When the Dark Wins

by Addison Cain

  Is there really an animal waiting for me, or is it something else? I don’t want to fuck animals and even Lowell can’t be this damn depraved, can he? I won’t do it; no matter how much money he waves at me, no matter how much I promised him that I would stay with him for more than one night; I won’t fucking do it.

  “Good girl. Just walk straight and he’ll meet you halfway,” Lowell says with a sigh. I can hear him turn on his heel and clear his throat as he sits down on the bottom wooden step of the cellar, his eyes boring into my back.

  I take two tedious steps forward and stop when I hear the chain rattle again. Oh God; if it’s a hungry animal, it’s sure to kill me before I can get close enough to feed it. Maybe I should just place the tray on the ground in two more steps and pray it can reach its food, but I don’t. Not when Lowell makes me an offer.

  “Five hundred dollars just for walking all the way over to the other side of the room and giving the fucking thing its food,” he says in a bored, yet amused tone.

  It’s the first time I’ve heard him speak in such a way, and it tells me that he’s becoming comfortable with this little game he’s roped me into. The same game that I’ve been so willing to play with thoughts of a place of my own dancing in my head. Material objects for my life—that’s how he’s set this up and I unwittingly swan-dived into his trap head-on.

  “Are you gonna do it or are you gonna give up on the cash?” Lowell asks, blowing his breath out impatiently.

  Is it worth it? To go into the unknown with my life for the taking against an animal I know nothing about?

  The chains scrape along the floor again and Lowell chuckles. “You better hurry before he makes the decision for you. I should warn you though, if he does, you’re five hundred dollars poorer than you were when you got into my car.”

  I grip the sides of the tray tightly and take another step into the darkness. The sound of metal against the dusty floor greets my ears again, but I need the money and if this is all I have to do for it, then I might as well get it over with.

  Taking a deep breath, I make the rest of the walk quick work, place the tray down on the ground, and take a step back.

  “Here,” I say quietly as I turn to walk away.

  The movement is faster than anything I would have been able to see coming in the daylight had I been given that opportunity. A hand—a strong human hand—grips mine tightly and gives it a squeeze before letting go at Lowell’s command.

  It’s not an animal that he has chained in the basement. It’s another fucking human being and the fact that he sees it as an animal scares me more than anything else in this world ever has.

  I have to find a way to get out of here before I share the fate of whoever else has fallen into Lowell’s trap of wicked lies and deceitful monetary promises.

  “You shouldn’t be so rigid right now. Relax, Cessi because once the animal is done eating, you’re gonna earn your first grand. Aren’t you excited? That’ll put you at fifteen hundred, and in case you’re wondering, I’m more than good for the money,” Lowell says casually as he clears his throat.

  “What?” I ask feeling the world starting to spin around me.

  “You’re gonna do what you get paid to do. Fuck,” he explains in a newly bored tone.

  My hands are shaking as I wring them, trying to maintain my wits about me. I’m not sure exactly how much of a performance he expects out of me right now, and while I’m no stranger to having someone watch me when I’m working, I’m more concerned about the prospect of what he’s suggesting. Something tells me that Lowell isn’t offering himself up for the money—he’s offering his prisoner.

  I run a hand back through my hair and stand quietly next to Lowell as the animal eats their food. I can almost hear it devouring the meal and wonder when the last time it ate. Was it like me? Had so much time passed since food last passed its lips that it couldn’t remember? Would this be the last meal either of us had?

  Time passes slowly in this dark abyss and I’m praying that the animal slows down. I’m hoping beyond all hope that it’ll take its time at some point and remember to breathe between bites, but as quickly as it began eating, the tray is tossed in our direction.

  “What have I told you about that?” Lowell asks into the darkness, moving the tray away with the edge of his foot. “The very least you can do is be grateful that I even remember you on the nights that I do. Anyway,” he says as he gets to his feet and wipes dust off on his jeans. “You’re gonna get dessert tonight.”

