Misguided Trusts

Just how well do you know the person that's meant to love you?

 

The sound of the woman’s stilettos as she walked closer towards where she sat scared Callie; she had no idea what was going to happen next.

            ‘Baby girl,’ Lacey, that’s what her name was, Lacey’s soft singsong voice floated through the air.

            Callie closed her eyes and brought her knees closer to her chest, tucking them under her chin, her aching body moaned in protest, there was nothing she could do to change what had been done to it. She honestly didn’t know how much more she could take. Callie had endured enough torture, enough pain, the only thing that was left was her dignity and it was impossible to know how long she would keep it.

            The darkened room took some time getting used to. Half a day maybe, there wasn’t much in it, a mattress that was a makeshift bed, a table, and a toilet in one of the corners. Her body screamed with need, she needed sleep. She wouldn’t risk closing her eyes for an instant. Callie had heard what they had done to the other girl. She had heard her screams through the night as they abused her to death.

            ‘Callie. Baby girl. I have something for you.’

            Callie listened as Lacey unlocked the door, the click of the key made her jump and stifle a scream.

            ‘You have a new inmate,’ she laughed and Callie shivered, it wasn’t because Lacey’s laugh was something that gave you shivers but because it was so girly and leaned more towards a giggle when she was excited.

            Opening her eyes Callie squinted and barely saw Lacey push someone through the door before shutting it tight, the locks making her jump yet again.

            ‘Callie?’ The voice was familiar. She knew that voice.

            ‘Clay?’ her voice was rough and husky from her time spent, crying, screaming, cussing, and begging her torturers.

            ‘Oh my god.  Cal. You’re alive. Where are you?’

            ‘Here. In the corner,’ she slowly unwrapped herself and placed her good arm on the wall, the arm which didn’t hurt when she applied some pressure to it, and began to lift herself slowly off the floor. Her aching body screamed in protest and she cried out in pain, getting half way up the wall before arms wrapped around her unbelievably sore body.

            ‘Cal,’ he whispered into her hair, it was enough bring tears to her eyes, and before she knew it she was sobbing all the pain that she had kept inside, had kept from them. Her body shook and her arm vibrated with pain. Callie cried out Clay drew her closer, soothed her, soon her sobs quietened down and all you could hear if you listened quietly was the soft sound of her hiccups. After what seemed like forever Clay spoke again and Callie felt like she was back outside, safe and sound with the one she loved so dearly, ‘I didn’t know where you were, I looked everywhere, I was so lost without you.’

            ‘They...’ she cringed in pain as she slowly pulled away from him, ‘They took me and did stuff to me,’ she lowered her voice to a whisper, ‘Evil stuff, unspeakable stuff and I blocked out a lot of it,’ unconsciously she lifted her arm, she whimpered in agony as a nauseating sharp pain went through her arm.

            ‘Callie!’ Clay’s voice pulled her away from her thoughts of vomiting, and she let her arm drop by her side.

            ‘I think,’ she swallowed the rise of bile that creep up her throat as she spoke and she looked towards him, ‘I think my arm’s broken, I don’t remember how they broke it,’ panicked, she tried so hard to remember what had led her arm to the state it was in, all she could remember was being strapped down as the surgical knife sunk into her thigh and Lacey held her arm as she struggled, her arm...

            ‘Callie, come back to me, it’s okay,’ Clay’s eyes scanned hers, she knew what he would see, something dark, something replacing the Callie that had once been there.

            ‘They, oh my god,’ she turned away from him and vomited, the liquid burned her throat, she coughed and spluttered emptying the contents in her stomach. They had fed her less and less each day, so there wasn’t much to vomit.

            ‘Here,’ Clay thrust a glass of water in her hand. She looked up at him. That glass wasn’t in the room before he came in. He...no, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t be a part of this could he? No he was the man she loved, he wouldn’t hurt her, not like this. She refused to believe all the warning bells that rang loud and clearly in her head.

            She took the glass of water and brought it to her lips, ‘Thanks,’ she croaked and swallowed the water down quickly. She held onto Clay and scanned his face. There was something, something about him that was different, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

            ‘Baby, we should set that arm,’ his murmuring troubled her, as did his tone, in the time he had been here it was the first time he hadn’t used her name, he never used her name when they were together before this. Her vision slowly blurred and she tried to blink it away. No, this can’t be happening, no he can’t be with them. He can’t!

            ‘Clay?’ she whispered his name just as the lights in the room flicked on. The door opened and she watched Lacey and the dark skinned man walk through the door. Her body felt like rubber and she lost the feeling in her legs and collapsed into Clay’s arms. He carried her to the table that now lay in the middle of the room. When did that get there? She weakly felt the restraints and saw the tears that slid down his cheeks as he pulled down her pants and undid his own.

            ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered as everything went dark.

 

Author's Note

It's never been edited heavily, so excuse any grammar/spelling problems. Tell me what you think of the connection between Clay and Lacey.

Reviews

[Type0]

The whole piece is refreshingly dark without being overbearing. I like it that a lot of the prior backstory is alluded to but repressed by Callie, it helps to add to the claustrophobic feel of the piece. I would have liked more allusion to the background between Clay and Callie; although you hinted at it, the sentiment was slightly lost to the forced situation. A greater juxstaposition of old and new here would have really brought out the horror.

The first thing that struck me about the relationship between Clay and Lacey were their names, and that they are almost perfect anagrams of each other. This ties in well to Callie's shortened name, and suggests a command structure: the more letters that are lost, the weaker the character.

Both Lacey and Clay are different from what their outward appearance would suggest, and this is a common theme that can be seen in the piece. You especially draw attention to Lacey's freakish girliness, which works wonders. A few similar suggestions for Clay might be enjoyable, and it would help heighten the tension in Callie's mental position by the end of the piece.

I think that the only other thing I would add is further description of the environment to a certain extent, so that when the items appear, and the lights come on, there is a greater shift in the perceived setting and its atmosphere. For me, the final lights are suggestive of scientific experiments.

This is a fantastic piece though. You have suggested Callie's turmoil really well, and the darkness she experiences is well hinted at. Is this something that you were going to redraft and work on further at all?

[Mandi D K]

I definitely will =)

[Type0]

You're welcome!

As it stands this is a really interesting piece: although I do look forward to what it could become.

Make sure you let me know if you develop this further: I would love to read that.

[Mandi D K]

Wow, thanks.
I was (or thought i was) working to a strict word count, proves i didn't need to so that's kind of why things are forced and there isn't much explanation.
I'm thinking about working on it, probably at a later date as i have so much going on right now.
I will definitely try to beef up the description of the surroundings.
Thanks again Type0