It was dark. It was cold. It was damp. Elizabeth knew she was alive. She felt her hands above her stretched on either side. There was enough slack that she could slump forward like she was now. Those goons had thrown her in here at some point she didn't know. The larger one had only had to take one very solid swing to the side of her cheek for her to not remember a single thing after that until she woke up. Which she thought had been three hours ago, Elizabeth didn't know what time it was now though.
It would definitely be time for her to open her store. It would be time for her father to call her in the morning and then again at lunch. It would be time for her feed Beetlejuice. God, she needed some friends. Elizabeth would make some real friends after she made it out of here. She promised herself that when she made it out of this twisted dream she was in, she would marry a nice man and have lots of little babies with him. Her thoughts drifted to the naked man who had wondered into her store. He was a nice man. She hoped. Maybe he was the one who was holding her here. Elizabeth fucking hoped he wasn't responsible for this. That would ruin it.
Her swollen cheek throbbed and her shoulders were sore from being pulled back. Elizabeth had cried for the first hour when she woke up. And when she thought of the worry her dad must be going through made her want to start all over again, but she was too exhausted for tears. Yet sleep eluded her. Elizabeth's stomach growled. She had thrown up her last meal after crying so much her body had succumbed to heaving.
No one had came in here since she'd been awake. It had left her alone to her thoughts. Why was she here? Who had brought her here? What would happen to her next? The wait for someone to arrive was painful. But the fear of someone coming and giving her pain made her lip tremble. She had to stay strong if she were going to make it out of this alive. And she had to make it out of this alive. Someone had to take care of her dad. She conjured up his face in her minds eye. His white mustache that always smiled when he smiled and his twinkling hazel eyes. Elizabeth's father liked to tell her that she had her mom's jewel blue eyes, and that he had fallen in love with her mother when he saw her bat those eyes at him.
A small sob did escape from Elizabeth's lips. She really hoped she made it out of this so she could feel his arms squish her against his big belly. That thought gave her some comfort. Whatever comfort that could be brought from that thought in this moment. So, Elizabeth tried to find another reason to have hope. I am alive, her mind pointed out again. The pain was minimal for now. That was almost all there was for now. Elizabeth breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. Trying to focus on breathing the way her therapist had told her to do when things became too stressful and she could feel the anxiety creeping up. Just breathe, Beth, she could hear her dad's voice in her mind.
She was going to go crazy in here in this cold endless darkness. But the voice calmed her. Her body shivered. There weren't any sounds that she could hear. Nothing but the sounds of her own breathing and her own beating heart. It was hard to stay hopeful. Her lids felt very heavy again. A smile came to her lips. Yes, maybe she could sleep again. Store the energy she had left. Elizabeth focused on keeping her breathing even and her eyes stayed closed. She forced her body to relax with her knees touching the ground but not resting the full weight of her body on them. It being impossible with the pull on her shoulders behind her.
The cool air made her shiver, and she couldn't remember how she got outside. She stretched her shoulders and sighed in bliss. Small luxuries she didn't know she would miss. Elizabeth looked up at the moon, it was almost full. How many more days was it until the full moon? Seven days? But the glowing orb was almost full now. There was a missing sliver that she knew would fill with the counting hours. Elizabeth felt excitement for the full moon in a way she never could remember feeling before. Tonight she felt like the moon was beautiful amongst the tree tops. The tips of the tall trees just barely touching the rising moon, they were begging to touch the creamy light.
Elizabeth looked down at her body as another shiver went through her body. She was naked. Her arms instinctively wrapped themselves around her middle in a defensive move to hide her modesty. Even though there was no one with her. She gave her focus back to the moon. It made her feel welcome in its light. And besides she wasn't planning on leaving it's circle of safety. So powerful. The hairs on the back of her neck rose and goosebumps appeared underneath her fingertips. She took her gaze away from the moon and looked forward in front of her. There in front of her stood a creature out of sci-fi.
It stood on two legs. It was at least eight feet tall with long arms that had sharp black claws attached to it. The body was covered in a silver fur with the tips of the fur a frosted white, making the fur look like it shimmered with the beast's movement. She wanted to be afraid of this thing. The face was stretched with an snout and glowing orangish-gold eyes. It's ears tipped with black were pointed up to the moon she had just been gazing at. She wanted to scream and run away. But her heart never beat faster than a calm thud. Even when the beast bent forward transforming into a wolf the size of a bear, her heartbeat didn't change.
