The Merry Pranked (26 page)

“Because we can. We take what we want and whomever we want. We want you. It’s actually quite an honor. I saw you and knew you’d offer pleasure and I have the power to take it. You’re weaker, Darlene. You should be proud that someone as powerful as me desires to use you.”

Darlene looked at the photos once again. She felt sick to her stomach.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she said and started to get up. Lewis reached across the table and grabbed her arm. His touch sent chills up and down her spine.

“If you flee this restaurant, Darlene, I should warn you that will be considered a ‘no’ and your son’s fate will be sealed. As I said, we will only have this conversation once; I will never repeat what I’ve just asked of you. We will simply move on to our next conquest, and you will set about awaiting death. So, before you do something foolish, will I be picking you up tomorrow night?”

He let go of her arm and she made her way to the Ladies Room. She could see in his eyes he was serious. The desire to leave was strong, but the consequence of making that decision was unthinkable. She rushed into the Ladies Room and into a stall, where she proceeded to throw up what had started out as a pleasant dinner. She flushed, closed the lid on the toilet and took a seat, the tears starting to form in her eyes; they quickly led to actual sobbing, her whole body shaking as she tried to fathom everything that had just transpired. She had no idea what to do. If he was serious, she really had no choice; he had photos; they could have been taken by him, one friend, or many. Did he really have an extensive network of jerks like him? Would he really do what he said he and his friend would do to her son? Was any of this real?

Darlene exited the stall and made her way to the mirror; luckily no one had entered the Ladies Room and heard her sobbing; the last thing she wanted now was some Good Samaritan trying to help her. She touched up her make-up and tried to get herself into presentable shape to return to the table. She had to return; she couldn’t risk it.

Finding a strength she didn’t know she had, Darlene made her way back to the table; Lewis was in the process of digging into a cheesecake he’d ordered.

“Would you like anything?” he asked. “I’ve ordered us both coffees.”

“Please don’t do this to me,” she said.

Darlene looked down at the table and noticed he had put the photos away.

“I believe you owe me an answer, Darlene. I’m a patient man, but you’re beginning to try it. Will I be picking you up tomorrow night?”

He resumed eating his cheesecake. She studied him closely; he was so damned casual; it was annoying. She did the only thing she could.

“Yes,” she said.

Darlene found it hard to sleep. Rather than let Lewis drive her home, she had elected to take a cab; the less time she spent in his presence the better; that and she had a lot to think about.

What had she agreed to?

It couldn’t possibly be real. She so desperately wanted to believe that, but also knew that everything he had asked of her was real; he expected her to willing go with him tomorrow night to her own rape.

When she arrived home she dismissed the babysitter as quickly as she could; Eric was fast asleep, and she knew from experience that if she gave Sandra an opening she’d start up a conversation and it would be hell getting her out the door. Darlene had no time for small talk this evening. Sandra must have suspected something was wrong, and appeared a bit concerned, but Darlene had gotten her out the door without having to reveal anything. She immediately raced to Eric’s room.

Standing in the doorway of your son or daughter’s bedroom and watching the little angelic tykes sleeping was a cliché used often in movies and TV shows; it wasn’t until she had given birth that she truly appreciated the beauty of that moment. She looked at Eric, deep in sleep, his young face sweet and pure. It brought tears to her eyes. He was so innocent and as of yet didn’t know the world could be cruel; she envied him that innocence and wished he could appreciate it himself. It wouldn’t take long for him do discover the ugliness of life and lose that innocence forever; and you truly did lose it. She couldn’t remember back to that time in her life; a time where everything was so blissfully great; too many years of toil and trouble had erased them forever; even when she found something to be happy about these days, there was always a healthy layer of cynicism laying underneath it, taking away it’s hope for purity. She had to protect her little man; it was that and nothing more that truly drove her in life.

He
was all that mattered.

