by K E Osborn
“No? Not the legs? Okay then, the legs it is,” she says and leans down putting Bertha on my naked flesh. I squirm and little terrified noises are escaping me while Loretta laughs. This is torture. I feel disgusting that this thing is crawling on me and as it slowly moves up my leg the hair from it tickles my skin. My heart is pounding ferociously as it makes its way up my left leg and then onto my shirt heading upward toward my chest.
I’m breathing sharp, shallow fast breaths while the tears fall down my face. “Loretta please take it off,” I murmur. I don’t want to talk too loud in case it makes the spider move quicker.
“Oh, no way. I want to see Bertha crawl all over your face,” she says and I tense up as the spider reaches my chest and is inching closer to my neck.
I cry harder now and my entire body is shaking as Bertha eases up my neck. I start to make small petrified noises as she climbs up my neck and over my cheek. I clench my eyes shut and wish I had the strength in me to shake my head, but I’m completely paralyzed with fear. Her hairy legs stick into my face as she climbs over it. I feel dirty and as I squirm, I hear Loretta laughing. I’m concentrating on keeping my mouth and eyes firmly closed. Bertha climbs up and onto the top of my head and I can’t feel her anymore and that’s even scarier than knowing where she is.
“This is hilarious,” Loretta says through a fit of laughter and I really hope Dad follows through on his threat to hurt her right now. I badly want to open my eyes to see if I can see where the spider is, but I’m so scared that when I do it will crawl back down my face.
“Open your eyes, Acacia,” Loretta says and I shake my head and keep my eyes and mouth firmly closed.
“Open your eyes, or I’ll open them for you,” she demands and I slowly open one eye and then the other looking all around me to see if I can see it anywhere.
I can’t.
I start to bellow out loud sobs and Loretta laughs looking at me.
“Oh Acacia, that was worth it. Now let me think of what else I can do to you,” she says bringing her finger up and taping her lips. “Oh, I know, let’s have matching thumbs,” she says and I shake my head and breathe faster.
“No Loretta, please don’t,” I beg and she nods.
“Okay, no matching thumbs. I’ll let you sit for a while wondering where Bertha is.That should be torment enough for you, for now,” she says and I look around to see if I can see the disgusting arachnid. I can’t see it anywhere.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I ask through a sob and she grins.
“You had your chance for this not to happen, Acacia. I asked you nicely for money and you turned me down flat. You brought this on yourself, you stupid bitch,” she says and looks me in the eyes and smirks.
“I’m sorry I ruined your life, Loretta, but I didn’t choose to be born.”
“Well, I didn’t want you to be either. I tried everything to get rid of you and then when you were born. I tried to get rid of you for the next six months, but the bloody system made me try and take care of you. When they saw I was starving you and the severe nappy rash you had from me not changing your diapers, well that’s when they finally intervened. Thank God they did because those six months were the worst of my life. I got fat because of you. My cunt was never the same so no man would look at me as they did before you. You ruined everything and when you were so close to death it made me jump for joy. That’s when they came and took you away from me. I couldn’t have been happier.”
“If you hated me so much, why did you come looking for me?”
“After they took you, the agency I mean, I sucked off the manager to find out who had adopted you. I wanted to find you, so I could rid the world of your evil. But then a couple of weeks later in the papers, Colt and Lia announced their brand new baby girl and where they got her from. I looked at the photographs and saw you, and I knew it was you from the freckle on your right shoulder. I resolved at that moment to let you live your life and that my day would come where I could find out for sure if it was you. Then I knew I’d be able to take advantage if your situation as I needed it. Times were tough, but I knew Colt was teaching you music and there was a chance you would turn into a superstar yourself. I patiently waited twenty years until you finally made it big enough that I knew my payday would be massive. And now my time has finally come,” she says and laughs. I shake my head and she walks over to the desk and opens a small bag placing some white powder on the table. I tense up and watch as she sorts the drugs into a line and uses a straw to snort it up her nose. I cringe and shake my head at her. Something catches my sight and I see Bertha crawling across the floor away from me and I relax a little.
