now,” he suggested, “before your looks are ruined forever.”
“You’re mad.” Julia sobbed. “Crazy as hell. Mean as shit. It’s no wonder Sharon left you.”
Confusingly, he replied, “Ah, but Sharon never left until I wanted her to.”
What? The crazy bastard thought Julia had freed this Sharon person and that Sharon had left while Julia remained behind.
He slapped her face. Slapped her again! Slapped breasts, one then the other and back again, pulled her head back by the hair and spat in her face.
Snarling, he said, “I don’t like liars and I don’t like to waste time.”
I’m not lying, Julia wanted to say. But ultimately that was a lie he’d see right through. Besides, with her chin quivering so, she could hardly speak. A coppery taste of blood filled her mouth and she realized she’d not only split a lip but had bitten her tongue. She needed a foolproof lie he’d buy, to stop wailing on her.
He lit another cigarette and started singeing her body, taking drags off its butt to keep the thing stoked. Julia, crying and screaming, tried unsuccessfully to twist away as he burned her back multiple times, her other breast, its (oh Lord!) nipple, her neck and face.
Finally, with the cigarette nearly burned down to its butt, he snuffed it out on her breastbone, leaving a scar, Julia knew, that would be apparent any time she wore a low-cut blouse, as if nobody would notice the disfigurement of her face. She wept uncontrollably on the cold, hard floor.
Damn you, Chad, her mind screamed. It’s all your fault. You and that Texas bitch. You too, Sharon, whoever you are. You really did a number on this fucker. What did you see in him in the first place? What happened between you two? Where the hell did you go? What the hell can I tell this man that he’ll…
Then, trembling in the floor as the man contemplated his next move, it came to Julia. So simple this brain-fucked psycho might actually buy it.
Julia stuttered as she said, “Sharon w-went home.”
“Home?”
Oh, God, let him buy it. Please. Please!
“Sharon has no home.”
What?
“Yes. Yes, she does. She lives…”
“Yes…?”
Where? Where, damn it, where? Julia hesitated, as she didn’t know how to respond.
He answered for her: “Her home now is behind the old church.”
This is a test, Julia told herself. She said, “No. Not anymore. They took her in.”
“What are you talking about?” The cigarette tip flared bright orange as the man absentmindedly lit another cigarette.
“Someone from church. A family. They took her in!”
“No,” he shook his head, not buying the story, “nobody attends that church. Not any—”
“Not that church,” the lie sprang off the tongue. “I don’t know which church. I only know what Sharon told me. A family from church took her in.”
“Goddamn it,” the man cursed. “That could be nearly anyone.”
“No…” Julia thought quickly. “Sharon, she wouldn’t attend just any church.”
“But which—?”
“I don’t know. You know Sharon better than I do. I don’t attend church.” Though if she escaped this madness, Julia told herself she might begin.
“Goddamn it,” he repeated.
He began to pace the room. He pitched the smoke to the floor and mashed it out with a boot.
Then, when he stopped and stared at Julia, her blood turned to ice. His cold, hard stare drilled into her, searching for the truth.
“I don’t know…” he said.
“I swear. Please don’t—”
“Oh, but I will,” he threatened. He snatched up the pack and shook loose another cigarette. The room had already filled with smoke and another would simply add to the cloud. It carried with it the scent of charred flesh which tickled the senses most sickeningly. Thinking about it seemed to reignite the dotted skin of Julia’s burned body with nerve endings acting as electrical signals in the most bizarre form of connect-the-dots she could imagine. She’d cried so much she’d nearly ran out of tears.
An open
-handed slap to the face sent Julia wheeling to the floor. With arms bound behind her she landed forcefully like a butcher dropping a slab of meat.
“Are you lying to me?” he demanded.
“No!”
Julia’s inner thigh ignited in burning pain.
“I believe you are.”
Stick to the lie! “No! I promise!”
“You enjoy pain. Get off on it,” he suggested. “You’d lie just to go wet.”
Are you kidding me?
“You fucking asshole,” Julia shouted. “Sharon is out there somewhere waiting for you.”
He paused, grinned. His eyes came alive in delight. “Yes, I know. So you’ve said.”
