by Leah Wilde
There was a long pause where neither of them said anything, where Fiona just rubbed the back of Tori’s hand with her thumb. “Do you remember anything else?” Fiona whispered after several moments.
Tori bit down on her lower lip and nodded slowly. “I can talk about it, if you want,” she whispered.
“Only if you’re ready,” Fiona said. “But it could really help us. It could help us find the monster. We can turn him into the little shrimp that he really is.”
Tori lifted her free hand and brought it close to her face, staring at the fresh scars that lined her young skin. “The last thing I remember, I was waiting for my friends after soccer practice. We were going to go to this pizza parlor for dinner. But this guy was there…he was selling stuff, like cotton candy and caramel apples and junk, like carnival food. He said it was for charity. My friends…my friends laughed him off. He looked so weird, just this weird middle-aged guy hanging out around the high school. I felt bad for him. So I bought something. I walked away and ate it and then…I woke up in a dark room, tied up.” Tori paused and blew out her breath, struggling to keep herself composed well enough to keep telling her story. “I couldn’t tell when it was day or night because the room was so dark and the windows were covered. But I could tell there was a girl beside me, tied up. But she was knocked out, like she’d been there for weeks already. I tried to talk to her, but it never…she never answered.”
Tori took a long pause where she just sucked in air and breathed heavily, probably fighting off an impending panic attack, if Gage’s experience with Fiona was anything to go by. He was tempted to reach forward and take Tori’s other hand, just to give her something to hold onto, but he was worried that she might panic at having a man touch her right now, so he held himself back. Fiona patiently waited, a soft, encouraging smile on her face as she looked at Tori.
“He would come every couple of hours, I think. At some point, I thought, well, he must have a job where he can come and go as he likes because he’s always popping in and out of his own place. He’d come and untie me and do…stuff, and then he’d bring out his knife. He’d make little cuts at first, for the first couple of days. And then deeper. And then more deep, each day I was there,” she said, sighing heavily as she finished talking.
“Did he ever talk to you?” Fiona asked softly.
Tori nodded, visibly swallowing before she spoke again. “He said he was making a pie for God made up of the best ingredients, but that he’d take out my heart, give it to my parents for them to eat. He said they deserved that much,” she said with a humorless laugh that transformed into a sob halfway through.
“Jesus,” Gage whispered under his breath, softly enough that Tori and Fiona couldn’t hear him. He was just utterly disgusted, feeling the contents of his stomach twist around uncomfortably as a result of Tori’s words, but Fiona was calculating, her eyes burning with something that Gage couldn’t identify. One thing was clear—she was taking everything in, grabbing as much ammunition as possible to use against the killer.
“How did you get out?” Fiona asked. “Did you get out of your bonds or…?
“No,” Tori said, a sad smile spreading across her face. “No, I couldn’t even do that. One day, when I was really weak, he took the bonds off my feet and massaged my ankles with some kind of oil. At first….it felt….nice, in a way, like maybe he was sorry for what he’d done.” Tori paused to scoff, rolling her eyes at herself. “Ridiculous, right? No, I think it was just some part of the ritual, making sure I was pretty enough to be baked into a pie for God. Anyway, a couple days after that I realized what it meant. It’s so sad, right? It took me days, literally days, to realize that my feet being freed meant I could walk away. But I had to wait until I felt strong enough, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to get away fast enough. So one day, after he fed me and massaged my feet and left and I heard some door slam upstairs, I just started hobbling to where I saw this skinny little line of light. I figured it had to be the window, even though it was still covered up. I tore off the cover…and then I forced it open with my hands…” Tori paused again, lifting her hands to show where the glass had cut up her skin. She visibly swallowed, her throat working hard as she collected herself before speaking again. “I just climbed out and broke into a run and didn’t stop running until….well, you know the rest.” Tori tore her eyes away from Fiona, cradling her forehead in her hand for a second before peeking out through her fingers. “You know what the worst part is? I knew there was another girl tied up in there.” She shook her head and dropped her hand, sighing deeply before meeting Fiona’s eyes again. “And I didn’t do anything to help her.”
“That’s not true, Tori,” Fiona whispered, shaking her head. “You’re helping her now by getting yourself out and telling us what happened. It’s the only way you could have helped. You couldn’t have carried the other girl out of the window and gotten away with her. He probably would have come back by the time you got her out of the house, and by now, he would’ve killed both of you just to punish you for trying. But now you’re here, and you’re helping. You’re being so brave, darling.” Even from across the room, Gage could see Fiona tighten her grip over Tori’s hand, like she was clutching the girl to reality, keeping her from sliding off into the darkness again.
“I guess…” Tori murmured, though she didn’t sound entirely convinced, despite the overt sincerity of Fiona’s words.
“Do you remember where the dungeon was, Tori? Where he kept you? Do you think you could show us where it is?” Fiona asked after a short, loaded pause where the two young women just looked at each other.
Tori shook her head, her face falling like a wave of sadness just crashed over her. “No, I’m sorry. I just…I just ran, when I got out. I just ran until I found a road I recognized. I don’t think I could retrace my steps.”
