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Vivian.
“Daniel needed his phone to find where you are,” she said by way of greeting.
“Do I even want to know how he can do that?” At this point, I didn’t care how they found me. I needed their help.
“Probably not. Imagine how it feels knowing that he’s doing it to you all the time.” She attempted to sound put out, but she wasn’t. I’d seen them together. He did it out of love, not some sort of crazy possession.
“I can’t,” I said honestly. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have someone care enough about me to want to know where I was at all times. Not without nefarious reasons.
“Don’t tell him, but it kinda turns me on,” she whispered into the phone. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry. Please don’t think I’m being insensitive. I tend to deal with the tough stuff with levity.”
“I appreciate it.” And I did. Because when she stopped talking, all I could think about was Huxley and how he was plotting to find me. Bile rose up my throat. I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t.
Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me. Don’t touch me.
Fingers gripped my skin. Trailed over every inch of me. Nothing left untouched.
So many hands.
So many mouths.
I screamed for them to stop, but they didn’t. Whatever piece of me they wanted, they got.
I retched on the sidewalk.
“Trish? Trish? What’s going on?” Vivian’s frantic voice was a distant fog.
She couldn’t help me. No one could. I was in the darkness, locked where no one would save me.But they could touch me. They wouldn’t stop touching me.
I retched again. This time, the dry heaves overtook me. I dropped the phone and lay on the rough concrete. A rock dug into my cheek as I coughed.
I curled into a ball. It didn’t matter.
“Please, stop.” Please stop touching me. As I started to scream, the harsh slap to my cheek stopped me.
“You. Will. Behave.”
I wanted to scream. It was lodged in my throat alongside the terror and pain. But no one could hear me. No one. No one was coming. No one knew. Only the terrifying hands that grabbed at me. “Please . . .”
The fingers kept clawing until they ripped at my clothes, at my flesh. They wanted all of me. If I fought, it was worse.
I coughed, my throat closing up until I couldn’t breathe. The stench of vomit turned my stomach. I tried to throw up again, but nothing came up.
It was so dark. Light. I just needed light.
Someone spoke my name. I hid my face with my hands. Maybe they’d go away.
They never went away.
“Trish. It’s Vivian and Daniel.”
I recognized the names, but they felt like people I’d known in a dream world. One where I was happy, not stuck here in this deep, dark hell. I couldn’t torture myself with those thoughts now. I’d tried to get away so many times and failed every single one.
“Trish.” The voice was more insistent yet kind.
I dreamed of women’s voices sometimes, but they were never real.
Only men.
