Page 54 of Toy

12

Jolie

Light appearedin the crack of the door, seeping into the tiny cupboard. Someone had come to see me in the torture cabin.

I closed my right eye and slumped back against the wall, trying to steal a few more precious seconds of rest and solitude. Being trapped and isolated in a tiny room was no fun, but it was still a far better option that being tortured or raped.

My left eye was already firmly shut. Several hours ago, a man had pulled me out and backhanded me in the face and landed the blow right in that spot, splitting my eyebrow open and bruising my eye. Now it was too swollen and tender to open it without feeling as if I were jamming hot knitting needles right into my eyeball.

The light outside grew brighter, making my good eye sting as it adjusted. I could tell from its artificial nature that it was nighttime. When I was first brought here and locked inside the cupboard, I had no way of telling the time, but now I was able to keep track to some extent. Every time a man dragged me out to ‘play’ with me, I took note of the light in the cabin and whether it was natural or artificial. That allowed me to figure out how much time was passing.

So far, it had been two long and brutal days since I saw my father. Just five more days of torment to go…

Despite what my father said about the cultists using me as a sex toy in my remaining days on earth, most of them seemed to enjoy punching, kicking, or electrocuting me more than anything else. There were a few who’d come to see me so far who wanted sex, but I’d managed to ward them off.

For now.

With the first four who decided they wanted to rape me, I pointed to streaks of blood on my thighs and claimed I had my period. I knew they’d be horrified by what they considered to be the ‘unclean’ nature of menstrual blood and wouldn’t dare get any of it on themselves. They still forced me to suck their cocks, but I was already used to that from the old times at New Eden, when I was still a young captive participating in the Joining rituals. I simply sank to my knees, took their ugly penises in my mouth, closed my eyes, and sent my mind to another place.

The next few men made it clear the period excuse wouldn’t fly with them. They were astute enough to realize I actually had a cut on my left leg from a previous whipping, and I’d simply smeared the blood all over my inner thighs to fake my time of the month.

I still managed to keep them at bay, though, by telling them my father was right about me. I said that over the last eight years in the States, I’d slept around with every man I came across. I informed them that as a result, I was riddled with incurable sexually transmitted infections. Herpes, hepatitis, warts.

Even though it worked, I knew I was slipping by on borrowed time with the venereal disease lie. At some stage another man would come to see me and he either wouldn’t believe me or wouldn’t care about it.

I wasn’t even sure why I was bothering to defend myself from rape so fiercely. Would it really matter in the end? They were going to kill me in a few days anyway. When the agonizing flames licked up my body, I sincerely doubted any of the observing men would say: You know what? Even though I hate her and can’t wait to watch her die, I actually kinda respect her because she wouldn’t let me fuck her.

Still, keeping them out of my body somehow felt like my last bastion of freedom and hope. If they took that away from me, they’d take away yet another piece of my mind. That might be enough to send me over the edge, and I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let them take my mind from me. It was still the one place they couldn’t control, the one place they hadn’t penetrated.

Footsteps drew close to the cupboard, and the door finally swung open. Danny glared down at me. “You look disgusting,” he said, voice dripping with condescension. “Absolutely fucking filthy.”

I flicked my eyes up at him, shielding my face with one hand. “Are you here to take me for another bath?” I asked, wishing my voice came out as something stronger than a pathetic, quavering squeak.

He chuckled. “No. I was supposed to feed you, because we don’t want you starving to death before Sunday, but I decided on something else first.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What?”

“I thought I’d come and see what I’ve missed out on all these years while you fucked around with the wrong man,” he growled, fisting one hand in my hair. “I hear from the other guys that you’ve got quite the mouth on you.”

I yelped as he yanked my hair, pulling me out of the cupboard. I wasn’t chained this time, because the last few guys had realized it was easier to stuff me in there without restraints. It wasn’t like I could get out, anyway.

Danny pulled me up to a standing position. “Strip,” he said.

I didn’t bother arguing. There was no point. He would only hurt me more if I refused to do exactly what he said.

I quickly undid the buttons on the pale blue dress I’d been given to wear the other night. It was stained with blood now, as was the white cotton bra and panty set I had on underneath.

Once it was all off, Danny’s cold eyes raked over my naked body. Adrenaline rippled through me as I waited for his next command, quickly turning into waves of dread.

“Get on your knees,” he growled.

I sank to the floor, keeping my eyes on his feet. My pulse was speeding, fueled by terror and impotent rage.

“Look at me.”

I snapped my head up. Danny’s eyes were crinkled around the edges with amusement, but inside them, there was nothing but sinister black hatred.

“Are you as good as they say?” he asked.

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