Oh, no. This can’t be good. What’s he thinking?
“Now it’s my turn to have a little after-midnight fun, same as Sharon and David did. She wanted to run off with him while I’m home sleeping… She wants to run away and leave you here with me instead… Okay, fine. That’s how we’ll play it.”
“No… No…!”
Cigarette tip met buttocks… Singed thighs… And – Oh, Lord! – slipped between legs to scorch Julia’s most sensitive area.
“Hold still,” the man said with a slap to the face, “I’ll let you loose.”
Julia couldn’t believe her ears, yet she froze, hopeful, arms and legs in confined agony.
First, though, he reattached the chain to an ankle. Then he freed all other binds. It came as an incredible relief despite having lost sensation in her extremities. Fingers curled to regain circulation. Legs had turned to rubber and arms seemed barely attached at the joint. And so, Julia had little means to struggle when he raped her on the bed. What little resistance she attempted, he met with slaps and punches, fingers filling her mouth. She sobbed uncontrollably as he had his brutal way with her, which seemed to last a lifetime. She’d never felt like such a piece of meat before. And when he finally left, he left her feeling sickeningly used and abused. She’d rather die than live through that again.
I hate you, Chad was the last though to fill her mind before she went unconscious for the night.
Chapter 16
He hated it. He hated that he’d enjoyed it. Fucking her. Using, abusing her and getting off on it. But he had to admit it held a certain appeal.
Fucking someone you don’t love can be entertaining, but fucking someone you dislike can be so much better, he thought. And it was true, he didn’t care for Julia. Not at all. Not under the circumstances. However, had circumstances been different, with Sharon completely out of the picture, Julia Sommers was the type of woman he’d lust for.
It had been a long day. After staying up late to enjoy Julia, he’d went to work with little sleep. Quality over quantity, he surmised. A few really restful hours of sleep and a gallon of coffee spread throughout the day had gotten him through his shift. Uncharacteristically, he’d come home from work, showered, and sprawled across the bed and slept soundly for far too long. He’d expected a short twenty- or forty-five-minute nap, perhaps an hour. He’d slept nearly three, and after dinner and a few chores such as feeding the dogs, he’d set out in the truck again.
This is starting to become a habit, he realized. Not that it matters. I’ve done this before, after spotting Sharon.
It had been maybe a year since last he’d noticed Sharon along the lonely stretch of highway and brought her back to the house. Before that perhaps two years, although a few times he’d noticed her wandering the road only to quickly lose sight of her again. The last time had been near the old St. Michael’s church out on the highway. It had long since been abandoned, a structure left over from another era. Julia had mentioned Sharon receiving a place to stay from someone at church, and while the thought of anyone from this church providing assistance remained out of the question, this is where the Power Wagon led him. He pulled off the highway and followed a rural road to park on soft ground behind the building.
The place remained devoid of all life. Dead and rotting. A storm had long since taken the cross from its steeple; stained glass had been boarded over. It had been this way for as long as he could remember. A few guys back in high school had bragged about taking girls inside and drunkenly having their way with them and perhaps that had happened. Perhaps not. It didn’t really matter to him. He’d never taken Sharon inside, though there had been that one time, behind the church…
He shook the thought from his mind. He stepped out of the truck and into the chilly night air. The night sky offered a bright, three-quarter moon and many shining stars. In a moment eyes adjusted to see well enough to walk to the highway. This time of night he didn’t expect but a few cars now and then. But what he hoped for was: “Sharon. Sharon, can you hear me?” He didn’t shout her name; he instead spoke in a strong, commanding voice.
“Sharon,” he continued, “you stupid bitch. Can’t you see I love you? I love you so much, and this is the way you treat me. You have a friend help you to escape. You leave her behind, with me! You’re not with David anymore, is that it? You’re staying with someone from church?
