Page 9 of Redd

“I've always found fire to be an incredible thing. It lives off oxygen just like us, it needs it to survive and to thrive. Without it, it'd be nothing. . .” Pausing, he pinched the flame, watching it die. “Just like you.”

Where is he going with this?

Licking his palm, he stuffed the lit end of the cigar in the center. He didn't wince as it sizzled in his saliva, all he did was stare at me. Dropping the cigar to the floor, he crushed out what red embers were left with the toe of his shoe.

His smile widened as he darted his eyes between his hand and my face. Tugging my hand out from my hip, he flipped it over, placing our palms side by side. “There, now we match. And I'll always have something to remember you with.”

What is he doing. . . What is this?

In one quick swoop, Diablo lurched from his chair, curling his fingers around my throat. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't swallow. My pulse picked up, trying desperately to pump oxygen through my body, as my lungs ached for new air.

Is this it?

Is this when he does it, when he finally kills me?

Tears began to stream down my face as I blinked hard and fast so I could see him.

I knew if I could just see his face I would know. I always thought that I would be able to tell the moment when he decided it would be my last day. I expected his face to change, to darken and morph from the face I knew into something else.

Through cloudy eyes and the hazy smoke still floating in the room, I watched him.

His smile grew wider, teeth digging into his bottom lip and creating a deep dent. His lids thinned, pupils enlarging into giant black pools.

He's going to kill me.

I tried to picture how it would happen so many times. A blow that cracked a rib and sent it into my heart. Maybe it would happen when he jerked my head back with his last thrust as he raped me and my neck would break. Or a gun shot to my forehead in a moment of rage; it could have come from anything.

But this. . . He was stealing my life in the most personal way.

His fingers would feel my last breath, his eyes would watch as my world faded and the lights went out for the last time.

That's exactly what he wants. He wants to control every piece of me. . .

Even my death.

The room around me began to blur, turning deep purple. Small gasps escaped my mouth as his fingers clamped down harder.

Just finish it already!

Stop fucking around, you've had me long enough!

Lifting my arms up, I held them to the ceiling, embracing the end. He was finally doing it, finally freeing me from his wrath.

My heart began to shed, layer by layer it peeled away the pain he caused. My pulse slowed, veins no longer moving blood through my body. My eyes began to close, blackness spilling in like water.

I was finally leaving this place and I was happy.

It was over. I would finally be free.

“Not today my sweet jewel.”His voice cut into my head, forcing me to open my eyes.

His smile tainted my soul and breathed twisted hatred into my body, just like it had so many times before. He'd beat me senseless and I fall into the pit of darkness, hoping that he had finally had enough of me. But the end never came.

I'm never getting out of this hell.

There was too much gratification from holding my life in his hands. Diablo was playing God, and I was the sad soul dangling at his fingertips. There was no freedom at the end of this tunnel, not for me.

Diablo had done exactly what he set out to do. He killed me over and over again by keeping me alive. He took my life by letting me live.

I wasn't Bijou anymore. . .

I was finally broken.