  Lowell grabs me by the elbow and half drags me back toward the darkest corner of the room, pushing me into the unknown where I stumble and lose my footing. Luckily, the prisoner manages to catch me with their hands and keeps from crashing into the ground.

  I can feel the steady, hot breath against the bare skin of my arm as it keeps me held tightly in its hands. No. Not ‘it’—this is a human being and not an animal; no matter how much Lowell insists.

  “I’m gonna go upstairs and watch some television. Probably take that post-dinner nap too. I’ll be back later; hope you kids have fun,” Lowell says with a yawn as he picks the tray up from the ground. I can hear his footsteps retreating heavily on the wooden stairs as he makes his way back up to the first floor of his home leaving me here in the abyss.

  The prisoner lets go of my arms as soon as the door to the basement opens and closes. They let their hands trail down my bare skin before dropping them to the ground. With a quiet sigh, I can hear the chain rattle again quietly and then feel the overwhelming presence of them standing up in front of me.

  A hand that only moments ago held me so strongly, gently runs down the side of my face, and lifts my chin up toward a face I can’t quite see yet.

  A low grunt escapes the same being with the gentle hands as I’m pushed away. I stumble backwards and gasp as the chains scrape the ground again. I can’t see the figure clearly, but I think it’s crouched down low to the ground again, wanting to be left alone.

  “I’m sorry,” I say in a shaky voice. I hate speaking into the void because I know that someone is there with me, I just don’t know who—or what.

  A low, deep sigh is the only answer that greets my ear for the moment and it worries me that Lowell has put me in a situation that he knows will end me. Maybe this was his plan the entire time. Perhaps he didn’t want me to survive more than a few hours and he doesn’t have any money to pay me even if I do manage to best the animal that’s lingering in the shadows.

  “You don’t have to do this,” a voice suddenly says in a tone as soft as the hands that kept me from falling. It’s a man—I can tell that much now by the deepness of the tone and that puts me slightly at ease. Of course, that sense of ease dissipates just as quickly when I wonder how the hell Lowell got him down here.

  He’s much more dangerous than I gave him credit for, and whatever happens tonight will be my own fault for trusting such an innocent face.

  “Lie to him—tell him that we did; he’ll never know anything different,” he says to me, stepping closer. My heart is starting to race as he runs his hand gently down my neck, over my stomach, and slides an arm around my waist. “Or if you don’t think you can lie to him, I can be quick. I won’t hurt you regardless of what you decide. I’m not him.”

  “What’s your name?” I ask him in a shaky voice. His body pressed so close to mine is making me tremble more than I did standing watch over Lowell and I can’t quite place why yet.

  “It won’t do either of us any good to get too personal,” he says pulling away from me. “But if you need something to address me by, he calls me Stone.”

  I take a step back and try to focus in the darkness—to see even the slightest glimpse of the man standing before me, but it’s damn near hopeless.

  “Okay. Um. Well, I guess we should get this over with then,” I say quietly, as I bite my lip and reach down to pull my panties off. Even in the situation I’m in, I’m kind of glad that I had the mind to wear a skirt tonight.

  Sto
ne scoffs as he walks over to the wall, almost knocking me over on the way, then suddenly the room is semi-illuminated in the moonlight. I can see him now, naked as the day the is long, marks all over his body, like he’s been cut over and over again. He crosses his strong arms over his chest and smiles slightly when he sees that I’m frozen, half bent over, staring at his face. An animal he’s not, but I can completely understand why Lowell christened him ‘Stone’. He’s got the most beautiful, sleepy, light blue eyes I’ve ever seen, and his face is as strong as the rest of what I can see of him. A square, muscular jaw, a mischief that seems misplaced in our current state has a hold of his expression and it takes everything I have to finally tear my eyes away from him and finish pulling my panties off.

  But it doesn’t escape me that he’s standing slightly turned so that I can’t see him completely yet and it’s making me nervous.

