by Rae B. Lake
“Okay.” She moved as close to me as she could with her hands tied behind her back, her head coming up to my bicep. She leaned on me, trying to get some comfort from my arms, all while not stopping, “Inkpop, I’m scared.” She whispered.
I swallowed down the frog in my throat, “I know, baby, I know.”
I turned slightly to look behind Angel at Roth; he was wiping his eyes. The telltale wetness and redness were all I needed to confirm whatever was about to happen when we entered those doors was bad.
I turned back to Angel, trying harder to grab her hand or touch her in some way, “You have to be strong okay. Just be strong for me.”
I would offer my own life if it meant they would leave her alone. I had nothing else in this world to give. Nothing more I knew they wanted.
Lou opened the doors and escorted us in, Roth simply let Angel walk in behind me. Once she was in the room, he turned and left. I guess he couldn’t handle what was about to happen.
The room in this estate was large and had a huge poster bed smack in the middle of the floor. I looked around the room at the few people there. Ruby, Harrington, a few men I didn’t know two women I recognized as associates of Harrington and then off in the far corner, observing my every move was Vale.
I shook my head. He wouldn’t; there was no way. Ruby walked over to where I was standing and slowly began to circle me, “Mrs. Giles, why..?”
The woman smacked me hard across the face before I could even get the entire question out of my mouth.
“Did I ask you to speak dog?” She rammed her fingers up my nose, one in each nostril. Her long sharp nails causing the sensitive and thin skin to break and bleed almost instantly.
She pulled her hand out and pushed me back up in a standing position. “It has come to my attention that you need a little more home training. I would have thought, after all this time with us; you would have been the ideal pet. But it seems you’ve not been broken far enough.” She looked over to Lou. “Chain his arms. Leave lots of slack.” She gestured to a large silver ring was jutting from the wall. It looked like a doorknocker, just much thicker.
“With much pleasure,” Lou said as he grabbed me and dragged me near the wall, where a chain and unforgiving metal handcuffs were located. He quickly undid the binds at my back and had my hands cuffed in front of me this time. I thought about taking him out for a second, but I was too far away from Angel, even if I did manage to kill him, they would get to her before I could.
“My guests are an extension of myself, and if you harm one of them, it means you are harming me. We would be heartbroken if we were to lose Vale as an ally, and more importantly, lose the collaboration of one of our biggest supporters in the Vilanueva family. Vale has agreed not to bring the grave transgression to the attention of Juan or his brother, but only if you are to be punished.”
I nodded my head furiously; I would take it. “Yes, ma’am, I will accept the punishment.”
“No,” Vale said from where he stood. His expensive shoes were clicking noisily on the hardwood floor as he made his way to where I was chained up. “I told you, you would regret it.” He whispered to me before a psychotic smile lit up his face. He turned and walked toward Angel. I followed behind him as far as I could before the sharp bite of the metal cuffs let me know I had reached the end of my leash. I would get no closer.
“Angel, your friend, made a terrible decision,” Vale said, speaking to her like she was much smaller than she was. “You know what the word consequences means, right?”
“Yes, I know what it means,” Angel answered softly.
“Well, unfortunately, Ink’s actions have some horrible consequences, except they are for you.” He tried to run his hand down her cheek, but she stepped away from him quickly and tried to come to me.
“Ink!” She called, but Lou had already grabbed her and kept her from getting any further.
“Vale! Please! I’m sorry. She’s just a child! You know her! Please. Don’t do this. I am begging you. Kill me, torture me, cut me up, do what you wish. Just leave her alone. Please!” I fell to my knees hard, the tears falling down my face as I tried to keep Angel in my line of sight while I begged the man who I once called brother.
“I don’t think so. I want you to hear her scream for you in misery.” Vale said as he stood over me.
Ruby walked over to me a sizeable rolled-up cloth in her hand. She knelt in front of me, but not close enough for me to get her or what was in her hand. She unraveled it so both Angel and I could see what it contained.
As Ruby unrolled the cloth, one horrific object after another was revealed. There were rusted pliers, whipping canes, scalpels, steel nails, restraints, razors, knives, and other tools I had felt the pain of before.
“Oh, no!” Angel cried hard and tried again to get to me. “Ink!” She kicked and pulled at Lou, who was starting to get frustrated, trying to keep a hold of her.
“Stop your shit!” He smacked her hard across the face, she fell to the ground, her head hitting the floor with a loud crack. She moaned but didn’t get up right away.
“I wonder how long she will last? Oh, and how many of my men will get around to her, she is a budding young woman you know.” Ruby cackled loudly, and Vale joined in.
They were going to desecrate this poor little girl. They were going to torture and abuse her, and I couldn’t help her.
I lunged with everything I had at Ruby, a roar I was sure was strong enough to rattle windows erupted from my mouth, “I’ll fucking kill you! I swear to god I will rip you to pieces if you hurt her!” I yanked and pulled at my restraints like a savage animal trying to break free from a trap. I would tear my arm off to get to her. “You soulless gash! I swear on my life, I will end you!” I pulled and pulled, never stopping in my desperate need to get to Angel.
