Out of Heaven's Grasp

by V. J. Chambers

  When he stopped, I was wound up in a tight ball of the floor, my arms wrapped around my head, my knees drawn up to my chest. My nose was bleeding, and everything hurt.

  He stood over me, panting. “You demonic little bitch. I never should have let you have as much free rein as I did.”

  Lying there, I felt more blood starting to flow out of me, this time between my legs.

  My period.

  * * *

  Bob let me clean myself up and put on a pad, but he stayed outside my bathroom door while I did it, so I barely had any privacy. Then he dragged me out of the house and took me to Gideon’s.

  Susannah answered the door. When she saw me, her eyes widened. “Abby?”

  Bob ignored her. “We need to see Gideon.” He yanked me into the house.

  Susannah scampered off to find her husband, barely looking at me.

  Gideon had us come into his office, the same place we’d been last time to talk about my problems with obedience.

  Bob flung me in a chair, but he refused to sit down. He stood in front of Gideon, arms folded over his chest, nostrils flaring.

  “What seems to be the problem?” said Gideon.

  Bob grimaced. “I got home from Florida to find out that this little slut has been with another man.”

  Gideon raised his eyebrows. “Did you catch her with him?”

  Bob shook his head. “My daughter saw her with a pregnancy test.”

  Holly! That brat. I’d told her not to say anything, but of course she couldn’t keep her mouth shut. She’d never liked me anyway, and I shouldn’t have expected her to do me any favors.

  Gideon looked confused. “I don’t understand, Bob.”

  “Well, there’s no reason for her to be taking one,” said Bob. “I haven’t had relations with her in months.”

  Gideon drew himself up. “You’ve been neglecting your duty to your wife? You are the head of the household, and—”

  “Never mind that,” Bob snarled. He was so angry, he didn’t care about being respectful to Gideon, it seemed. “She had a pregnancy test, and that means she’s spreading her legs for someone else. That’s adultery. I’ve long had my suspicions that this one is under the thrall of a demon, and I think this proves it.”

  Gideon took several slow, thoughtful breaths. “Well, now, that it is a very serious accusation. We must be thorough to determine if such a thing has really occurred.” He rubbed his hands together. “But if it has…” He looked almost eager. He waved at Bob to sit down, and he turned his attention to me. “Abigail, can you explain why you had a pregnancy test?”

  I racked my brain for some kind of excuse, but I couldn’t think of anything.

  Bob glared at me, seething. He seemed to want to rip me to shreds.

  But it didn’t matter, did it, because I was leaving. I didn’t have to lie to these men. I could simply give them the truth. I leveled my gaze at Gideon. “I had the pregnancy test to determine if I was pregnant, of course.”

  “But is it true that you haven’t had relations with your husband in months?”

  I allowed myself a small smile. “It is.”

  “Then you’ve had relations with someone besides your husband.”

  My smile widened. “I have.”

  Gideon sucked in breath. “Really?” There was a gleam in his eyes. “Are you quite sure of this, Abigail? You allowed another man to look upon your naked body?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did he fondle you? Handle your breasts? Did he put his mouth on your nipples? Did he put his mouth between your legs?”

  I drew back. I hadn’t even known men did that.

  Gideon kept going, seeming to get more excited. “And he exposed himself to you? He had you handle and fondle his member? Did you put that in your mouth? Did he put himself in your anus?”

  I made a face. Eew. “I don’t think any of that would make me need a pregnancy test.”

  “I need to be thorough.” Gideon was grinning. “I need to know exactly what ways you’ve sinned in order to decide how to punish you.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “I made love to him, that’s all. I’m in love with this man, and I’ve never felt anything even remotely like love for my husband. All Bob has ever done is hurt me and force me to do things. “

  “You see?” said Bob. “She’s willful. She refuses to submit. And she’s admitted it. I want her exiled. I want a different wife. A better wife. She was meant to be given to me for my glory, but she does nothing but shame me.”

