Chapter Nine
Idris
Iwake up suddenly, a loud, jarring bang wrenching me from the warm blackness cocooning me. My head spins, my eyes aren’t working, and my ears are ringing. My body is exhausted and sluggish, but I remember the needle, the warehouse, the drugging. Breathing through the sickness, I count backwards until my heart slows and my stomach stops rolling, then I force my eyes open to scan my location.
Whoever it was, they were prepared. They wanted me for a reason… but what?
The bang comes again, closer, like the sound of a metal door shutting, and then I hear keys in a lock and laughter as footsteps retreat, the voices fading also. “You heard the boss, she won her peace for the night fair and square. Go sink your dick into one of the other pieces of merchandise.”
My eyes finally adjust to the dark, and I survey the small, damp cell I’m in. I tug on my hands, but they won’t budge, so I lift my aching head to see they are chained to the ceiling. My arms are stretched out above me, but even so, my feet, also chained, touch the floor from my height. The clinking sound of my restraints as I move is loud. Snarling, I yank on them, testing their strength, but they don’t dislodge.
My shirt is gone, and my abs and chest are covered in dirt, post drug sweat, and even some blood—not mine though. I don’t feel any wounds unless they are small. My jeans are still in place and hanging low on my hips. My boots are gone, socks too, and I know they have taken all my weapons.
Who are they?
Only time will tell, so for now, I need to focus on learning everything about my location and who took me, and preparing my body for their return. They kidnapped the wrong man.
You don’t fuck with Boogeyman.
I hear a muffled voice slowly getting louder and tilt my head to listen. It’s coming from the left… A different cell? Probably. More enemies, or is this something else?
It goes quiet for a while, and I hang there, lifting my legs to keep the blood pumping and my heart racing to force the drugs out faster. That’s when I hear the voice again. This time it’s… singing?
It’s loud and off-key, and there is laughter between notes.
Captivity and torture can break the mind like that. I wonder how long they have been down here. It continues though, and I snarl, getting annoyed. The high-pitched notes pierce through the bricks and hammer into my oversensitive, drugged skull.
“Shut the fuck up,” I yell, and it stops instantly. There is a moment of peace before I get a response.
“Who the fuck is that? They locked you down here with me? You must be a monster. So who are you?” She laughs, her voice husky and velvety.
I stay silent, but she becomes insistent. “Who are you?” she sings, and I hear the rattle of her chains. Who did she piss off to get locked up down here?
“No one,” I snarl.
“You must have a name. If you want me to shut up, you better tell me.” She giggles.
Sighing, I grit my teeth. “If I tell you, you’ll shut the fuck up?”
“Yup.” She pops the ‘p,’ dragging it out.
For fuck’s sake, but if it buys her silence… “Boogeyman,” I tell her.
“Boogeyman, huh? Well, welcome to hell.” She laughs and then goes quiet like she promised.
“This isn’t hell, I’ve been to hell. This is nothing but an inconvenience, and I’ll be free soon. Probably not you. You’re better keeping your mouth shut,” I growl, unsure why I’m warning her other than the wrecked, angry quality I heard in her voice. She’s pissed, but she’s not broken, begging, or crying. She’s fucking furious.
“That won’t stop them from raping and torturing me though, will it, Boogeyman? No, that will just make it easy for them, and they’ll get bored and kill me. Even if every moment of my existence hurts, it’s better than being dead.”
I frown, wondering why. She has nothing left to fight for. She’ll die down here, I’ve seen it so many times, and if not, she’ll be broken her whole life. I don’t know if it’s from boredom while I wait for the people who took me or simply interest in this livid creature next to me, but I find myself asking, “Why?”
She says something that surprises me.
“For revenge.”
* * *
Alena