The Lost Roses

Chapter Two

When I wake up I am in a very dark, cold, room. I realize I'm in someone's basement. And I am not alone. There are seven other girls down here with me. One looking the oldest, maybe 19 or 20, walks up to me handing me a blanket. That's when I realize I'm in just my t-shirt and underwear. My shorts, sandals, and bra are all gone.
"I'm Aria, that's Sarah, Nicole, Ashley, Amanda, Stacia, and Kimber." She says going down the line naming the dirty bruised girls. Kimber looks to be only 15. Which is why I ask them their ages. "I'm 20, Sarah is 20, Nicole and Ashley are 20, Amanda and Stacia are 19 and Kimber turned 19 a few days ago. How old are you?"
"I'm 18. And my name is Zoey....how did I get here?"
"It was most likely Lucas. He took all of us. he took most of us as were just walking down the street. The only one not taken that way was me. And you, I suspect. He drugged me at a club and here is where I woke up. Alone. I was the first girl. And every four months after that he brought another girl. Except this time. It's been six months since Ashley got brought here. How do you think you got here? Where were you?"
"I was at this pottery place with my parents. And he asked if we wanted to see some stuff in the back. And we stupidly agreed. The next thing I remember was him grabbing me and then waking up here."
"You were with your parents? The rest of us were alone when it happened. When he took us."
"Yea. He probably killed them."
"I wouldn't be surprised. He is one fucked up dude."
"Aria don't talk like that! He could be listening! Then we'd all get punished!" Nicole warns her.
"Punished? How?" I ask.
"If you all keep talking you just might find out." Lucas says walking down the steps. "Aria, come here. Apparently you don't understand. You've been one of mine since the beginning yet you just don't get it." As he says that last sentence each word is punctuated with a slap, or a kick once she falls to the ground. "I'm done with you. Go to bed." She crawls away from him and onto her bed, shaking, and I'm sure too scared to even cry. "Come here Zoey." Too terrified to even move I continue to stay where I am. "If I have to ask again I won't be very pleasant about it." And even though I know he won't be very nice I still can't seem to will myself to move. "Fine. Have it your way." He walks up to me and grabs me by my hair yanking me up. I can both feel and hear hair snapping as he pulls. I cry out but that doesn't stop him. Once I'm stood up in front of him he lets go. Then he slaps me and I fall to the ground. I can taste blood in my mouth and only cry harder, shaking in fear. "Get up!" He snarls. When I don't get up quickly enough he kicks me. Over and over again. Until I feel like I'm going to be sick and I'm sure my ribs will snap. I think a couple may have already. He grabs me by the hair again and yanks me up. This time, it is much harder for me to actually stand. He yanks my head back so I'm looking directly at him. "You see I was trying to be nice and I was going to let you see your parents and maybe even stay with them a while. Not now. Now, you can stay down here with the rest of them." He lets go and I collapse back onto the ground in a heap. I hear him stomp back up the stairs and slam the door. As soon as it's shut Nicole comes up to me and half carries, half drags me to one of the beds. I crawl on it and when the pain fades to a dull throb, I sleep. When I wake the next morning the other girls are already up. And watching me. "What's going on?" I ask confused.
"He beat you pretty badly. We were all worried you wouldn't wake up." Sarah explains.
"You guys all have dirty blonde hair or brown hair and blue eyes. And we all look alike. Why?"
"That's his thing we guess." Ashley says.
"Where are you guys from?"
"I'm from California." Aria says.
"I'm from Arkansas." Sarah is next.
"I'm from Nevada." Then Ashley
"I'm from Iowa." And Amanda
"I'm from Washington." Nicole.
"I'm from Maine." Stacia.
"I'm from Georgia." Kimber.
"What about you?" Aria asks.
"Illinois. I was on vacation in Louisiana."
"So none of us where even close really. None of us are from the same place. And none of us know where we are now. Has he ever done anything besides beat you?"
"You mean like rape? No." Nicole says.
"Well that's not true." Kimber speaks up.
"What do you mean?"
"Until you got here he was constantly coming to get Ashley. Especially at night."
"Did he ever touch you?" I ask Ashley.
"Not in any way I didn't like."
"You mean you willingly went with him?" I ask completely disgusted. How could she?