  Exile sounded fine to me. I was leaving anyway.

  “You’ve allowed her to run wild with the devil for far too long,” said Gideon. “You should have come to me with her sinful nature earlier. Why didn’t you?”

  Bob turned away.

  “Bob?” prompted Gideon.

  “It was pride,” said Bob. “I thought that if I admitted I couldn’t control her, others would think badly of me.”

  “I see,” said Gideon. “So, you’ve allowed her to fester for how long, would you say?”

  “Since our last meeting about her lack of submission, I am ashamed to say.”

  Gideon’s smile widened. “Well, that’s a shame.” But it didn’t sound like he thought it was a shame. He sounded like he’d just been given a gift.

  “I’m sorry, Gideon.”

  Gideon shrugged. “Well, it’s too late now. Perhaps if I had known earlier, she could have been saved, but as it stands now, it seems that the demon that influences her is deeply attached to her. I’m afraid that the only way we can save her soul is to sacrifice her physical body.”

  I went cold. No.

  He was going to kill me.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Abby

  I got up from the chair in Gideon’s office and ran for the door, screaming at the top of my lungs, “Help! He’s going to kill me!”

  Gideon moved like lighting. Within seconds, he was grabbing me from behind, one hand over my mouth, the other wrapped around my arms.

  I struggled, wriggling against him, but he held me firm.

  “Now, now,” he whispered in my ear, “this is for your own good. If we don’t sacrifice your body now, your soul will burn in Hell for all eternity.”

  I struggled even harder.

  To my horror, I suddenly realized that Gideon was getting an erection. I could feel it pressed into my backside.

  I stopped moving.

  Gideon grasped me closer. “Perfect. Submit to me.”

  I tried to scream, but his hand was in the way.

  So I brought my teeth down on the flesh of his fingers, biting down as hard as I could.

  Gideon shrieked, letting go of me.

  I scrambled for the door.

  Gideon was faster. He backhanded me across the mouth. “You are a whore of Satan for certain.” He gathered me into his arms again, pressing his pelvis into my soft flesh. “I will free your pure, clean soul.” He looked up at Bob. “Hand me those over there.”

  Bob turned around and came back with handcuffs.

  Handcuffs? Why did Gideon have handcuffs?

  He snapped them onto my wrists. But, even with my hands bound, he wouldn’t let go of me. He seemed to enjoy having his body pressed into mine, but it was making me feel even more frightened. I didn’t want Gideon to force himself on me. I had a strange feeling that Gideon would be much worse than Bob somehow. Bob was an angry, awful man who had no respect for me. But Gideon seemed to crave power and control, and I couldn’t imagine what he’d do to me.

  In some ways, it might be better for him to just kill me.

  But, no, I didn’t want to die.

  I was supposed to run away with Jesse and the two of us were supposed to be happy. I wasn’t ready to die.

  Still holding onto me, Gideon began to move me out of his office.

  I refused to move my legs. I wasn’t going to do a thing to cooperate.

  Gideon dug his fingers into my arms, squeezing painfully. “Walk.”

  I wouldn’t. I l
et my legs buckle, so that Gideon was the only thing holding me up.

  “Worthless slut,” Gideon muttered. He turned to Bob. “Get her feet.”

  Bob hauled my legs up, even though I tried to evade him.

  Between the two of them, they carried me out of Gideon’s office and down the steps into his basement.

  The basement wasn’t finished, so it was just a concrete hole in the ground. Gideon made Bob hold onto me, while he let one of my hands out of a handcuff. He looped the chain around one of the poles that held the basement upright. Then he re-handcuffed me. I was now chained to a support pole, and there was no way I could go anywhere.

  They let go of me and backed off.

  Bob looked nervous. “Uh, are you sure about this? Sacrificing her? I would be just as happy if she were simply cast out of the community.”

  “You doubt the word of God?”

  “Well, no. But… it seems awfully extreme. Jesus didn’t hold with stoning a woman for adultery. He told the Pharisees that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone.”

