Dipping Into Together

Ch 16

I was thrown awake suddenly. Wrenching my head up, I looked around, wondering what it was that had caused me to be yanked out of my peaceful slumber. I noticed suddenly that the top door, hatch, whatever you want to call it, was open. Calming myself, I told myself that I needed to react in a way that was calm and collected and not make any sudden movements. That all went to hell, though, when I realized that Jonah was half laying on me, arms around me, sound asleep. Shit.

There was no way to get him off me in time.

“Darling, Destiny? Where are you?” I heard Uncle’s voice call.

I reacted quickly.

“Get off me! Get off!” I said, forcefully shoving Jonah. His eyes snapped open, and instantly filled with confusion.

“Destiny! What’s going on down there?”

My eyes pleading with Jonah to understand what I was doing, I yelled, “Get off!” pushing him again. I heard the thump, which told me that Uncle had dropped down into the hole. Good.

My plan, hastily formed and impulsively being acted out as I spoke, was absolutely insane, but I didn’t have a choice. Jonah and I couldn’t live down here forever, and I knew eventually he’d kill Jonah; he was already making remarks about it.

The hole wasn’t big enough to stand up in, so Uncle had to crouch. I felt his hand grasp my ankle and pull, hard.

“Get him off of me! Help me!” I screamed.

“You son of a bitch! Don’t touch her!” Uncle screamed at Jonah, hate clear on his face. He wrenched me through Jonah’s arms, and sent me collapsing onto the dirt in a heap. Then he did what I should have, but didn’t expect. He attacked Jonah.

Lunging at him, fists raised, his motion was cut off by my deafening scream.

“STOP!”

And, surprisingly, he did.

Turning around to look at me, he frowned. And then came at me. His hands were everywhere at once. Gasping, I tried to wriggle away. Uncle stopped though, staring down at me, one hand on my stomach, one on my thigh.

“I think it’s time,” he whispered hoarsely.

“Time? Time for what?”

Not answering, he yanked my hands forward, causing me to pitch upwards, ramming into his chest. My chin resting on his shoulder, I looked past him and locked eyes with Jonah.

“What are you doing?” he mouthed.

I just widened my eyes in fear as I felt Uncle’s hands grasp my waist, and I felt myself being lifted upwards. Expecting to hit the dirt, I was surprised when I didn’t. Instead, I found myself being lifted upwards into darkness. Figuring out quickly that I had been lifted out of the hole, I squirmed out of his grasp, landing on a wooden floor with a loud thump. Uncle pulled himself up and started to close the door. I looked through the hole, finding Jonah’s eyes in the darkness. Even though I knew that he probably couldn’t see me, I mouthed, “I’m sorry,” before Uncle sealed the door shut and proceeded to lock several bolt locks.

Then he turns to me. Automatically, he hefts me up onto his shoulder, and everything flies by so quickly that I don’t even have enough time to look around or even register what’s happening for that matter.

---

Finally, he flops me over, smashing me into a bed. My head spins and all the blood rushes out of my head quickly, making me light headed. Ignoring that, I look around quickly; I’m in the same bedroom that I was in. It’s probably Uncle’s bedroom, from the looks of it. Moving quickly, he unties my hands, but before I can move, ties each wrist to a separate bed post. When he goes to do the same for my feet, I’m more prepared. I swing at him, making a satisfying crack with his nose. Blood explodes everywhere, splattering all over my clothes.

“You bitch!” he cries, clutching his nose as blood streams in between his fingers. He rushes off to the bathroom, leaving me alone in his room. I go to work yanking at my wrists, trying to break the bed if I can. But it’s useless. Not that it stops me. I keep yanking anyway. Screaming in frustration, I yank one last time, but nothing happens. I look up and see Uncle coming in, toilet paper stuck up his nose.

Narrowing his eyes into slits, he says, “You’ll pay for that.”  I try to glare at him back, but my fear wins and I end up flinching away from him when he comes near to me, which makes him smirk. “But that can be left for later.” He smiles. Then, without warning, he balls his hand into a fist and punches me in the stomach. The air instantly goes out of my body and I lay there, wheezing, gasping for breath. Then he punches me in the right side of my face. My head snaps to the left and slams against the headboard painfully. I moan in pain. I feel him next to my feet, untying them and then retying them like my hands, this time I don’t try to kick him. I just lay there, feeling my face swelling, wondering why in the hell I had ever came here in the first place.

Then I remember Jonah and almost roll over and die. He’s down in the hole, alone. What have I done?

---

“Wake up,” his voice is hard. Forcing my eyes open, I take in Uncle’s ugly face. “Open your mouth.”

My eyes open very wide, my thoughts instantly going to the worst. Then I see the burger, and my heart rate slows down. He’s just going to feed me. Opening my mouth, I allow him to slowly feed me the burger, all the while caressing my cheek. Trying not to shudder, I chew as quickly as possible so that it can all be over and he’ll let go of my cheek. But the terrifying this is that even after I’ve swallowed the last bite and there’s no more greasy burger to stuff down my throat, he doesn’t move away. Instead, he starts to stroke my cheek, cooing things at me. I turn my head, but he presses against my cheek, forcing my head to turn back towards him.

“Let go of my face,” I breath. And surprisingly, he does. But I shouldn’t be so naïve, so stupid. He slaps me, hard and quick. I scream, surprised by the suddenness of it. And then I lose it. “Get away from me!” I scream at him, straining against everything that’s holding me down. “Get the fuck away from me you fucking creep! Don’t fucking touch me!” I’m crying and screaming and I have probably gone insane. But I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except getting him away from me.

I think of my mother.

And then I really lose it.

I kick against the rope and tape like I never have before. A beast has been unleashed inside me, and I cannot control it. I do not hear anything, I do not feel anything, no pain, just sharp, raw fear. And hate.

And the thing is, he’s beating me. Throughout my episode he is hitting me. My stomach. My legs. My face, maybe. But I don’t notice it. I’m so far gone. I have caved in on myself and all I can do is scream and scream and scream.

---

I am crying, but I don’t know it. I mean, I do know it, kind of. The knowledge is somewhere in my subconscious, but I don’t actually take note of the fact that I’m crying. And it’s quiet, anyway, so it’s not that noticeable.

I am crying because, well, there are a lot of things to cry about, but I’m crying about the fact that I don’t know what day it is. I am so out of it that I don’t remember the days and the nights. It feels like I have been here for years, but I know that cannot be true. But still.

Uncle left shortly after my freak out. I heard his car pull away, and instantly started doing everything I could to break the rope. But it was no use. They are strong. And I am weak. And I’m hungry. And I’m lonely. I want Jonah. Why the hell did I ever do this? I thought that if he took me up here then I could somehow get us out of this mess, but now we’re just separated, which is even worse. It’s so much worse. All I can think of is Jonah in that dark little hole, alone, worrying, waiting for a sign. He’s probably thinking of me up here.

“JONAH!”

Maybe he’ll hear me. Just maybe. I scream at the top of my lungs again.

“JONAH!”

 But I stopped when I realized that even if he did hear me, he couldn’t do anything. It was useless.

I was so frustrated.

Leaning back, I let my head fall against the pillow and sighed. At least I got this bed. Letting my eyes flutter shut, I allowed myself to leave this world. And as I drifted off to sleep, I didn’t notice the smile that drifted onto my face.