Page 50 of Like An Animal

THE GHOST

I stare out into space as tears flow down my face, even as the van moves around.

Jeremy’s men captured Dimitri on his orders along with his guards and every one of Isaac’s men were killed on our way to the van.

Isaac managed to push me into the van and get in himself without catching a stray bullet.

My heart hurts so bad. I wish we had more time with Massimo. I wish we had all just come to Newark sooner then I wouldn’t have lost the last five years of Massimo’s life to running, sans a few weeks.

Most people talk about being able to feel someone’s spirit after they’ve died, but that’s not my experience. It’s like he just vanished from existence on the physical plane and the spiritual one.

At least I have the memories to look back on.

I lay down in the van and fold my hands under my head, giving myself time to grieve over my loss.

Massimo Aronin was a grumpy stone wall unless it was just the four of us. Then, he was still quiet for the most part, but a smile was on his face. Our little group made him happy and that’s the only thought that is keeping me from completely breaking apart.

I’m so sorry, Max. If love could’ve saved you, you would’ve lived forever.

I’m pushed into the compound by a few masked men as Isaac walks in front of me. However, I can’t see shit because Isaac has a sack placed over my head and my hands bound behind my back.

Immediately, I’m hit with the stench I'll never forget…incense. They’re burned all throughout the compound in every single room.

They claim it blesses everyone and absolves them of all their mortal sins, but it's bullshit. It’s to cover up the smell of bodily fluids and blood that permeated the walls so heavily that no amount of scrubbing will ever remove the smell.

They think if you can’t smell it that you’ll forget the horrors that take place in these walls.

It has the opposite effect. The smell of incense reminds me of what I’ve seen and experienced, including screaming into the night as I brought my baby girl into the world all by myself.

No pain medication.

No anesthetic.

Just raw pain.

I didn’t even have someone there for moral support.

Even though they had the room sterilized after Charlotte was born, it never stopped smelling like she was just born. Not even a month afterward.

I hear the squeak of doors opening and closing around me until I’m shoved into a hard surface. I grunt as pain slices through my stomach, down my limbs.

God, that hurt like a bitch.

The sack is ripped off my head and I look around as the two masked men walk out of the room, closing the door behind them. Isaac stands next to me, his arms crossed over his chest, and he scowls down at me.

“What?” I grunt before using my bruised abdomen to stand up, even as my hands remain tied behind my back.

“Where’s the child?” he asks, his voice level. “I don’t expect you to come out with it easily, but this way you actually have the opportunity to come clean without any punishment. Be honest and we’ll get back to where we left off before you ran away. You have my word.”

I scoff and roll my eyes but the action earns me a back-handed slap across my cheek, one hard enough to sting.

“You’re back home, Mary Elizabeth. You know what is expected of you. Behave .”

He wants me to be respectful, but he’s not going to get that. I broke myself of his training and I’ll never go back to that meek little mouse, even if it kills me.

“Fuck you. I don’t give a shit what you do to me. I’ll never give up my baby.”

I keep everything gender neutral because no matter how insane it sounds, they don’t know if the child I had was a boy or a girl. No one cared to ask or look for themself. None of them care about children until they reach the age of initiation.

“I fear you don’t understand how deep the hot water is you’re standing in. That child is David Durst’s grandchild which makes them the property of The Fathers of Jephthah. We don’t take kindly to those stealing and hiding our property.”

I raise a brow at him. “And you don’t understand how far a mother will go to protect her child.

You forget I know how things work. If I told you where my child is located, you would go grab and initiate them.

So, no, I’m not telling you no matter what you do to me.

I ran to protect my baby. It was worth it no matter the punishment or the torture. ”

His eyes narrow, rage covering his face, before he grabs a handful of my hair. Nearly ripping it out of my head, he yanks me to him until I can smell his breath.

I nearly gag.

“Have it your way, jezebel.”

He slams my face into the table, smashing my cheek against the mahogany surface, before ripping the blinds off the window in front of me. He throws them to the side before lifting my head, forcing me to look into one of the many torture rooms, but this one makes my heart stop.

There, tied down to a chair with stir-ups, is my Aunt Cheryl.

She’s naked with blood and dirt all over her body as she screams against a device attached to her face.

It looks similar to a horse bridal but it’s more complex.

The mechanism is attached to a pulley system and the purpose of it sinks in.

It’s to rip her fucking jaw off her face.

“You know, no matter how much we tortured her, she wouldn’t tell us anything.

Not where you were, how you got there, or even the name you were living under.

