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One Among Us

Page 5

by Paige Dearth


  From then on, Maggie was allowed to keep all of the books that Dr. Barnes brought for her. Some of the books were young adult novels, and others were educational. She especially loved the books that taught her something. Each week, after Dr. Barnes was finished having sex with Maggie, they would sit on the bed and talk about what she had learned from reading. Her ability to retain information was remarkable. With each book she finished, Maggie felt like she was becoming more powerful.

  Life at the prison was unbearable for all of the children. None of them were actually living; rather, they existed as toys for the wicked. Unlike the others, Maggie now had something to distract her when she was alone.

  Over time, Shana withdrew. She was being trafficked to the cartel’s most sicko clients. She got all of the clients who were into sadism and derived their sexual gratification from the pain and cruelty that they subjected her to. She became more reclusive, and nothing the others tried to do to nurture her worked.

  Myles protected Maggie, but the others all had to endure an occasional thumping by malicious clients. But because of Shana’s youth and beauty, the demented seemed to be lining up to get time with her. Shana still blamed Maggie for stealing Myles from her. Secretly, John William had planted that idea in her head. He told Shana that Maggie had deliberately set out to make her suffer. He said that Maggie had “come on” to Myles to keep her sorry ass safe.

  “I was there, and I saw it,” John William said. “She was flirting with him. She kept telling him that she was so much prettier than you, which we all know is true. Maggie is the reason that you’re getting your filthy little ass whooped. Don’t forget that, you raunchy dirt ball.”

  John William thrived on his supremacy over the defenseless kids, and the more psychological turmoil he caused, the greater his domination.

  Shana was livid to learn that Maggie had set out to harm her intentionally. She never considered that John William was lying, and she couldn’t feel anything but hatred for the other girl. She wished that Maggie would die and took every opportunity to express her loathing. One afternoon, Shana stormed into Maggie’s cell.

  “So, you think you’re hot shit, huh? Well, you’re not,” Shana yelled and punched Maggie squarely in the nose. Then she bent down to where Maggie lay on the dirt floor. “You’re going to tell Myles that you hate him and don’t want to see him anymore. You understand me? You should have to be with these fucking freaks, not me!” Shana fumed.

  Maggie looked up at her with blood dripping from her nose and cried, “I didn’t do anything to you, Shana. Why are you always so mean? Why don’t you just leave me alone?”

  Shana yelled back, “You heard what I just said. If you don’t tell Myles that you hate him, I swear to God I will fuckin’ kill you. You’re such an idiot. You’re always talking about going home and getting out of here. Well, here’s a wake-up call: you’re never leaving! They don’t let us go! They keep us and use us up until we die. This is your life now, you bitch!”

  Cali heard the commotion and rushed into Maggie’s cell. “What the hell is going on? Oh my God, what did you do to her, Shana?” she asked when she saw blood streaming from Maggie’s nose.

  “That’s just a taste of what I’ll do to her if she doesn’t get Myles to take me back,” Shana shot back at Cali.

  “What are you talking about, Shana?” Cali asked, shocked.

  “She stole him from me, and now I’m stuck with all these crazy-ass pricks that get their rocks off by hurting me. It’s all her fault, and I hate her! I hope she dies,” Shana bawled.

  “Stop it! You’re just making things worse, Shana,” Cali said.

  “I’ll stop it when you stop letting her think that someday she’s going home. You know that none of us are getting out of here alive. But you never tell her that. You just keep leading her on so she thinks everything will be OK. Well it ain’t gonna be OK,” she screamed, directing her words at Maggie.

  That night, having overheard the girls screaming, John William purposely sold Shana to the lowest bidder to stir the shit pot a little more. Shana was given to an ex-con, with the words “Born To Raise Hell” tattooed on his forearm. When he entered the room, his contemptuous demeanor instantly terrified Shana. The man’s bloated body and ash-white, pockmarked face repulsed her. He approached Shana, placed a dog collar around her neck, and dragged her around the room by the leash as she struggled to keep up with him and avoid choking to death. His treatment of her quickly deteriorated and, that night, two floors above where the children sat quietly in their cells, Shana was brutally raped and tortured. Each time she yelled in pain, he picked up his pocketknife and cut her tongue.

