Turn for the Worst

Chapter 11

Emma awakes, the drugs the man had injected her with finally wearing off enough to remain conscious for longer periods of time. Her hands are still handcuffed together along the bed post and her head lay on the pillow. Her hair was damp from sweat and her tears. Her dress has been removed and most likely ripped off in the struggle for what felt like her life. She is lying naked on the bed, covered by only a sheet, which did little to help the number of goosebumps that had risen on her body from being exposed. The basement is frigidly cold and Emma had found that she'd instinctively curled up into a ball to preserve body heat.

Now that she could think more clearly than before and wasn't passing out, she begins to sob.

Never had she felt so violated in all her life. The man had kidnapped her, chained her up, forced himself on her, drugged her and had his way with her, all against her will. She feels sore from the struggle and she is most likely covered in bruises from his treatment of her. Her head throbs and her stomach turns, it was likely a reaction from the drugs working the way out of her system. She was uneasy, hungry, dehydrated and scared...

She hadn't felt scared in a long time. Despite her job on the police force, Emma had always tried to remain brave in any situation. She had been forced to learn at a very young age in her foster and group homes that fear was a weakness that would be exploited. She couldn't cry out or ask for help from anybody because she'd never had anyone there to help her, love her and overall care for her.

Emma knew she had to keep her emotions buried to protect herself. It was a skill she'd honed and perfected since her teens, building walls around her heart due to the rejections from foster homes. For a long time, there were only two people who had broken those barriers down, Neal and Henry. She loved and cared for them deeply as if to make up for the neglect she'd had before they came into her life. She trusted the two and felt like she was capable of emotion and love when they were with her. Gradually, as she made friends with Regina, Ruby, Elsa, Anna, Lacey, Aurora, MeyLing, David, Mary Margret and even Zelena, those walls had deteriorated immensely, but when Neal left, re-construction of those walls began again. The feelings of trust had been destroyed and left her feeling vulnerable and broken. She hated the pain of hurting so badly and being left in a difficult position, so the walls went up again. She mostly had to re-build them to appear to be strong for Henry, but he seemed to be building his own after Neal abandoned them. It was not something she had wanted for her son and tried to break them down to get her son to talk to his mother. She didn't want Henry to end up like her and she was failing miserably at the time. When Killian came into her life, the foundation of her fortifications cracked a bit. She saw that he had his own set of protections and Emma knew that she could relate and possibly change her attitude and overall outlook on accepting others with his help. She felt a sense of trust forming again and Killian seemed to be breaking her barriers down, piece by piece until she felt those feelings of care and even love. He had seen her for who she really was, he saw through the walls and made her feel almost normal again.

But now, stuck in this hell, her walls had been completely destroyed; leaving her angry, upset and scared. She assumed that this man fed off her fear and liked to be in power. He was obviously turned on by her squirming and her fight for her body, but she couldn't help but feel weak. Most of her strength had left her and she felt so very helpless.

She cries silently for a what felt like hours, tears raining down and soaking the pillow below her head. She cries for what had happened to her, how she is being treated like a prisoner. She cries for her son and she feared that the man might try to find him and hurt him too. How alone he must feel. She cries for Killian, how much she missed his embrace and how safe she felt in his arms. She cries for her friends, how worried they probably were, wondering what happened to her, if at all.