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Backing up a couple of steps, Maxwell motions to two of his men. They step toward the side of the cage and, without warning, unzip their pants and urinate on her before she is able to jump out of the way.
The camera focuses on her body as wet stains cover her jeans and her dirty, torn top, and I suddenly realize this was before her first night in the cage.
She remembers this.
I glance at the security feed in the common room. It appears she hasn’t moved a muscle. She’s waiting for him to get to the part she doesn’t remember.
Maxwell’s voice snaps my attention back to the video. “You will kneel for me, Jessa. You can’t stand forever, and as soon as your knees hit that fucking ground, you will belong to me, and I will take what’s mine. Until then, I’ve decided you are standing in my men’s new toilet. You will know what it means to be nothing, and you will keep learning that lesson until you drop down in front of me. Good luck sleeping. It’s going to be a cold night. Until then, here’s some water.” He tosses an unopened bottle of water onto the damp ground and steps back. The camera focuses on a dinner plate with a nicely grilled steak topped with potatoes and carrots, and my own mouth waters at the sight. “As for this, you will come to learn that you earn your rewards, and you did not earn this.”
The camera jerks as he tosses the food at the cage with the dogs in it. The plate shatters on impact, and the dogs fight each other as they claw at the gourmet dinner through the bars.
The camera shifts to the ground, and Maxwell’s disgusted voice ends this part of the video. “Put the dog food in her cage. If she wants to act like a little bitch, I’ll treat her like one.”
The next clip is bright. No doubt the next morning. There is no sound, and Logan reaches across the laptop to make sure his volume is turned up. Then she comes into view.
Jessa has entwined her arms around the bars, and she’s holding herself in place as she takes what little sleep she probably got in a standing position.
A yell jolts her awake, and the camera is close enough on her face that I see it. It’s small, almost unnoticeable. Her eyes are unfocused, and she’s a little slow to respond.
This is her on autopilot.
This is her protecting herself, and I steal a glance at the security feed on our second laptop to watch as Jessa takes a step closer to the TV in the common room.
Her head is tilted, and she is examining herself closely.
This is the point from which she doesn’t remember.
“Boss said you could have one bottle of water for the day. Make it last.” As a bottle is tossed into the cage, she turns to reach down for it.
Before she stands all the way up, there’s the sound of a zipper, followed by a relieved sigh from the guy outside the cage as he pisses on her, and she scrambles to move away. Her reflexes are dull, and her feet almost give out as the man holding the camera speaks. “Careful now, princess. Boss told us to tell him when you were ready to kneel. You’re taking away all of our fun if you give up too soon.”
His laughter cuts into my head as she scurries to the far side of the cage, and the video quickly cuts out, then back in.
Jessa is standing in the middle of the cage.
More time must have passed.
Her body looks like it’s ready to give up. She’s swaying in place as her eyes, void of life, drift around the ground. She looks lost in her thoughts, and I know what’s coming.
Her body is about to collapse, and Maxwell is there to witness it.
He says her name.
He knows she is no longer a challenge.
He’s coaxing her to give up.
Her body is showing no signs of awareness now, but he speaks anyway.
“Forty hours, Jessa. You’ve been standing in this little cage for forty hours with only two bottles of water.” The camera shifts down to the ground, and I see the two empty bottles lying beside the bowl of dog food. My stomach heaves when I notice the bowl is empty as well.
She must have been so hungry.
“I’m not here to convince you to give up, Jessa. I’m here to witness it.” The video zooms in on vacant eyes. Her head moves slowly from side to side, and her lips move as she mutters to herself. No doubt she’s lost to the voices inside her head now.
She never could have imagined this level of cruelty, the depth of his depravity, and he’s only getting started. Her surrender is just the tip of his hellish iceberg.
A silent minute passes. Then, as if in slow motion, her knee buckles. She catches herself and attempts to stand up straight, but I see it in her eyes.