  When John William brought Shana back in the middle of the night, he woke Cali and told her to tend to the girl. Cali started to shake when she saw Shana’s condition. Maggie heard Cali telling John William in a panicked voice that she didn’t know what to do for her. The bruises would heal, but there was so much blood coming from Shana’s mouth that Cali feared she was bleeding to death.

  Chapter Eight

  “John William,” Maggie yelled from the opening in her door, “let me out so I can help Shana.”

  “Shut the hell up and go to sleep, you little whore,” John William yelled back to her.

  Then, after several moments, he considered that if Myles found out that he had let the lowest bidder take Shana just to prolong the fighting between the kids, Myles might kill him. John William reluctantly went over to Maggie’s cell and opened the door, not because he was letting the bitch tell him what to do, but to cover his tracks with Myles.

  Maggie rushed into Shana’s cell. She gasped when she saw the bruises on Shana’s arms and legs. Shana looked as if someone had tossed her into a clothes dryer with large rocks. Gathering herself, she pushed forward to where Shana lay on her cot.

  “She’s bleeding from her mouth,” Cali said in low voice.

  “OK, Shana. Open your mouth. I need to take a look at what’s wrong,” Maggie urged.

  When she did, her tongue was swollen to twice its normal size. Maggie turned to John William and said, “I need you to get a bowl of clean water and a couple towels.”

  John William left the three girls in the cell and locked the door behind him. He returned a few minutes later with the items that Maggie requested. She soaked one of the small towels in water and gingerly began to clean Shana’s tongue. But as she wiped, the cuts kept bleeding. Maggie was able to see many slashes on Shana’s tongue.

  “OK, John William, you have to bring me a small glass, baking soda, and salt—right now!” Maggie ordered.

  John William’s angry eyes bored into Maggie.

  “I’m sorry, John William. Please, can you bring me the stuff I need?” she managed.

  When he returned with the three items, the first thing Maggie did was mix a palm full of salt into the glass of water. She looked at Cali and then over at Shana, who was only partly coherent. “Shana, I’m going to hold the glass so that you can take this salt water into your mouth. I don’t want you to swallow it. Just hold it in there for as long as you can and then spit it out.”

  Shana gave her a slight nod.

  Maggie moved closer. “It might burn. I don’t know. But it’s going to help.”

  Maggie helped Shana take in small amounts of the salt water until the glass was empty. Then she made a thin paste of baking soda and water. “OK, Shana. I need you to open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue as far as you can.”

  Maggie scooped the thin, white paste out of the glass with her small finger and covered Shana’s tongue with it. Then she stood and turned to Cali. “That’s all we can do for now. We need to make her gargle with salt water and put this paste on her tongue every hour or two.”

  Then Maggie looked at John William. “We need to sleep in here with Shana to put this paste on her tongue. It’s really swollen, and I’m scared something bad will happen to her when she’s sleeping.”

  John William left the cell without saying another word and
locked the door behind him.

  Cali watched Maggie for a minute. “How did you know what to do, Mags?” she asked, using the pet name that she came up with the week before.

  “I read it in one of the books that Dr. Barnes gave me. It’s all about home remedies. The salt water will help so the cuts don’t get infected and the baking-soda paste is supposed to help make it feel better and heal faster,” Maggie explained.

  “Wow. That’s some crazy shit, Mags. You did real good tonight. I didn’t know what to do to help her. I’m proud of you, baby,” Cali said, running her hand down Maggie’s arm.

  “Cali? I feel like it’s my fault that this happened to her. It looks like whoever she was with was really mean to her. Is there anything we can do to help her?” Maggie asked naively and with true concern.

  “I’m not sure there’s anything we can do right now, but I bet we can figure something out,” Cali assured her.

