Page 108 of Vicious Arrangement
ARIA
The horrific throbbingpain in my skull wakes me, and I want to throw up, except I think if I move, I just might die.
I listen to see if I’m alone, but I can’t tell. I can hear people through the walls of wherever I am, and I’m honestly not sure if I want to open my eyes because where I am stinks.
Old cheap weed, older cigarette smoke, mold, and sex.
I remember getting ready, Angus… Angus on the floor.
And the man with the baseball cap and being hit and nothing until now.
My stomach heaves, and I force myself to open my eyes and look around, even as the agony shoots through my head like arrows.
There’s wallpapered walls, peeling and stained and I’m not sure I’ve seen a room with anything but high-end wallpaper in years. It’s not in at all to paper walls. I bite my lip, and I try to move.
Terror streaks through me. I’m tied up, bound to a lumpy hard mattress, and a blankets that’s on me is stained and smells likeurine, as if someone just fucked an entire football team on it. So much semen.
Oh, God, I think I’m going to throw up.
Sirens rend apart the air, and people scream obscenities outside. A dull thud starts up on the wall behind me complete with moans and grunts.
The clock in my head ticks, but the hands are broken, and I don’t know if it’s day or night. If there’s a window, it’s covered.
To my right, as far as I dare turn my head, is another bed. And I know where I am.
In a hotel in hell.
There’s no one here, and I move, the bed creaking. My mouth’s dry and my throat sore, and I call out. “Help! Please, someone help!”
The room behind me bangs harder and faster, and someone outside the room calls back, “help, please someone help her… she’s in need of a good fuck. Lemme in, baby, I got the tool for you, and so’s my friend.”
I shudder, stomach roiling. I press my lips together hard as tears press hard at my eyes, burning them.
What the fuck is happening?”
A toilet flushes and a light suddenly spills into the room, artificial and white, then it disappears with a slam and a man comes into view.
There’s something incredibly familiar about him but I don’t know who this creep is.
“Oh, good you’re awake,” he says. “I was worried I hit you a little too hard.”
Suddenly, I know who it is.
The man with the baseball cap.
The neighbor.
But other than that… I don’t…
He smiles at me like we’re old friends, and I glare, remembering what he did to Angus.
“Who are you? Is my dog okay?”
“That critter’s fine. It was just enough to make you out of it so I could get you out of that white palace. I’m sure he’s running about having fun.”
The world blurs for a moment, but I grit my teeth and refuse to let myself give in to the panic that’s beating at me.
“What do you want from me? I don’t know you,” I whisper.