“Oh, well, that’s not nice.” Ruby rolled up her tools and walked into a connecting room, Vale, the several men and women in the room following her as well. “Bring her in here; she won’t even have the sight of his face to comfort her.”
Lou picked Angel up and flung her over his shoulder, the motion enough to bring her back to the present.
“Ink! Please, help me! Ink! No, no, no!” She cried and reached out for me, her angelic face crumpled up in fear.
“Angel!” I screamed for her, running in her direction until the force of the chain stopped me in my tracks. “Oh, god, please,” I begged. “Angel, no!”
I pulled at my chains even after they carried her into the room. My heart was constricting in agony at the sound of her yelling out for me in horror at whatever they were doing to her in that room. When the strength in my legs completely dwindled, and the shackles still held me securely in place, I fell to my knees and let my head fall to the floor.
“Oh baby, no, no, not my Angel, please, please.”
Her screams of pain bouncing around the room, broken up by the sounds of my sobs. Every so often, the door to the room would open, and one of the men would walk out sweaty and tired looking, and my heart would shatter just a little more. There were moments I didn’t hear her crying any more or when the whimpering had calmed down to a whispering level, and I thought it was almost over, only to have another blood-curdling scream erupt from the back.
I rocked in place back and forth, the blood from the damage to my wrist congealing on the metal cuffs and my palms.
“Inkpop? Why did you let them hurt me?” I looked up, and Angel was standing right in front of me, completely intact.
“I'm sorry, so sorry, baby. I tried. I couldn’t get to you. I tried.” I croaked out and tried to reach for her again. Another scream echoed, and the image of Angel disappeared. I looked around in confusion. It appeared again to the right of me; she was reading a book this time, only to vanish again when the real Angel cried out. It was a torturous back and forth in my mind.
When I looked around again, the room was dark. We had been in there the whole day, and they were still going at it. Somewhere in between my fight to
get to her and the acceptance I’d failed, I had begun to lose my mind. I was seeing the little girl all around, but I knew she wasn’t there. I knew they were still doing horrible things to her in the back room.
“Hey, get up.” Someone was speaking, but I didn’t turn. I was looking for Angel.
“I don’t have time for this shit. Get up!” The person kicked me in the gut, only a force of air leaving my mouth. He used the same foot to kick me over to my back. It was Lou. His face was no longer excited. He was tired.
“Angel? Where is Angel?” I asked my voice, barely a whisper.
“She’s not coming.” He reached down, grabbed one of the metal cuffs using the key he had in his pocket to release me. The limb fell back down to the floor uselessly. He did the same for the other arm.
“Angel…” Her name rolling off my tongue in despair. What did he mean she wasn’t coming, where was she?
He tried to get me to stand up again, but my body was dead, he could have shit on my face at that precise moment, and I wouldn’t have moved.
“Fuck this.” Lou lifted both of my arms over my head and pulled me out of the room, he dragged me back to the empty room Angel and I shared. I crawled over to the bed and tried to calm myself down, but I felt it in my soul. They killed that baby, and now I had nothing left to live for.
***
I laid on my bed for days, waiting to die. I didn’t eat anything. I didn’t drink anything, and I don’t even remember getting up to pee. Lou and Roth took turns checking on me, but no matter what they said, I never responded. It was an utterly lonely feeling. The room so silent even the figments of my rapidly deteriorating mind didn’t come to visit anymore.
The lock to the door opened, and quick-stepping footsteps came in my direction.
“Move,” Roth grunted behind me.
I didn’t make a sound.
“Nico, get up. I have to put her down.” He grunted again.
My head swiveled toward him, and for the first time in days, it felt like I could take a full breath.
He was holding Angel. She was limp and unconscious, but if he was bringing her in, it must mean she was alive.
He placed her down gently, but instead of on her back; he put her on her stomach.
“What did they do? What did they do to her?” I fell to my knees at her head and just watched as her bruised little face moved with every breath she took. I was forcing myself to realize that this little girl was still alive, and this wasn’t a figment of my imagination.
I picked my hand up and gently swiped one of her curly locks from her face, she whimpered and moved away from my touch even in her sleep.
Her lips were cracked and dry like she hadn’t had any water in days. Her fingernails broken off and bloody from her clawing to get away, but it was what I could see at the top of her back that had me seething with anger. The only emotion I had felt since she was locked in that room. There were slash marks and welts. It looked like it was from the cane or some other sort of whipping. I jumped up and grabbed Roth by his shirt, “What did they do to her?” I growled, there was no strength in my grip, but he let me hold him anyway.
“It’s not as bad as it could have been.” He said, looking me directly in the eye.
“How can you say that, look at her!” I used his shirt to shake him one good time.
“I have, and I did what I could about the cuts and bruises, you have to make sure they don’t get infected. Ruby, Vale, and Harrington were the only ones to touch the girl.”
“But the other men, I saw them walking out.”
“No, they never did anything to her. Ruby offered the first taste to Vale, but he said he wasn’t into doing little girls, so no one else was given a chance either.”
They didn’t rape her, the physical cuts and bruises would fade, but something like that would have stayed with her for the rest of her life. I let my hand drop from his chest and just held my head, grateful for this little act of mercy.
