in my life.
Suddenly, the door opens, and in walks a girl with a tray filled with pill bottles and a cup of water. She immediately puts it down on a dresser near the door.
“Oh, no …” she mutters. She grabs a towel hanging from a hook near the door and walks toward me. I lean back against the bed and crawl away from her, curling my knees up to my chest in order to appear small. Meek. Not worthy to start a fight with.
This is what I’ve always done to ward off any attackers. I am not the proud lioness fighting to defend herself. I’m the roadkill that pretends it’s dead so it doesn’t get caught.
But so far, that strategy has failed. Big time.
So I grab the nearest object I can find, a lamp, and hold it up like some sort of shield.
The girl raises her hand in surrender. “I won’t hurt you. I promise.”
I stare at her as my heart races out of my chest. I don’t know who she is or if I can trust her. I don’t even know where I am or how I got here.
“I’m just gonna clean this up,” she says, still moving slowly as though I’m some kind of animal that could attack at any moment.
Maybe I am. Right now, with all these drugs leaving my body, I don’t know what I’m capable of, and neither does she. All I know is that guy drugged me, and now I’m stuck in some bed. God only knows where I ended up.
The girl cleans up the carpet with the towel before spraying it over. Not once does she raise a brow or wince at the fact that I soiled the floor.
I peer over the edge of the bed to look at how meticulously she works, rinsing every nook and cranny. “Don’t worry about it,” she says as she looks up at me. “This always happens.”
Always? As in … this has happened to other people?
Oh, God.
“The drugs should be wearing off,” she says, and she places the pills and some water on the nightstand beside me. “You should feel better in a couple of minutes after you take these.”
She sounds as if she knows exactly what she’s talking about, and I don’t doubt that for a second. But I won’t take these meds, not even if my life depends on it. It’s not worth the risk of getting poisoned.
She rinses the towels and tucks them in a bin. “I’ll come pick up the dirty laundry later, okay?”
I don’t reply, don’t even move an inch. I just stare at her as she smiles and then leaves the room. Finally, I allow myself to breathe again.
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!
I put the lamp down and throw the blanket off, stepping over the stain I just made. I don’t even care about the mess. All I care about is finding out where the hell I am and why this man brought me here.
Suddenly, the door opens again, and I stumble into the bed, trying to grab ahold of something in order not to fall.
It’s that same girl again, and she clears her throat. “Sorry, I forgot to mention something important.”
I look up at her, and without waiting for her to say more, I ask, “Where am I?”
Her lips part as though she’s about to say something, but then she changes her mind, and says, “House of Sin.”
House of Sin? What is that?
“He expects you to be dressed and ready for him.”
Before I can ask any more questions, she closes the door on me.
“No, wait!” I stagger to the door and bang on it hard, but there is no reply. The door is locked, and no matter how often I pull the handle, it won’t budge.
But I won’t give up. “Please! You’ve got to let me out! This is a mistake!”
I keep banging on the door until my hands hurt and my body feels heavy.
“Please, let me out!” I beg. “I don’t want to be here!”
But deep down, I already know it’s futile.
I sink to the floor, my hand still on the wood, as I disappear into my mind for a moment to try to cope with things and make sense of my new reality. The realization that I’m trapped in a room I don’t belong in hits me hard, and tears well up in my eyes. It’s as if I’m stuck in a nightmare I can’t seem to wake up from.
All because of that man