Pretty Painful - K.A Knight Page 0,1

target, a roar like a lion cuts through the night, shaking the very foundation of the building. “Hit it with everything you got!” I order.

The blur moves towards me and I keep shooting, with sweat dripping down my face and back as it gets closer and closer. At the last possible second, it falls from the air, dropping to the floor of the church and crushing the pews, a dark blob in the night.

A monster.

Dabria

The last thing I remember was dancing with my friends at the new club that had opened across town. I’d had a long ass day at work. Editing historical manuscripts was not how I imagined my life would turn out, but it was a job after all. So, there we were, dancing our stress away. I was drunk and happy and grinding away, and the next thing…nothing. Complete blackness, like a dark spot in my memories. I can’t remember how me dancing turned into…this.

How did I get here?

Where is here?

Who are they?

What do they want?

But most importantly…how do I get free?

Time passes slowly behind the bars of a cage. Without windows, we have no way of knowing whether it’s night or day. The only thing that breaks up the monotony of being stuck in a cage next to twenty other women is their visits. The guards, the ones who are meant to keep us in line—their hands, mouths, and dicks using us in whatever way they see fit.

I fought the first couple of times, but all I got for it was a broken jaw and ribs, and when I was passed out, they fucked me anyway…no, not fucked me. Raped me. Again and again until they realised I wouldn’t scream for them anymore, I wouldn’t fight them anymore. No, I was playing it smart. They wanted reactions, fed on the fear and tears, they loved it, but I refused. I became stoic, retreating into myself, and curling around that flame of hatred and complete, desperate hope to be free. I would do whatever it took to get out of here, even if that meant playing the good little slave.

Eventually, they grew bored with me and turned their attentions onto the other women. Only coming inside now and again to beat me or rough me up, like they were waiting for something to happen. I was forced to watch the horrors inflicted upon the other girls, my heart breaking and my soul fracturing with the pain and utter hopeless destruction shown to them.

One girl died early on, they said she killed herself.

One girl went mad, rocking back and forth, muttering to herself about butterflies and hidden kingdoms.

Another was taken away.

Four were sold, like cattle, paraded around drugged and scared in front of the camera. Their legs were forced open and the camera moved to show their most intimate places, nothing was safe. They even had them bend over and grab their ankles, showing their asses off to the cameras. I stayed strong through it all, never faltering with my plan…until her. That’s when everything changed.

I don’t know if they knew, if they did it on purpose or if it was a happy accident, but when they dragged her—my sister—into the opposite cage, I broke. Like they wanted me to do since day one, I screamed, I begged, and I fought with everything in me. It didn’t make a difference. I stared at her tear-stricken face as we were both pressed up against the bars as close to each other as we could get, our hands extending through, searching for the other. The tips of our fingers almost touching, just out of reach. Always out of reach.

I could feel the storm coming, their attention turning to us, and just like I knew would happen…they came again. They had seen my display, they knew she meant something to me, and they finally had a way to break me—to own and use me. They went straight to her cell, four of them—two outside, watching me, and two inside with her. She cowered into the corner, crying as she screamed my name.

I thrashed, hitting the bars again and again, and I felt the bones crush in my hand, but I kept going with words pouring from my mouth. I begged them, I threatened them, yet it fell on deaf ears. They taunted me, they pulled her from the cell and pushed her face into my bars, we were so close I could touch her. I held onto her cheek, her eyes