Run (#Wattys2016)

9

9

My sobs still rang out as Aaron threw me to the ground. The affects of the water torture weren't going to end immediately. Aaron gently positioned me so that my back was against it. (I was too unfocused to catch the irony in that.) My eyes darted all around the room, not being able to focus on anything for more than a second. Shackles. Metal table. Whips. Whips? Whips. Knives. Three tin tubs. Metal grate. Chair with restraints. Shackles.

"Lekia." My eyes darted towards the noise. Just Aaron. Things with spikes. Water torture table. Hoods. Chains. A blow up walking ball. Rope. Snap. Snap.

"Lekia." Snap. Snap. Aaron again. I looked up at him. He was looking back. I lifted my hand to wipe away my tears. It seemed heavier than usual. I looked down at it and seemed to see it in a new light. My fingers stretched out as I examined my wrist. It was shackled. I lifted my other arm and examined it in the same way. It was also shackled. Ankles were the same. My eyes looked up and found Aaron's. They were a rare light shade of brown.

"Lekia, can I see your hand?" I gave it to him, still staring into those eyes. I had found something to focus on.

"Just focus on me." I nodded as his other hand started to stroke my hair, "Keep calm." No more tears ran down my face. Aaron held my gaze. Still holding it, he wrenched my hand. The word sleep came into my ear, and everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My eyes opened to see Aaron staring at me with a smile on his face. I looked around. Everything was the same. But what had just happened? I put my head between my knees and mumbled, "What time is it?" Aaron took a second to answer.

"It's eight twenty-one," he finally replied.

"Can I go to bed now?" I asked. Aaron laughed, "Sorry, Lekia. I've got another thing for you." I looked up in despair as Aaron rose to his feet. Smiling of course. He walked over to the wall and pressed a button. The shackles I had seen above me earlier started to descend slowly. Aaron walked back over and started to unchain me. My eyes started to dart again. The tins. The tins, the tins. How about the knives? Nothing good could come from those. I looked down to see that I was no longer on the ground. I was in Aaron's arms once again. How did that happen? How was I so unaware? Aaron grabbed one of the shackles and chained my wrist. I just sat there staring at him. What was wrong with me? My second wrist was chained and Aaron was lowering my feet. They just didn't touch the floor.

"Which whip should I use, Lekia?" he asked me.

"I don't think you should use any of them," I mumbled. He laughed.

"Well, I have to use one of them silly girl. You need to be punished," he started to run his fingers down the whip collection, "Let's see. You bit Ariel on the arm. Two. You kicked Veal in the nuts. That's two. You kicked my legs out from under me. Another two. You struggled when we tried to put you in the wheelchair. That's another two. And last but not least, you kicked Frank in the nuts. Two. A total of ten." Aaron found a whip he liked and whipped it for affect, "This one looks good." He set the whip back in its place and walked to the back of me.

"Well, we can't leave this dress on. Don't want it to get all ripped up," he whispered in my ear. I sucked in my breath as the zipper was pulled down. My strapless piece of cloth hit the ground a few seconds later. When I looked down, I looked back up in exhasperation immediately. I was in a strapless, strapless, black lace bra with a matching set of panties. That meant, whoever had changed me had seen me naked. Great. Not even left with my dignity.

"It'd be a shame to accidently hit this bra too," Aaron said as he undid it. It landed right next to my dress and any sense of humility I had preserved. "And may I just say," Aaron sucked in his breath, "you look great in those cheekies."