Page 5 of Pushed Through The Dark
My father was right there, his smile a taunting game my brain liked to play on me. And yet I still reached for him, I still stretched my arm out hoping this time it would be real. But my fingers went right through his hand like he was a ghost.
The tips of my fingers slipped through his palm as he suddenly began to vanish like dust getting blown in the wind.
His face dissipated like pouring sand as he dissolved in front of me. I tried to grab pieces of him, frantically my hands scooped the air, and I was screaming for him to come back.
Out of nowhere, the darkness in my head was disturbed, causing my eyes to pop open as the air around me was suddenly musty and stale, and I couldn't seem to find the light.
From a dead sleep, I woke up to someone pulling a thick bag over my head. Hands were in my hair, ripping my head up off the pillow as a sack was quickly slipped over my face and tied tightly around my neck.
What the hell is going on?! What's happening?!
The air was stripped from my lungs as I tried to take in a deep breath, but the string became snugger with that inhale, strangling my throat and refusing to let the oxygen in.
"No," I attempted to scream at the top of my lungs, only my voice is quiet and raspy, with a hint of sound. Throwing my hands wildly, I struck blindly at nothing and everything all at once. "No! Stop!" The scream was soft, but it was there, delicate and weak, finding just enough volume to be heard.
A man let out a chuckle as his fingers dug into the back of the sack and held my head still. "Fighting will only make this worse, we both know that." He yanked my head so I'm looking up, but I couldn't see his face. "But, I can't lie, I do love it when you fight." Letting out a hot breath across the top of the sack, he kissed my forehead.
I knew who it was instantly, I knew which of Virgo's goons had been sent to steal me away in the dead of night. His laugh was unforgettable, his voice one of the many scars on my brain.
Blue; a bad man, a man almost as bad as Virgo—almost.Blue didn't care what orders he was given, not once did I ever see regret in his eyes.
That's how you knew if someone was good or bad, just look into their eyes. There were only a couple of guys here that I knew didn't want to do some of the things they were told to, but their own fear drove them to listen.
And I allowed myself to understand that fear they felt. I watched Virgo take the life of another man without flinching, fear was a very real thing in his presence.
Then there were the men who enjoyed what they did. The ones who had no remorse, the ones who smirked as they handed down a punishment, and took a piece of you that wasn't theirs to have.
Blue had taken from me, he took from others, and he enjoyed every second of it.
Swinging over my head, I curved my fingers with the hopes that I'd at least scratch the fucker on his face. My nails are longer than they should be, dirt-caked up underneath. I knew I couldn't do the damage I wanted to, I couldn't even see a fucking thing, but maybe I'd get lucky and scratch him deep enough to cause an infection.
An infection that turns into an illness, and an illness that eventually kills him in his sleep. It's happened before, people have died from simple infections that weren't cleaned right. Maybe, just maybe, it'd be my face he remembered as he slowly died from sepsis.
"Rah!" I called out, raking my fingers in the air.
Blue's hands swiftly wrapped my waist, lifting me and throwing me over his shoulder, dodging my feeble attempt altogether. Slamming my fists against his back, I used every piece of strength I had.
That's another thing Virgo took from you here; your strength. He fed you just enough food and gave you just enough water to keep you alive, but not enough to give you strength. My muscles were thin and brittle, my hair was dry and frizzy, my skin was pale and dull. I had even started to notice how my cheeks were going concave and my ribs were starting to show.
Virgo stripped you of any power, because you weren't allowed to have it, not here, not in this hell—his hell.
"Enough." The man's voice came out low and firm as he dug his fingers into my hips. "Hit me again and I'll fucking kill you."
"You're not allowed to make that decision." Gritting my teeth, I snarled, "I know that much."
"Unless I have permission." Blue laughed, his laugh almost giddy and playful. "Do you think I have permission, Aubrey?" He started moving forward, causing my body to shift and bobble on his shoulder.
"What's going on, Blue? Where are you taking me?" Twisting my head, I tried lifting it and looking down where a thin stream of light was creeping up from under my hood. I couldn't see shit.
He stayed silent, stomping down the hall towards the stairs. My heart was racing and all I could imagine was this man dropping me into the solitude of the ditch. I hated the ditch. It was a horrible, wretched place. You were alone in the dark, alone with your thoughts, alone with your pain, alone until Virgo thought you had served your time.
This isn't right. I've never been brought to the ditch like this.
It wasn't making sense to me, I had never been blindfolded and torn from my bed during the dead of night to get thrown into the ditch for no reason.
This was something different. Something I wasn't ready for, something I would never be ready for, and I wasn't going to have a choice in any of it.
Virgo took my voice, my power, my free will, he took it all the second my body became a gift for a debt.