  Cali wanted to give Maggie hope that they would find a way to fight back. Cali knew deep in her heart that the odds of getting out or taking control were slim to none. But she wasn’t willing to dampen Maggie’s spirit or her belief that one day they would all be set free. She was pretty certain that day would never come for herself or for the others, but she had a feeling that Maggie’s fate would be different. She just hoped it was for the better.

  Chapter Nine

  Several months later, when the children were led to the room where clients looked them over so they could take their picks of the litter, an exotic woman named Sabrina was among the perverted freaks. She had been living with one of the cartel’s regulars for over a year. Her boyfriend, Bernie, was a kinky bastard, and kids really turned him on. After Bernie and Sabrina had dated for a couple of weeks, they decided to move in together. Shortly after they started living together, he broached the subject of kiddy porn with her. Over time, she became more open to the conversation, but she remained standoffish.

  Sabrina had no family, and since Bernie was a successful business owner who paid people to run his business for him, the two spent every minute of every day together. Bernie liked the fact that he was the only person who ever talked to Sabrina, and she seemed content with being cut off from the rest of the world. When he first told her about the group of children available to them, she was hesitant. Then, she began asking questions. How many were there? How old were they? Where were they kept? How much did they cost?

  None of her questions were ever answered. Bernie explained that she couldn’t know any of the details because that was the deal he’d made with the cartel that owned the children.

  “You and I can go there so that you can see them. I’ll let you pick whichever one you like. It’ll be so fucking good, believe me,” Bernie assured her.

  Finally, Sabrina agreed to indulge Bernie’s obsession with children, although she warned him that she didn’t know what to expect or how she would react to it.

  Bernie blindfolded Sabrina and drove to the abandoned prison. It was protocol to bring in newcomers that way until the cartel was certain the person could be trusted. Once inside the room, Bernie removed Sabrina’s blindfold, and she watched as the children removed their clothes for the audience.

  Sabrina’s heart raced as she stared at the innocent little human beings standing before them. When Sabrina’s eyes met Maggie’s, the woman was mesmerized. It was as if she could feel Maggie’s pain. Typically, clients never made eye contact, but an unspoken connection was made between the grown woman and the young child.

  Sabrina leaned into Bernie. “That one,” she whispered, pointing at Maggie. “I want that one.”

  Bernie turned to her and smiled. “You have very good taste, my dear. She is the most expensive of them all. She’s also the youngest. I’ve had her before, and she is just delicious.”

  Sabrina gave him a dim smile. “OK. Can we go now?” she asked.

  “No, darlin’, the show isn’t over yet. Just a few more minutes and we can go and purchase our goods,” Bernie said with excitement.

  Like soldiers, the children formed a line at the foot of the bed. The clients walked by them, and when Bernie got to Maggie, he put his mouth next to her ear. “My girlfriend has picked you. You are a very lucky little girl.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Maggie responded, as she had been taught to say when she was given a compliment.

  Maggie had lost all sense of ownership of her body. She nurtured her mind and turned her body over to the men who owned it. She didn’t fight it any longer. She had learned over time that fighting didn’t serve her well. Fighting them meant punishment, and her desire was to make it as easy on herself as possible. After all, she didn’t want to end up like Shana, being sold to the cruelest of the cruel.

  Thirty minutes later, Maggie was alone with the couple. Bernie took his clothes off and instructed his girlfriend and Maggie to do the same. He led Sabrina over to the bed and had her sit on the edge. Bernie instructed Maggie to stand in front of him. “OK, Maggie, I want you to give your uncle a blow job. Do it real slow so your aunt can see everything.”

  Maggie slowly got down on her knees, but before she could begin to give Bernie what he wanted, Sabrina stopped her. “Hold on now, Bernie. I thought little Maggie could just watch us. I mean, it would be a total turn-on to me to know that she’s peeking. You know, pretend like we’re her mom and dad and she is spying on us. Doesn’t that sound good?”

