Are they supposed to be forgotten?
Forgiven for all those times when tears drowned those eyes.
Those sleepless nights all alone
Lying on the bed with the stained pillows.
Crying and laughing and crying again
For the fate that has chosen
A life that never ends.
****
I woke up to the flash of bright light falling on my closed eyelids. The urge to open them and see what's happening was immense but the strange heaviness that possessed them made it impossible for me to do so. Perhaps I could use my hands to help me but alas they were tied up but not on top of my head like before. Instead, they were painfully arched back and held together with something that had severe sharp teeth for grip and the more I tried to struggle, the more my hands bled. My legs were in the same condition.
Needless to say, I was tied up with zip ties.
Slowly parting my lips, I tried to call for help but was soon interrupted by the inevitable reality. No one will come to rescue me because I had no one. I didn't know where Liza was or what happened to her but if she is here then I am not going to leave without her. If Liza is being treated worse than me, then I wanted to be treated worse than her because I deserve it. She was never supposed to get caught in my shit. I should have known better. I should have known that my life won't ever be better. It can only go worse.
The bang of a heavy metal rod from one corner of the room almost made me scream. I sucked in a deep breath to push the urge to bawl my eyes out. If there is one thing that life taught me then it's controlling my emotions on the outside. All of them who hurt me just wanted a reaction from me to satisfy their sick need for power and I would be wrong if I said that the monster in this room didn't want the same.
The shrill cry of the rod being dragged forward, closer and closer to me made my skin crawl with goosebumps. I wanted to hide, I wanted to run away but I couldn't. The feeling of being trapped was not new to me, neither was fear.
Finally, he stopped in front me with his sharp gaze pricking my soul and said the words that froze my whole being.
You've lost some weight yet you look as beautiful as the first day I met you. It was at that moment when the drowning waves of dread settled on me. I was too busy to notice anything except for the burn in my hands and legs. Especially because I was not allowed the advantage of my sight so there was nothing for me to deduce. Not even my attire.
There was nothing much to what I could feel on my skin. Perhaps a flimsy lingerie with a net embroidery which itched every time I moved. My eyes were undoubtedly blindfolded by a piece of cloth tightly wound around my head. Thankfully, my mouth was not gagged or sealed while I was made to sit on the chair with both of my legs tied to the legs of the chair. Such a compromising position made me feel more vulnerable than all that time when I was bound to the bed, unable to move.
To me, it all seemed useless. Especially the fact that he blinded me. What else was left for me to discover? I knew his name, I knew his face but most importantly, I knew the devil sheathed underneath that calm façade. Unless it was just for his pleasure, a game.
He lifted up his head towards the sky and closed his eyes while smirking happily at his achievements and the ruins that he has caused. "Do you smell that? It's like the smell of a new book, a new chapter, Roza." He turned towards me and looked me in the eye.
"A new game."
The rough and warm touch of his hand traced the lump of gulp as it slithered down my neck. He knew exactly what was going on in my mind because he planned it all beforehand and everything was going exactly as he wanted. I don't struggle or fight back because I know that it is useless. He has everything he needs to pull me down on my knees. I didn't want to admit it, but I was at awe by the accuracy of every decision he mastered and applied.
It's true that I don't struggle but that didn't make him give me the freedom to control my body. He had it all. Took it from me, made his own and ruled it. A huge part of the fear that consumed me most of the time was the inescapable future that lay ahead. Sooner or later it will come, I know it. He will force himself on me but that seems like the easy way and very much predictable
I might not know Dimitri very well but I knew enough to assume that every action of his is calculative and unpredictable. He will most possibly come up with a way to make me follow his demands and orders like he always says he would. All the doors will be closed for me then but hopefully, somewhere I will find a small hole to squeeze through towards freedom with Liza by my side.
The loud bang of the metal rod or stick made me jump with fear. I didn't want to look so helpless, but he wanted me to, and he succeeded. His hand slowly grazed my skin and descended my throat until it finally reached the thin strap of the lingerie on my shoulder. His thumb hooked underneath the strap and tugged at it yet not removing it off my shoulder. It made me realize the terrible trap I had fallen into. One strong tug and my chest would be completely bare to him for his eyes to devour. Yet he waited and teased like he always loves too.
Roza lets play.
