Remember

Wanna Bet?

The morning after the argument, I woke to a sharp pain on my lower spine. It felt like I had just been kicked awake and when I turned to my left, I knew I was right. He stood above me smirking, with his heavy brown boots covered in dark stains. He had on a formal suit that was ruffled and messed up at the top. He grabbed my arm and yanked me up in front of his eyes and looked at my own like he was looking for something. I was still half asleep, but I knew today was the day my whole world would change. I was tingling with nervousness and shivering from the thought of what was behind that single door that kept me from seeing what this monster was truly capable of. He threw some clean clothes at me, and some dollar store slippers and tapped his foot waiting. 

"You have two minutes, we need to make this quick I have a meeting."

I undressed in front of him. One by one, an article of clothing slipped off my skinny frame and landed like a feather onto the concrete floor. His breathing got deep and his nostrils flared as he stared at my bone structure; my ribs, my hip bones, my sunken in stomach, all out in plain view of the man who made me this way. 

"Slower. Put that on slower. Turn around, yeah like that." He instructed me, how to put on my shirt, and my pants, and how to slip on a dollar store slipper, as if that was sexy at all. 

"What about my hair?"

"Forget the hair. No time, come on lets go." He went out the door and waited, his silhouette the only part of him I could see. I walked out with a sigh and examined the hall, as if I hadn't been here before and flashbacks scurried through my head of the closet. "I guess I don't have to give you a tour since you've already wandered this whole place. Let's go, they're waiting."

As we got closer to the blood room, I heard more and more conversations taking place. I heard a woman yelling at some man not to touch her, I heard a young girl crying for food, a young boy cussed out some girl named Lia because she punched him apparently. I heard the keys jingling and he slid the smallest one into the keyhole. You could suddenly hear a pin drop. The silence was so beyond thick that breathing felt almost awkward. 

"That's always funny to me, how quiet they get." He whispered. "It makes me feel more powerful." 

The big room door swung open and my knees buckled. More than a hundred people stood before me. It was like a room of biology skeletons covered in dirt and blood. They were half nude and incredibly angry, but frightened at the same time. There was no noise, except for a couple babies crying. I got goosebumps but had no time to calm my nerves before I was pushed in across the divider on the floor. People backed away as he and I walked through. I was holding my pants up by a finger and kept tripping from the length being too long. 

"Hello..pets. Long time no see! How is everyone?" Not a single response. Just malicious eye contact. "Great! Well, This is my beautiful Celeste. We've had some fun over the last couple years, haven't we?" He looked over at me with a smirk and my response was a single forced shrug. 

"Starting today, Celeste and I are in charge, both of us, together, like a team. You mess with one of us, you mess with both of us, and you will pay for it." A woman in the back rolled her eyes and scoffed at the sight of my face but immediately went stone faced when she noticed his eyes were on her as well.

"Do not doubt me boys and girls, I have made myself very clear of that for a while now. Remember Jan? When you told me to go 'fuck myself'?" he mocked, "Remember when I suffocated your baby after that? Remember how you cried and begged at my feet for forgiveness; how you told me to stop and how nobody tried to help you. It didn't take long for it to stop breathing, did it? But it made you obey me. That's all that's important." His footsteps echoed through the rounded room as he casually made his way through the crowd, his hand touching up on his captives. Everyone flinched at the slight touch of his cold fingers on there nearly bare bodies. He looked through the crowd for his next example.

"And remember Adam? When you refused to eat during Ramadan? Remember how you gave away the food I sparingly gave you? Remember how I shoved pork down your throat? And the Islamic prayers you chanted thinking they would help you? Where did that get you Adam? Where did your sorry religion get you? Nowhere. You're still here and you're going to die here and no God of yours will help."

Women and men began to cry, almost on cue as he let out a menacing laugh. A tear slid down my cheek, my lip quivered as I looked out at the crowd of broken hearts, broken dignities, broken families. I didn't go through anything as bad as they had. I started seeing a flash of these peoples lives, as if I was somehow going through each persons memory. I felt a panic attack setting in, but right before it did, his obnoxious voice filled my eardrums. 

"Anyway, my meeting awaits. Celeste will stay here and keep you company until tonight's game. I can't wait!"

"What game?" I squeaked.

"Its a game of pinata. I go around with a bat and..you know what? I'll explain later. You can be in charge of the game this time." And without another word, he swiftly walked out of the room and shut the door. Everyone's eyes panned over to me, some started to walk in my direction and circle around, leaving me no room to back out. 

"So you're his new candy piece huh? You think you're special? We've all been there. You're not special." It was the woman from earlier! The one who laughed at the sight of me. 

"No no, ma'am trust me I want to get out as much as you all do. I've had it pretty bad too. I don't want to hurt you. But he was gonna kill me if I declined." I was stammering, nothing I said sounded convincing. 

"Don't 'ma'am' me. You want us dead, just as much as he does. Don't lie, you selfish prick. I should gut your intesti-"

"Okay Jewels. Lets relax." This women breaks the conversation by pushing this angry woman, apparently names Jewels, out of the way. Jewels was skinny and tall, dark brown hair, small eyes but long lashes, and just full of rage. I looked at her fists and they were balled up, her knuckles pale and full of gashes. Her eyes were red and sad. They'd seen some things. They've been through some things.  

"I'm Johanna. Nice to meet ya, I guess you're my next 'master', huh? Not this again." 

"Excuse me?" Johanna walked around me in circles and eyed me up and down. Her hand grabbed my left bum cheek and I jumped out of her grip in shock. 

"The whole BDSM game, I'm tired of it. I need something real. Wheres the passion in that?" She smirked. My jaw dropped. "So, whats your crime?" 

"What?" 

"Can you not speak? What did you do to get in here? How'd he get you?" Johanna crossed her arms and waited.

"I was uh..robbing a jewelry store and uh..I didn't know..where to go and I thought the cops cornered me.. He told me he was gonna help but I woke up locked in chains in a room I never saw before."

"Awh baby girl, that's weak. Look, I'm sorry you went through all that but that was a sorry crime. You could have easily escaped it. Honestly, you brought this onto yourself." She giggled and went to the other corner of the room near the door. "You see this, that's his blood. Not mine. He thinks he runs this place, but honestly, I do. In this little sanctuary, I'm the big dog. "

"Well what did you do to get yourself thrown in here? If you're so big and tough why couldn't you defend yourself?" I mocked. Surely she must be all talk.

"Oh..nothing serious. Just mass murder."  She stood up and narrowed her small eyes at me.

"You're joking.." I murmured. Every step I took backwards, she took twice as many towards me.

"Wanna bet?"