"I know you. I walked with you, once upon a dream."
- Sleeping Beauty
***
Desmond grabs me by my hair and yanks me to my feet. It sends pain shooting through my scalp, but I refuse to scream. I know he's only doing this to break Liam, and if I scream, I'll only be giving him what he wants.
He pulls my head back a little too far and holds me close to his body, his breath on my neck making me shudder. I try to wriggle out of his grip until he places a silver blade to my throat, and I see Liam visibly tense. He begins struggling against the two men that are holding him.
"So what do you say, Liam? Are you going to cooperate? Cause I'd really hate to have to hurt your pretty, little girlfriend here," Desmond says, his tone cloying and smug.
Liam is furious. I can see it all over him, but underneath the anger, I see fear. And if Liam is scared, then I am terrified.
"She has nothing to do with this," Liam says harshly, voice low. "Let her go."
"You know, I don't think I will. You seem to like her so much, maybe I should see what you find so..," he pauses to nuzzle his face into my neck and leaves a wet stripe on the skin there with his tongue.
It sickens me.
"..alluring about her," he finishes with a dark grin.
"Don't touch her -," Liam begins, but he's cut off when one of the men holding him swiftly punches him in the stomach.
Liam groans in pain, and I lurch forward, trying to get to him, but Desmond yanks me back, again by my hair.
He's pulling so hard, I feel like it's going to come out of my scalp. I hiss through my teeth, but I still won't allow any indication that I'm in pain to slip from my mouth. It will only hurt Liam, I keep telling myself.
"Actually, it doesn't look like you're in any position to be making demands right now," Desmond says before turning to face me. "Maybe we'll have some fun with her. I bet I could make her scream louder than you ever could," he taunts with a short laugh. "Why don't you scream for me, sweetheart? Give him a little preview of what will happen if he doesn't do what I say?"
He presses the tip of the blade more harshly into my throat. I feel the sting when it breaks the skin. The pain causes me to allow a small whimper to escape my mouth, but still, not a scream.
Liam's eyes are wide and panicked as I glance over at him, and I know that he would do anything they want if they would stop hurting me. So I keep quiet, and fight off the tears that threaten to escape my eyes.
Desmond quickly turns me around to face him, removing the blade from my throat, and slaps me hard across the face - so hard I would have fallen to the floor if he weren't holding me up.
The sound resounds throughout the room. It hurts so terribly, and I let out a gasp of pain. I can already feel the welt rising.
"No! Stop it!" Liam yells from behind me.
I hate this - being his weakness. He would have been better off if he had never even met me.
Desmond grabs my wrist roughly and brings me close to his face so that we're almost nose to nose.
"I said..," he begins, putting pressure on the bones of my wrist. "Scream."
He applies more pressure and then a twist, and I feel something snap. The pain is immediate and intense.
So intense that I can't hold back the blood-curdling scream that escapes from my mouth.
But there's another voice screaming over mine.
"NO! NO, STOP! I'LL DO IT! I'LL DO IT!!"
***
YOU ARE READING
Help Me Close My Eyes
Fantasy"Have you ever felt yourself slowly becoming attached to something that wasn't real? An idea, or a place, or maybe even the fictional character in that book you just read or that show you just watched. Perhaps even a person in your dreams? It happen...
