AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 29
Time. The concept was imperceptible without access to sunlight. After a while, she didn’t appear like Ari anymore. In life, her body always adjusted, moved, bent, flexed. Her abilities vanished as soon as Lady Katrina exited the room. She was just a lump of flesh tied to a bed. Her muscles cramped. Joints stiffened. Blood pooled in her swollen feet, which were on fire.
She became lightheaded. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t see. There was nothing to hear except a rhythmic hum that she tuned out when her mind curated memories to provide comfort.
Most of her thoughts lingered on Dylan and the hope of reuniting. They deserved more than just one precious night together. That night in Dylan’s apartment was real. Intense. Like nothing she had experienced with anyone before. A bittersweet moment accompanied by the optimism of her escape, coupled with the fear of never seeing Dylan again. Her only thought was a single loop playing over and over. Dylan’s voice.
Good girl. You like this, don’t you? The leather paddle connected with her flesh again.
“Yes, Dylan. Yes, Boss,” Ari said in the empty room to no one other than her delirious self.
Don’t say it. Don’t say cotton candy. Ever. Dylan lifted a flogger in the air and smacked down on her nipples again and again. Her tight buds puckered in delight.
“I’ll never say it to you, Dylan. Boss. I’ve forgotten it. Out of my vocabulary,” Ari said in the darkness.
Dylan pressed her back against the door of her apartment. She fumbled with the key while their tongues danced. When the door opened, her body fell backward and landed on the warm summer sand.
Honey, don’t wander too far. Stay where Mommy can see you. The kite flew overhead. The vinyl rainbow swayed in the air with a string in her hand to guide it.
“Look, Mommy. The kite is so high. Do you think it can reach heaven?” There wasn’t anyone in the room to answer the question Ari asked as a ten-year-old girl at North Avenue Beach. It was a rare treat; her mother had taken the day off from work. “Can we come to the beach every day for my birthday?”
It was her happy place when things got tough and she needed a distraction. A way to escape. Every year, she spent her birthday at the beach. July fourteenth was a perfect day for sun and sand.
Time. The concept was imperceptible without access to sunlight. Enough days must have passed because she was at the beach, sunning under the warm sun. It was her birthday. She was twenty-five now. Must be.
“Mommy, am I twenty-five yet?” Ari asked.
Her delirium answered back. You are as old as you feel, baby girl.
Her mother’s face said it, but it was Dylan’s voice that came out. Ari’s eyes widened, adjusting in the dark to see a beautiful woman in front of her. An angelic glow surrounded her as she walked toward the bed. You are as old as you feel, baby girl.
“Mommy?” Ari asked, as she didn’t recognize her anymore. Confusion covered her face as Lady Katrina came through the door with an air of bubbly happiness.
“Thank God, you are not my daughter.” She pressed the button on the wall and the chains slackened.
Darkness filled with color as Ari regained a sense of awareness. This wasn’t her mother. She wasn’t on the beach. Hell still existed. The digital display on the wall read $854,996.
“What day is today?” Ari asked.
“Trying to figure out what your tombstone will say?”
“Please. What’s the date?”
“July fourteenth.”
Lady Katrina’s words caused a grin to spread across Ari’s face. It was beach day. It was a day for sun and sand. If she hadn’t been stuck in some underground prison, she’d be in her bikini at that moment.
Lady Katrina asked, “What has you grinning? Your death day is something special?”
She would not answer. What confused her most about that day—or more so, that moment—was Lady Katrina’s mood. There was a sense of happiness when she walked in and then a hint of compassion when she asked about the date. Lady Katrina was far from kind.
She sidled up to Ari’s side and sat next to her on the bed. Ari’s body stiffened. Lady Katrina’s touch caused an icy shiver down her spine, which had melted into the mattress. She hadn’t moved because the circulation to her extremities had all but ceased. Her limbs were as cold and lifeless as wood. But Lady Katrina stroked her disheveled hair like a mother caring for a sick child.
Everything below her knees was numb. Her toes were the worst. She tried to flex them, to wiggle each one. Her eyes focused there instead of on Lady Katrina next to her.
“Come now, darling. Sit up. I’ve come with good news.” Lady Katrina’s saccharine voice dripped like venom. The woman’s tone rubbed against Ari like a cheese grater, fraying every nerve. Her disgusting long fingernail ran along Ari’s jaw, then turned her cheek to face her. The sort of gesture that would have been tender from a lover, but from the woman sitting next to Ari, it was revolting.
“Sweetheart, Dylan is looking for you. In fact, she’s seen your feed. She’s one of your viewers.”
