Broken Road

Ch. 2 Punishment

"Damn it, Mar! Where the fuck have you been?" Dustin stood in the doorway, his face hard.  I knew I should have called before I didn't show up.

"Hey, honey," I said, trying to smile at him.  It didn't work.

"Fuck you. Answer my question." Dustin stood there, not moving.  I guess we would have to have this conversation on the porch.

"I went to Rose's house." I squiched my face, ready for a slap.  It didn't come. I opened my eyes, surprised.  Dustin seemed in battle with himself, one arm raised for the hit.  Finally, the hand dropped.

"Dustin?" I whispered, scared.  He seemed different.  Something just wasn't right.

Everything was still for a moment.  And then everything was back to normal.  His face scrunched up in hatred, his eyes deep rolling brown pupils of fury.  He grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked me inside, slamming the door behind me.

Unconcious tears sprang to my eyes at the pain in my scalp, but I managed to hold back my scream.  This seemed to make him even more mad.  He pulled me up, and pushed me, hard, against the door.  My head slammed onto the wood and my spine crashed into the handle.  This time I yelled.

Dustin grinned, bringing his face close to mine.  I could smell the joy on his breath, I could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins.  His excitement scared me for the first time in weeks.  He was out of control.

"Mar, do you know what a bad girl you've been?" I tried to shake my head, but my vision blurred in front of me and I stopped.  His grip on my hair tightened.  "You know that when you disobey me, you must be punished.  And you've disobeyed me.  You are to tell me where you are at all times.  You are never to see Rose again, do you understand?" His pupils were enlarged, staring into mine.  I could hardly focus and felt something wet on my neck.  Something thick.

"Yes, sir." I tried to sound convincing.  I tried so hard.  He slammed me against the door again.  This time I could hear a crack.  I hollered in agony, clutching my shoulder in anguish.  Sound flitted in and out of focus.  I could only feel.

Through the pain, only one thing came through my ears clearly.  The unmistakable sound of laughter.

~*~

I found myself in the basement.  It was cold and I felt like a prisoner.  I assumed I was.  The dampness in the air hurt my lungs so that every time I breathed, a sharp pain shot through my throat.

Beside me lay a bowl of water as if I were a dog.  This is my punishment.  I am officially degraded to something undeserving of love or care.  I was starting to believe it.

Slowly, I tried to sit up and lean against stone wall.  Because of no light, I had to trust my other senses to let me know things around me.  Right now, my sense of imagination got the better of me.  I could almost swear I heard flitting noises from the left hand corner, but when I focused on it, there was nothing.  I shivered with fright.

As I leaned against the wall, feelings came back to me.  My right shoulder thudded with internal pain, like I had dislocated it.  Remembering last night, I assumed that was exactly what happened.  Dusting must have shoved it back in after I had passed out.

Minutes passed as I sat alone, forgotten, underneath the house.  If I disappeared, nobody would care but Rose.  But she wouldn't go to the police.  Not even my work would care.  Working at Home Deopt makes you unknowable and replacable.  I never talked to anyone, so they wouldn't care.

An hour passed. Nothing.  My mind began to wander, thinking of days passed.  The good days where I had loved Dustin, and I had thought he loved me back.  It turns out he only loved the domination he had over my love. Damn my foolishness.