Something New

Chapter Thirteen

Meredith could no longer hold back the strangled yell in pain. Her lower left leg is throbbing, shooting pain through her entire body. Her attacker stands over her, a sick smile on his face. He grabs his boxers, pants, and shirt from the pile he had thrown them in earlier and dresses himself. 

"Fuck you!" She spits, despite being naked, vulnerable, and cornered. In a swift move, the man uses one large hand to wrap around Meredith's neck to pull her into a standing position, pinned between him and the wall. Everything hurts. Her body is screaming at her. The insides of her thighs are bruised from three sexual assaults so far.

"Listen here, you're weak. Worthless. They're not coming, they're never going to find you." He whispers forcefully, the stench of Bourbon reeking from his breath. When Meredith tries to move, his grip around her neck tightens and cuts off her oxygen supply. "Give up, you useless bitch."

With that, he lets her go and she falls to the ground, her legs unable to support her weight. She is starving and dehydrated. She doesn't know how many days she has been here, but she knows she is dying. If she doesn't get water within a few hours, she will die. 

Somehow reading her mind, the man tosses her a bottle of water. She pulls herself painfully into a sitting position and reaches out a shaking hand to take it. It's sealed.

"Drink it. You're not going to die just yet, I get to decide when that happens. For now, you need to be punished. You're going to suffer." He growls. That's all the confirmation she needs that the drink isn't poisoned, although even if it was she might drink it. She unscrews the cap as best she can and quickly downs about three-fourths of the bottle. She doesn't know when she'll get to drink again, so she screws the lid back on and saves the rest. 

The chains around her ankles are still there, though the ones tying her hands behind her back have been replaced with duct tape on the front of her body. The man watches, and she never breaks eye contact, making him chuckle. The sound of his laughter makes Meredith want to vomit. If she had anything in her to vomit.

He disappears for a moment, then returns with an oversized t-shirt and tosses it to her. "Cover yourself up." He orders. She obeys, slipping the main part over her head but not able to get her hands through the sleeves because they're tied. Upon seeing this, he comes over to her and peels the duct tape off her wrists.

She manages to pull her arms through and examines her wrists. The skin has been rubbed away, so she's looking at bloody and painful burns. He watches her, but as soon as she tries to use her hands to help her stand up, he shoves her back down to the ground, adding a few kicks to the side for good measure.

She groans in pain and he grabs her arms, putting new duct tape around her wrists. He wraps a hand around her chin and jerks her face up to look at him. With his other hand, he gives her a quick slap on the side of her face and laughs. "Stay here, baby. I'll be back for more later."

"Go to hell!" She yells after him as he walks out of the cold room, leaving Meredith lying on the floor panting. Before she knows it, sobs rake through her body and tears stream down her face. She tries to stop it, knowing that the tears are only a waste of the water she so desperately needs, but it's no use.

She doesn't want to cry. Crying's not going to do anything about her current predicament. It's a waste of time. But, it's not like she has anything else to do, and it seems she's unable to control her emotions.

Trying to distract herself from crying, she mentally catalogs her injuries. From the way her left leg feels, it's probably broken. A couple broken ribs, her left eye swollen shut and her nose bleeding, likley fractured. Her head's pounding, probably a concussion. There are cuts and burns around her ankles and wrists from being tied up.