It was over now. Everything was. All the pain that I felt should have been too. I wondered why it didn’t.The weapon of my choice clattered to the ground as I let go of it. And it slipped so easily. The drowning blood making it easier to do so. It was all over.I didn’t know what to think, I didn’t even know how to breathe anymore. Everything was just empty and didn’t make sense at all. And why would they? Everything was over. It was just empty and I was numb. Falling into a deep abyss of nothingness. Just a dark mass with no end, no walls, only gravity. Or a pull with no direction. Or maybe I was floating while flailing my arms breathlessly.The limbo lasted for an unmeasurable amount of time before I got pulled back by a soft humming. One that hit too hard that I couldn’t even brace myself against it.“Wandering child of the earthDo you know just how much you're worth?You have walked this path since your birthYou were destined for moreThere are those who'll tell you you're wrong
I needed to end things with Ivan quickly because of another reason. Him not being alone in this complex game of souls. Dimitri could have come in at any moment and the walk to the car, getting the supplies and then coming back wouldn’t take so long. And it didn’t as I heard him close the front door and go directly upstairs to Liza to give her whatever the baby needed.I had to make sure that nothing seemed suspicious to him. Especially not Ivan’s sudden absence.Quietly, I closed the door to the living room behind me and walked back to the kitchen, and stood exactly at the spot where he last saw me, with the exact expression of utter fear and shock smeared all over myself. His slow steps reverberated in the upper hallway, but it never came down the stairs. Instead, they stayed still until the creak of the door to my room made me realize that he just walked into my room. This was definitely not in the plan. Well, I didn’t have a blueprint plan before they barged into the house, but thi
“Playing cat and mouse are we?” He was so close to me that I could almost feel his form touching my back. His whisper, just a quiet exhale in my ear, that no one would be able to hear even if the walls had ears. “I like this game. Makes it so much more fun. Us, together, our little secret game.” I could feel the smirk on his lips as he spoke and dragged a cold finger up my arm and flipped my open air behind my shoulder. “I missed you too.” I did miss his face. After all this time, it was getting a little blurry, overshadowed by his green eyes that I could never forget. It was important to remember, in this battle of sanity that I was. After being told that the men who had abducted me, might as well be imaginary because there was no trace of them at all. He brought his face close to my neck and placed his lips there. A burning indent of his smile on my skin. He approved of my response but unfortunately the context that both of us had, was far beyond contrasting. He stayed there agai
A door opened somewhere. It was one of those classic cliche door opening noises in horror movies. The same groaning squeak, the same sluggish movement and most of all, the anonymity of its source. And then there was absolute silence. I kept looking into Liza’s eyes who looked at me the same but it wasn’t the Liza I knew at all. The dark, soulless eyes looked at me unflinchingly. Not a single expression at display but just a poker face that revealed nothing and yet so much. I knew this was not my Liza and whatever was going to happen next, I was going to be all alone through it. Arms wrapped around me from the behind and squeezed me into a tight embrace. A face buried in my neck and inhaled me deep and strong. Their body warm but I felt nothing but chilling cold. “I missed you.” He whispered in my ear and I knew that all the things that I tried to escape from are back. All the paid that I went through was nothing but a waste. The loss that I had, all but in vain. “I missed you
“Hello.”I heard it before I heard her hello. The soft, incoherent, cooing of the baby held securely in Liza’s arms. An exact replica of the several childhood pictures I had seen of Liza. That same blonde hair, that same innocent smile. Her eyes, an exact replica of the misty green that I feared and despised both. “Can I come in?” Liza laughed a bit as she readjusted the baby in her arms, who looked up at her mother adoringly and then looked back at me again.I was too shocked to say anything. So many things that I wanted to ask her, but all I could do was step aside and stare at her unblinkingly. The time had really come. I knew it would be someday, but nevertheless, I wasn’t prepared for it. I never would have.“Can you please look after her for a moment? I need to take a massive pee. Like my bladder is literally going to burst.” Without waiting for my answer, she quickly placed the living, breathing, creature in my arms, who didn’t resist either but giggled instead and said someth
It was raining so hard. Nothing felt right. This indescribable uneasiness, that settled in the pit of my stomach, made it impossible for me to sit still. There were so many things that I needed to do, work, but I just couldn’t because it made me feel so overwhelmed. Too paralysed by the stress of it all, as they sat on my forehead like a heavy hammer that I could not remove until and unless the things on my to-do list were scratched off. I took the glasses off my eyes and carelessly tossed it on the desk to look away from the brightly lit white screen off my laptop as it did nothing but increase my infuriating migraine. The urge to put my own head on my lap and just stay there for a long, long time was immense, but it would make me feel more lonely in this empty house which was once occupied by Liza as well. Now it felt more dead than ever, with me being the only occupant. The drops of rain knocked against the window pane in the complete darkness of the night. The lights inside the