by Price, Faith
SCARRED
By
Faith Price
Copyright © 2013 RascalHearts.com
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
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Chapter One
Steam rose above the shower curtain and moved through the tiny bathroom like wisps of smoke. Serene Mitchell sat on the closed toilet and rubbed her upper arms. Even in her self-made sauna she felt cold. She let the hot water continue to run. Scalding water wouldn’t be warm enough. She touched her throat tentatively and knew there would be bruising there later. With a sigh she stood and slipped out of her threadbare underwear and into the shower.
The initial sensation of the water against her skin caused her to wince and arch her back, but after a moment she became used to it and relaxed under the shower head. With her face pointed upward, she allowed the water to cascade through her black hair, as she ran her hands backwards along the sides of her head. This was the last time. She thought to herself. It was her usual thought after Ted had allowed one of his lousy friends to use her. It was a promise she could never keep.
Ted threw two twenty dollar bills on the table in front of her. She scooped up the money and looked at it.
“This is it?” she asked incredulously.
He looked at her with hard eyes. Ted Roberts may have once been a handsome man, but now he just looked worn. He had short salt and pepper brown hair that stuck out in odd angles from the top of his head, and his mustache and goatee framed thin lips that rarely said anything nice. With tattoos covering both arms, he was a biker’s biker and had the Harley to prove it.
“What ya mean? I only charged him a hundred and fifty.”
“When do I get fifty percent?”
His eyes narrowed and Serene dropped her gaze. “You’ll never get fifty percent, Serene. You’re just the piece of ass. Remember that.” He walked out of the tiny kitchen into the backyard, letting the screen door slam behind him. Serene wasn’t Ted’s only source of income. He also had a lucrative marijuana and amphetamine business.
She drummed her fingers lightly on the table as his motorcycle roared to life. She listened to the sound fade as he took off up the street. She knew the money she had earned him was going to buy beer and cigarettes, but for him only, if she wanted something she had to buy it.
Serene and Ted had a strange relationship. He couldn’t honestly be called her boyfriend, although he did share her bed some nights; and he couldn’t exactly be called her pimp, although he did sell her at least once a week. They more or less had an arrangement. She was allowed to have a place to stay and something to eat as long as she did as she was told. Serene wasn’t good at many things, but obeying orders was one of the things she excelled at. She knew it was how a person survived.
She walked into her bedroom and sat down on the bare mattress. She didn’t have much furniture, just the mattress on the floor and a dresser, but her walls were covered with pictures. Ted told her she was stupid to waste her hard earned money on so many magazines, but she did it anyway. She would cut out pictures from travel magazines and National Geographic of all the beautiful places she wanted to see. He had often told her she was too stupid to see anything except the ceiling.
Once she had gone to a book sale at the local library and bought a book about Jamaica for fifty cents. She had loved the book and refused to cut it up for the collage on her wall. She would sit for hours at a time delicately touching the glossy pictures, and re-reading each photo caption. She was so engrossed with the book one particular night she had forgotten Ted had set her up on a “date”.
He had stormed into her room drunk and angry. He set the book on fire in the back yard, and came back in to give Serene two black eyes. She never missed a date after that. Since then she had found a couple other books: one about Mexico and the other Madagascar and she kept those hidden under her mattress. Luckily they were thin enough to not show a bulge.
Serene opened the bottom drawer of her dresser and pulled out another fitted sheet for her bed. After her dates she would strip the bed and throw the bed things in the washer before heading into the shower. She may be a whore, but at least she was a clean one. At least that’s what she told herself. Thankfully Ted insisted all of her dates wear a condom.
After making her bed, she went into the kitchen and made a pot of mac and cheese. As usual, once the smell of the food hit her nostrils, she lost all interest in eating. She hadn’t had an appetite for the past seven months. Seven months was how long she had lived in Ted’s house, and her rail thin body wasn’t going to be able to withstand barely eating for much longer.
She put a lid over the mac and cheese and wandered into the bathroom. Just as she had thought, there were bruises forming on her neck. She looked at herself in the mirror. A person with coal black hair and large blue eyes stared back at her. There were dark circles under her eyes and her cheek bones stuck out like a skeletons. She was only twenty years old, and at this rate she would look forty before she even hit twenty five.
“I have to do something.” She whispered to her reflection. She turned her head slightly at the sound of Ted’s returning motorcycle, and from the sound of it, he had brought company. A spasm of fear rippled through her. He had only forced more than one date on her once, and she was praying that wouldn’t be the case tonight. She couldn’t even use the excuse that she was on her period because Ted would check.
The kitchen door banged open and Ted bellowed into the house. “Serene?” There was a pause before he yelled louder. “Serene!”
She hurried from the bathroom and stood at the entrance of the kitchen. “Yes?”
“Why didn’t you answer me?”
“Sorry. I was in the bathroom. Did you want something?”
He gave her a quick appraisal. “Do something with your hair and throw a little makeup on. One of the big fish is out in the yard.”