She wouldn’t give us a single detail about the child either.

The protective instinct must be hereditary.

It has been delightful, breaking her spirit. ”

They have been torturing her for four years.

This is why she didn’t want to know anything about where we were going or what we were doing. She didn’t want the ability to break under pressure.

“She can’t tell you anything. She was in the dark about everything. Just let her go,” I demand and Isaac’s fist slams on the table.

“You’re not in a position to make demands, Mary Elizabeth. You’re in a position to either be punished or follow orders. Now, tell me where the child is,” he growls in my ear.

“Bite me!” He forces my head up by way of my hair.

“You’re testing my patience,” he growls as the door opens and one of the masked ones steps inside.

“Waiting on your word, Father Isaac.”

“Do your work until I give you my signal. It seems my intended needs more persuasion.”

Don’t make me barf.

That may have played a small part in me running with Charlotte. The thought of being forced to marry Isaac made me sick to my stomach. Honestly, any of them was bad enough but Isaac is a special kind of deviant.

Only the Lord knows why he chose me over any of the other women forced into this life.

The masked man leaves, closing the door behind him, as Isaac works at my pants. I try to fight, even if I lose a few hairs, but he just uses his hips to pin me in place.

“Stop fighting me!” He screams against my temple before shoving my pants and underwear to my knees.

“Fuck you!”

“Oh, trust me. I will and I’ll enjoy every second,” he hisses as I try to push back against him to escape but it's no use.

I’m stuck, especially without the use of my arms.

I hear his zipper drop as a man walks into the room with Cheryl. She screams and fights her restraints.

“Even a good-for-nothing whore like you should be able to see the beauty in this. You and sweet Cheryl are going to be forced to watch each other be treated like the sluts you are. Then, you’re going to watch her die just like you watched your friend die. It’s truly poetic.”

Other than Aunt Cheryl, the only blood family I have is Charlotte. Blood has never meant much to me but Cheryl is all I’ve had left of my mom since my father killed her.

There’s nothing I can do to save her, but at least her suffering will be over.

The man walks over to Cheryl while undoing his pants and she thrashes in her restraints, trying to break free. He walks over to her, steps between her thighs held open by the chains around her legs, and he starts to assault her.

I scream for him to stop as Cheryl matches the sounds I make.

How many times have they done this to her?

“Enjoy the show, Mary Elizabeth,” Isaac whispers in my ear before thrusting hard into me, tearing me to shreds.

I fight the best I can as I feel the blood run down my leg and he rams into me again, causing more damage.

It’s been so long since I was raped, especially in that hole, that it feels worse than the memory of giving birth. He might as well have thrusted a knife into my anus. The feeling would be the same.

This has always been Isaac’s MO. He wants to cause the most pain and the easiest way to do that is anal with no lube. I’ve had my ass torn apart by him so many times that I should be desensitized to it.

Maybe if it hadn’t been four years since he did this to me, I would be.

It feels like the first time he did this to me when I was ten. I almost died from blood loss.

I don’t know how long I’m out for, but when I come to again, he’s still holding me up by my scalp and grunting as he violates me.

“Keep watching her, whore,” Isaac demands as he practically punches me in the ass. The hard hit is meant as a warning.

I look up at Cheryl as she cries. The masked man holds her chin and forces her to look at me.

This is true torment and that was the point. I know she wants to save me and I want to do the same for her, but our hands are tied literally.

Then, the fucker who is raping Cheryl speaks up, pushing her left leg further open for him.

“Father Isaac, do we have to kill her? I really like fucking this old bitch’s snatch.”

Isaac chuckles in my ear before whispering, “What do you say? Do we keep her alive or kill her?”

I know he’s going to do the opposite of whatever I say. He wants to cause as much pain as possible but he won’t believe me if I say I want him to keep her alive.

“Just let her go!” That’s the closest I can get without sounding suspicious.

“Really? You’re not going to ask me to keep her alive?”

I don’t say anything, but he chuckles in my ear. “Then, what I’m going to do is keep her alive and let Joe keep her since he likes fucking her so much. She’ll be his slave.”

I try to fight him again, but his hand comes down so hard against my ass that I’m surprised I don’t start bleeding.

“That’s what I thought. You want me to kill her to end her suffering but that would be a reprieve. A reward. Besides, that would make Joe sad.” He mocks me with his words.

“You got your wish, Father Joseph. She’s all yours.” He calls out and Cheryl starts trying to break free of his hold.

“No! Leave her alone!” I scream before Isaac slams my face into the table and everything goes black.