Blackness.
She tried to blink, but couldn’t. Coming more fully awake, she realized her head was covered in fabric. Tight. It wasn’t a headache, her head was tightly wrapped. Her ears hurt. Not badly, just a mild ache. Static. There were headphones over the wrappings, playing white noise. She tried to move. Nothing. Taking a breath to stem the rising panic, she realized she was at least free to do that, nothing blocked her nose or mouth. Something at least. She focused on breathing for a few moments.
Sitting.
She sent out her conscious the the rest of her body. She was sitting up, arms bound to the arms of a chair, wrist and elbow. Metal chair and legs bound to the legs, ankle and knee. Her head and waist were secured, as well. Naked. Completely naked. She shivered, though it was not cold.
She still felt groggy. What had happened? Where was she? She remembered the club. Out for a night on the town while her partner was away. Business trip. Back on Sunday. Was it Sunday yet? It had been Friday night. Was it only Saturday? She danced and drank with her girlfriends. They mainly ignored the men trying to pick them up. Ladies night out.
There had been one man. Persistent. Dark. Handsome. He’d caught her eye a few times. Sent her a drink. Oh god. What had been in that drink? Had she gone home with him? She remembered him staring at her while she accepted and tipped back the shot. Hot, hungry eyes. She didn’t remember anything after that.
Cold.
She gasped as a cool breeze passed over her body, mirroring the cold shiver running down her spine. She felt air moving around her, goosebumps covered her arms and legs. Someone was near her. Was it him? What did he want? Why was he doing this?
“Who’s there?” She called into the silence. “What do you want?”
She felt small pads being placed on her body. Two on each breast. Two on each arm. Two on each thigh. Two on each calf. Wires tickled her skin. She tried to turn her head, tried to thrash free, but there was no slack anywhere. Her body started to tingle and she froze. The tingling grew, first in her breasts until she yelped. Then those stayed steady and each limb’s tingling grew, one at a time, until she made a sound of pain, then stopped. Then it all stopped.
Breathe.
She reminded herself to breathe, and the white noise stopped, replaced by a voice.
“Where were you last night?” A computerized voice, loud and harsh.
“At… at the club. Syrens.”
“What did you do there?”
“I danced, and drank with the girls.”
“Then what?”
“I… I don’t know. Someone sent me a shot. I don’t know.”
Pain. All of the pads sprang to life at once. Her muscles clenched and she screamed.
“Who sent you the shot?” The pain stopped.
“I… don’t… a man. Tall, dark, black hair, blue eyes. He was wearing a black suit and a red tie.”
“Did you know him?”
“No.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“No. I don’t know. Not before he sent me the drink.”
“What was the drink?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you drink it?”
“Yes.”
Pain erupted again. Pulsing this time, making her muscles jerk out of her control, breasts feeling like they were being stabbed.
“You drank something, sent by a stranger, without even knowing what it was?”
“Yes!” She couldn’t help but scream.
The pain surged for a moment and then relented.
“Then what?”
“I…” she gasped for breath, terrified of the answer she had to give. “I don’t know. I woke up here.”
Just her legs this time, higher than before. It felt like they were trying to curl into the chair. She clenched her jaw and growled at the pain.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“It’s the truth.” She grunted.
“Maybe more pain will clear away the fog.”
All the pads sprang to life, in a wave of pain, from her calves up her thighs to her breasts and then out her arms. The pain growing and receding up and down her body. She writhed against the bonds, straining her tortured muscles even more. Her feet did not touch the floor, but curled helplessly in the air. Her hands clenched at nothing, just beyond the arms of the chair. She growled and grunted, screamed and whimpered. She had no idea how long it lasted, almost started counting the waves once, but gave up as pain overwhelmed her. Finally, it stopped.
“Now, what did you do after you drank the shot?”
She gasped for breath, drenched in sweat, shaking with leftover energy. Panicked and still without an answer. She wracked her brain, having been incapable of thought while he tormented her. She saw his eyes, remembered tossing back the shot. It burned. Her head swam.
“I sat down. He came over.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“I… I must have. I don’t remember. It was Ladies’ Night. I wasn’t supposed to. I must have.”
“Then what?”
“I…” She didn’t want to say she didn’t know, she tried to think, she wondered if he’d know if she was lying. “We danced.” She tried, not sure if it was a lie or not.
Stabbing pain in her breasts, her arms seized. She screamed and it was gone.
“Do not lie to me. What did you do after he came over to talk?”
“I don’t know.” She was shaking and gasping, fear and pain warring for dominance.
The white noise came back in her ears. Her body started tingling. All the way back down to the beginning, all at once, and built slowly up. They did not stop for her screams this time, but kept building until she was thrashing and sobbing as much as her bonds would allow. Then he pulled the pads off, one by one. Starting at the top. Until all were gone. The tension released, only the restraints kept her from sliding to the floor. Tears soaked the fabric around her eyes, her lips moved, but only breath escaped.
Darkness. Static. Nothing.
She regained control of herself. Got her breath and heartbeat back to normal. Calm for just a moment. Still nothing. Panic started bubbling up again. She focused inward, no injury or lasting pain. Outward, she felt no movement, no breezes, nothing. Was he gone? What did he want her to say? She couldn’t remember what had happened. What if that wasn’t good enough? Was he mad she didn’t remember him? Why was he doing this? Her mind spun in useless circles. She had only the vaguest impression of him coming towards her after the drink and then nothing.
“Let’s start again. What time did you go to the club last night?”
“9 o’clock.” Grateful to have a question she could answer.
“Who did you go with?”
“Erika, Sarah, and Heather.”
“How much did you have to drink?”
“Two glasses of cider, a cosmo, and that shot.” She shivered a little, hoping she hadn’t had more after the shot, but not knowing.