“She’ll come for her again,” Roth said as he turned on his way out.
“I know.” I croaked out, as I kneeled by Angel’s head again. Ruby would want to break me down like this again, and she knew now how intense my need to protect Angel was. She would go through Angel to get to me again and again. It was only a matter of time.
The door closed, and Angel began to stir.
I rushed over to where there was a cup of water, they had brought it for me this morning, but I hadn’t touched it. I ripped off a piece of my shirt and dipped it in the water, and I wiped Angel’s dry lips with it. I wanted to get her some moisture. She licked her lips, her mind realizing she was dangerously dehydrated. Her eyes fluttered open a few times before she startled awake and tried to push herself away in a panic.
“No, please stop. Stop it!” She screamed, but her voice was so raw it was only a cracked whisper.
“Shhhh, shhh, Angel, baby, it’s me. It’s Inkpop.” I said, trying to calm her down but not wanting to physically put my hands on her until she was completely awake. I didn’t want to hurt her any more than she was already hurting. Her blue eyes darted around for a second before they settled on my face. Her small hand reaching out to touch my face as if she thought I wasn’t real.
“Inkpop?”
“Yes, baby. I’m here.” My voice thick with emotion.
“Oh, Ink!” She raised herself quickly and threw her arms around my neck. She hissed out in pain as her body reminded her of her injuries.
“Come on, lay back down.” I laid her gently back down on the bed, and she turned her face to look at me.
I could see the joy in her face, the realization it was all over, and she was back where she belonged, with me. As much as I wanted to smile back at her, I just couldn’t. “Angel, I’m so sorry they did this to you. I should’ve been there to protect you, and I wasn’t.”
“What are you talking about Inkpop, you did everything you could. I was so scared. I can’t imagine how you go through that all the time. It sucks super bad.” She said, trying to take my guilt away.
“It does.” I nodded my head.
I kept vigil over her for the next few days as the injuries she sustained began to heal. She told me about what they did to her in the room. How they hit her with a thin wooden stick, and then they would put a towel over her face and pour water on it. She said there were snakes and spiders they put into her clothes. They beat her with a belt, but she said what hurt the most was the hanging. Apparently, they’d tied her up by her wrists and let her hang from the ceiling, while they beat her with the belt, sometimes one of them would pull down on her feet, she said it felt like they were ripping her body in half. Roth did more than he should have to make sure she had everything he could get for her without raising suspicion. I was grateful, but I was concerned. If they found out he was giving her special treatment, he would be in trouble just as much as I. No one did anything for anyone for free. I wondered what his endgame was. A week or so later, when we were able to go up for our outdoor duties, I asked him.
“Roth, may I ask a question?” I tried to stay as polite as I could, he was good to Angel, but he treated me the same as any other guard.
“What? Aren’t you supposed to be getting your exercise?” He pushed me forward. My hands were tied behind my back, so the small push was enough to have me stumbling.
I looked around just to make sure there were no other people around us, “Why are you always helping Angel? I see how you look at her. What do you want in return?”
He grabbed me hard by the back of my neck and turned me around to face him, “Did you just accuse me of lusting after a little girl?”
“No, in fact, I’ve never seen you look at her in that fashion, you look at her like she’s your kid. Like a father.” I clarified immediately.
He let me go, and I turned and continued to walk ahead of him, I didn’t want to press him, but I had to know what the deal was.
“I had a kid once. I loved my little girl more than anything. Her mother not so
much. She was sick though, no matter what they did for her in the hospitals, it never seemed to make her feel any better, She died, and I ended up here. She had curly hair just like Angel does. She was much darker, she took her mother’s complexion, but the hair was the same. This place isn’t for someone like Angel.” I heard him let out a big sigh before he raised his voice, the authority back in his tone, “But she’s never going to get out of here and once Ruby realizes she is old enough and strong enough to take her punishments and live she will be in the room right along with you. Stall brawls and all.”
I shook my head, denying it would ever happen, but it would, and it was going to happen soon.
Chapter 6
Present-day…
“What do you think are in those boxes? Guns?” Angel asked from where she was sitting beside me on the ship.
“Could be, but they had a big shipment of guns transported three months ago, so I think maybe this shipment is teddy bears.” I played with her as the ship lurched violently with the tide. We were sailing in bad weather, and it was one of my biggest fears. The ship going down with both Angel and me chained up underneath the deck. I tried to put it out of my mind, but as long as we were moving, I knew it would bother me.
Angel shoved me with her free leg, “Shut up. There are no teddy bears in there. You’re so silly, Inkpop.”
She turned and tried to look out the small porthole that was too far above our heads to be visible, “Where do you think we’ll go this time? We have been traveling for a long time.” She looked to me in wonder.
“I don’t know, maybe somewhere cold. Maybe we’re going to Antarctica.”
“Antarctica! No way! Who wants to go there? There’s nothing there!” She giggled.
“Says who? There are so many things there. There are polar bears, seals, Santa Claus, and snowmen.” I said, looking at her in mock surprise.
“Shut up!” She looked at me for a second before looking down at the ground. “Inkpop, what’s a Santa Claus?”