“I think it’s time you get reacquainted with your old best friend,” she says and I furrow my brows wondering what the hell she’s on about. She puts her finger into the bag and scoops out some more white powder. I’m assuming it’s cocaine or something along those lines. I tense my body as she walks over and places her hand over my mouth tightly, so I can’t breathe.
“You’re going to have to breathe through your nose if you want air, won’t you honey?” she asks and then raises her finger with the power right up under my nose. I try to shake my head away from her, but she holds onto me tightly. I hold my breath for as long as I can.
“C’mon Acacia, the quicker you take it in, the better,” she says and I struggle to hold my breath. My lungs are burning and I really need some oxygen. I can’t hold it any longer, so I sniff up through my nose trying to get any air I can and the powder invades my nostrils. I close my eyes tight, screaming in my head for Aston to find me.
“Good girl. Now you can feel what it was like when you were born, having cocaine in your system like you’re meant to,” she says and releases her hand from my mouth and chuckles to herself.
I open my eyes and they roll around in my head. I can feel the effects of the drug instantly and I don’t like it one bit. My body is shaking, and I’m not sure if it’s from the fear, from the drug, from my broken finger or from the fact that I’m trapped and tied to a chair in Loretta’s basement.
This is fucked!
The metallic tang of blood is back in my mouth and I’m pretty sure Loretta opened up my lip wound again when she had her hand squishing my mouth tightly shut. I spit the blood out onto the floor and she looks at me and smirks.
“Did I make you bleed again, honey?” she asks gently like she’s trying to put on a motherly voice.
I don’t reply with anything and shift slightly in my seat.
“Oh Acacia, don’t be silent, it’s unnerving.”
“What do you want me to say?”
She smiles and tilts her head. “Good question. Maybe I’m sorry for ruining your life. I’m sorry I’m a waste of space. I’m sorry I have a dickwad father and an arsehole for a mother, and I owe you so much money you won’t know what to spend it on first.”
“I’ve said I’m sorry, Loretta.”
“Yes, but you didn’t mean it,” she says and I tense up waiting for her to hit me again. She walks across to me and raises her hand and then her mobile rings distracting her.
We both look over at the table and it seems to be moving. The legs have feet and it’s walking around the room. I giggle slightly and Loretta looks back at me.
“Are you high?” she asks, walking over to the phone and then I realise it’s not normal to see a walking table. So yes, I must be hallucinating. I shake my head as she answers the phone.
“Hello,” she says trying to sound sweet and innocent. It doesn’t fool me.
“Oh! Hi Colt. I’ll put you on speaker so Acacia can hear,” she says and then presses a button.
“Annie? Annie are you there?”
I straighten up hearing Dad’s voice and I start to cry. “I’m here, Dad.” My voice sounds angelic and then I giggle at it.
“Annie, are you okay? Why are you laughing?” he asks and I shake my head trying to focus.
“Because she is high, Colt. On cocaine… one of your favourite past tim
es,” Loretta says with a chuckle and then there’s silence on the phone.
Eventually Dad speaks, “What do you want, Loretta?” His voice is hard.
“Money, I want a million dollars in my bank account and I will give Acacia back to you,” she says and I smirk, but I don’t know why.
“Done! How ‘bout we meet and I give it to you in cash? Then you’ll have the money and you can leave our lives and we never have to see each other again,” he says and Loretta smiles.
“Sounds good to me. Meet me in the park in fifteen minutes. If you bring the cops, I’ll slit her throat,” she says.
I tense up again, but can’t help the giggle that slips out of my throat as an image of Loretta slitting my throat and rainbow blood pouring out flashes through my brain.
“Annie, are you okay?” Dad asks and I nod my head.
“Yep, feeling quite good actually, Dad. The pain in my thumb hardly hurts at all now,” I say and giggle.
“What did she do to your thumb?” he demands and I wiggle it and pain rips through me making me moan out loud.
“Annie!” Dad calls out and Loretta laughs.
“Fifteen minutes, Colt. And don’t forget no cops or Annie’s cut throat will be on your head,” she says and then hangs up the phone.
