Trouble in Hell (Hell Night 1)

“We can do this the hard way or the easy way, Remi,” he growls, getting in my face. “The choice is yours.”

“Please don’t do this,” I beg brokenly. The man may be my senior by twenty years, but he’s big and has always been so strong. I have no delusions that I’ll manage to get away from him.

“This is your making. You shouldn’t have come here.” His voice is hard, his eye emitting a look so dark, I swear I’m looking at the devil himself.

He pulls me from the wall and flips me around so my back is against his chest before marching me back to the bedroom. The little girl is still on the bed, looking frightful as she huddles against the headboard. She’s so tiny. No matter what Phillip has planned for me, I know it can’t compare to what she’s been through. I’ve got to find a way to save her.

I’m shoved to the bed on my stomach, and before I get a chance to scramble up to try to get away, he’s on me. He lays his entire weight on me, knocking the breath from my lungs in a painful whoosh. I scream and scratch at the blankets, but my hands are wrenched behind my back. I buck and try to get to my knees, but he’s too heavy. My head is yanked back by my hair, and hot breath meets my ear.

“Lay fucking still, or I’ll slit the girl’s throat, then fuck her dead body in front of you.”

From the vicious way he spews the words, I’ve got no doubt he’ll do just that. Saliva fills my mouth and my throat bobs, but I swallow until the need to throw up recedes.

Oh, God. This can’t be happening. Please, please, just let me wake up from this nightmare.

Why is he doing this? I want to scream, but the answers don’t matter.

My shorts and panties are yanked down. Tears spill from my eyes and leak onto the blanket. Warmth hits my back as Phillip’s weight lands on me again. I squeeze my eyes shut as he pokes around between my legs. Pain screams through my body at the first thrust.

“When you stayed over, I’d walk into Lynn’s room at night and watch you both sleep.” He groans as he continues to shove himself inside me. “I wanted to climb into the bed and fuck that small body of yours, but I had to settle for just jacking off into my hand.”

A sob escapes me, and I flick my eyes open. My gaze lands on a pair of sorrowful brown ones, and through the pain I’m currently going through, my heart aches for the little girl only a couple of feet away….

I JERK UP IN BED, my hand flying to my mouth to muffle the scream that’s forcing its way up my throat. My eyes dart frantically around the room, looking for the source of my fear. It takes me a moment to realize I’m not back in that bedroom. My chest heaves as I lay back in bed.

A shiver wracks my body. I swear I still feel the bristly hairs roughly rubbing against my back, the heat of his breath on my neck, and hear the squeak of the mattress. I laid there willingly as Phillip raped me, because I was scared of what he would do to the child. I never moved my eyes away once they locked on her. I wanted her to know she wasn’t alone. Her hair was matted, and her cheeks were splotched red and glistening, wet with tears. Her little body was covered with bruises, implying she had been there for at least a couple of days.

Phillip was on his second round when he was suddenly off me. I didn’t know what was going on at first, I was just glad he was gone. A scuffling sound came from behind me, and I flipped over to see Phillip and a man fighting. I scrambled up on the bed, tugging the cover with me and dragging the girl to my side. She whimpered, as if in pain, but all I could see was the two men on the floor. I was so scared Phillip would hurt the man and come after me and the girl again. Luckily, the man was able to choke Phillip until he passed out. It wasn’t until the man stood up that I realized it was Joshua, the neighbor.

Joshua and Lynn had an off again on again relationship for years. He’s ten years her senior. I’ve seen the way he looks at her and know his feelings run deeper than he’s ever admitted.

Later, I found out he was in his bedroom upstairs when he heard something. Using binoculars, the curtain was just barely open enough for him to see in the bedroom, where he saw my head and the naked little girl huddled on the bed.

He was our savior that day.

I also found out that Phillip took Emily, the little girl, three days prior when she was walking to school. She was twelve years old.

I roll to my side, pushing my memories and the nightmare away. My ordeal was nothing compared to what Emily went through. I don’t discount my own experience, but when I think about what happened to her, to the days she suffered by Phillip’s vile hands, it makes my heart weep.

A sudden pain grips my stomach, and I suck in a breath. I moan and press my hands against the underside, drawing my legs up until they touch my stomach. I pull in air and release it through my nose, doing it over and over again until the pain lessens. Worry kicks in when I realize that was no ordinary Braxton Hicks. That was much stronger.

I blow out a harsh breath and sit up. I stay that way for a moment as I catch my breath. Carefully, I come to my feet. My stomach feels tight and there’s still a lingering pain. I make it to the door, when another sharp pain grips me. I grab onto the doorframe when my knees become weak. I pant and grit my teeth.

Once it recedes again, I slowly walk down the hall to Susan’s room. On the way, I feel a trickle of warmth run down my leg. I don’t knock, just push the door open and stumble to her bed.

“Susan,” I call and touch her shoulder.

She grumbles something and rolls to her back. It’s dark, but there’s enough light for me to see her eyes flicker open.

“Remi?” she asks groggily and lifts to her elbow. “What’s wrong, dear?”

“I-I don’t know.” I stop when another cramp tightens my stomach. One of my hands goes to the bottom of my stomach while the other lands on her nightstand. “I’m cramping pretty badly. I don’t think these are Braxton Hicks, and I think my water just broke.”

She quickly gets up from the bed and grabs my arm. “Come on. Let’s lie you down, and I’ll take a peek.”

With her help, we walk back to my bedroom and she flips on the light. After sitting down, she leaves me for a moment then comes back with a black bag in her hand. It looks like an old medical bag.

She sets it on the bed beside me, opens it, and grabs out a pair of gloves. A deep groan leaves my lips when another sharp pain stabs at me. I squeeze my eyes shut and pant.