The next day was hell. She was sure it was as pleasant for her as those on death row who had finally ran out of time and knew there’d be no tomorrow for them. She got absolutely no work done; it had actually taken everything she had just to get Eric up and to Junior Kindergarten. She really didn’t want to take him there; had wanted to spend the whole day with him, but had errands to run; Lewis had made it clear that he expected her to be wearing some sexy lingerie to the party tonight, as well as a tasteful but sexy dress. He told her she wouldn’t be in either long, but presentation was important to the group, and seeing as she was his offering he wanted her to make a good impression. She had nothing like he’d requested in her wardrobe. It’d been a long time since she last dated and a long time since she’d had to wear something sexy in the bedroom to please a man. So she went shopping and did so in a trance, picking out lingerie and a dress, still not quite believing what was in store for her tonight; still not believing she was going to cooperate. It was like she was having an out-of-body experience, watching herself go through the motions, heading towards something crazy and unimaginable. Never far from her thoughts was Eric, and that kept her zombie-like mind and body moving, going through the paces, making sure she didn’t fail him.

She was going to be raped!

She was willing going to be participating in her rape!

She cried often.

Maybe it was all a joke? A sick joke, but a joke nonetheless.

Unfortunately it wasn’t.

Out Among the stars I sail,

Way beyond the moon

In my silver ship I sail

A dream that ended too soon

Now I know exactly who I am,

And what I’m here for

And I will go sailing no more.

The song played over and over in Darlene’s thoughts as she sat in the passenger seat of Lewis’s car and he navigated them out of the city towards Lakeview’s suburbs. Eric was watching
Toy Story
just before she left on what she told Sandra was another date. Sandra had been impressed, two dates in a row; maybe she had found Mr. Right?

Toy Story
was Eric’s favorite movie and he watched it endlessly. She always found that moment in the film where Buzz Lightyear tries to fly but fails, landing on the floor and breaking off his arm, sad, and tonight as she watched the scene play out and listened to Randy Newman’s song, which seemed to resonate more with her, it was almost downright depressing. She played it over and over again in her mind, in an attempt to try and control the fear that had gripped her from the moment she got in the passenger seat of Lewis’s car.

Luckily Lewis wasn’t in a talkative mood. They travelled along in silence until he finally pulled into a relatively long driveway that led to a huge house on a sprawling property; his friends were definitely well-to-do.

“I’m going to lay down a few ground rules for you, Darlene,” he said, shocking her out of her thoughts. She had a moment of anxiousness, but regained control of herself before he could notice. “Tonight you must participate. Do so willingly and with enthusiasm, or not; some of my fellow libertines like to see fear on their conquests faces; like to know they’re submitting unwillingly, but submitting. That is the key, submitting.”

He looked at her to see if what he was saying was sinking in. She nodded her head weakly.

“If you fail to please any of us, there will be demerit points and these will be taken out on your son.”

Her heart skipped a beat in her chest.

“One demerit point might result in a broken arm or leg,” he continued, “two, maybe worst. Of course, as you’re participating we won’t kill him, but he will pay a price for your disobedience. It’s best you forget that you’re a human being as tonight you’re not. You’re a plaything, to be used and abused as pleased. Accept that and the night will be a success, it will eventually come to an end, and your son will have a future. Are we clear on this?”

“I understand,” she said weakly.

“Excellent,” he said. “Now before I take you in there and start passing you around, I’ll be the first to abuse you.”

“What?” she said.

Lewis unzipped his pants and pulled out his penis. “Pleasure me,” he said.

Darlene looked at his penis and then at him. He didn’t look pleased.

“You see,” he said, “this kind of hesitation in there could get your son hurt; we will not stand for it. It’s best you do what is asked of you and in a timely manner. So, what’s it going to be, Darlene?”

Without hesitation, as the severity of her predicament had finally registered in her mind, Darlene took Lewis in her mouth.

She and Lewis entered the house via a side door and were immediately led down into a tastefully decorated basement where approximately twenty men of varying ages were enjoying drinks and socializing. They all greeted Lewis with big smiles, also taking the opportunity to look her over; most of them seeming to be pleased with what they saw. She was trying to take everything in, but was frightened; she could still taste Lewis in her mouth and she was desperately fighting the urge not to throw up; she was sure that would work against Eric. She couldn’t have that.

Along with the men in the room, all of them looking respectable, but not really, were about eleven women, all of them dressed provocatively and all of them looking as frightened and concerned as she felt. They were the last to arrive, as she heard one of the men say that now that they were there the fun could begin.

