Oblivion

Chapter Four

I woke up to my entire body aching as though I had been hit by a truck. Opening my eyes took more effort than it ever had and my eyelids felt like sandpaper. I reached for my phone to check the time, but all I found was pain shooting up my arms as I struggled to move them from behind my back. Something pinched the more I struggled.

I blinked my eyes several times to focus on my surroundings. I wasn't at home in my bed like I thought. I was on a pile of hay behind iron bars in some unknown place I never saw before. I discovered both my wrists and ankles were bound with black zip ties. I felt tape pull at my lips when I tried to part them.

The sound of movement brought my attention to my neighbor in the cage across from me. I scooted on my bottom trying to get a better look at them. My stomach twisted recognizing the silver ankle chain with half a heart hanging from it.

My neighbor was Jessica.

She was trying to slip her own zip ties, her cheeks stained with thick black smudges from her running mascara as she cried helplessly. I tried to make a sound but the tape kept me quiet along with my dry throat. She wouldn't look up. I banged my heel against the cage. That got her attention.

Her blue eyes went wide seeing me sitting there. They softened and flooded with tears. She sobbed, pressing herself against the bars as if we might somehow reach the ten feet between us despite being bound. I wanted to blame her for this, but it wasn't entirely her fault.

A door opened somewhere out of sight and we looked at each other in terror. It could only be our captor coming to check on us. Jessica was visibly shaking as heavy footsteps slowly approached where we were, but we couldn't see who it was.

The man that stepped out looked like an older version of Simon, if not a little more country with his flannel shirt and faded, dirty jeans. A pair of steel toe boots completed the look. He was huge like Elijah, built heavy with muscles I bet worked and weren't at all for show. He wiped his hands on his jeans and stepped toward us.

"Good morning ladies. You slept well, I trust," he said as if we weren't bound and gagged prisoners. We both tried to talk but the tape just made the words unintelligible noise. He held up a hand to silence us and Jessica looked furious. "I won't remove the tape until you can both cease with begging and crying. It irritates me to listen to it. So, for the first week, you will both be mute. If you are well behaved, perhaps you will be granted permission to speak again. Now, I know you're both wondering why you're here. That's very simple. You are in our community because you have been chosen as wives for a couple of the young men here. You are in these cages here because neither of you are ready to be part of our community, but that will change during your stay here at Montgomery House.

"We have rules here, ladies. Especially while you are in training here at Montgomery House. There will be no fornication with your betrothed, whatsoever before your wedding ceremony. There will be no use of foul language. Attendance at spiritual meetings is mandatory. Confession is mandatory. Examinations are mandatory. You eat every bite of every meal or you will starve the following day until you learn to be grateful and not wasteful with what the community provides for you. Failure to abide by these rules will result in punishment. The punishment will always for the crime and be at our discretion until you are married, then you will be your husband's responsibility.

"Both of you face the back wall and do not move until you are told to," he ordered and for some reason, I immediately listened. I honestly didn't want to find out what he meant by punishment.

Jessica, on the other hand, didn't comply. She glared at the man defiantly and refused to do as she was told. Of all times for her to be stubborn, now truly was not a wise choice. We were at this stranger's complete mercy, and yet she leveled her chin and glared daggers at him. I admired her courage and wished I had even half of it.

"You really want to start this way, Jessica?" he asked her. The fact he knew her name threw her off. She lost some of her confidence and fear resurfaced. "One last time, face the back wall and do not move until you are told."

Reluctantly, she turned her back to him and stared at the back wall. I heard a key turn over one of the locks and felt my heart rate go up anticipating it to have been my cage that was unlocked. I heard shuffling and muffled yelling, I couldn't help but look over my shoulder.

He had unlocked Jessica's cage and was now holding her up off the ground as she thrashed and kicked. My eyes widened watching her react so violently despite being utterly helpless against someone much larger and stronger than the both of us combined. I had never seen this side of her before, I guess her instinct was to fight, unlike me.

"I promise you will get tired before I do," he told her, but she didn't stop trying to fight him.

I watched as he carried her like a toddler throwing a tantrum to a metal table a few feet from our cages, almost out of sight. All I could see of her was the waist down as he dumped her unceremoniously onto the table. One at a time, he restrained her limbs to the table and tossed the cut zip ties aside.

Her restraints rattled as she struggled and I saw him circling the table, his shadow giving him away when he stepped out of plain sight. I couldn't help wondering what was going to happen next, especially after how she fought. But he continued circling her, like a predator with prey.

I could see her feet trembling after a few minutes of silence and his circling. She struggled against the restraints, the sound of metal grating metal echoed through the otherwise quiet building we were in. I wished she wouldn't fight. It seemed like we were in more danger of we didn't do as the stranger said.

A door creaking open wrenched me from my thoughts and I pressed against the bars trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening. The man stopped circling the table, his shadow stretching long across the dirty wooden floor beside the table where Jessica laid. Whatever he had been waiting for was here now. All I could hear was my heartbeat in my ears as another shadow slowly moved across the floor toward the stranger and Jessica. My primary fear was that I was about to watch my best friend be murdered.

"Oh, good, you're finally here. We've got two. This one wants to be trouble so she will go first," I overheard the stranger tell the newcomer.

"Two? That is a surprise. Eliza, my love, will you take notes for me?" The newcomer revealed himself to be another strange man. Although he had a pleasant tone to his voice. Like the doctor you always liked going to see even if it meant shots because he was so kind.

"Of course, darling," a feminine voice replied.

I couldn't see what was happening, everything but Jessica's feet were out of my view. She was quivering in fear and I didn't blame her. These people were holding us captive, very probably insane, and even more likely they would kill us. We had seen the strange man's face, after all.

"Which bag is hers?" the doctor's voice cut through my swirling thoughts. I heard shuffling before hearing a snap that I knew was the front closure of Jessica's clutch purse. "Patient name: Jessica Marie Cartwright. Age: eighteen. Birthdate: January seventh. Height: five feet and five inches. Weight: one hundred pounds. More likely she's about one hundred and fifteen. Eye color: blue. Hair color: black.

"She has been on progesterone pill birth control, so we'll be doing an in depth pelvic exam. Muscles are firm, well shaped and toned. You are very good at taking care of yourself, Miss Cartwright. No fever, no sores or open wounds, no visible signs of drug abuse. Lungs and heart are top notch, albeit working overtime from fear at this moment. Blood pressure is where it should be given the circumstances. My initial examination is that she is a healthy young lady, despite her pretending not to be." I saw the shadow move on the floor, but he was careful never to step into my line of sight.

"Eliza, prep her for the exam, please," he said and the larger pair of shadows disappeared out of sight leaving the smaller shadow of the woman called Eliza.

"Hush now, don't cry. You will be fine, it's just an exam being performed by a doctor. I'm sure you have done this before in some sterile, cold office building. Now, be still and don't fight. Everything will go much smoother and easier if you behave how we say."