“That’s okay; that’s okay, Tori,” Fiona rushed to say, patting her hands lightly. “You’ve given us more than enough. Believe me.”
Tori licked her dried and cracked lips, staring across the room at Gage for a second before looking back to Fiona. “Will you find him? Will you save her?”
Fiona sighed a little before nodding. “I’m going to do everything in my power to save her. I promise, Tori. And he’s going to pay for what he did to you. To all of you. This isn’t going to end here.”
Tori seemed to relax in response to Fiona’s words, her body sinking further into the hospital bed like the tension in her muscles had evaporated. “Okay,” she whispered, and she dropped her free hand on top of Fiona’s, squeezing it tightly. “Okay. Thank you.”
“No, no,” Fiona said, leaning over to press her lips against the top of Tori’s forehead. “Thank you.”
“Can I sleep now?” Tori asked in a soft, low voice, almost like she was afraid to make the request. But Fiona just smiled and nodded, getting up from the chair next to the bed.
“Of course. You get some rest,” Fiona said, finally dropping Tori’s hands after the girl shut her eyes, her forehead scrunched up with worry even as her breathing slowly began deeper and more even.
Gage and Fiona quietly left the room, walking down the hallway before even looking at each other. Gage knew Fiona didn’t want to give her opinion on the case close enough where Tori might hear it, in case any further discussion of the murderer was a potential trigger for the traumatized girl. When they were at a safe distance, Gage turned to face Fiona, staring at her expectantly, waiting for her to present her analysis of the case.
Instead, Fiona stared up at him with more pain in her eyes than Gage had ever seen her exhibit. “Take me home,” Fiona said, rubbing her own arms up and down like she was freezing.
“Okay,” Gage said, his hands itching to reach forward and pull Fiona into a hug. He held himself back, aware that sometimes Fiona didn’t like to be touched when she was upset. And she was clearly upset right now, even though she was trying to hide it. That’s my girl, he thought to himself as he followed Fiona back down the hospital hallway
. Always trying to be strong.
Chapter Seventeen
Fiona’s eyes burned all the way back to Gage’s apartment. She fought as hard as she could to keep tears from filling her eyes. She wouldn’t do that. She couldn’t, at least not until she got into a private place. At the same time, she could feel anxiety coming off of Gage, clearly worried about what to do. But Fiona didn’t have the energy to reassure him right now. She felt like her insides were coming apart, all of her cells running away from each other in an effort to avoid being touched by anything. She wanted to run away from herself. She wanted to come out of her body, to rip all her flesh off and pretend that she had never been violated. But it wasn’t that easy, she knew. She’d have to stay in her body and force all of her organs to calm down, to stay put, to go on like normal. But not tonight, she knew. For at least one night, she’d give herself permission to let herself fall apart, whatever that meant.
When they got back to Gage’s apartment building, Fiona broke into a brisk walk, wanting to get inside as quickly as possible. She expected Gage to tell her to slow down, but instead, he just ran after her, getting ahead of her with his keys in his hand. He must have known how she felt, despite their lack of verbal communication on the ride back. Any other time, she would have felt annoyed at Gage’s ability to understand her better than anyone else. It would have made her angry, even. But for now, she just felt relieved as he quickly unlocked the door and held it open for her, allowing her to step inside before him.
She walked into the living room, clutching her own arms in an attempt to shrink into herself and take up as little space as possible. Gage closed and locked the door before walking around her to the kitchen. “I’ll make us something to eat,” he said softly, going to the refrigerator.
There was something about him just then. Maybe it was the fact that he was trying to take care of her. Maybe it was that he was trying to distract her. Maybe it was just the way he looked under the dim lighting of the kitchen, the way the light caught his eyes and seemed to make something inside of him shine like moonlight. All Fiona knew was that her legs carried her forward of their own volition until she was standing right before Gage, her hand reaching out to close the refrigerator before he could take anything out. “Fiona?” he asked, his forehead wrinkling up in confusion as he looked at her, wordlessly inquiring about her intentions.
“Gage,” Fiona said, stepping forward until there was no space between their bodies, their chests brushing up against each other. “Gage, I need…I need….” She sighed and melted into him, pressing her head in the crook of his neck. She felt him stiffen next to her, obviously still confused and maybe even a little conflicted, but Fiona didn’t care. She needed him right now, even if it made her a bad person, even if she was corrupt and rotten and broken inside. She already knew all those things about herself, but Gage was the only thing that made her consider the possibility, however small, that maybe she didn’t have to change anything about herself.
“What is it, baby?” Gage whispered, his hand coming up to brush up against the back of Fiona’s head, pressing her deeper into his body.
“I need…to forget,” Fiona sighed, wrapping her arms around Gage’s body, clutching hard at his shoulders with her fingernails. “Please, please, I know it’s bad, but please. Help me forget.”
“What do I—” Gage started to say, but Fiona cut him off with her mouth, pressing their lips together so hard it practically hurt. Gage was passive beneath her touch for a long moment before she felt his body come roaring to life, turning them around so that he could press Fiona against the kitchen counter next to the refrigerator, his hands finding the hem of Fiona’s shirt and pressing his burning touch against her bare stomach and back.
