Empty Corpse of a Hound

Chapter 4

No longer is the smiling face of the man.
I'm jolted awake by Ela, a smile of misfit teeth shining in my face.
Unlike last night, a candle is lit, steadied inside a chamberstick. Though it doesn't bring much light, I can at least see the ground under my feet and the table beside the door. I hadn't seen it before. Beside the table is a worn kitchen: a sink, microwave, mini-fridge, stove, and two overhead cabinets.
"Breakfast!" Ela pulls me up, bringing me to the kitchen table where the others are waiting, Angelica still knitting with an array of yarn-  I see now what she's making- Flowers: made of various colors and sizes, daisies mostly, but roses and lilies too. She has them scattered in her lap, like a flower garden on a midsummer day.
Maria is at the stove, hands working on stirring a pot absentmindedly
My mind is racing with thoughts, questions, ideas I knew wouldn't help me, Ela tries to pull me into a chair but I pull back, knocking into the wall with a loud crash.
Maria's face whips around, a confused look on her brow as I start for the door, shaking the handle, tugging and shoving against the door but to no avail. I can't leave.
"You can't leave, I said that" Anastazja growls, pulling me back from the door. "They'll hear you, stop" She pushes me down into a chair next to August, who glares at me from above his notebook.
"Mornin' kiddos" A voice sounds through the metal shack, a female voice, one I hadn't recognized.
"Morning Lia'' They all say in unison. Lia- a woman who looks exactly like her brother, except with longer shaggy hair and a thinner frame with shorts and a tank top, clothing unfit for weather like this- Walks towards me, a snarl on her overly pink lips as she grabs my jaw in between her fingers.
"And who do we have here? A girl that doesn't want to follow the rules?" She squeezes so hard until I swear I could feel a bruise begin to bloom under my skin.
"She's new" Maria reaches for her arm but pulls back at the last second. "Then why didn't you tell her?" Lia snarls, letting my jaw go.
"I forgot- it was late and I was busy telling her everything" Maria whimpers, tucking her arms into her chest as she slowly backs away.
"Clearly you didn't tell her everything if you cant even teach her basic manners around here!" Lia shouts, raising her hand.
I want to stop her but it's too late, she's already bringing her hand down upon Maria, I clench my eyes shut in fear.
"Stop" I open my eyes, finding a cowering Maria and August in front of her, hand around Lia's wrist. "If you hurt her- they wont pay as much" August jerks his head towards Anastazja, who hides her purple wrists behind her back.
Lia softens, retching her arm away and leaving the shack, slamming the door behind her.
I rush towards the open door, breeze wafting on my face, a chance at freedom, life- To only be met with chilling metal a second later.
"You're not leaving until you're useless, get used to fighting to survive," Anastazja tells me as August steps forward, his face blank as he pushes me back into my seat.
My eyes glaze over and well-
I begin to cry.
"Crying ain't gonna help none of us, trust me, we've tried it" Anastazja growls, I wonder what she would have looked like if she hadn't ended up here- I wonder what we all did to deserve this.
I looked over at the only boy in this whole group, who had only spoken when Lia almost hurt Maria. Neither has Angelica- or at least not to any of us.
"You know what I find poetic for a place like this? 'I bite at the hand that feeds me'"
Nevermind- she can speak, though it doesn't seem to anyone in particular.
Angelica's voice is clear, pure, angelic one might say- much like her looks: her pure white eyelashes and hair, pale skin, and red eyes. She's beautiful- She deserves better- We all deserve better.
Ela climbs into my lap, resting her head against my chest, listening to my heartbeat.
Anastazja’s words echoed in my mind as I stared at my own hands, hoping they would one day become strong enough to break the chains that held us captive. But for now, I was just a girl forced into this world of greed and cruelty.
We all sat around the dinner table, partaking in the meager meal our captors provided. Maria seemed distant, her eyes cast downwards as she tried to hide the deep sadness that welled up in her heart. Angelica didn't speak but continued her knitting, her fingers deftly moving the yarn into intricate patterns, a world of her own inside her mind. August remained silent, his gaze fixed on the worn floorboards.
I look at Anastazja, her muscular form and worn clothing a stark contrast to the softness of the children gathered around. She seemed like a warrior, a fighter; yet she too had been captured, her hands calloused with memories of life.
"Get ready for work, you'll be on overtime today" Anastazja sighs as Angelica puts her white hair into a low ponytail.
As if on cue the metal door swings open, Liam shuffling inside, carrying a pair of metal handcuffs as figures fall behind him.
Men.
They're big, most of them muscular, towering over everyone.
"Is that a new girl?" one of the men, black hair and blue eyes, grabs my wrist, shoving me onto the table.
"Yes- But because she's new you have to pay extra" Liam pulls me from under the man, holding his hand out.
The man lets out a gruff before pulling a wad of cash from his pocket- 200 dollars in a collection from one to ten dollar bills, so it takes almost five minutes to count, Liam mumbling under his breath the whole time.
"Go ahead" I can't even register what he had just said before I’m grabbed roughly by the man, put in handcuffs and then shoved into a door next to the one Liam had entered and Lia had come from.
I clench my eyes shut, my body like a ragdoll as he moves me around.
This can't be happening.
This can't be happening.
This can't be happening.
I want to scream- I need to scream.
But I don't.
I feel hands on me, ripping at my clothes, desperate to get to my body underneath- he throws me into the wall, the floor, i try to crawl away but he pulls me back, contorting my spine into positions it wasn't made to be in. My mind screams at me, begging me to move, to do something, to live, to try.
His hands grow bruises on my skin like flowers in a garden. And when my eyes meet his, my body moving up and down and up and down with force- I know that I am only a doll to him, a child that was taught to respect her elders now being broken by one like a gift thrown onto the floor, a cloth doll thrown into a fire, becoming soot and ash or smashing rotting pumpkins the day after halloween, watching its guts spill.
My guts spill now, as a puddle of blood on the ground in between my thighs.
I’m broken, I am so infinitely broken into such small pieces I can never be fixed, never be glued back into what I was before.
My mind becomes numb before my body does, suddenly used to the feeling of- of being… Shattered.
And that's the day I lost any ounce of purity and innocence left in me.
…
"If anyone dares to put their hands on you your grandma will come and save ya"
"Oh don't be silly ma, that's never going to happen"
At the time I was so young I believed my mom, that nothing would ever truly happen.
Until it did.
Maria rushes to me when I'm shoved out of the room, sweaty and tired, clothes haphazardly thrown on.
"Are you okay?!" My vision is muddled and blurry, though I can still see the worry on Marias's face.
She knows I'm not.
And yet she still asks.
"Fine" I mumble, my brain so scattered that all I want to do is remove my skin and cry on the floor until I rot to nothing.
I ignore what she says next as she gets dragged away by one of the other men. Instead, I curl up in a ball on the blanket-covered floor, wrapping them around me, trying to find warmth.
August walks over, he sits beside me, not touching me.
I don't know if I would ever want someone to touch me again after that- I was repulsed at the thought but also yearned for a warm, comforting hug.
I test the waters by leaning my head against his shoulder, finding comfort in the way his shoulders move up and down with every breath.
"I'm gonna get us out of here"
Were the last words I heard before slipping away into my muddled mind.