A Little Too Much, A Little Too Deep

Chapter 34

PLEASE READ! This chapter can be a little intense, for the most part. There is uncomfortable content in the first 3/4 of the chapter. I will put a * when it is less uncomfortable.

God, my head hurts. It never hurt like this even when it was being bombarded by the ghosts. I open my eyes groggily and lift my head, flinching at the fluorescent lights above me. My hands are bound against the pipe above me and my shoulders are stiff beyond belief. The room is empty but directly in front of me is a tripod and video camera, and the red blinking light tells me that it's recording.

My mouth feels like sandpaper and I try to swallow, but it feels like I'm swallowing razor blades. I test the strength of the cuffs around my wrists that bind me to the radiator behind me and wince when they bite into my skin – they're too tight. I still as footsteps approach the door on the other side of the room, and I glower at Tasha when she steps into the room with a menacing smile.

"You're finally awake! Good, now we can begin!"

I growl and kick out at her as she steps closer to me, but she jumps back and waves a finger at me. "Tsk Tsk, that's no way to treat the one who is keeping you alive, but you have always been ungrateful."

She moves gracefully towards the camera and leans down to look directly into the lens. "I hope you enjoy this, because you could have easily prevented this if you took my offer," Tasha sneers at the lens. Turning her attention back to me, she approaches with a glint in her eyes that sends a shiver down my spine. Moving to the side where I can't kick her, she grips my chin tightly in her hand and jerks my face towards her.

"I don't know what Dimka saw in you – other than the fact that you're a pretty face. At the ski lodge he was so careful as to what he said when you were brought into the conversation, but I could see exactly what he wasn't saying. It's a shame really, that face won't be pretty for long," Tasha croons at me, and I gather all the saliva I can muster in my mouth and spit in her face. She jumps back and wipes her face with a disgusted look.

Tasha's eyes narrow at me and she grabs my face again before her hand heats up to temperatures so searing, I scream out in pain. I remember vividly what it felt like when Christian burned through the zip ties in Spokane and that was nothing compared to what she is doing to me now.

I tear my face out of her grip as salty tears roll down my cheek and I wince as the salt stings my marred skin. Tasha glowers at me before striking her hand across my burned cheek and I let out a small sob as pain explodes through my face.

"When I'm done with you, nobody will look twice at you."

I breathe in pants as Tasha stands up and walks out the door, locking it from the other side.

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This kind of torture continues for what feels like weeks, but really could only be a few days. Tasha waits until the skin starts to heal before she returns and burns the skin again, taunting me the whole time. On top of that, she enjoys using a baseball bat to shatter the bones in my lower legs, making me vomit from pain, but also impossible for me to run if I got out of the cuffs.

I can tell by the dryness of my throat that I am dehydrated, and the only time I get any water is when Robert comes in and holds the cup to my lips, muttering incoherently under his breath. Each time he comes in I beg to know about Sydney, but he looks at me vacantly and scuttles out the door.

Sleep eludes me because the pain is so strong, and when I can sleep it's only for moments at a time. Tasha started moving to different parts of my body; heating the cuffs to burn my wrists, burning me with her hands on my legs, arms, chest and abdomen until I beg for her to stop. I can feel my skin blistering and moving at all makes whimpers slip from my lips.