She took a step forward. “Ted, you know I don’t like two dates in one night!”
He crossed the room and grabbed her by the front of her shirt. “You’ll do as you’re told or that sweet little ass can hit the pavement! Maybe it would do you some good to see what it’s like to work tricks from the street.” He let her go and stood back to look at her. “You really ‘ought to appreciate what you have.”
Serene nodded and disappeared into the bathroom. She ran a brush through her hair several times and applied some mascara and eyeliner. She bit back tears and exhaled slowly through her mouth.
When she walked out of the back door she could see several of Ted’s friends building a fire in the burn barrel. Out of the four men there two of them had already been with her. She saw another man in a dark hoodie standing near the street. He leaned against a truck but she didn’t know if she knew him or not. His face was completely in shadow within the hood. His build was slim and he rested against the truck in a casual pose, but she sensed an alertness coming off of him. She could also sense distaste for those around him.
Ted yanked her off the back steps and began pulling her toward the man.
“That’s far enough.”
Ted looked down at Serene with a confused expression and paused before letting go of her arm and sauntering over to the curb. Serene listened as Ted spoke in a low but animated tone. The stranger answered him with slow calm words. Ted held out his hand and the man placed a wad of money there. Ted counted the money and turned to Serene with a big grin on his face. A cool bree
ze blew around her and she shivered. She didn’t like the looks of the transaction.
“Pack your shit. You’re going with him.”
“What?” Panic gripped Serene and she took a step backwards. “No! I don’t want to leave!”
Ted was on her fast and gripped her by the upper arm. One of the guys by the fire snickered. His face was an inch from hers and she could smell his acrid breath. Ted always seemed to smell of stale beer and whiskey. “You’ll go, because I say you will!” he hissed. “This man has paid a pretty penny for your scrawny ass, so get your shit now!”
Serene looked up at him with wide eyes. She glanced over Ted’s shoulder and saw the quick flash of flame as the strange man lit a cigarette. The momentary flash wasn’t enough to show her much of his features, other than a full set of lips.
“How…how long will I have to stay?” she stammered with tears in her eyes. There would be no love lost between her and Ted, but this was what she was used to. The strange man could be a lunatic. He could beat her to death or sell her to one of the traffickers. She had no idea what to expect, and she didn’t want to expect anything, she just wanted to stay where she was until things were better.
“No, Ted. I don’t want to go.”
He let go of her arm long enough to stare at her icily. Serene didn’t even have a split second to prepare for his fist to come crashing into her jaw. She stumbled backwards as the yard began to tilt. Ted grabbed her by the shirt and yanked his arm backwards to hit her again when a voice came out of the darkness.
“Touch her again and the deal is off.”
Ted didn’t lower his arm as he looked over his shoulder. The man hadn’t moved from his spot, other than to stand up straight instead of lean against the truck.
“Better yet,” he said in the calmest voice Serene had ever heard, “the deal will be off, and I’ll take her out of here anyway.”
Ted let go of her and turned to face the man. He pointed his finger and accentuated his words by jabbing the air. “Go screw yourself! She leaves when I say she leaves!”
The man shrugged. “May I have my money please?”
Ted grinned evilly. “Like I said, go screw yourself; I don’t owe you nothing!”
“You don’t?”
The pistol came out of the hoodie and pointed directly at Ted. There couldn’t have been more than twenty feet between them, and it would be a point blank shot. Serene looked around frantically. The guys by the barrel were watching with unreadable expressions.
“Now, miss, if you don’t mind, please go pack whatever belongings you have.”
Serene wanted to laugh. It was all so surreal, but anyone that could put that kind of fear on Ted’s face couldn’t be but so bad. Ted had been to prison, he had been in uncountable fights, and it wasn’t the first time a gun had been pointed at him. Yet something about his man and his pistol frightened him. Maybe it was the calmness. The man was absolutely sure of himself, and the potential of being outnumbered meant nothing to him. Maybe Ted already knew what this man was capable of.
Serene stood slowly and went back into the house. She moved quickly and yanked a duffel bag out of her closet. She threw every shred of clothes and shoes she owned into it, and grabbed her books from under the mattress. She went into the bathroom and grabbed what few things she had in there, and threw those into the bag as well. She looked mournfully at the collages on her walls. She tried to pull some of the pictures free without tearing them.
She was able to salvage a few, but the rest had to stay. She wiped a tear away and put the pictures into the bag before zipping it. Those images had been her friends and companions for so long. She hated leaving them behind. Serene slung the bag over her shoulder and left the room turning off the light as she went. She said a silent prayer that something good would come of this so she would never have to return.
When she came out of the backdoor the scene hadn’t changed much, except that Ted was sitting on the ground, and the gun had been put away. She walked towards the truck with purpose. The man held up a hand to stop her and opened the door to the crew cab. He pulled out a black pillow case and tossed it to her.
“Please, pull that over your head.”