  “True, true,” said Gideon. “But there’s a key difference here, Bob. Those men were executing the woman in punishment. What we do here is not punishment. Instead, we are freeing Abigail’s soul from her sinful body. She will be lifted up in glory, but if we do nothing, she will be cast down in the fiery pit when she dies. We must stop her before more evil invades her soul.”

  Bob nodded slowly.

  Gideon patted Bob on the shoulder. “Don’t you worry, Bob. You will not swing the knife. God has told me that it must be my burden to make this sacrifice. You and the elders will bear witness, but I offer myself to enter into this test to prove my righteousness before Heaven.”

  I looked up at the two of them, terror coursing through me. I just bet that Gideon wanted to “swing the knife.” Looking at him now, I realized that there was something very, very wrong with him. This must be part of the reason he was sent away from the community in Kentucky. Gideon was not a man of God. If anyone was under the thrall of a demon, it was him. Gideon’s smile was pure evil.

  “Let us leave her here to contemplate her sins,” said Gideon.

  Bob swallowed, looking me over. He seemed to hesitate for a minute, but then he took a deep breath and turned away.

  Gideon and Bob trooped up the steps and left me alone.

  I stood, my back to the poll, my hands bound behind me. I gave an experimental tug on my wrists, even though I knew it was useless. I wasn’t getting out of here unless someone unlocked those handcuffs.

  Wait.

  My phone!

  Bob didn’t know I had it, and Gideon hadn’t discovered it either. It was tucked inside my bra, sitting right under the swell of my breasts.

  I lifted my hands behind my back, and I managed to get them up to the level of my breasts.

  Slowly, painfully, I turned my hands so that they faced forward. Now I could reach around, the tips of my fingers against the outside walls of my bra.

  But I was inches away from my phone.

  I strained, trying to reach far enough to touch it, to move it.

  My shoulders and arms screamed from the unnatural way that I’d contorted them.

  I kept trying to reach for the phone.

  But…

  No.

  I let my arms drop, gasping from the effort.

  I tried to roll my shoulders, to get the pain out of them.

  When I’d had a little bit of time to rest, I tried again.

  But I wasn’t any more successful this time.

  My body ached from stretching, from reaching and twisting.

  Still, I kept at it. Resting and then trying again, over and over.

  The tiny windows at the top of the basement wall grew darker and darker.

  Night was falling. Jesse would be expecting me soon, but I wouldn’t show up.

  I cringed, lifted my hands, and tried to reach my phone again.

  * * *

  After what seemed like hours in the darkness, I heard the sound of someone on the steps. There was only a tiny light, something from a small kerosene lantern.

  Were they here to kill me already?

  I couldn’t see who held the lantern.

  “Abby,” whispered a tiny, female voice.

  My heart leapt. “Susannah!”

  And then she was next to me, holding the lantern up so that she could see my face. “What’s going on, Abby? Gideon left, and he said he was carrying up tarps to protect the basement floor. What does he need tarps for?”

  “He’s going to sacrifice me, Susannah. He says that I’m under the thrall of a demon.”

  She dropped the lantern with a little cry, and we were plunged into darkness.

  I waited.

  Nothing.

  “Susannah?”

  The sound of a match being struck. With shaky hands, she lit the lantern again. I could see her face illuminated in the small circle of light. It was bloodless. “I don’t think you’re under the thrall of a demon. Even if you were, he can’t kill you.”

  “Do you know where he keeps the keys to the handcuffs?”

  “Oh, Abby, you can’t ask me…” Her breathing picked up speed, and she twisted her face up. “You don’t know what he’d do to me if I defied him. No, I can’t. I’m sorry, I can’t.”

  Really? I glared at her. “He’s going to kill me. Would he kill you?”

  “Maybe,” she said weakly.

  “Well, help me and then come with me. We’ll both run.”

  She shook her head. “No, no I can’t.”