It bared its teeth and let a low growl go. She didn't think the silver creature would harm her, but it's teeth looked like they were begging for her flesh. Elizabeth found herself wondering if it's fangs would give her pain or pleasure. She would never know how the sting of its bite would feel because she was awoken to a real life pain in her abdomen. Someone had kicked her hard. She was suddenly very grateful for the empty stomach, because if she had eaten something earlier it would have came up now. Even though her stomach hurt, she looked up to try and see who the person was that had attacked her. Elizabeth could see little more than a shadow that was above her.
"Don't worry, boss man says we can't hurt you even if it would be fun to rough up a biddy like yew." She recognized that voice as one of the men that had taken her yesterday. How many days had she been here now? It didn't matter. She was still alive. The goon didn't bother to turn on the lights so she couldn't see his face or much of his body, but if she was right about the voice it was the one that was bouncing off the walls during her kidnapping. Elizabeth was opening her mouth to reply, but something was shoved in her mouth. It took her mind a moment to process that it was something she could eat, Bread. Basic white bread. It tasted good. The bread was surprisingly fresh and fluffy and she swallowed it way too quickly.
Another piece was shoved into her mouth to replace the last and again Elizabeth chewed the piece way too fast. She was grateful for the small show of kindness even if it wasn't real kindness. At least they had remembered to feed her. She pulled herself into more of a standing position.
"Why have you taken me? Who is your employer?" Elizabeth asked before he could shove more bread into her mouth. The man cackled at her words and she was back handed across the face. She felt her bottom lip split with the impact. The taste of blood over took the last taste of bread. She groaned in pain.
"Please talk again so I can do that again. No questions." She didn't have to see him to know he was shifting his feet back and forth. Elizabeth could hear the shuffling. It sounded like it echoed through the room. Maybe she was in a cemented cell? Or it could be a metal enclosed cell? She licked her bottom lip wincing as she did so because it hurt. Elizabeth spit the blood from her mouth out onto the ground.
"I thought your boss said you couldn't hurt me." Elizabeth dared to say knowing he had just made it clear he would hurt her again if she spoke. The blow she was expecting didn't come.
"I don't think I'm hurting you. I'm teaching you your place. Boss didn't say I couldn't do that." Steps walked away from her and she heard a creak to a door then a loud thud and then something slide in to place. That had to be a lock from the outside. Her chest heaved up and down. Breathe, Elizabeth. You have to survive. She focused on that thought for what seemed like forever as she just breathed. It was the only thing she was able to have control over right now in her current situation.
Her thoughts drifted back to her dad. She had no idea how much time had passed. It had to be a new day. There was no way that her dad hadn't figured out that something was wrong. They communicated at least two times a day. She hadn't spoken to him since lunch Wednesday. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat. Elizabeth felt her head hang low. It was hard to focus on breathing when her throat felt like choking her now to put her out of this terrible cold darkness. She was probably going to die just because she was going to catch her death in here. They weren't being very good hosts.
An idea struck her, she wasn't getting anywhere by just hanging here. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat. She pushed her legs outward. Elizabeth found that she could walk a few steps forward. Granted it pulled her arms way back behind her, but she could move. She stepped back up against the wall and her arms were closer to her body and some of the strain on her back had lessened. Elizabeth leaned against the wall laying her head back, resting. She tried twisting her wrists against the metal there. It had warmed to her skin, but if she wiggled her wrists enough she could feel cool metal. Next, she swung out both arms against the wall she was leaning against. A clanging is what her ears heard in response to the motion.
Chains. She was definitely chained. What if she was a victim of sex trafficking? It happened to women sometimes. And it was becoming an increasingly popular topic in the media. That would make the most sense to her. She couldn't understand why anyone would want to attack her. Elizabeth didn't have lots of friends. Hell, her customers were most of her human interaction. Again, Elizabeth found herself making a promise to make more of an effort to get the hell out of her tiny apartment and into the real world.
