Beautifully Broken

The man called Henry moves first and comes right at me. He looks like a hulking mass, and it has me letting out a startled scream as I duck to the side.

But Henry’s fast and manages to grab hold of my arm, yanking me back. His voice is a vicious growl that agitates every nerve and leaves my insides quaking. “Don’t just stand there! Get your ass over here and hold her down.”

The other man darts behind me, and then I’m forcefully dragged to the middle of the container. Losing my balance, my knees slam against the floor, making my teeth clatter. I accidentally bite my tongue from the force, and then I’m forced onto my backside.

“Get the jacket off,” Henry barks.

“No!” I shriek while trying to yank free from the hold the other guy has on me.

“Please don’t.” I don’t know what I’m begging for, but it’s all my mind can come up with, too shocked to think clearly.

My movements grow frantic with panic, and the air becomes hot and stuffy with all of us in the small space. The smoke from the cigarette makes me want to gag.

Steven moves in front of the light, making it disappear. For a second, I sit shocked before all my senses rush back to me, and I try to scramble away from them. Henry’s fingers dig into my shins, and he yanks me toward him. I fall over backward, and my head slams into the hard steel floor, making another hollow banging sound vibrate through the floor and into my body.

A suffocating feeling settles heavily over on me, tensing all my muscles until they feel like they might snap.

In a moment of frantic panic, I cry, “Fuck you!” I start to kick with every bit of strength I have in my legs. I manage to kick Henry in the chest, and he falls back on his ass.

I use my moment of victory to scramble to my feet, so I can defend myself, but then they pounce on me, and the fright rips a petrified scream from me.

I yank and hit, but it feels like I’m getting nowhere. All I hear are harsh breaths, definitely my own and theirs right by me.

For an awful moment, my arms are yanked painfully back, and then my jacket’s ripped from my body. My ass hits the floor hard as I’m shoved down.

I keep hitting, kicking, and growling like a possessed person. Dread has taken over every part of me, and my survival instinct has taken over.

I have to survive this somehow.

Fear makes my mind terrifyingly crystal clear, and I take in every single thing that’s happening around me. It feels as if my body’s running purely on adrenaline with not a drop of blood pumping through my veins.

The air shifts as Henry pulls back his arm, and I swear my skin stretches tightly over my face as I wait for the blow to come.

Not knowing what’s going to happen next makes it so much worse.

Fear makes pain worse.

Fear makes time stand still.

Fear turns people into monsters and every sound into a warning of what may come.

A fist slams hard into my cheek, and my head whips back from the force. A cry escapes me, and it sounds desperate to my own ears. Pain engulfs the whole left side of my face, making it pulse with a heartbeat of its own.

Then Henry’s menacing voice ripples through the dark. “Get the shirt off.” The growl comes in raspy breaths.

I try to crawl away, but they’re so much faster than me. Steven moves behind me, and bile burns up my throat.

I wish I could vomit all over them. Maybe then they’ll stop.

But I don’t vomit, and my body convulses the second Steven grabs hold of me.

I can’t just let them beat me.

Shit, what if they rape me?

Oh, God, I won’t survive it.

Just the thought of one of these fuckers bringing his dick near me is enough to make me turn into a wild beast. I try to swing my elbow into Steven. But the movement throws me off balance, and I fall to the side.

Steven grabs hold of my shirt, and then he yanks it up against my neck. For a blinding moment, it tightens horribly around my neck, cutting off my air supply. He yanks again, and the force snaps my head back. The material bites at my skin, and then it’s gone. Clammy air sticks to my torso, and I feel horribly exposed.

Then Steven grabs hold of my shoulders, his fingers digging painfully into my skin.

“No! Fuck you,” I scream until my throat burns. “No!”

“Hold her in place,” Henry orders. I see the coal of the cigarette burn red, and as Henry takes a drag, it lights up his face.

Fuck, he looks evil – like the devil himself.