Page 38 of The Life of Anna, Tenth Anniversary Edition, Act 2

Anna giggled and stared adoringly at her husband. “Alex, what are you doing?” She was so unbelievably happy, she could hardly believe it was real. How could someone like him love someone like her?

Alex kissed her, his bare chest muscles flexing as he leaned forward. “Kissing you,” he murmured against her lips. “I want to have a baby with you.”

“I can’t. Alex, you know that.” She was sad they would never have children.

“Oh, Baby, there is a way. I told you that, remember?” He kissed her neck and pressed her down into the bed. “Give yourself to me and we’ll have a child. Just like we always wanted.”

Anna smiled. “I would love to have a baby with you.” She pulled him close. He entered her body and they moved together, their hips grinding against each other until she cried out in pleasure and felt him empty himself into her body. “Oh, Alex! I love you.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart.” He nuzzled her neck and they drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.

When she woke, she was several months pregnant and so happy. Alex kissed her belly and told her how beautiful she was.

He took her hand and pulled her up on stage. “Look how beautiful my wife is,” he announced to the audience.

Anna blushed and buried her face in his chest. He pulled away and led her to a bench.

“Lay down, Baby.” He trailed his fingers up her thighs and caressed her nether lips.

Anna sighed and closed her eyes as he caressed her. He pressed harder and it started to hurt.

“Ow. Oh, please stop.”

Excruciating pain erupted between her legs, and Anna opened her eyes to see Devin standing there with a wicked grin on his face. “Give me your baby, Anna.”

Anna shook her head and screamed. “No!”

She struggled against the firm hands that held her in place. She screamed again as Devin reached inside her to take the baby.

She struggled even harder and screamed louder. No, he couldn’t take her baby. It was Alex’s baby. It was her last link to Alex.

“No!” she screamed. “Alex! Alex!” She screamed and sobbed at the same time.

The pain and pressure increased and Devin moved his hand farther in. She continued to struggle and scream, but Devin just laughed. She felt a movement inside her and Devin pulled his hand out, holding a bloody mass. Alex’s baby!

Anna closed her eyes and turned away, sickened by the sight. She fell back on the table and sobbed. “Alex...”

A sharp pain erupted from Anna’s cheek and she opened her eyes. She was outside. The sky above her was dark, but a large eagle towered above her, dancing in the firelight.

“It’s time to wake, Mistress.” Devin walked into her line of vision with a wicked smile. “The men want you.”

Anna blinked and sat up. She was on the platform on a table. She gasped and looked down at her body. Her stomach was flat once again. “Ma—Master?”

“Did you like your dream?”

She stared at him for a long moment. “A... a dream?” She could almost feel Alex’s presence.

Devin pulled her to sit up and then stand. Down in the grass below, men and women were naked and fucking in a giant orgy. She winced when she heard screams of young girls.

“They want you, too.” He took her hand and pulled her down the stairs. The president stood there, looking at her. “Especially him.” Devin pushed her into his arms and the other man grabbed her by her hair and tossed her down to the ground. “Enjoy.”

She tried to get away, but he held her by her hair and pushed her face into the ground. She felt him behind her and then a ripping pain in her ass tore through her body and she screamed as he fucked her into the ground.

When he finished, he sat her up and pushed her forward into another man’s arms. She was pushed and pulled from man to man all night long. After a while, her body went numb and she went through the motions in a dream-like state. It was so much easier to deal with the abuse if she pretended it wasn’t real.

Near dawn, a familiar voice and presence came near, and gentle arms wrapped around her. “Anna. Come with me.”

Peter .

He gently helped her to her feet and led her away from the chaotic crowd writhing on the ground. They found refuge in a nearby pavilion, where he drew the curtains closed. With his support, she lay down on a soft bed and he wrapped his arms around her. “You’re safe now. Go to sleep.”

Anna smiled weakly and fell into sleep, though it was not deep enough to be restorative. She had disassociated herself from her reality so thoroughly that her mind couldn’t even really feel how tired she was, though her body betrayed her.

Sometime later, she was alert enough to sense when Peter got up and left the bed, and she heard hushed voices nearby, but their words failed to make sense.

“... progressively worse each year.” A familiar voice, but she couldn’t name the speaker.

“Why?” Was that Peter’s accent? His voice had a hard edge to it that she hadn’t heard in a long while. She couldn’t move her body, but her mind retreated even further from the frightening tone. The voices became like waves rushing across a flat sand beach. Comprehension left her, though she could still read the emotion in their voices.

“I don’t understand him. He’s changed from the man I used to call uncle.” A sad sigh. “Dad said he really fucked her up on Thursday night. I didn’t get to see her until she was up there. Normally Devin lets me be with her before things start.”

“You fuck her too?” Disgust laced the second man’s tone, making his accent more pronounced.

“No. I make love to her.” The voice was filled with both longing and regret. “The last time we were in D.C., she begged me to. Said it would be the last gentle touch she’d have.” A pause. “She wasn’t wrong.”

“I wish there was something we could do.” A third voice chimed in. The tenderness here was palpable.

“How does your dad feel about all this?” the accented voice asked.

There was a long pause. “It’s dangerous to dissent.”

“Why do you ask?” The third voice revealed a sliver of hope.

“Others have taken notice of what he’s doing. Yes, to her, but also politically. Your president literally worships him. That’s not a good thing.”

“There was only one person who could stop him. He’s dead.” Deep, enduring grief filled this voice, echoing the pain in her own heart at those two words.

A pause. “He needs to be weakened.”

“He takes his power from her.”

“Then she needs to be removed from his presence.”

“Impossible. She’ll get sick.”

“Maybe.”

The hushed voices moved farther away, becoming whispers in the boughs of the towering trees. All memories of their words blew away with the breeze. Darkness crept in and captured her once more, taking into a deeper, more restorative sleep.