  “Please, Susannah.”

  “I don’t know where he keeps the keys anyway.” She was backing away from me.

  “No, wait, don’t go anywhere. I need your help. I need to get out of here.”

  “He can’t know I helped you.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Okay, then forget the key. Help me get my phone.”

  “Your what?”

  “Come back here.”

  She stepped close again.

  “It’s inside my bra.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “Oh, for Heaven’s sake, Susannah, I would touch your boobs to save your life.”

  She whimpered, but she put a shaking hand inside my blouse.

  “Down,” I said.

  I felt her hands close over it.

  “Good,” I said. “Take it out.”

  She did. She held it gingerly, like she was afraid it might burn her. “I can’t believe you have one of these. You know that the devil is in technology.”

  “Hit the button on the top,” I said.

  She did.

  “Now touch the little picture of the book with the outline of a head on it. That’s the contacts. Then hit Jesse’s name.”

  “What are we doing?”

  “You’re helping me call Jesse. And then after you do that, you can put the phone back and pretend you don’t know anything about it. They won’t know how he got here. Hit that little green phone to call him.”

  She pushed on it.

  I heard the phone start to ring.

  Pick up.

  It kept ringing.

  Oh God, God, Jesse pick up the damned phone.

  “Abby, where are you?” said his voice from the phone.

  I started to sob in relief. “Oh, thank God, thank God.”

  “Hurry up,” said Susannah, casting a terrified look up at the steps.

  “Abby?” said Jesse.

  “They’ve got me in Gideon’s basement, Jesse. They’re going to sacrifice me. You have to come. I need you.”

  “They’re going to what?” Jesse’s voice had lowered to a growl.

  “They’re going to kill me,” I sobbed. “Please, please—”

  “That’s enough,” said Susannah. “Gideon could come back at any second.” She started pushing on random things on the screen, and the phone hung up.

  “Why’d you do that?” I said to her.

  She tucked the phone back into m
y shirt. “I have to go, Abby. I hope that helping you doesn’t mean that I go straight to Hell.”

  “Oh, come on, you can’t believe what Gideon is saying.”

  She ran across the floor to the steps. “I have to go.”

  * * *

  Jesse

  The rage rose inside me like a live thing. I dropped the phone and struggled to make my breathing even.

  Something was calling me. I couldn’t keep from falling into it.

  It was a red buzz, somewhere behind my temples.

  In lurching movements, I tore out of the apartment to my truck.

  I ripped open the door and threw myself inside the car. I was shaking all over, and as I tried to get the keys into the ignition, I dropped them.

  “Fuck.”

  I bent down to pick them up from the floorboards.

  My head collided with the steering wheel. It didn’t really hurt, but it made the rage inside me surge.

  “FUCK.”

  Holding the keys in one tight fist, I jammed them into the ignition and started the car.

  I started the car and backed out of the parking lot. I was even driving jerkily—slamming on the brakes and screeching my tires to stop, then roaring the car to life again by smashing the gas pedal down. I tore out of the parking lot and onto the main road. I screamed down the road, pushing the truck to go faster than I was meant to go on this street.

  My apartment was in downtown Melville, and there wasn’t a lot of downtown there, but there was enough. I flew past apartment buildings and convenience stores. It was dark outside, and the lights inside the windows burned brightly, streaking past me as I pushed the car to even higher speeds.

  Worthless, lousy, elders, I thought, smiling grimly. I’ll teach them a lesson. I’ll show them how to behave.

  My father’s voice again. But this time I didn’t try to shut it off.

  I careened around a curve in the road, and then I urged the truck to go even faster.

  Ahead of me—a stoplight.

  Yellow light shone out at me.

  And then it changed to red.

  “Fuck,” I said again.

  I switched from the gas to the brakes, skittering to a squealing stop just in time.

  I glared up at the red light. My heart pumped blood throughout my body, and I could feel my pulse in my temple, bulging and pounding.