Kiss Me in the Dark Anthology - Monica James Page 0,118
Your part is small, but it is so significant.”
His riddles confuse me.
“I want to go home, Gabe. Please, I won’t tell anyone. I swear it,” I vow. And it’s the truth. If he were to let me go, I’d take the secret to my grave. If that meant regaining my freedom, I’d make that promise to him.
“Baylee, you’re not going to tell anyone because there won’t be anyone to tell. You’ve been initiated into a new world—a world you’re not prepared to handle. Not even close.”
I shiver and cross my arms over my chest. It should embarrass me that he sees me naked but I don’t care about being modest. I care about getting the heck out of here.
“What do you want from me?” I demand with a nasty bite to my voice. I’m tired of being weak and begging. I want to go home.
“Ahhh, there’s the feisty girl I know,” he says, almost as if he’s relieved. “If I let you out, promise not to run?”
No.
“Yes.”
He laughs again and I decide I hate his laugh. “I don’t believe you.”
I shrug my shoulders and glare at him. “I’ve never given you any reason not to trust me.” Unlike you, you bastard.
He nods finally. “Fine. I’m going to take your word. But what happens if you betray me?”
You’ve already betrayed me.
“I won’t,” I lie.
“You’re right,” he snaps. “You won’t. Because if you do, I’ll whip your ass with a stick from the yard for every step you manage to take away from me.”
The hairs on my arms rise in alarm and my heart takes off like a hundred horses thundering away from me. “I won’t run.”
“Good. I want to clean you up and feed you. You’re mine to take care of for now.” He nods and then disappears.
I’m afraid he won’t come back but a few moments later, he drops something into my prison. A rope.
“Climb,” he instructs, voice cold and uncaring.
I shudder and wobble over to where it hangs before me. Sometimes in PE we climb ropes but not after having been starved for several days. The only reason I’m standing is because I’m running on pure adrenaline at this point. I reach for the thick rope and clutch it. It’s rough in my hands and a sad realization comes over me. I’ll never be able to climb this thing.
“Climb!”
I jump and reach higher on the rope. My attempt to hoist myself up ends up with me spinning wildly out of control, only managing to further nauseate my empty stomach. Dropping my feet to the dirt, I cry out. “I can’t! It’s too hard!”
“You have three minutes to get your ass up here or you’ll die down there. You’ll rot because you were too much of a fucking baby to climb up the damn rope. If you want to survive, Baylee, you’re going to have to fight for it. Fucking fight for it!”
Tears blur the horrible world around me but rage blooms inside of me. I grab hold of the rope and try again.
Over and over again.
Sometimes I get a few feet up only to fall and land on my butt on the cold, hard ground. Other times, I slide down the rope and not only rub the skin from my palms but the inside of my thighs as well. It seems like forever but he finally barks out words that send me once again plummeting to my hell.
“Time’s up. Nice knowing you, sweetheart. I thought you were stronger but clearly I overestimated your strength.”
The door slams down and the light is gone.
My hope—my light in the darkness is vanished.
With a wail of defeat, I curl up on the chilled floor and close my eyes. I hope death is easy on me. I hope he’s swift and steals me in my sleep. And I hope Mom finds me soon—wherever we end up on the other side.
Goodbye, world.
Goodbye, Baylee.
Aches. All over. Especially in my head and my belly. Groaning, I crack open my eyes.
Darkness.
Again.
How long was it since he closed me off this time?
Five minutes? Five hours? Five days?
I sit up and something touches my shoulder. A shriek escapes me before I realize it’s only the rope. It still hangs from the ceiling. My heart thuds to life as I wonder if without the pressure of his stupid time limit, maybe I could make it.
But I can barely pull my weakened body to a sitting position. How would I ever be able to climb that thing?