The Monsters Inside (Formerly Extract)

Punishment

Punishment.  It was a word I feared, yet was ultimately familiar with. However, I knew that this punishment would surpass all others in its brutality. The men gave me a few hours to “tend to the boy”. My tears washed the blood away from the circular wound, and I dug through his opening with a sharp splinter of wood. Once the bullet had been extracted, I cleaned the wound and, using string from my sweater and a safety pin, sowed it shut. It was a botched job, and the wound would scar and heal improperly, but he would live. For now.

My mind had been jumping in and out of consciousness for a while. I felt every tiny pinprick as Violet healed me, but I couldn’t scream; my body was completely shutdown. When I finally gathered enough strength to sit up, our captors were back. And they were pissed.

A red head and a brunet took Violet a little way away from me, and the blonde and black men forced me upright. “Watch, little whelp. Watch as your ‘protector’ bleeds.” The two men holding Violet forced her face in my direction, and there was an animalistic fear in her eyes. I struggled, trying to free myself from the men so I could get to her, so I could protect her. But the men clamped my hands together with cuffs, and Blondie forced me to the ground with his foot. “Get the whip.” The black man, disappeared into the other room, and came back with something long, black, and tipped with gruesome spikes. “Stand boy!” Blondie hefted me to my feet, and the other man punched my gut, forcing me to double over. I stood upright, knowing that falling would lead only to more pain. But little did I know that pain was inevitable.

The crack of the whip echoed throughout the room, but my scream was louder. The spike tore through my flesh, ripping open skin and leaking blood. Slash slash slash. Over and over until I slumped onto my knees. 'John.' I forced my head up and looked over a Violet. She was still watching me, and her eyes were damp with tears. No tears. Don’t cry... Another punch, delivered to my brow, as if the men could hear my thoughts. Slash slash slash slash. My eyes closed in pain and I grunted out my agony. I could feel the blood pouring down my back, dripping, forming a puddle on the floor...

“That’s enough.” Blondie released one more blow to my back, before rolling up the whip. The black man forced me to look up, and through my weary eyes, I saw three men surrounding a small, pale girl. She was crying as she looked at me, and I couldn’t recall why. My body weakly fought against the hold the man had on me; I knew I had to save this girl. But... who was she?

The men gathered around her, and stripped her of her clothing. She fought back, but there were just so many. They pushed her to the ground, and Blondie held her in place with a boot on her chest. The redhead took an awful looking club, tipped with spikes and nails, and thrust it down on here stomach. “No!” The sound tore from my throat, ripping it apart as I screamed. I watched as blood dripped from her body onto the floor. I watched them beat her again and again. And when it was over, I watched them rape her. All I could do was scream.

There was pain, and there was pain. This was PAIN. The spikes plunged into my body and tore it apart as it disengaged. I felt myself slowly slipping away. Men surrounded me, blocking out light and warmth. My head lolled to the side, my neck no longer having the strength to hold it up. A boy. A boy was screaming. He looked mad. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn’t move. Why is the boy mad? His eyes were trained on a dark figure wielding a gruesome looking instrument. It was dripping with a sticky sweet venom, the same substance that flowed from my body. He slammed the instrument down, and I waited for the blow, but it never came. All I could feel was a warm glow and a pang of sadness as I left the boy in the hands of grueling monsters.

No, no, no! Move, please... don’t leave me, please. Black dried blood surrounded a gaping wound in her torso. The red stuff, what hadn’t dried, splashed and tainted my hands as I fell to my knees next to her, begging, silently begging. Her eyes were half open, staring at nothing, seeing nothing... They killed her! They killed her! They killed her! My hands curled into fists and I swiveled around to Blondie. I let out a fierce, feral growl –past all human sense. A crack, blood, pain. I watched as if in a trance as my body flew at this man, beating him over and over again for hurting this girl, this poor innocent angel. I couldn’t stop myself, I just watched as I released my anger, my fury. And when I was finally spent, I collapsed and watched the color fade from her body, along with my hope.

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Peace. The word sounded foreign to me, as if it only existed in faraway lands. Places where mothers come home to see their children sitting quietly together, getting along nicely; where the sun shines and families laugh and play together. Not places where the only access to life is through a small crack in the door, or food is scarce and cold, and someone’s life slips down your throat like a red syrupy medicine...

I felt this strange foreign feeling as I lay in the sunlight, basking in the warmth of blue skies and soft breezes. Flowers of all shapes and colors surrounded me, shining, flourishing in the sunlight. A smile graces my lips, the feeling uncomfortably awkward on my face. Free, I was free...

“Violet. Come here, baby.” Turning my head, I saw an angel. An angel with soft brown hair and a plump frame. “Mom.”

I ran to her, holding out my arms, ready to be embraced. She was warm, so blessedly warm and it broke my heart to see her. Releasing her, I looked beyond her to see my father, his hand around Tommy’s shoulders. Next to him stood my grandmother and my grandfather... but hadn’t he had a stroke last year and left us? “It’s okay darling, you’re safe now.” My mother’s soft words replayed in my head, and my smile widened. “Every one you love is here. We all came to bring you home.” And everyone was there. My friends from school, my neighbors, even my dog Polly, who had ran away a few years ago. They were all here... but where was he. John.

Just like that, my heaven was shattered. Clouds crowded above my head, and snow drifted down, chilling me and dampening my light summer dress. My family all looked solemn, and my friends had turned away. “No!” I shrieked, thrashing it my mother’s arms “No! This isn’t real! This can’t be real! This isn’t real!”

Just like that, my heaven was shattered.