Sadistically Sweet (Watty Awards Finalist 2012)

These Bars Can't Hold Me

My mind swam within itself as I drifted between the lines of consciousness. Nothing seemed real and my mind could no longer differentiate between reality and dreams. Yet, I was able to cast everything aside to focus on one strip of sanity. 

Of all things I could remember/dream of before I possibly died, it had to be Francis. Like a movie playing in my head, I saw him screaming over me. He held me tight to his chest, but I could not feel him; his touch no longer lingering on my skin.

The world became dark again, and only the sound of his voice penetrated the darkness behind my eyes.

"Robyn Jean!" Francis screamed. 

His screams seemed dull, almost a whisper, as he continued saying that name. I had no idea who it was, but I had growing suspicions.

"Robyn, I will never hurt you again! Just please wake up. I'm so sorry, just wake up!" he cried as his voice began to drift away. 

"Robyn, you need to wake up. I promise I will never hurt you again, I mean it this time. Just wake up. Just open your eyes Robyn!" 

Her name rung through my mind, burrowing deeper and deeper, until it hit me. All the missing pieces fell into place. Robyn. 

"Our baby will be alright. Just open your eyes and we can be happy family again. Please Robyn, please!" 

His voice faded away, and I just wanted to sleep. The darkness of my dreams seemed so inviting, but his voice keep me from wander further into them.

"Robyn!" Francis screamed.

His pleas echoed through my eternal darkness, but like everything else in my life it ended. No longer did I have to bear his desperate cries for his wife. No longer did I have to deal with the pain in my life because it all ended.

For what seemed a lifetime I floated in the blackness of my mind. Maybe that is what happens when people died; they are damned to drift in the darkness of eternity. 

With all that extra time, I was finally given a chance to work out what really was going on.

My kidnapping had been pre-destined; fated to happen because of one man. Francis Potts had planned my kidnapping. Yet, like every tale, there was a back story. 

Francis had once been married to a woman named Robyn Jean, and together they had Olivia. When Olivia was still a baby her mother became pregnant again with Isaeic. 

From there the lines of reality and dream collided. What really happened to Robyn? Isaeic? What was so traumatizing for Francis that he had to replace his wife with me? Was he truly insane?

"Wake up," a voice intruded on my peace.

The sudden noise caught me off guard and caused me to jump. Dead people can't jump; I was alive.

My eyes shot opened as my body jolted forward, but I was quickly snapped back into someone's chest. Their arms curled around my waist as they held me in their lap, but I was too weak to resist.

"Honey, you're up," Francis said breathlessly.

His head nuzzled into the nape of my neck with his now full grown beard tickled my skin. He pulled me tighter into himself, until pain ran through my body.

I gasp in pain, and he quickly released me. As I fought off the faintness, he began to apologize. 

"Please forgive me," he pleaded once more.

Rolling my eyes, I caught a glimpse out the open window. The sun was low in the sky, but not yet setting. I knew it had to be evening, but of what day I was unsure. All I knew was that I wasn't going to spend my life in the arms of that man.