Serene sighed and picked the fabric up from the dirt. She slid it over her head and felt the duffel being removed from her shoulder. After a moment strong hands guided her gently and helped her into the truck.
It’s weird already. She thought dismally to herself. She could hear the driver’s side door open and shut, and found it odd that she stayed in complete darkness. Surely the dome light or some other interior light would have penetrated the fabric at least a little. The truck hummed to life and her body swayed slightly as they moved onto the street. They rode through the night in complete silence.
Serene’s mind was a jumble of questions. Where was he taking her? Was it his house? If he was a sicko, the destination probably wasn’t his home. If it was, there would be some kind of secret chamber in the basement where he would have sex with her until he was ready to make some kind of snuff film. Serene shuddered.
“Are you hungry?” he asked with a smooth deep voice. It wasn’t a baritone, but it made Serene think of dark wood and roses. His voice sounded sad.
“No.”
He didn’t ask her anything else and they continued to ride in silence. Serene felt the vehicle slow and down shift. Her body swayed as they made a turn, and the slow progress was accentuated with bumps and rattles as they drove over several potholes. The truck slowed to a complete stop, and she could hear the man open and close his door. After a moment her door opened, and once again the gentle yet strong hands helped her from the truck. She was helped through something that felt like grass and up three steps. The man reached for her hand and placed it on the side of a railing of some sort.
“Wait here.”
Serene strained her senses to try and determine where they were. She knew they were near the city, but not within it. She could hear a dog bark and the distant city sounds that only the suburbs held. The man returned and gently guided her into a house. Light penetrated the black pillow case, but she couldn’t distinguish anything beyond the fabric. He guided her into another room.
“Make yourself at home, and when you’re ready, please join me in the dining room.”
Serene pulled the pillow case from her head as the door clicked shut. She blinked several times to adjust her eyes to the light. What she found was a small bedroom, painted a dusty rose color. The double bed was high from the ground with tall pollsters and headboard. There was a beautiful comforter of white, rose, and burgundy colors swirled in an abstract pattern decorating the bed. She smiled as she touched the soft fabric.
The window was covered with drapes that matched the bed. Serene had always wanted a room that was decorated and matched. She turned slowly and saw a dark wood writing table with chair, and there was an armoire of the same dark wood on the wall with the bed. She opened one of the doors and found it empty except for a doll with a porcelain face. She picked it up and smoothed the blue and white dress the doll wore.
A smile touched her lips, and on impulse she hugged the doll fiercely. She had few toys as a child, but she did have a favorite doll that was lost to her now. Her doll was plastic and ugly the last time she had seen it, but she still remembered its name: Rebecca. She knew immediately that the doll in her arms would be called Rebecca, even if she only called her that within the confines of her own mind.
Above the writing table was a mirror and Serene looked at herself. There was nothing to be done tonight with her face. Maybe there never would be again. With a nervous sigh she left the bedroom in search of the strange secretive man.
* * * *
She found the house to be small. When she entered the hallway she decided to explore before finding the dining room. There was a room beside hers and she tried the door only to find it locked. The hallway ended with a rather large bathroom that was decorated with light shades of peach and cream. Once again, the accent
uating color was burgundy.
Serene walked back down the hard wood floor of the hallway trying to not make a sound. The hallway opened into an area that had a living room on one side and a dining room on the other. She gasped slightly when she saw the man seated at the table. He wore a solid white mask that covered the entire top part of his face reaching to the crown of his head. It came down over his nose and curved with the shape of his cheekbones.
It fit him in a way that suggested it was custom made. From what she could see, he shaved his head bald. Serene eased into the chair directly across the table from him, never taking her eyes from his face. The wood of the table shone like a mirror. There was a bowl of fresh fruit in the center, and a platter of sliced meats and cheeses beside it. Serene could smell bread and watched as the man excused himself and walked through the swinging door of the kitchen. He reemerged a moment later with a loaf of French bread and a small bowl of butter.
“I reheated the bread, it’s a leftover. I do apologize.” He said quietly.
Serene watched him and didn’t know what to say. She remembered cutting mold from Sunbeam bread because Ted wouldn’t give her the money for more. She decided to shrug instead of speaking and lean back in the chair. There was a bottle of wine on the table and he filled two long-stemmed glasses with the gold liquid. He brought a glass and set it before the place setting in front of her. After he had taken his seat, he indicted the food between them with a wave of his long hand.
“Please, Serene, have something to eat.”
She eyed him warily and gazed at the food again. She felt her saliva glands engage and a tiny rumble echoed in her gut. I’m hungry. She thought in amazement. She hadn’t been hungry in so long. She reached across the table and speared some roast beef with the serving fork and added some dark yellow cheese to her plate.
The bowl of fruit had large green grapes, among other things, and she took a branch off of the group. Her first bite of the grape was sweet and juicy. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had eaten fresh fruit. She ate with the frenzied pace that starving people have when they are first presented with food. She finally took a moment to breathe and saw him watching her from across the table. His expression was unreadable.
