I begged and pleaded… Pleaded and begged the whole way home.
33
Tara
MY HEAD. I reached for it, feeling woozy and nauseous. What happened?
Where am I?
It felt like I was levitating… Like when I was a child, floating in the clouds, humming along with Daddy as we played his game.
My hands and feet weren’t bound to keep from moving and ruining his masterpiece on my body. No, I was free.
My limbs were heavy, weighing me down like when I had sex for the first time. Flying high on whatever he gave me, but aware of everything happening. Never complaining even when it hurted.
I felt locked in my head, my mouth unable to move. A little foggy as I came to like when I was kid...
Attention was all I had sought.
Affection was all I craved.
Whether painful or not. Anything to fill the loneliness and void in my life.
I shook my head. No, no, no. Pain didn’t equal love.
But I’d confused the two for so long. Rough sex was all I wanted. Tenderness was foreign to me. I didn’t know how to process love.
Until Hero.
Hero treated me like I was priceless and worthy of respect and love. When we were together, I didn’t seek pain and humiliation. I only wanted to be wrapped in his protective, loving arms.
“Miss Walsh, I want to go home,” a small frightened voice whispered.
My eyes flashed open. I struggled to turn my head and make my mouth work. “Br, Brad? Wha… what happened?” My heart pounded with such force I was sure it would burst out of my chest.
Why was Brad here? Where the hell was I?
Blinking several times to focus better, I scanned the area, recognizing my classroom. None of this made sense. My mind was fuzzy, reminiscent of when I was with my dad.
But it was only me and—
A hand gripped my student’s arm. Brad was shoved and fell onto the floor. He sobbed, the fear of the boogeyman on his face. It broke my heart. Who would hurt a child that way?
“Hello, Dorothy. Glad to see you’re awake. I wasn’t sure how long you’d be out as an adult. When you were a little girl, it could be hours.” He squatted beside me, churning my stomach with his pungent odor.
It was then that I realized I was splayed out on a table. I willed my body to move. Get up and fight. Protect innocent Brad from whatever was happening.
Move dammit, I screamed in my head.
Move. Fight. Move.
Nothing.
“Dad?” I needed to play this carefully with Brad in the room. Make like I was happy to see the demented bastard. Feign joy and love.
“Dorothy, you know better than to call me anything other than Mr. Wizard.”
Bile crept into my throat as I studied his filthy, haggard appearance. Deep creases were etched at the corners of his brown eyes, thick lines stretched across his forehead without furrowing his brow. His red hair was matted down by ten pounds of grease. Straggly clumps fell around his long, boney face. A wiry beard hid his pointy, devilish chin.