No Longer

Chapter 12

I was just about to slip into unconsciousness when I felt gentle hands on my mouth, opening it up. The hands then morphed into soft, warm lips pressing on mine, blowing air into my lungs. I was so confused. I was alive, I hadn't stopped breathing...I didn't think. In an instant I shot up and gasped for air. My lungs were on fire but slowly they were filling again.

"This is starting to become a regular thing with you.  I'm going to have to start charging for my services."

I instantly recognized the voice and smiled. It was Michael and I was beyond happy to hear his voice. It meant that he was alive, that he had lived through that terrible ordeal too.

"I-you're here." I managed to get out.

"Shhhh. We've been through this. You need to breathe for a while before you speak. That brain of yours needs oxygen."

I nodded and smiled. Michael was right. It took a few minutes for me to be able to speak in complete sentences again.

"You survived! I was so worried Michael. I-I thought you-that they-"

"No. I'm fine. I was worried about you." He lifted up my shirt. "Oh God, look what they did to you! When I find out who did this to you, I'll kill them!!"

"No, hey, shhh. Don't say that."

"It's true! Laken, they won't get away with this. I'll make sure of it."

"No Michael. Revenge solves nothing. We're together, living. I'd like to keep it that way."

"It'll be a better life to live if they are dead!"

"No, Michael, you don't understand. If you try something, and fail, they will kill us!"

"Then I won't fail!"

I smiled at the thought of him killing them all. Us getting out of that hell hole and living a normal life together. A family, friends, pets, the whole thing. And then I snapped back to reality.

"You know you'd never be able to do all that damage alone with the number of people that work here. And plus, they're your family. You can't hurt your family."

"I can and I will! I can't let them do anything else to you Laken!...No Laken, please don't cry! Please, I just, I have to protect you. I-"

"No! No, you don't! I don't need anyone to protect me! I can take care of myself." I screamed at him inbetween sobs. I was so tired of people telling me they were going to protect me. I did not need protection. I was a big girl and dammit, people were going to know it. Starting with Michael.

"Laken, look at you. You need someone here to protect you. Let me be that guy?"

"Oh yeah? You think you can protect me? Look at me! You're right! Clearly you being there saved me from being hurt! Clearly you protected me!"

"Laken that's not fair."

"FAIR!? You wanna talk fair?! I am here, wherever the hell here is, and I being tortured! I've been raped, beaten, almost died on multiple occasions. This, isn't fair! Your family is why I'm here. This your fault! If you-"

"Hey now, that's not true!"

"If you would've told someone about me, and this operation, I WOULD BE FREE! But no, you're a coward! Just like the rest of your family."

"Laken, don't do this. Please."

"Go to hell!! Get away from me! I want nothing to do with you anymore!"

"Ah Laken, come on! Be practical. What are you going to do here without me? How will you get through?"

"I don't need you. I'll just do what they ask. Whatever they want me to do, say or wear, I'll do it."

"NO, Laken, that's crazy! You need-"

*Click* The door opened and closed.

"You heard the lady Michael. Come on, get out here."

"Shut the hell up Jaxon. You don't care what she wants!"

"Now is that anyway to talk to your brother? And of course I care about Laken's wants, after all, I've never made her do anything she didn't want to."

"Fuck you man. You're nothing to me! Or her!"

"Michael, just go away. Please, get out." I said it so matter of fact, like I didn't know the pain that would follow his departure.

Jaxon took him out of my room, Michael rather unwilling to submit. I just needed to be alone and think. My body ached all over. The fighting, the screaming, it all drained me. I went into the bathroom and just glanced, mistakenly, at the mirror. I gasped in horror, this creature before me couldn't be me. Not my reflection, surely it wasn't. But every move I made, it followed and I soon came to the stark realization that I was, in fact, looking at myself. Battered, bruised and bloody I examined my body. I had lash marks on every inch of my skin. Bruises followed suit, along with the blood. All at once all the memories of that night flooded back. I felt every whipping, every punch. I heard every laugh and saw no remorse.

I got weak in the knees and crumpled to the floor. The blood, the horror, the pain, it was all too much. I knew was going into shock, I'd seen it hundreds of times on TV. I also knew, I could die from it. I was hoping then that nobody would find me. That I would die, quickly.