Well, she loved her tiny apartment and she missed her cat. So she promised to just make more of an effort. Her brows furrowed in a frown. She needed to come up with a real plan. But what could she do to find an escape? There wasn't any light in the cell she was in. Plus, there was the whole being chained to a wall thing. She blew out a huff of air. Her nerves were feeling a lot better now that she had something to really focus on. Escape.
Elizabeth wasn't silly enough to believe it was going to be easy. She didn't even know where the fuck she was. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat. Okay, nerves back together. If she could maybe slip her hand through the shackle around her wrist, then that would be a start. Elizabeth's teeth bit into her bottom lip, earning herself a yelp and the taste of more blood in her mouth. She spat at the ground in front of her. And then focused on her right wrist. She moved her wrist back twisting as she did. Her hand pulled against the metal. But didn't release from it's prison.
With a huff, Elizabeth pulled harder doing the same pull twist motion as before and still it didn't pull free. Instead, she thought maybe she might have earned herself a new bruise around her poor wrist. The cuffs were secured in her entrapment. Fine. She would have to find a different way to gain freedom.
"H-hello?" She shuddered at the way her voice cracked. It didn't even sound like her. The voice was faint and broken. Elizabeth cleared her throat.
"Hello?" She called louder than before. Nothing moved in the room. Nothing came to her call.
"HELLOO!" She shouted. If she she was being held prisoner here then someone had to be near in case she escaped. Her thoughts went back to earlier when she had determined that she was here to be traded in a sex trafficking scheme. There might be other women here with her. Maybe if she kept screaming someone would hear her and they would know that they were not alone in this god forsaken darkness. Something happened, she heard the door latch shift.
"You wouldn't be screaming like that if you knew what was good for you." Said a voice as it stepped into the room shutting the door behind it. Elizabeth would remember the slow rasp of this voice for a very very long time. He was the one who had hit her hard enough to knock her out.
"How else am I to get anyone's attention? I have to go to the bathroom. You would think that if you're a kidnapper you'd know people still use the restroom." She retorted rudely. That earned her with her head being snapped to the side, a hand grabbing tightly to scalp of her head. Her neck was exposed and the angle was painful. The movement had happened so quickly she didn't even know the large man had been near her.
"You don't know what's good for you." The voice was in her face and Elizabeth sucked in a breathe quickly. Nausea hitting her with the smell coming from his mouth. Honestly, had he been chewing on dead rat carcasses? A nose brushed against her neck causing her body to shudder away even though she couldn't go anywhere. The hand held her tighter and she heard an inhale. The creep was sniffing her. She was released with a slight push that made her bang her head against the wall.
A moment passed and she heard his footsteps cross the room and open the door. When he did so she notice a soft glow from outside the door. There was
light! Hope flooded her senses, but when his shadow returned she wasn't sure the hope she felt would last. The door shut behind him as he re-entered the room and then there was darkness again. She felt something soft like cloth cover her eyes and tie around to the back. Then rough hands held her left wrist and she heard a click. Elizabeth's heart fluttered at the sound. She felt that small excitement again.
The hand didn't release her wrist as it moved to the other one that was still chained. The same click followed and Elizabeth's hands were in front of her. Elizabeth's arms and shoulders began to tingle as if they had been asleep and not strained for hours on end. The sensation was relieving and almost slightly painful too. The manners her parents had instilled in her urged her to thank him but common sense told her he was the reason she felt this way, so she kept her mouth closed tightly. But she was still grateful for the break on her body. Next, she felt something being wrapped around her wrists that were being held tightly together in front of her.
Elizabeth still couldn't see anything, but she felt herself being guided forward. She stumbled a little. Her legs feeling heavy and unused. They did not want to move forward with her. Rough hands grabbed her around her shoulders and pulled her to a standing point.
"Don't try any funny shit. I would be able to hunt you down faster than you would be able to blink." His normally slow rasp was fast and again near her face. This guy had problems with his personal space. She didn't say anything and instead tested out her legs. They moved forward when she did. Elizabeth focused on keeping her legs moving forward steadily. She didn't want to piss of the brute next to her.