“I fucked her. Yes, I did. Your friend Julia told me where I might find you. I burned her and she told me. And, truth be told, I don’t think she cares much for you. Why should she, you obviously duped her, same as you duped me. Biggest joke though is on you. That’s right, Sharon – joke’s on you! You never loved David. You just wanted a friend to keep you away from your dad’s house while he sowed wild oats with sluts of every age, any who’d spread their legs. Single mothers who needed a place to stay and were willing to fuck for the opportunity. Teenage girls hungry for cock and a man who knew how to use his. Even older women. Yes, that’s right. Just like your mother. Easy pussy. But you loved him. Your mother left him, so you resented her. You couldn’t stand to be around him after, when his true colors showed, so you needed an out, something David provided.
“As for David, god damn, what a piece of work. Piece of shit, if you ask me, but of course you never cared for my opinion of him. He always wanted what he couldn’t have and played the sneak to get it. Pretending to simply be friends, only sniffing around when a girl was lonely, playing the cuddly little dog when a girl needed her face licked to cheer up.
“But you didn’t love him. Hell, you probably didn’t even want to fuck him. Not that first time. Not really. He drove to Michigan to help you, to give you a ride back home. You felt lonely, abandoned, rejected. And here was this guy filled with mad puppy-love for you. You became what you despised. Instead of holding true to the ideal you wished for your parents, you became the homeless leg-spreader who shacked up with a man. You became one of the – no, I won’t say it – who shacked up with your dad.
“But, hey, I’m not a total asshole. I’ll admit David offered qualities your father never offered a woman. Which only means, in my opinion, the time you spent with David looks damn pathetic when compared to the short-lived relationships your father had which rarely lasted a month or two. It’s a goddamn joke but nobody is laughing.”
He stopped walking the shoulder of the highway and gazed as far as the eye could see but only saw lonely highway leading into the night. It might as well have been a dead-end road. A heavy sigh escaped him as he realized the futility of his passion and a devastating sense of emptiness assailed him.
“It’s over,” he said in a less commanding voice. “It’s over now. I have a woman in my basement, someone to help me stop thinking of you. I’m not sure what’s to become of her. I’ll need to decide how to deal with that mess. Until then I suppose there’s nothing much to be done except enjoy her, like your father enjoyed his women. But know, that’s not what I wanted. Not what I wanted at all.”
“I know,” came the familiar voice behind him.
His heart jumped as he spun around to find her, luminescent and as beautiful as ever!
“Sharon…”
“Enjoy her. You deserve her, not me. You’re right about many things… And wrong about so much more.”
Tears filled his eyes. She
looked amazing but troubled and he longed to wrap her tightly in his arms and never let her go. Then he noticed, still completely attractive to him, the shredded clothing (had it been shredded a moment ago?), inky blood spotting the fabric, covering her skin. Her lovely eyes went dead, black as midnight, empty orbs leading to a hollowed-out soul.
“I fuck David now,” a gravelly voice informed. “Your lovely Sharon, the one who stole away your heart, is just an opportunistic whore.”
“No. It can’t—”
“It is true. I please him daily, for the life you couldn’t provide. Not then, not now, not ever.” Her words dripped with finality. She turned on her heels and seemed to float away down the highway, back toward the church.”
“No. Wait. Stop.”
His words held no weight. Her glowing form swept away from him at a breakneck pace and he was forced to first jog and then run just to try to keep up. She’d become a glowing blob in the distance when he noticed two more glowing orbs bookending hers. It took a moment to register but then, in the span of a heartbeat, the illusion became clear: an approaching vehicle.
Finding himself dashing along the highway toward oncoming traffic, he veered onto the shoulder, arms pumping.
“Sharon,” he called. “Wait!”
But the glow of the headlights grew closer and, just like that, the blur of Sharon disappeared and the man slowed to a stop on the shoulder as a pickup truck buffeted him with wind.
Sharon’s smiling face mocked him from the passenger seat as the vehicle passed.
And then the truck was gone.
He raced with renewed vigor back to the Power Wagon, brought the engine to life, and within a matter of minutes found himself powering down the highway in pursuit of the truck. While he drove for nearly twenty miles, his glassy eyes didn’t spot the truck nor Sharon again.
And so he returned home and attempted to forget Sharon by focusing on Julia.
Chapter 17
Goddamn women, he thought. Tough to leave, harder to forget.
Insanity Road Page 9