“How are you feeling? Flying high with the birds yet?” Loretta asks and a bluebird flies around my head and sits on my shoulder chirping loudly. I giggle again and tilt my head caressing the bird with my cheek. “That’s a yes. C’mon let’s get you into the car,” she says and unties my ankles from the feet of the chair and stands me up. I wobble on the spot slightly and she catches me.
“Right! Walk!” she berates and as I take each step it’s like I’m stepping on soft liquid and it’s rushing up my legs. I chuckle watching the purple liquid slowly creep up my naked legs. We walk up the stairs and it’s hard to walk up stairs with your hands behind your back, but Loretta helps me and we make it to the top. She unlocks the door and we move out to the car. The purple is getting higher up my legs and it feels like silk. I love silk. The little bluebird is flying around me and I watch it as it chirps happily.
“In you get,” she says and opens the car door for me and I sit down with a thump on the seat. It’s uncomfortable having my hands behind me, but I don’t mind because the purple liquid is making me happy. She gets in the driver’s side and we start the drive.
“Would you actually slice my throat?” I ask and giggle.
Loretta looks at me and smirks. “Yes honey, I would do it without a second thought.”
“And would I bleed rainbows?”
“No honey, you would die,” she taunts and it shocks me. I sit up straight in my seat and look down at the purple and it starts to move differently. It’s separating and as I look closer I see thousands of tiny bugs running up my legs. I scream and shake in the chair trying to get them off me.
“What the fuck?” Loretta barks and I jump around trying to get the bugs off my legs.
“The bugs, get them off me!” I yell and Loretta laughs.
“It’s an illusion, Acacia. They’re not really there,” she says and I scream loudly as they start to burrow under my skin.
“They’re getting inside me, Loretta. Stop them!” I yell and she laughs loudly.
“The bug trips are the worst,” she tells me and I shake my legs trying to get them off, but it isn’t working. I scream loudly as they race up my body and toward my mouth.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, stop screaming,” Loretta says, but I can’t stop screaming. The bugs are under my skin and I can’t move my hands to get them off.
“Oh, fuck it!” Loretta then clenches her fist and smashes it into the side of my face. The pain rips through me and as the bugs invade every part of me I drift into unconsciousness.
My body is violently shaking and instead of there being music notes flying through the air as I sleep, there’s nothing but a vast blackness. I shake again, as the ringing in my ears is overpowered by a scratchy voice.
“Acacia, wake the fuck up,” Loretta says and my body shakes again. I open my eyes wide to see her leaning over me shaking my shoulders. “Oh, thank fuck. I didn’t think I hit you that hard,” she says and then pulls my shoulder dragging me out of the car.
I’m a little unsteady on my feet, and it takes me a second to adjust and figure out where we are. The sun is rising in its beautiful pink and aqua shades and the yellowish orange floating through the sky makes me think of angels. I smile as the little bluebird is back and flying around my head.
My head.
Fuck! My head!
I moan slightly as the pain in my body suddenly rips through me. My lips are sore, my head is pounding and my thumb is causing me excruciating pain.
“Where are we?” I ask as my body wobbles from side to side.
“The park. Your parents are on their way,” she says and I smile at the thought of seeing them.
Then my thoughts flash to Aston. He was on the floor with blood pooling from his head.
Oh God!
He better be all right, I couldn’t stand it if he’s badly hurt. Loretta pulls me and I stumble forward. I look around the dimly lit park and there’s no one else here. In the early morning dawn, it seems eerie and quite unsettling.
“Walk faster,” she tells me while dragging me along with her.
I try to walk faster, but my feet aren’t cooperating. I stumble and go to fall forward. I hope Loretta will grab me, but I continue to fall and with my hands behind my back I have nothing to stop me. I fall face first into the gravel and I moan out in pain as it scrapes along my face and legs.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake Acacia, can’t you even walk now?” she asks leaning down pulling me up by my hair. I scream when she yanks on my hair. I can’t help myself to get up, so she pulls me and my head aches that badly that I instantly have a migraine. I feel like I want to vomit and my mouth floods with saliva. I hunch over as my stomach lurches and throw up right by Loretta’s shoes.