Once they were through what she assumed was the door, he roughly grabbed her elbow to turn her in the other direction. She'd made the mistake to try to turn to her left and not her right. How was she supposed to know? She's blind folded and somebody isn't using their voice to help guide her. Elizabeth continued to focus on her steps forward instead of voicing her thoughts out loud. Finally, after shuffling forward for what seemed like forever, Elizabeth heard a door creak open. She didn't hear a lock of any sort so she assumed that this door wasn't a cell.
He shoved her into the room, "Don't think about taking the blind fold off, and don't think about trying anything stupid." The door shut behind her.
Great, now she had a full bladder and she was in a room with a toilet but no way to find the damn thing. With a calming breath, Elizabeth toed her way forward. Making sure to only go the one direction in front of her. As she did this, she moved her tied hands around in front of her. Hoping to find something solid to help her determine that she was in the right spot to relieve the pressure building on her bladder. Bastard. She thought to herself before finally her foot collided with something in front of her.
She kicked at it enough to make a sound. When she thought that maybe it wasn't just the solid wall, she bent down to her knees and gently felt around. The object was cool beneath her touch. Feeling confident she had found the toilet, Elizabeth stood and awkwardly shimmied out of her pants. And cautiously sat down. Briefly her mind whispered about the dirtiness that could be in this room around her, but Elizabeth shook it away. Feeling thankful again for the small grace's God granted. She finished and fumbled to pull her pants back up.
Then she walked forward again, silently praying it was in the right direction. She walked slowly forward. Elizabeth bumped into a hard surface and grumbled. She had just ran straight into the wall. Completely annoyed that this whole event could have been a lot easier with some guidance, Elizabeth edged to the side following along the wall searching for the door knob.
After a few moments she got irritated and tentatively hollered out, "Hello? I have finished and need some help?"
There was a door opening from beside her. The side she was not slowly inching her way to. Pursing her lips, so that she would say anything unpleasant and get herself kicked, Elizabeth confidently walked into the direction the sound had came from.
"It took you long enough." Elizabeth refrained from saying anything other than stopping close enough to the sound. A couple steps came towards her and yanked her tied hands without warning in a forward motion. Elizabeth followed without a word. Once he had brought her back to her cell and clasped the cuffs around her wrists, he left without another word. Thank Goodness. She didn't think she could stand to be around his stench anymore. Someone needed to tell him soap was his friend.
Hours passed before the door opened and someone entered. She had been leaning against the wall behind her with her head tilted back. But now as the sound of footsteps approached her, she was standing at her full height and her body was prepared for whatever the new comer had came to do. There wasn't any sound to tell her what she was preparing for, until she felt the edge of something touch her lips. When the object tilted and her lips became wet, Elizabeth greedily swallowed the contents. Fresh water. Clean water.
"Thank you." She whispered despite what she had believed earlier.
How long ago had that been now? She couldn't be sure. It was hard for her to focus on anything. Even with open eyes there was nothing but darkness. So she had just started keeping her eyes closed, occasionally reopening them to be sure that she was in fact still alive. Now, Elizabeth wondered if she could ask why she was here. Couldn't hurt, not too much anyway. The men before had all but made it clear she was here for a higher purpose. With a another swallow from the cup, Elizabeth pulled away even though the cup still held water.
"Done so soon, my dear. I would have thought you would have been parched. I know what the itch in your throat feels like." The voice that she heard surprised Elizabeth. It was a woman's voice. She hadn't heard this voice before and the sound was delicate and mesmerizing. Elizabeth felt pointed fingertips trace the line of her jaw and she resisted the urge to jerk away. Something about the touch was unnerving; her flesh felt like ice tracing down the column of her neck.
"It's interesting how your heart rate has increased and yet you do not move. Pitty, I like my rabbits a little more jumpy. I love the chase, ya know?" The fingertips stopped just at her racing pulse.
"Why am I here?" Elizabeth asked and waited. The reply didn't come immediately and the woman didn't remove her sharp nails from the pulse beating at her nape. Elizabeth tried to calm her breathing because she knew it was coming in fast. She was struggling to gather a full breathe of air in her lungs and it only made her heart rate speed faster. But still she did not move from the woman's alarmingly cool contact. Elizabeth feared that flinching away from her now would cause the woman to take action with her hand. And Elizabeth sensed the woman was enjoying her rise in panic, which made Elizabeth's oxygen feel even more limited.
