AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She knows she’s done.
She knows she’s at her limit, and a tear rolls down her cheek as she looks slowly up to the sky.
The sun shines bright across her face, and she closes her eyes for a moment, as if to feel its warmth as her entire body sways, held up only by the position of her stance now.
She opens her eyes, and her disillusions are gone as tears openly pour down her cheeks.
She knows what’s about to happen.
She knows she fought her fight, and she’s done.
And, most importantly, she knows I’m not coming for her.
There is no rescue, no safe haven for her now.
Her eyes close, and I know this is it.
She’s out cold before her fragile body buckles into itself.
She feels nothing as she drops to her knees and falls forward.
She’s gone before her face hits the piss-covered ground, and her body bounces limp in place as her fight leaves her. She takes my will to live with her.
The door to the cage creaks open. Then two men pick up her lifeless body and drag her out of her prison and toward her hell. Her bare feet trail limply behind her.
The video focuses on Maxwell’s body. His head is out of the frame, and he’s holding a tree branch in his hands as he uses a pocketknife to remove some leaves.
“Wash her, then let her sleep for a couple hours. I want her exhausted but aware. Don’t allow her any clothes. Then feed her. She’ll be starving. Have the cook make three meals, then feed them all to her and let her fill herself up. I want her on a full stomach when I start with her. I want to watch her vomit everything I allowed her to eat back up when I beat her.”
“Jesus,” Logan mutters with a shudder under his breath beside me as the video cuts out again.
Then, without mercy, it cuts back in with a change of scenery.
The room is partially lit, and I can make out my Jessa clearly. Her naked body is tied stomach-down on what looks like a bench. Straps around her legs hold her lower body open and in place. Rusted chains attach to cuffs on her wrists, and her arms are clipped to the bench, allowing only her head to move.
The camera is stationary and propped to allow a full view of the room, and it isn’t lost on me they are alone. I have a feeling Maxwell didn’t want an audience for this part.
Then he approaches her, his voice low and calculating. “I remember the first day I saw you in fourth grade, Jessa. You were like an angel in your pretty sundress. I knew, even then, you would be mine.”
Jessa’s eyes are open, but she is making no effort to move. She flexes her hands in their binds.
She’s too scared to challenge him now.
He touches the soft skin on her back, and I bare my teeth in silence as she flinches.
“I decided to bide my time and wait for you. You just needed time to figure it out. So, until you did, I protected you.” Brushing her hair back from her neck, he leans in, and his expression comes into focus.
There’s no kindness in his eyes.
“By high school, I knew what my father did. I knew he wasn’t a good man. He took, he bullied, but he always got what he wanted. I learned how to take, how to force obedience, and how to punish those who didn’t do what they were told. But still, I wanted you to come to me. You would be the one good thing in my life. My solace. Thenheshowed up, and you fell for his lies.”
She knows he’s talking about me, and, without hesitation, Jessa slips up to protect me. “He didn’t lie to me.”
I see it in her face that she instantly regrets her outburst. Dropping her head back down, she waits, terrified for his response.
“Oh, didn’t he? Did he come looking for you when you disappeared? Do you know where he is now? Because I do.” At the suggestion that I’m alive, her body stills. “Jack, the love of your life, moved on. He married the next girl he met. I’ve got to admit, he moves fast for a guy in love like you say he was. Don’t take my word for it though. Look.” Fisting her hair, he yanks her focus up to the wall, where an image flashes onto a television screen.
It’s me.
