Breaking Boundaries

Chapter 39 - The last Straw

Light. I craved it when I was succumbed into the darkness, thrown in the cell as if I was nothing but an animal. People. I also craved them, that human touch and sight that I longed for. A primitive need of my instincts now became something I couldn't bear to witness. My eyes burned from the sudden bright light and I no longer wanted to keep my eyes open. And I tried. I kept my eyes closed for as long as I could and walked without a map and the moment I stepped over my sixth step, I tripped. I fell to the ground, tripping over nothing but my own sanity. I was held back up by my hair and the tight grasp against my scalp prevented me from doing that again. I forced my eyes to adjust to the light no matter how much it burned and pained me. I couldn't risk falling again.

Klaus wouldn't accept it. I was meant to walk until my last fall and this wasn't my fall yet. Tears burned my eyes and I let them freely fall down my cheeks in hopes of washing away the fire that traveled up my neck. I didn't want to cry and I sure as hell didn't want to fall into the trap of becoming broken but I felt a pull on the treads of my sanity.

I was walking, rather forced, but my eyes no longer burned at the sight of light. It burned for all the different reasons now. I was an abject human being rather objected for an entirely different purpose. I no longer felt human. Walking down a long, narrowed hallway I felt like an animal. And I was being watched. By what felt like hundreds of people above me. I was below them looking up and they were above me looking down at me through a glass wall. Why was I being watched? For what reason?

Klaus pushed me, pulling me out of my distraction, and I tripped again. This time when I landed on the ground I didn't bother getting up. I quickly realized I was inside of a room now. But there was still an open area where glass covered the area above me. People were watching me even here. In this very room that I was pushed into. Preferable men in uniform but they were so many I lost count. I recognized Tyler and his gang when I shifted my gaze to the south. I didn't understand a slightest bit why this was happening. What was I being watched for?

Suddenly, I cry out as I'm once again being lifted up with a force. I feel it before I notice it. It's different. The feeling of being hurt feels entirely different. I turn around at the source of my pain and it's then I realized that Klaus is no longer attending to me. A different man in uniform has taken over whatever that is about the happen here. Where is Klaus? Where did he go leaving me all by myself here? I'm distracted way too much for me to comprehend. This doesn't feel any less than a dome of a captured bull. So many eyes are watching me, observing me. I slowly stand on my trembling feet and look directly at Daniel. He meets my eyes and I could tell it's forced. He doesn't want to look at me. Neither does Tyler, Junebug, and the rest of the men that were once my "friends". I catch Daniel's eyes again and this time It's everything I needed to know. He shakes his head slowly, looking away. He's...apologizing? My eyes widen and before I can grasp the reality a set of hands reach out, grab a handful of the thin material of my dress, and pull down roughly. One single pull and my dress comes apart, pooling down my feet like a puddle.

Stark naked, vulnerable, and open to public eyes. Silence fills the room for a moment. Movements occur from my peripheral view but I don't move a muscle. My muscles lock up and I stand frozen in my spot, breathing harshly but silently. My body demands me to move, to make a sound, blink, or react in any way but nothing happens. Shock prevents me from doing anything let alone blink my eyes to grasp the situation. Finally, my tidbit of my shock-wave dissipates, reality slowly but surely grabbing hold of me. A lone tear slips from my eyes at the sight of one man that rips me apart in just milliseconds.

Klaus stands in front of me. Our eyes connect. The connection is so strong that I don't even realize a pair of different hands grab me from behind. I maintain eye contact, still in complete and utter shock, as I'm being dragged back. I feel it but I do not look away from him as my hands are lifted up. Cold, metal cuffs find my wrist and I'm cuffed to some sort of a bar that dangles from above. My body registers a whiff of cool air against my bare skin and the cold bars against my wrist but for some reason I can't seem to see anything but Klaus in front of me. He has shut off his emotions, void of everything I once known that defined him. Just days ago I practiced on NOT hating him. But now...

One tear becomes two. Two becomes plenty. And before I know it my dam breaks again and uncontrollable tears slide down my face and neck. The urge to brutally wipe away the tears is strong but I cannot move. I can understand if I was crying based on this situation but I realize that I'm crying for a whole different reason.

I'm crying because of him. This man that I declared my love to. This man that let this happen to me. I'm hurting because despite all of this...he's did nothing to stop this. He let everyone watch me in my worst position. He did this. I thought I could look past all of this in hopes of taking away the pain of people that never deserved what came to them. I thought I could do this for Klaus. For love and for Kayla and not for any other reason.

But this isn't love. Love ended the moment I decided I was punishing myself for Kayla. My father is a criminal. He deserves this. My mother and I do not deserve this and we especially do not deserve to be labeled as criminals. Channeling all of my anger, hurt, and frustration I close my eyes tight and prepare for my first and last fight from here. But before I can open my mouth to scream, my knees give out and a silent gasp slips out of my trembling mouth. I heard it before I felt it—the slicing of the air before a thick leather-like object comes down on my bare skin with a force. A wave of intense fire slithers down my back all the way down to my toes. Another shockwave hits me hard.

He hit me! Before I can register the reason for the assault the asshole behind me strikes away. Fire turns into molten lava and my body gives out but the chains keep my arms up—which creates a horrible pull and push of my body.

Stop!

But it comes down on me again, raining blows after blows after few seconds. A blood-curdling scream tears out of my mouth and I give in, crying and screams repeatedly. Barely so but I look at him. Void of emotions and no sense of guilt, he stands there watching me wither in pain I've never felt before with his arms folded across his chest. I seethe silently and beg with all I have through my eyes for him to stop this. Defeated, I look away from him and continue to show everyone the side of me that no one has seen before.

He stripped me off of my modesty. My body was a virgin to me before I gave it away to the only man I thought was fit for me. I never believed my mother. Never! She warned me. How could I be so stupid? How could I be this naive? Another strike comes down on me and my body falls loose against the chain. I dangle like meat on two hooks. I beg, oh how I beg for my pain signals to cut off miraculously.

"Thank you." I slowly look up to the source of a melodic voice that calls out to me. Kayla stands before me in all her glory, naked and marked just like me. And I watch her smile down at me with saddened, moist eyes. I don't say anything. But I watch her. I watch her morph into someone else. Every strike the leather befalls on me takes away the marks on her body. It vanishes every time I'm struck.

"You're taking away my pain. Look at my marks. They're disappearing." I see it. They're going away. I need to sleep now. I need to succumb to the darkness that desperately wants to take me away. And I willingly want to go. I no longer want the eyes of these horrendous monsters watching my naked body get painted in my own bloody and open flesh. I no longer want to feel this pain. I asked for a miracle and I'm getting one.

I look at him one last time. But I don't pass out right away. Rough fingers unlatch me from the ceiling and I fall head first. The force of the fall is like a punch to my jaw and I whimper in pain. My teeth dig into my lips and I accidentally press down hard, breaking the skin. Black spots dance behind my eyes, blanketing me with darkness but not taking me out all the way. Footsteps emerge before me, his feet at my eye level. I force my head to look up and spew blood out of my mouth at his shoes. I cannot keep my head up any longer so I let it fall back to the ground sideways.

Kayla emerges before me again, her body voided of bruises, marks, open wounds, and blood. I expect her to smile at me and tell me it's all over.

Is it over?

My brother is nice. He didn't do half the things your father and his men did to me.

I asked you a question, Kayla. Is it over?

No.

What happens next? What did they do to you?

Kayla doesn't answer me. She disappears, leaving me in the blank again.

And it's then I realize that Klaus got exactly what he wanted. He broke me. 

The man I fell in love fucking broke me.