  I bunch them up in my hand, looking around for a place to put them for now, when he holds his hand out. I look at it for a moment—open and outstretched, waiting patiently. I sigh and place my panties in his hand and he brings it up to his nose, inhaling deeply.

  “It’s been so long since I’ve smelled a woman,” he says wistfully. “You’ll have to forgive me for a moment, but if you’re really thinking of doing this, I may take a little longer than I said—just to relish the taste of you.”

  “It’s okay,” I say quietly as I smooth the hem of my skirt. “Um, so on the floor then?”

  “Wait. I have to show you something first,” he replies seriously. “There’s a reason he calls me an animal and an even bigger reason he treats me like one. Come here.”

  I stare at him for a moment. The last time I trusted someone so easily I ended up underneath their goddamn house with a man chained to a wall, instructed to fuck him.

  “Listen, you’re going to have to trust me right now. It’s either me or Lowell at this point and believe me when I tell you, you do not want to let him take you into his bedroom. I’ve heard screams that fucking haunt me when I try to sleep. Which is probably why I barely do,” he admits with a tired laugh.

  “What did you want to show me?” I ask, not taking a step toward him. I don’t trust either of them at this point, and honestly if I had to choose, well it’s better the devil you know, and the one that I somewhat know is upstairs somewhere.

  “Alright,” Stone says, running a hand over his face. “Lowell likes to hurt things he finds beautiful—a lot; to the point of disfigurement. I don’t know why I’ve lasted so long, but the one that was here before looked like a nightmare compared to me.”

  I raise an eyebrow and try to look him over, but he takes a step back into the shadows and I’m left with more questions and fear than I had before I could see him.

  “There’s no way to soften the blow of this, so I’m going to step fully into the light. Don’t be afraid of me; I’ve already told you that I won’t hurt you.”

  “Okay,” I reply shakily. I close my eyes. I don’t know why, but the child in me doesn’t want to see anymore monsters tonight, even though the woman in me knows that I have no say in the matter.

  “It’s okay to look at me,” he says in a gentle tone. He sounds almost kind, as if he wants to make this easier on me than him. As if he’s accepted his fate and is trying to help me accept mine, but I refuse to be just another chained beast kept hidden from the world until I’m ready to be put to use.

  “You haven’t told me your name yet.” The chain rattles quietly as he gathers it in his hand; metal upon metal made to hold this man in place until his master deems him worthy to be free.

  “Cessi,” I reply quietly, my eyes still closed tightly. I don’t feel that I have to lie to him and hide behind the façade that’s Burgundy when he’s so willing to expose himself to me.

  Body and soul.

  “Cessi,” he echoes softly. “I like it. It’s as pretty as you are. You can open your eyes now, Cessi; I’m in the light.”

  I take a few, quick deep breaths, terrified of what I might see as I slowly begin to open my eyes. I make sure to keep my eyes as level as they were before I closed them so now, at the very least, I’ll be looking at his chest when I finally find the courage to open them completely.

  “Take your time. I’m not going anywhere,” he jokes with a soft laugh.

  I return his laugh in spite of myself, because it’s the truth; neither of us are going anywhere. Not until we die first or Lowell decides we can, and considering I’m not a gambling type of gal, I know better than to hold my breath for the latter.

  I sigh and begin to open my eyes deciding that the worse of the two torments I’m facing right now is plunging myself back into voluntary darkness.

  The first thing I see is the marks on his bare chest. They’re angry; vicious, almost like he’s been clawed, and it’s enough to make me weak in the knees. Not the way he probably would have hoped, but in the manner that I know is befitting of the situation we’ve found ourselves in.

  “Look up at my face first; it’ll be easier that way,” Stone says softly.

  I can see that he’s breathing a little harder as I do what I’m commanded and let my eyes trail up to his neck. That’s the source of the chain; a thick collar sits around the flesh of his throat and it holds him in the place where Lowell has set him to rot and die.

  The left side of his face is majestic and strong, but now that I can see him completely, I can’t help but take a step back in fear.

