Page 17 of Love Me in the Dark

“Please,” I choke out. “Please let me go.”

“Please let me go,”One of the men mocks before his belt slaps across my belly again. I whimper in pain, but I am past the point of screaming. They have hit me with that belt so many times that my body no longer reacts to the pain. The man forces my legs apart as he kneels and puts his knees on my thighs to keep me from moving my legs.

“Please don’t do this,” I beg as my voice shakes with desperation.

“Such a dirty fucking whore… Ready to take us?” he sneers. “Is that what you want, Birdy? You want us to fuck this tight little body?”

The fuckers keep calling me ‘Birdy’ since they saw my license and noticed that my name is Phoenyx. Idiots. “No. Please don’t… please,” I beg.

“Say it,” he growls before slapping me across the face.

“No,” I whimper.

He pulls a knife out of his pocket and flips it open. I fucking refuse to say it. I won’t. I don’t care if he stabs me. Only he doesn’t. He digs the blade into my chest and slowly drags it through my flesh and down my sternum. My scream is suddenly shrill as the warmth of my blood spills across my chest. Hedoesn’t stop cutting, and I keep screaming. He slices down to the top of my pubic bone before stopping. “Say it, whore. Tell me you want it,” he demands.

“No,” I sob. “I don’t.”

“Stupid bitch,” another man laughs.

The man on top of me presses the knife in on the top of my thigh and cuts down to my knee before switching to the other leg. I scream and try to thrash under him but the other two lean down and keep me pinned. The pain is unbearable. His cuts move to my belly as he slices in various spots. I can feel my blood dripping from my body as the cuts are deep, but not so deep that they’ll kill me. When he moves the knife to my breast, I cave immediately.

“Stop!” I yell, my voice breaking. “Okay. I’ll say it. Please stop. Please.”

“Say it, Birdy,” the man on top of me snickers. “Tell me how much you want us to fuck you.”

“Please fuck me,” I cry.

“Aww, you can do better than that,” another man laughs.

“Please fuck me,” I say louder. “I want it. Please.”

My words do not match what I actually want. I don’t want this. I want to go home. I want to bake that fucking bread for my brother. Now, all he is getting for his birthday is to plan my funeral.

The man tosses the knife down before leaning into me. “Such pretty tears, Birdy,” he says before licking a fallen tear from my cheek. His breath smells rancid, like an asshole with gingivitis. He puts more of his weight on my body before forcing his dick inside of me with one painful thrust. “Fuck… This tight little cunt,” he growls and groans as he starts to violently thrust into me as I sob. The friction is painful, and my belly feels like molten lava. His hands are all over my body, smearing blood and dirt across my skin. I scream out in pain when he leans down andsinks his teeth into the top of my breast as he pushes deep to come.

As soon as he moves away, another man flips me to my belly and slams into my ass. I can feel my body tearing open as he pounds me into the broken asphalt. Jagged rocks dig into my flesh, filling my cuts with more dirt and grime. The other man kneels in front of me and pulls my head up to hold between his hands.

“Open wide, bitch,” he commands as the man aggressively fucking my ass repositions my body so the man in front of me can pry my mouth open and shove his dick down my throat. He keeps my mouth wide open as he thrusts so when something slaps across my back, I don’t bite down. Both men groan as my gurgled screams fill the alleyway. They both shove in at the same time over and over again. Each time the belt comes down on my back, I tense up and scream. Soon, both men are moaning like wild animals as they come. The man in my throat forces himself deep and pinches my nose closed as he comes, giving me no choice but to swallow.

They move away, and I am left discarded on the ground, sobbing and bleeding. My body is trembling from all of the pain, and I am certain that I am bleeding from my ass now. The first man steps over me before grabbing me by the hair and pulling my head back. “It was nice to meet you, Birdy. Time to fly away,” he croons as he presses his blade against my throat.

“No!” I scream. “Plea?—”

My words are cut off when he rapidly slashes across my neck and drops my head to the ground. My body is convulsing but quickly weakens. I can feel the life drain out of me as their blurry figures disappear into the dark. My soul is floating now, waiting for my body to succumb to the blood loss. Eventually, my eyes are too heavy to keep open, and I welcome my death. The pain fades away, and I am separate from my body now. I thought Iwould be scared to die, but this is peaceful. After all the pain that was inflicted on my body, I am finally at peace.

Flashesof my vision abruptly pull me out of my catatonic state, and everything is blindingly bright. Why is everything so damn bright? Everything hurts again, and it makes me mad. I was at peace. The suffering had stopped, and I was finally at fucking peace. Why am I here? Why didn’t I die?

Everything is silent around me, but a warm hand on my face makes me groan. I blink away the blur to find Cade. He has tears in his eyes, but he is forcing a smile. “Nyx,” he says gently. “Can you hear me?”

“Cade,” I say but wince as sharp pain rips across my neck.

“Shhh. Try not to talk,” he says. “Just whisper. I can hear you.”

“W-What happened?” I ask quietly. Whispering is much easier.

“You were attacked, Nyx,” he says. “Do you want me to be blunt?”

“Please,” I whisper.