Tingling was beginning at her temples when the woman wasn't touching her anymore. "I suspect that no one found it important to tell you the reason you're here..." she paused, maybe to find her words or maybe for effect, "so I don't find it important to inform you either. I could answer another question perhaps."
"Am I here to be a sex trafficking slave?" Elizabeth had to ask. It was the only reasonable explanation she had been able to come to since being here.
The laughter that followed the question was sweet. She sounded so tickled pink at the suggestion that Elizabeth thought that maybe she had guessed too close to the truth. The laughter died to a low chuckle.
"Would it be far easier to be a sex slave? Ya know there are far worse things that being a slave to sex." Even though Elizabeth couldn't see the woman's face, she knew that she had a smile on her lips. But the reason for the smile in her voice, Elizabeth couldn't begin to think why. Because Elizabeth's own mind was now reeling from the information that she wasn't here for sex trafficking purposes. And even Elizabeth's imagination couldn't guess the real reason why.
She licked her chapped lips. "May I have more to drink?"
"Oh yes, of course, I'm sorry I didn't offer it again." The cup was immediately pushed to her lips and gently tilted until the liquid was against them.
Elizabeth drank the last bit of what was in the cup. Her eyes closed reflexively to savor the last drop to go.
"Th-thank you." Elizabeth's voice was just above a whisper.
"How does your throat feel? I miss the taste of clean water." The woman said. And it surprised Elizabeth. Was she a prisoner here too? Was she being made to help Elizabeth against her will in exchange for basic needs?
"Better. I'm still kinda thirsty though. Can I have more or is that against the rules?" Elizabeth said a little bit more bitterly than she had meant.
The woman's low chuckle rang through the darkness again. "I like you, Elizabeth. Maybe if we had met in another time..." her words trailed off. And then Elizabeth felt her nails in her scalp, but it wasn't causing her pain. It was almost scratching an itch that Elizabeth didn't know she had to begin with and had really needed it to be scratched.
"There's more. I'll be back." And the footsteps went away. Elizabeth kept her eyes open, straining towards the glimpse of light she knew would be coming. Just like Elizabeth had known would happen, the door opened a brief glimpse of light shown. The dim lights were so bright they made her eyes water and she had to shut them tight. Missing her chance to see the figure who walked past. And before she could recover, the door was opened again and she was in front of Elizabeth pressing the cup to her mouth again. This time when she drank, it was slower and less as if she-was-never-going-to-have-another-drink-in-her-life desperate.
"Mmm, good girl." The voice purred to her.
"How long have I been here?" Elizabeth had to know. There was a tap, tap, tap, of a foot.
"Four days and three nights, this would be the end of your fourth day." She said flatly, almost bored.
"I just want to go home. Wouldn't you want to go home?" Elizabeth was pleading with the woman. The only one who shown her kindness since she had been in this nightmare.
"I don't make the rules. Maybe in a different life..." her voice faded off. "If there isn't anything else, I should be going now. I don't think we will be seeing each other any longer, seeing how you'll be moved somewhere new. Goodbye, Elizabeth." A cold palm held her cheek for the barest of moments, before she was gone and the door opened revealing the dim light again. Elizabeth's eyes were more prepared this time as she tried to get a glimpse of the woman. She did catch just a quick look of a woman with long dark hair.
She didn't know what to do with the information the woman had given her. Elizabeth didn't even know where she was now and there was nothing she could do to change her fate to come. Tomorrow she would try to escape. If they were going to move her location, she was going to run first. She couldn't chance going any further in this terrible fantasy. Elizabeth couldn't stress on it right now, because she wasn't sure how she was going to pull it off. She could run. But she was sure that if she ran, the stinky guard would be able to catch her. No, she would just wait it out. An answer would come to her. She was sure of it.
Elizabeth sagged against her restraints as exhaustion over took her senses. She didn't know how much longer she could take this. Her senses were overwhelmed by fatigue, hunger, and anxiety. Elizabeth knew that there was nothing that she could do right now in this moment. And she felt a wave of helplessness wash over her body. The sensation was numbing, leaving nothing but the cold and darkness that surrounded her. It is amazing how fast the world can turn upside down for an individual. And even as sleep started to over come Elizabeth, she couldn't help but wonder if this was just the beginning. Or would this be her ending.