Romantic love story

Chapter Seven: Fighting the Dragon

The darkness sat heavy. It pressed against her body, cutting off the very air she breathed. Rope bit into her flesh with an eagerness that made every writhing moment seem like the last. She clawed, twisted to get free, but the rope held fast around her neck.

Death gazed with longing, and oh, how she wanted to follow. Just a few more breathless seconds and it would all go away. There would be peace.

The rope relaxed, and horror shuddered into her soul.

No, God, please no. Life flooded back into her lungs, and the darkness began to lift. She hadn't died. Fear doubled inside her, and still she refused to open her eyes. If she did, she knew what she would see-- what she would be forced to see for hours on end. But before that, would come the pain.

Now it would begin.

A scream tore through her consciousness.

Her eyes sprang open. She shoved herself upright on the sofa, gasping in the air with huge, greedy gulps. Where was she? Terror clutched her heart as she forced herself to look about the room. It required courage to look. Evil could emerge from the shadows, the rope dangling from its hand to begin again. It had happened before.

Her chin edged up until the room around her came into view.

On the wall, a silver photo frame greeted her, winking in the morning sunlight that filtered through the closed blinds covering the windows. It was the picture of two young men, posed side by side in the cap and gown attire of a graduation. Though younger than he was now, Madison recognized the lopsided grin. The other one she knew to be John, but Terry was the one she paid attention to. She focused on him, on the friendly eyes that smiled at her through the glass.

Terry Davis. This was his apartment. Last night, he had brought her here after the doctor's visit and dinner with the Johanneses. He had sat on the coffee table and watched her sink beneath the comforter on the sofa. He had asked if she had food.

This was Terry's apartment. The thought calmed her until she breathed without trying.

The question from the night before made her smile inwardly. Did she have food? Of course she had food. He had stocked that kitchen so well, she could feed herself for the next two weeks without having to even think of running out.

Madison moved to her feet with a stiff grimace of pain. The trials of yesterday came flooding in, as did the realization that she still struggled with the same problems as before. There had been no pill to make it all go away, no treatment to make her suddenly normal.

What had the doctor said to take? It wasn't the same stuff Terry kept giving her, but it was on the list as something she could take for the pain. Remembering the bottle on the counter, Madison limped to the kitchen while trying not to pay attention to the need in her body. She cursed the need that the dragon created. It had given it to her with that dream, for after the choking, then came sex and those awful videos. She despised it with every fiber of her being, and yet, the need was there.

For the first real time since her freedom, the need was there. It discouraged her until she felt herself the worst person on the entire planet. Evil rubbed off onto others, didn't it? That made her just as evil as him. No, there was no him, just the Dragon. She swore to forget him so entirely, she called it by a different name. Even him was too close.

The monster, the evil, the Dragon. It all meant the same to Madison, for they all represented him.

She snatched up the bottle of ibuprofen and dumped two pills into her hand. Disgust had her stomach churning. How could she possibly ever hope to become normal? The very idea was laughable.