Darlene lost herself within herself. It wasn’t long after the one man said it was time for the fun to begin that she found herself stripped down to her lingerie and it wasn’t long after that before she was naked, as were most of the women.

I love you, Eric
, she repeated again and again in her mind, as she tried to escape further and further from her corporeal body. Time went on forever; the pain constant, as men she didn’t know and didn’t want to look in the eye violated her in every possibly way imaginable; sometimes by themselves and sometimes in groups. What she was made to do and participate in her mind had decided not to register; it was best to just let it happen, to do as she was instructed and not think about it. These men, who were laughing it up and having a great time, were ruthless and heartless. One woman she heard had been begging them to stop, but that had only seemed to drive a certain number of them on to take it even further and torment this woman even more. Some of them, unlike her, were unable to escape into their minds. She knew it had got to the point where she was in fear of escaping too far and maybe losing her sanity forever, but based on what was happening to her, the pain of it all and the degradation, that was a chance she was willing to take.

Now she just wanted to die. Darlene closed her eyes and wished she were elsewhere as the man who had climbed on top of her, as she lay on her stomach on the mattress, spasmed and came.
How much could her body take?
She was covered in the filth of the men, their sweat, their stink and their semen. She was sore all over and even sure she was bleeding; they had not been gentle.

She just laid there, her mind numb, bent almost to the point of breaking based on the horror she’d been through over the last couple of hours.
When will it end?

It was then she heard the scream; a loud painful scream from one of her fellow abused. It broke her out of her reverie.

“You did well, Darlene,” said Lewis as he approached her. She had rolled over on her back with the intention of getting up. She suddenly really wanted out of there.
Were they killing one of the women? Was she next?

“I want to go home,” she said.

“It’s almost over,” he said. “The rules are the rules, Darlene. You honored your commitment and we’ll honor ours. You and your son are free to live a life without fear from us. You can grow old together. We will never call upon you again. As far as we’re concerned you’re damaged goods, anyways. And there is one way we can ensure you never fall prey to any of us again. Your final task of the night.”

As he said that, another cry of pain rang out; another one of the women crying out in agony.

“I just want to go home,” she said, terrified.

“But first come with me,” he said, reaching out to help her get off the mattress.

“I don’t want to.”

“You’ve done well this far, don’t ruin it,” he said, looking her firmly in the eye. She could see he was serious. She had endured a lot to mess it up now. She had to go the distance, for Eric’s sake. She reached out and took his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet. Her body ached as he led her out of the room she was in.

When they entered the main area of the basement, her heart nearly failed her, as fright consumed her body.

“You have the privilege of bearing our mark, Darlene,” said Lewis, holding her arm tightly to keep her from fleeing.

Darlene took in the scene before her. Someone had started a fire in the fire place. A long iron handle was sticking out from the fire. Two of the men were leading one of the frightened women to a contoured stool on the ground, the type that allowed a woman to lie over it so that her buttocks was in the air and a man could have access to her from behind. The two men forced the frightened naked woman over the stool and held her in place. No one was planning to enter her from behind; instead another man grabbed the long iron stick from the fire and pulled it out. It was red hot; it was a brand!

Darlene watched in horror as the man took the brand with a fair-sized ‘M’ on the end of it, moved behind the woman, who was trying to look back, and appeared to be terrified, and pressed it hard into the flesh of her one buttock. She screamed out in pain as it burned into her flesh, sizzling and smoking, the smell of her burnt flesh joining that of the other woman who had all ready gone before her.

“You’re next, and it’s all over,” said Lewis. “You get to go home.”

Darlene watched as the two men who had held the woman down, lifted her up and moved her away from the stool. They had shit-eating grins on their face; they were obviously enjoying the final torture they were subjecting these women to. Darlene didn’t want to be branded; she started backing up, despite the fact Lewis had her by the arm. It was too late. She hadn’t noticed two of the other men had closed in on her, one on the side opposite Lewis and one behind her. She was surrounded.

“Oh God, no,” she uttered to know one in particular. There’d be no mercy here, she knew that.

“You’re next,” said Lewis with a smile as he and the other two men started dragging her towards the stool.