Page 47 of Agony

“Everybody take a fifteen. Arsen, come with me. Neve stay where Max can see you,” Jareth commanded as Arsen sighed heavily and disappeared with him from the room.

CHAPTER15

10:16 pm

When Arsen and Jareth returned, I noticed that the demeanor had changed on both of them. Jareth was more confident and Arsen seemed to look more tortured.

“What’s going on?” I asked him when he approached me.

“There’s something I have to tell you,” he said quietly.

“No, he doesn’t,” Jareth interrupted loudly. “Now enough horseshit. Let’s get this done before I decide to star in this fucking film myself.”

“Neve, go back to the window. Arsen put your hand around her neck, we’ll pick it up from there,” Max said, settling into his chair again.

“Turn around,” Arsen said. I did as I was told and felt his hand grip my neck from behind again. “I’ll make it quick,” he whispered.

My body began to shake. It was obvious that he had changed his mind or had his mind changed drastically for him. I think it was safe to say that I was happy I had stopped him the few times he tried to fuck me. Giving myself to someone who’s sole purpose now was to end my life for the viewing pleasure of some sick fucks wasn’t a memory I’d want to replay in the last moments of my existence.

I took a deep breath and Arsen tightened his grip, cutting off my air supply. Instinctively, I started clawing at his hand with my fingers, trying to pry them off, but it was no use. He was a hell of a lot stronger than I gave him credit for. With a sudden jerk, he threw me onto the bed and stood at the end, an odd look settling on his face.

I felt a bitter shame wash over me as Arsen climbed onto the bed and pressed his body down against me. It was the money that made me become part of this freak show against my better judgment. I knew it was going to happen now and even though I had watched enough people do this to each other, knowing that I wouldn't survive only made it that much worse.

CHAPTER16

10:29 pm

My lungs felt like they were on fire. Arsen hadn’t eased his grip around my throat and now he was using a serrated knife to cut my clothes from my body. But with each slice of clothing being torn away, he also cut into my body.

I closed my eyes tightly and tried to wriggle out of his grip but the more I struggled, the worse the stinging pain of my newly opened wounds and the sudden flame in my lungs.

When he had sufficiently inflicted enough pain with the knife, I felt his lips start to graze over the exposed parts of my body. The bloody, raw parts that were begging to be left to heal.

He used his knees to push my legs open and I used what was left in my will to fight to keep them closed. Arsen moved the knife down my body almost as if warning me against stopping him and I jerked myself to the right.

It was the worst decision of my life, second only to coming with him to this place. I immediately saw explosions of lights before my eyes, followed by the world starting to go black.

My body was going limp and I felt myself losing consciousness. I decided to stop fighting, to let the darkness take me when I heard Max say something that brought me back to life.

“You know that Addie girl lasted longer than she did.”

CHAPTER17

11:01 pm

Ihad managed to fight Arsen off. I don’t know where the strength had come from, but I chalked it up to adrenaline. I threw him onto his back and subdued him by holding the knife I had wrestled out of his hand to his throat.

“What are you doing, sweetheart?” Max asked curiously.

“What happened to Adesynne?” I asked Arsen, ignoring Max.

He looked up into my eyes, a tear slowly slipping down the side of his face.

“What did you do to my cousin?” I screamed at him, pressing the blade down.

“What he was paid to do,” Jareth said, coming over to the bed. “Now let him up. It wasn’t his fault and we shouldn’t have talked about her right now. We need to finish this movie before shit keeps going downhill.”

I felt his hands on my arm as he attempted to pull me off of Arsen, and before I knew what I was doing, my arm swung around.

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