Page 5 of Rue

“Well, you get yourself home before dark!” her grandmother scowled, waving her off.

“Too late for that,” Sailor laughed. “Got here as the sun was going down! Don't worry! I’ll be careful,” she promised, putting the plate in the sink to wash the next day. “I’ll come over tomorrow afternoon, okay? Bring some of my work here and sit with you while you read, okay? We can read together! Love you!”

“Love you too, Sailor Rue!” her grandmother called, then broke into another coughing fit as Sailor shut and locked the door.

Chapter 4

Sailor was slow and thoughtful as she walked to the mini-mart. They hadn’t noticed, neither of them. Maybe it wasn’t as noticeable as she’d feared? No… anyone who saw her HAD to notice, didn’t they? It seemed so evident to her! Sure, some girls just had a pudge there, but the bump on her was so pronounced, and there was no weight anywhere else. It was apparent, they were just oblivious. Wrapped up in their own problems and not hers.

The mini-mart was bright down every other aisle, and several fluorescent lights were flickering in a headache-inducing way as she looked for food on sale.

She was in the soup aisle when she looked up from her basket at the man standing there in her path, looking down at his phone but murmuring to another man with him.

Her eyes locked with his.

HIM.

The man who’d raped her that night four months ago.

His eyes dropped to her feet and back up, his lip curled, but his face had no recognition.

Sailor still panicked, her basket dropping from numb fingers as she stumbled back a step, then two. Turning, she ran away, but she was running to the back of the store. Rounding theaisle, she ran back towards the front.

The man cut her off at the top of the aisle, catching her around the shoulders, almost clotheslining her.

Sailor screamed and kicked as he lifted her, and he immediately passed her off to the much larger man with him, a scowl on his face as he nodded at the man at the register on their way out.

The man turned and went to the alley between the store and the apartment building next door, all the way back to a side door and a light. The man pushed her to the wall under the light, and Sailor screamed again as HE approached, looking her over again with a scowl.

“Now,” HE called, an eyebrow climbing, “that was about the guiltiest reaction I ever seen. I don't know you, so I think you best start talkin’, girl,” he called, crossing his arms from a few feet back as the other man held her against the wall. HE cocked his head like he was waiting, then she saw it. The moment it clicked in his head, the recognition. His eyes dropped to her belly, then back up to her face as he licked his lips, then chewed on his lower lips slightly, looking over her face. “I remember you,” he gave her a slight nod. “D’you think you was gonna hide this from me?” he asked darkly. “Load her up,” he demanded, turning on his heel and stalking away.

The man holding her to the wall pulled her off and dragged her, kicking and screaming, to the same black SUV. Shoving her in, he sat in the back with her while HE got in the front behind the wheel. HE adjusted the mirror, looking her over as she struggled and sobbed, then started the car and pulled out.

Sailor was panicking, her head spinning as she thought about what would happen. A bullet to the head? Her throat cut and dumped somewhere? Who would take care of her mom? Her grandmother? They had no one else, no one! Her mom had a nurse who came in for 20 minutes twice a week, but that was it. Her grandmother didn’t even have that! Nausea billowed up as she shook her head, unable to find words. She could only cry hysterically, hoping that someone would miss her and check onher and see that her mother needed help.

“Shut her the fuck up,” HE snarled back.

The man gripping her shook her slightly. “You don't cut that shit out, I’ll knock you out with the butt of my gun. Be quiet!”

Sailor immediately clenched her teeth, not wanting to be knocked out by a blow to the head that might just as likely kill her.

Maybe they wouldn’t kill her? Perhaps he wanted something else?

Pulling into a large warehouse, HE hit a button, and a garage door opened, allowing him to pull in. It was an open warehouse, for the most part, but there were rooms along the far and back walls, and the central area was full of people, crates, and dirty old furniture. Some people looked to be working, but most were sitting, relaxing, and drinking.

“Bring her,” HE growled, getting out of the car after he killed the engine.

The man holding her got out and led her behind HIM until he stopped and turned. HE looked her over again with an angry sneer, then jerked his head to the back wall. The man holding her took her back to a small room, pushed her in, then shut the door and locked it.

The room was small and dark, but some light filtered through the door's outline. She saw a thin mattress on the floor, but the tiny room was empty. There was no window, nothing but the mattress on the floor.

Going to it, she sat down and pulled her knees up, then put her head in her arms and cried again.

What would he do with her?

Minutes passed, then an hour, then several hours. It had to be morning by now, and all of her ached. Her head was throbbing, and her throat was sore, but she was still terrified. Sailor knew she needed sleep; if she didn’t allow it, it would happen regardless, but she was fighting it tooth and nail. The nightmare was here, on the other side of that door.

It wasn’t just her he could hurt now. She had a tiny body to protect inside of her, and she didn’t know how to do it.

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