  “I told you; he likes to mutilate beautiful things,” Stone reminds me with a soft chuckle and a shrug.

  The right side of his face—it looks like he’s the victim of an unwanted acid bath. His skin is shriveled and his eye isn’t as blue as the other, it almost looks white. He watches my face carefully with his dead eye and smiles slightly.

  “I wish I could say that’s the worst of it,” he begins quietly, “but I need you to look at my hands now—and when you’re ready, I’ll move them away.”

  In this moment, I can say that I finally understand the power of subliminal messages. He’s hiding something behind his hands, something more horrendous than his face, and it’s causing me to wring mine viciously. I have to make myself stop because I’m twisting my hands so violently, that I’ll break the bones if I don’t stop soon. But I know that what he’s protecting so valiantly right now is meant to shock me and potentially scare me out of a hell of a lot of money. I won’t give in as easily as Lowell wants me to—not with my simple dreams sitting so close at hand.

  I need this money and I’ll do whatever I have to do in order to get it.

  I use the back of my hand to wipe away the perspiration from my mouth and nod. “I’m ready.”

  He hesitates for a moment, and I can sense his embarrassment before he slowly begins to move his hands away. My eyes aren’t focused, so it doesn’t dawn on me right away what he’s been hiding until he takes a step closer to me.

  The light illuminates his body almost completely now and I take a deep breath, biting down my tongue, careful not to react in a boorish way.

  “This is why he calls me an animal,” Stone says quietly as he crosses his arms tightly over his chest, “and why he treats me like one.”

  “Does it… does it hurt?” I finally ask in a hushed tone.

  “Not anymore.”

  I nod and turn my face away as Stone steps back into the darkness. He makes his way back toward the window and fixes the makeshift curtain back into place. The small hope of escape, the slight glimmer of light we had, is gone now as his chains rattle again and he lowers his body in a huff back to the ground.

  “So, if you’d rather lie to him now, I understand,” he says with an amused laugh.

  I close my eyes tightly praying for the void to swallow me whole, but I can still see it. It’s clearer to me now that I’m trying to shake it from my mind and I can’t help but feel some pity for the man being held prisoner.

  His dick—or what used to be his dick—has been viciously disfigured. Most of it is
skinned and the very end has been shaped into something reminiscent of a wild beast. It’s not smooth and shaped as a man’s should be, instead it’s raw, with a crescent shaped tip, and I’d be surprised if it still worked.

  “You’re afraid of me now, aren’t you?” he asks quietly.

  “No,” I reply truthfully. “I’m afraid of Lowell.”

  “Smart girl,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper. “I wasn’t when he brought me here, and this is my reward. I fought back—tried to win my freedom, but the master of the house doesn’t like that. He’ll change you; shape your body into what he feels your inside looks like, and just when you think he’s done with you, the worst is yet to come, my dear Cessi.”

  How could it possibly get worse than this? The instant the thought forms in my head, I regret it. I’m still in one piece and Stone is damn near hacked to pieces and reformed into something that I can’t quite understand.

  “You know, there was a time when I used to think that the worst feeling in the world was being used, but it’s not. It’s being wanted—really wanted—by a madman,” he says thoughtfully.

  “Used?” I repeat in a shaky tone. I open my eyes again only to find nothing but the dark and resign myself to the fact that until Lowell feels that we’re worthy of seeing the light of day again, I’ll have to make the best of the unknown.

  “Mhm.”

  “What do you mean by used, Stone?” I ask quietly. I know exactly what he means, but if this is why I’m really here, I want to hear the words come from his lips.

  “What did you do with your life, Cessi?” he asks, the chains scraping slightly as I assume he’s attempting to get comfortable.

  “I… uh… I did—I mean do things. For money,” I respond meekly.

  “Me too. That’s how he found me and the one that was here before me. Lowell has something against what we do for a living, but I was never a whore, you know?”

  The way he says the word, with such disdain for what another chooses to do with their life, makes me feel even more worthless than I do trapped in Lowell’s personal Hell.