“Please,” Fiona murmured into the space between their mouths the second they pulled apart an inch. “Please, please, help me, help me, help, I need it,” she begged, but she didn’t have the capacity to feel ashamed of herself right now. She was entirely consumed by the desire to be fucked, to be held down, and to be overtaken and protected by Gage’s capable hands.
“I’m with you, baby. I’m with you,” Gage whispered before melding their mouths together again, his tongue slipping in between her lips and massaging her insides gently yet firmly.
Fiona felt her hunger grow, bubbling up inside of her like a volcano, her hands pressing harder against his skin, shoving up underneath his shirt to get at his solid abdominal muscles. She scratched at his flesh, relishing the soft little moans that exited his mouth as she dug deeper into his skin. “Yeah, touch me, fuck me, do it,” she grunted as Gage’s mouth traveled from her own lips down to her jawline, slipping down to the sensitive flesh of her neck.
Gage growled a little then, a low possessive noise that sent chills reverberating down Fiona’s spine. He pulled back from her body for a second to tear her shirt over her head, doing the same to his own before pressing their heaving chests together as he slammed his mouth against hers. “So fucking hot. So fucking sexy, baby,” he muttered as he began applying a pathway of bites and licks and nibbles down the vein in Fiona’s neck, mouthing at her collarbone until Fiona squealed and grabbed the back of Gage’s head with both hands.
“Fuck the shit out of me. Fuck me as hard as you can,” Fiona demanded, the words falling out of her before her brain even processed them. Gage answered her by biting her hard on the shoulder, sucking her flesh between his teeth while she squirmed and moaned and cried out in a delicious mixture of pleasure and pain.
Meanwhile, Gage’s hands traveled down to her pants, fumbling with the button and zipper for a second before pushing them down to the ground. Fiona kicked out of them and brought her own hands down to yank at her underwear until they pooled down to the floor as well. She grinded her naked crotch against Gage’s clothed one, feeling his distinct hardness even through the fabric of his jeans. She needed him inside of her, as soon as possible, as close to “immediately” as he could.
Gage seemed to get the message, pushing his pants down the second after he fished a condom out of his pocket. But he put the condom down on the counter, clearly having other plans before he got to the literal fucking. Without warning, with his mouth still attached to Fiona’s neck, he reached under her body, wrapped his arms around her waist, and pulled her off the ground, depositing her on top of the counter. “I’m going to fuck you here,” he said before licking a hot stripe of sensation down Fiona’s chest, biting at the cleavage that popped out of her bra. “Why the fuck are you still wearing this, huh?” he demanded, pulling her bra straps down.
Fiona breathlessly reached behind her back to undo the clasp of her bra, throwing it across the room until it fell somewhere in the adjoining living room. She was now totally naked, totally exposed to Gage’s gaze, but she didn’t feel scared. She was exhilarated, her breath puffing out of her body so fast she thought she might pass out. But her blood rushed inside her veins like cars on a racetrack, demanding that she do something with her new energy. Goddammit, I’m alive, she thought to herself as she attacked Gage’s neck, sucking hard enough to leave a mark. I’m fucking alive. He didn’t get me. He didn’t defeat me. I’m fucking alive.
She wasn’t supposed to enjoy this, let alone feel liberated by it. Sex was supposed to be the thing that ruined her life, the thing that left her broken, forever disgusted by her own body. Instead, her body became the location of her revolution, the exact place where she could tell all the people who’d ever hurt her to go fuck themselves. They hadn’t taken anything away from her. They hadn’t won.
Gage suddenly dropped to his knees, spreading Fiona’s legs apart with his hands, rubbing her knees as he leaned in to drop soft kisses on her exposed cunt. “So fucking tasty and sweet,” he muttered as he began to lick between her legs, soft and delicately at first before applying more pressure to her clit, two of his fingers coming up to trace the outside of her labia.
“Unnnh, ohhh,” Fiona moaned, throwing her head back and almost knocking it on the hard surface of
the cabinet behind her. “Yeah, baby, just like that. Just like that. You know how I like it. Unngh, you know….you know how I fucking like it.”
Fiona’s leg muscles tightened up, going tense—in a good way, in a way that made her feel strong, her thigh muscles feeling powerful as they closed around Gage’s head, trapping him between her legs. “Yeah, that’s it, baby, that’s it,” Gage encouraged her in between long, wet kisses, dragging his tongue down the entire length of her pussy from her clit to her dripping hole.
Gage began nibbling at her lower lips, sucking a little as she moaned and jerked her hips forward, encouraging him to go harder and faster. “Fucking fuck me, yeah,” Fiona said before squealing a little as Gage attached his lips and teeth to her clit, sucking it hard for a long minute before pulling off and shoving two of his fingers inside of her without warning.
“Is that what you want? You want to be fucked?” Gage asked, his tone so self-confident and secure, so much so that Fiona would have yelled at him for his cockiness if she weren’t totally undone by his touch, thrusting her ass forward to get his fingers in as deep as possible.
