Survival

Broken

'Wake up!' Someone tapped me not so gently.

'What happened?'

Silence

'Is anybody there?'  my head and throat hurt when I spoke. I opened my eyes and memories came flooding.

I was no longer tied to a chair but to a bed. The black dress which I was wearing since the day of my abduction was gone. I was completely naked with nothing but a thin sheet covering my body. I was mortified.

'Hey now before you look so mortified, no one touched you except to bathe you. You see, you were starting to stink.' Harry chuckled. I heaved with relief before scowling at him...

Three more people entered the room. When I say three, I mean I had no idea who the last person was. My face was filled with confusion as I looked at the four people in the big bare room with nothing but a bed and me on it.

The new guy was muscular, big and damn ugly. He had a long scar running from his eyebrow to his jaw. I wondered why was he here. What plans did they have for me this time?

I was still starved and injured if they hadn't noticed. I couldn't take any more torture.

I saw that the room wasn't as bare as I thought it was. There were three wooden chairs. Harry, Nathan and Jax their seats and crossed their legs as if they were about to watch a movie. There was even a bowl of popcorn in their midst. My mouth watered at the sight. My stomach growled in agreement.

I turned to look at the ugly scarred, more muscular version of Dywane. He pulled down his jeans and I gasped. My throat went dry as I considered the weight of my situation.

'Please don't do this.' I said tearing up. 'You want to punish me right? I have been a bad girl. I swear I'll change. I will do whatever you ask.' I tugged at the ropes bounding my hands, shutting my legs tightly.

I looked at the man with pleading eyes hoping to find some sort of reassurance but he snarled at me instead.

'I'm sorry, please have mercy, I won't...' he pounced on me cutting me off. I felt my weak body sag under his weight. I screamed as my damaged throat and battered head could let me and I winced at the pain but I didn't stop.

'Hey!' Nathan called out to him. I looked towards him with hope. The rapist turned in response.

'Shut her up, she's being a nuisance.' He said and crushed whatever hope I had. He smiled with the sorry excuse of a face. He covered my lips with his and I choked in disgust.

My body was weak with hunger and pain. I tried to fight but my efforts were no use. I tightened my legs together to protect myself.

He tried prying my legs open but I clamped my legs shut with every ounce of power I had left. He punched me in the guts and I screamed my resistance weakening but I held on tightly. He slapped me and I saw stars.

'Do you want us to tie up her legs too?' Jax asked him.

'No, the more she struggles the more painful it gets.' His voice was as ugly as he and the boys laughed.

'Dear dear Ariel!' Harry mocked and they laughed at me.

He pried my legs open and pushed himself into me. Pain seared through me and I screamed. He slammed into me and I knew I had suffered a tear. I gave up struggling.

I didn't have anything more to lose. I stay still as he brutalized my soul and body. I had been tortured. I lost my family, friends, freedom and he raped me as the rest monsters sat and watched, passing snide comments. There was nothing else to lose.

I let the tears fall freely. They cut the ropes that bond me. I curled up into a ball detaching myself from the world seeking for emancipation only death could give.

I didn't care anymore as they left me there curled up naked, cold, battered and broken. They won. I had failed. They won the game they were playing. I was just a pawn, I was foolish enough to think that I would be able to win their little game.

Shivering there, I waited for death, unaware of my surroundings. I hope they laughed well when they had the chance. I hope their next victim teaches them a lesson.

'Eat.' Nathan said. I just laid there not moving. He pulled me by the hair causing me to wince. Well, no need to fight it anymore. I obeyed as he fed me and cleaned me up. His face was without emotion as I stared at him.

He chuckled as I stared at him. 'Don't even entertain any ideas.' I was too weak to answer him.

'Can you walk?' He asked me and I tried but I fell down somewhat forgetting how to walk after God knows how long I had been tied on the chair.

He picked me up like I weighed nothing and took me to the room where I had been kept since my abduction.

When we got to the room, I saw the remaining two snickering at him for being the one handling me. He scowled at them while depositing me at the funny looking chair I had noticed during my early days of abduction. Harry began to speak.

'No witty comebacks huh Ariel?'

Silence

'I thought so.'

Silence

'You see I knew you were going to break.'

Silence

He walked towards me and held my jaw tightly forcing me to look at him.

'You answer me when I ask you a question.' I merely looked at him weakly.

Jax tapped his shoulder telling him to calm down while laughing. He glared at him.

'I think you prefer her when she talks too much.' He said as he laughed at him with Nathan.

'Let's just get to work.' He grumbled.

Harry put the brain looking thingy on my head and I looked up at him in question. He beamed at me as he tried to explain.

'Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) uses an electric current to treat serious mental disorders. This type of therapy is usually considered only if a patient's illness has not improved after other treatments such as antidepressant medication or psychotherapy are tried, or in cases where rapid response is needed as in the case of suicide risk and catatonia.' He paused and looked at me searching for a reaction and when he found none, he went on.

You see Ariel, this procedure causes an internal brain injury. After brain injury especially to the highest centres which express emotional awareness, self-insight, and judgment individuals stop reporting their upset or distressing feelings. They have either lost awareness or they are too apathetic to care anymore.

That, again, is the lobotomy effect. Apathy and indifference is the final result of all of the most potent psychiatric treatments.' He concluded.

Long and short of the whole story was that they wanted to give me brain damage. And yet when I thought there was nothing else they could take away from me, I was wrong.

They were going to take away my sanity.

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I am so happy. Survival is #891 in Adventure. I have no words to explain my happiness. Thank you so much guys for everything. Please keep on reading and voting.

Love you all 😘😘