“Oh, Jesus Christ. You really can’t handle drugs can you?” she says and pulls me to the side as I cough and splutter.
“C’mon, let’s sit you down before you fall again,” she says and I walk in a dazed state on the grass. It soothes my feet from the harshness of the gravel.
She drags me along to the park bench under the tall oak tree that looks like it has arms with long stick-like fingers all pointing down toward me like it wants to eat me or something.
I hate this tree!
She sits me down and she stands next to me as I sway on the spot, even though I’m sitting down. She pulls out a large knife from the back of her pants and my eyes open wide while I stare at it.
Shit! Maybe she isn’t joking about slicing my throat?
“They shouldn’t be long now, Acacia. You’ll be back with your family and I’ll have my million. See it wasn’t so bad was it?” she asks and the little bluebird flies down and sits on my shoulder. I smile at the bird as it chirps happily.
“Answer me!” Loretta demands and I look up at her and smile.
“Sorry, what?” I ask and she groans and goes to slap me again when I hear someone yelling out.
“Don’t you dare hurt her,” Mum calls out and I look behind Loretta to see Mum, Dad and Aston.
Oh God, Aston’s okay! I sigh a breath of relief and slump down into the seat. Loretta pulls me up and I stumble again and then she raises the knife in her hand letting them know she has it. All their eyes widen and they slow their pace to a slow walk.
“Annie, are you okay?” Aston calls out as the three walk toward us.
“I’m not sure,” I answer honestly because I’m feeling hotter than usual and I know I’m hallucinating because bluebirds don’t just come and sit on your shoulder.
“If you’ve hurt her, I swear to God!” Aston says rushing forward and Loretta pulls my hair forcing me to my knees. I squeal and they all race forward until they’re just in front of us. Loretta puts the knife up to my neck and I fe
el the cold, sharp metal pressing against my skin. It sends a shiver down my spine.
“Loretta, we have your money, just let her go,” Dad says while Mum looks at me and starts to cry.
“Give me the money, then I let her go,” she says and Dad throws the bag over to her.
She smiles and presses the knife harder into my throat. I squirm and Aston steps forward.
“You have your money, now let her go, or so help me God I will kill you with my bare hands!” Aston says and I look at his face and he’s fuming. His nostrils are flaring and his face is bright red. I can’t help but notice the blood stain in his hair and it makes me want to cry.
“I’d like to see you get to me before I slice her open,” Loretta replies and smirks.
Aston races forward and Loretta digs the tip of the blade into my throat cutting the skin. I scream at the pain and Aston stops in his tracks and puts his hands up in surrender.
“Okay fine, just let her go. You have your money,” he says as Dad holds onto Mum while she cries.
“Unzip the bag and show me the cash,” she says and I watch them all tense up.
Aston looks back at Dad and he nods. He steps forward and unzips it and pulls out a wad of monopoly money. I gasp and brace for the knife to slice my throat further.
She groans and pulls me up by the hair. “I think I’ll stab her so she bleeds out slowly instead,” Loretta says and pulls her hand back ready to slam the knife into my chest.
“No,” Mum screams out. I look at Aston and try to show him with my eyes that I love him.
He looks away from me and across to the bushes and just as Loretta brings her hand down with the knife I hear three loud bangs. I close my eyes scared of the noise and brace myself for the impact. Loretta’s hand lets go of my hair and I suddenly feel strong arms wrap around me tightly. The hair on my arms stand to attention and I get a tingle throughout my entire body. I open my eyes to see Aston embracing me, and I instantly start to cry. He nuzzles into me and holds me to him so tightly that I feel like I can’t breathe.
“I got you, baby. You’re okay,” he says and then I feel him move and reach behind me undoing my tied hands. He pulls the rope free and I jump into his arms wrapping them around his neck and holding onto him for dear life. “You’re okay. I got you. I’ve got you,” he says sounding more like he’s trying to reassure himself than me.