“When did you leave?”
“I…” Panic. “I don’t know.”
“Who did you leave with?”
“I don’t know.”
Shocking pain ran down her left thigh.
“Not good enough.”
“I don’t. I had the shot. He came towards me. And I don’t know.”
Her right thigh this time, a straight rod delivering high voltage directly to her skin. She squealed.
“Tell me what happened after the shot.”
“I don’t know, I can’t remember.”
She cringed against the chair as the rod delivered shocks across her breasts, right over the nipples, crying out and trying to wrench free.
“You do remember.”
“No, I don’t, I can’t.”
The electricity crackled from her left hand, up her arm, across her collar bone and back down to her right hand. She screamed, then gasped for breath.
“Tell me.”
She bit her lip. “I…” What could she say?
The rod ran down her chest, over the left nipple, down to her clit and back up again, right nipple not spared. She swore vehemently, but he only did it again, in the opposite direction.
“Such language. Now, tell me what happened.”
“I looked over at him, lifted the shot in a salute, drank it down. It burned my throat, and hit hard. I sat down on my stool and looked back at him. He had gotten up, and was walking towards me.”
“And then?”
“I don’t know!”
He ran the electricity over her arms, chest and legs in big zigzagging motions. She screamed in protest, trying to thrash, or move, or jerk, or anything but sit there perfectly still, except for her hands and feet clenching and curling in the air.
“You do know, you just won’t tell me. This would all end, if you would just tell me what happened next. Don’t you want me to stop?” He zapped her clit.
“Yes, please. I do. But I don’t know. I can’t tell you. I don’t remember.”
He answered with more electricity. Fingertips, toes, one by one. Up the side of her calves, the inside of her thighs, circles around her clit and her nipples. Tell me, echoing in her ears with each shock. She squealed and clenched her fists and fought the urge to curse. He zapped her earlobes and the tip of her nose and she forgot herself, spitting curses until he zapped her lips. She snapped her mouth shut and breathed heavily through her nose, curling her lips inward and licking them.
“Are you going to tell me?”
“No.” She gave up on insisting she couldn’t, he didn’t seem to care.
“Then remember, you could have stopped this.”
Static. Darkness. Cold.
Constant cold air was blowing on her now. But he had stopped hurting her. Stopped asking questions. She wasn’t even sure if he was there anymore. What now? What else was he going to do to her? Why didn’t he believe her? What else could she say? She wracked her brain, trying to pull up more of last night, but there was nothing. A big black hole in her memory. Why hadn’t her friends saved her? Why had they not been there for her? How had they let her end up here? Did they even know what had happened to her? Had they seen her leave? Had they told anyone she was missing? Was anyone looking for her?
“Are you ready?”
“No.”
“Will you tell me what I want to know?”
“I… no.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“The truth. What happened after you drank the shot?”
“He came towards me. And then I don’t know what happened.”
“Wrong.”
Pinching pain seared through her nipples, causing her to gasp, but this pain didn’t go away, and she started to whimper.
“Tell me the truth.”
“I can’t.”
More pinching around her nipples.
“Two clothespins for every lie. What happened?”
“I don’t know.”
Now there were three on each breast and she was panting and squirming with the pain, tapping her feet in mid-air and clenching her fists.
“Tell me.”
“He came toward me. He must have sat down. We must have talked. We didn’t dance. But I don’t know.”
Two more, above her nipples. Strong and small. She breathed quickly with the pain, whimpering with every exhale.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t, you know I can’t. Please, I don’t know.”
Two more at the top of her breasts.
“You can, I know you can.”
“No, please, why are you doing this?”
Two more just below the collarbone.
“Tell me, now. I just want the truth.”
“I don’t know. That’s the truth.”
Ripping pain as he yanked all the clothespins off at once. She drew a sharp breath and then screamed. Shaking, and shivering against the chair.
“Apparently I’m being too nice.”
Cold liquid splashed over her chest, then arms and legs. It smelled like alcohol. He ran a wet cloth over her exposed skin. She shivered harder, terror rising bile into her throat.
“What, please, what… I don’t know what you want. Please…”
“Only the truth. That’s all I’ve ever asked for.”
Stabbing pain in her left breast, sicking sliding under the skin and another burst of pain. A needle, he’d just slid a needle through her skin.
“Oh god, please. Don’t, please.”
“Then tell me.”
Pain in her right breast, she could only focus on the horrible feel of the needle sliding through her skin.
“Tell me the truth.”
“Please, please, please. I don’t.. I.. please, I…”
Pain lower, right above the nipple, slower, sharper.
“Tell me, and I’ll stop.”
“I.. please… don’t, I… please.”
The other breast again, right above the nipple, matching sets of fear and pain.
“Tell me what happened after you drank the shot.”
“I don’t know, I woke up here, I must have passed out. I don’t know.”
“Good girl.”
The needles came out fast and clean. She was crying and shaking as he wiped down her breasts with alcohol. The headphones came off, the wrapping around her head started to unwind. She was dizzy, she didn’t understand. What happened? Light began to assault her eyelids, she cringed away and found she could move her head. The restraints were coming off her arms, then her legs. His body was in front of her lifting her, carrying her, a hood still on her head, but thin. Softness beneath her, a bed. It was darker here and he slid the hood off. Stroking her hair.
“Such a good girl.”
She opened her eyes, startled by her partner’s voice after so long with the computerized one.
“What?”
“Shhhh. You did so very well.” He wrapped her in his arms and she curled up against his chest, sobbing with relief. “Such a good girl.” He repeated.
“Thank you, Sir.” She whispered, as she fell into an exhausted sleep against him.
“You’re welcome, little one.”