  Maggie waited with anticipation as Bernie thought about it. She’d never simply “watched” before.

  “Yeah, I like that,” Bernie stated. “But while we’re getting it on, I want you to sit on the chair over there and play with yourself.”

  Maggie rushed over to the chair and sat down. As the two adults engaged in sex, she stayed on the chair and did exactly what Bernie wanted her to do. The child was numb to all of it. Bernie kept his eyes glued to Maggie while he pursued his girlfriend. Every so often, Maggie would catch Sabrina looking at her not with lust, but with raw sadness.

  When it was all over, the three of them dressed while Bernie talked about what a great evening it had been. Sabrina grabbed her purse and dug through it until she found what she was looking for. “Here,” she said to Maggie, “do you like candy? I thought you might like it.”

  It had been a long time since Maggie had a piece of candy. John William fed them oatmeal for breakfast, peanut butter sandwiches for lunch, and boiled hot dogs with instant mashed potatoes for dinner. It was the same food day in and day out; it never varied.

  Maggie looked at the candy bar with longing as her mouth watered. “We’re not allowed to have treats like this. John William would never let me keep it. Thank you, anyway,” she said with regret.

  “Well, then John William doesn’t have to know. Right, Bernie? We’ll just sit here while you eat it,” Sabrina said, sitting on the small chair in the corner.

  Maggie took the candy bar from her and pulled the paper off as though it was Christmas morning. She bit into the candy and chewed as quickly as she could, as if someone would steal it from her. She gobbled the bar down in under a minute and looked at Sabrina.

  “Thank you. That was so delicious,” Maggie said.

  Bernie had watched the young girl and his girlfriend while all of this transpired. He didn’t care for the sentiment between Sabrina and the kid. In his mind, these kids were little sluts; he had never viewed them as human, and the exchange with Sabrina had ruined the image of Maggie in his mind’s eye. He preferred Maggie to remain a “thing” and not a person. That was part of the lure.

  “All right, enough of this shit,” Bernie stated. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  On their drive home, with Sabrina blindfolded again, Bernie lectured her about the candy bar incident.

  “What’s wrong with giving the little girl a candy bar?” Sabrina wanted to know.

  “That’s not the point, Sabrina. This is about sex; it ain’t about kids and being nice to them. She’s not your fucking daughter, OK? We go there for one thing. On
ce you start that sappy shit, you kill the whole mood. If you’re going to do that shit, then I’ll go by myself the next time,” Bernie stated.

  “OK, Bernie, OK. I won’t do it again. I promise. I want to go back with you, honey. I had so much fun tonight,” she sang sweetly.

  For the rest of the ride, Sabrina thought about nothing but the beautiful little girl they had left to be consumed by demons.

  Chapter Ten

  The next day, after showers, Maggie went to talk with Cali, who was sitting in Max’s cell with him.

  “Hi, guys. I wanted to tell you about that couple last night. The weirdest thing happened. After they…you know, well, the lady reaches into her purse and gives me a Nestle Crunch bar. Oh my God, it was so good! I forgot how much I love candy.”

  The two teens listened with a bit of envy. The kids never got any food other than what John William provided. Cali and Max remembered how wonderful it was to eat chocolate. They rarely allowed themselves to think about the amazing things that were no longer a part of their lives, but now they clung to this opportunity to live through Maggie.

  “Was it as good as I remember it being?” Max asked.

  Maggie nodded and smiled mischievously.

  “Oh man, did you let it melt in your mouth so that it coated your tongue? I used to love doing that,” Cali stated.

  “No, I gobbled it down as fast as I could. I was afraid the woman was playing a joke on me and would take it back. Or John William would come in, and I would be in trouble for eating it,” Maggie said, feeling gluttonous.

  Maggie had thought it would be a good story to share with her friends, but when she saw the nostalgia on their faces, it made her sad to have reminded them of something they’d lost. It was the small things that each had taken for granted before their captures that they missed most—a hug from a loved one, toilets that flushed, or taking a shower in private.

 

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