"It got me fed and beaten less frequently than the rest. So yea. I was always locked in a room when we were together. But yea I've fucked Lucas. Or rather he's very nicely fucked me. You all should try it sometime. He's got a big dick." That's disgusting. She's disgusting. I can't believe she's so proud of it all.
"Feeding time!" Lucas yells down the steps. Wonder what he plans on feeding us. Probably something nasty. "I bought Mac and cheese. Eat what you want. I won't be back until tonight." When no one moves or says anything he starts to get annoyed. "A thank you would be nice." We all continue to stare. Except Ashley. She gets up and walks up to him.
"Thanks baby. I appreciate it." She looks just as sleazy as she sounds. Who is this chick? Apparently he finds her as disgusting as I do because he pushes her to the ground and kicks her.
"Do not touch me. Do not talk to me. And do not call me baby. Got it?" He kicks her with every word. When she doesn't say anything he kicks her again. And again.
"Yes! She gets it. Leave her alone!" The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. Fuck.
"Oh really? Well since your vocal chords seem to be working better than hers I'd like to hear you use them. Come here." Learning my lesson from the day before but being no less terrified I walk up to him. He unravels his belt from his pants. "Bend over. Don't make me do it for you." I do as he says and he hits me over and over and over until I can't stand anymore. I fall as he continues to hit me. The belt lands on my face, on my back, on my legs. On any exposed bits of skin. I can feel blood running down my skin in places the belt has managed to tear through the ever growing welts. When he's done he picks the food back up. "When you guys are deserving I'll bring it back."
"We do appreciate it. We really do. We're sorry we didn't say anything. We just didn't expect such nice food. Or so much. There's enough there for two days for all of us. We deeply apologize. Please don't take the food away." I can't believe anyone could suck up like that. But Nicole does it.
"See. You appreciate the finer things. When I return tonight you'll get a special treat." He puts the pot back on the floor and leaves. I just lay there. The cool cement feels much better than how I know the hard cot like beds will. Ashley crawled away to lick her wounds while he was beating me. I don't even get a thank you. We spend our time keeping to ourselves for the most part. Each of us have other things we're thinking about. I think about my parents and Dylan, my best friend. Aria had a fiancée. And the rest had boyfriends and close families. Everyone except Ashley. She's the only one that hasn't opened up. And the only one with different marks. She has them around her neck and wrists and ankles. He only chains us to the beds around our left ankle. I don't understand why she has the raw red marks everywhere else. Unless he was tying her up when she was up there too. Which would make sense if she's his whore. She doesn't really talk to anyone. When the rest of us do talk it's about what we would be doing if we weren't here. I'd be traveling the world. Later that night, or so I assume, there are no windows or clocks here, he returns. And asks Nicole to pick any girl out of us all. She picks me.
"Good. Now you get to watch her be beaten. That's your treat. Instead of it being you, it's her." What!? Me? Again?
"What? I don't want to do that."
"Choose a form of punishment. Or I'll beat you both."
"What? How do you expect me to do that?" She looks absolutely broken. She begins to cry and her eyes plead with him and me.
"You have five seconds. The belt, me, this whip, this cane, or the flogger?" She continues to look at him and then me, fluttering back and forth. She's completely torn.
"She shouldn't have to choose."
"You're right Zoey. You can choose. And since her five seconds are up, you'll be choosing the beating for you both. She chose you, you get to pay her back." This is so fucked up. Which one will hurt the least? Probably him.... But those boots hurt.
"Fine. Fine. I choose you."
"I'm no longer an option. Instead, now you get the option of this." He holds up something that looks like a whip and barbed wire had a baby. I definitely don't want that. God I don't know.
"Then the belt."
"That won't work for you. You've already been beaten with it today. Pick again." He has a huge grin on his face like he's enjoying this. In that moment he reminds me of the joker in the Batman comics. It pisses me off. All of it pisses me off.
"Fuck you. You aren't really going to let me choose. You'll use what you want in the end." I snap.
"You're right. I choose the whip. Lay on your bed face down. Take off your shirt." He ties each of my feet and hands to the bed. Then he beats me. I thought the belt was bad. This is ten times worse. I can feel my skin splitting and peeling and the blood running down my back. I pass out from the pain after maybe the fourth strike. Once again, my whole world fades to black.

~~~~How you guys likin' it? Interesting no? Well the picture above is of all the girls. Except Zoey.~~~~