Not Again, Never Again

Yelena's POV

My mind floated from fear to desperation to hate and back to fear. In my nightmare, Reyad stood above me with a whip in his hand. He brought the whip down, and it transmogrified into a snake. As it hit my skin, its fangs sunk deep into my hide, and my clothes peeled away. Reyad cackled as the fire of the venom seared through my every vein and muscle. My flesh boiled and sizzled, and Reyad laughed harder. His face transformed into that of a daemon. My agony seemed to feed him. He guffawed with laughter louder and louder, until it was only the only thing I heard. I only felt my skin, bubbling and roiling. I only smelled my burning flesh and clothing. I only tasted my own hot, irony blood, but I wanted to taste his. I only heard him, his malicious laughter. And I only saw red! I wanted to rip him limb from limb, to make him hurt as much as I did! To make him feel his flesh peeling away, to make him taste his own blood, to hear my cackles as he suffered, this was the only thing I wanted at this moment, but I knew, as my face melted away, that this was impossible. He had the power, and I knew that I would never have it, as long as he lived, I would not have the power to make him hurt as I did, in this agony of a moment. And then, it all started to fade, and I awoke.

I was staring at a ceiling with garish decorations strewn about, almost haphazardly. In a disconnected moment, I thought that I would contact the decorator and inform him or her of the hideous décor. Then, I realized who's ceiling I was staring at. Reyad's! Some of my nightmare had been truth. I was as naked as a newborn, and I hurt. On further inspection, I realized I was bruised and bloody. Reyad recognized the movement as consciousness and moved towards me, clutching a velvet wrapped book to his chest. He flourished it in front of my face, and I saw that it was blood red. He shoved it at me and ordered me, "Read."

I opened the cover, and started at the first page. The man standing before me was a lunatic, plain and simple. But there was nothing simple about the situation I was in. In the journal, for that is what it was, were all the grievances he had against me, in the entire two years of experiments, and his punishments for each and every one. In a sick way, he was incredibly imaginative, no two punishments were the same, and they were all specific to the crime that had been committed.

"We'll start with the punishment on page one tonight," he announced harshly. I flipped to page one, it read, "Day 1. The girl was introduced to me. She did not call me 'sir.' That was very impolite. For her punishment, she shall receive thirty lashes in a submissive position on her hands and knees, and after each one, she will say, 'More, sir, please.' She will say nothing else, until the whipping is over. Then, I shall fuck her, and the entire time, she shall call me 'sir' and beg for me to continue her punishment." These simple words terrified me. His concise words were horrifying in their own right, but the way he sneered when I glanced up in fear was the most chilling experience I had ever been subjected to. I remembered the knife I had hidden a year ago. I decided kill myself, that was the only way that I could escape this sickening creature standing before me. I scrambled to get to the end of the bed. I had to get there, there was no way I could survive what he had planned for me. He grabbed my ankle, probably believing that I was trying to escape, and yanked me back. Reyad grabbed the chains that he had withdrawn from the chest at the end of his bed as he forced me to my knees by pushing one hand into my back, and one into my crotch while pulling his leg against the front of my knees. He pulled my arms out from under me and forced my face into the stone of his floor. He brought my wrists together and chained them behind my neck, as he bent to retrieve the whip he had removed from the "toy" chest at the same time as the chains.

He struck, and I gasped in response. This seemed to encourage him, and he asked, "Now, what do you say?"

I responded, because I knew that if I didn't I would receive an even greater punishment, "More, sir, please."

"Good girl," he said and struck again. The lash was agony, but it was nothing compared to the desperation, fear, and hatred running through me. He would pay for this humiliation, maybe not by my hand, but I would ensure, he would pay somehow! I answered with the correct reply and was rewarded with another lash. During the entire lashing, my thoughts drifted, but I never missed a reply. I thought of what would have happened if my parents hadn't died. I wondered if I would have anything, if I would suffer this way anyways. I knew that I probably would. My parents probably would have given me up so that I could have the education, the job, and the life they hadn't had. But I could always dream that they would have kept me, and that I would have been happy and safe. I remembered the pain of Reyad's tests and thought that I had been foolish back then, to think that was agony. I reminisced about the multiple escape attempts I had made after the beating I had received last year, during the fire festival. I had shaved my head, and stolen boys clothing. In that attempt, I had gotten almost two miles. I had received a whipping for those "antics." I had also tried to escape with the garbage. I hadn't even gotten out the gate. I was confined to my room and the lab for two days for that escape attempt. It wasn't as successful as the previous one, so it didn't merit a beating. At this point, I had received twenty lashes and my back burned with fiery urgency. I knew that in a few seconds I would pass out, and I welcomed it with every fiber of my being, so when the blackness over came my vision, I sank peacefully into oblivion.

I woke up to an uncomfortable feeling in my lower abdomen. I was again staring at Reyad's ceiling, and I knew that I had been violated in the most basic, primeval way. I knew that I was no longer pure, thanks to Reyad. I know it sounds all puritan and everything, but I had always thought that he would never step over that line. I always thought he had a shred of respect for me that would not be removed by anything I did. A respect for fundamental humanity. However, like everything else, I was wrong. He thought of me as a toy, a plaything, an animal for him to beat, to tease, and to destroy. Oh, I had no doubt that he would never actually kill me, but he had removed my dignity and made me nothing. He had destroyed me in a way that no one else ever could, not my parents by dying, not Brazelle by betraying me, and not fate by dealing me this card. There was no way I would allow him or anyone to do this to me again! At this point, I realized why I was uncomfortable, and glanced down. Sure enough, Reyad's fingers were in me, and they were not gentle, not even bruising, but worse, much worse. I realized that the knife was within my reach. I could kill myself and end this horror. I could, I truly could! He leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Love, this is where I will always be, forever. You cannot get rid of me now," and he started laughing, "I guess I'll have to start a new journal. We'll be training a new girl now that you have failed." He slowly rose, while thrusting his fingers deeper into me. "Up on your knees. Time for page two."

"No!" I would not let him hurt another girl, destroy another girl! I could not! I had to stop him somehow! "You won't." I rushed to where I had hidden the knife, got it out, and slashed. I had made a surface cut, and he fell back in surprise. In a moment, I was on him and screeching like a banshee, I sliced down on his throat and hit bone. I sat on top of him, knowing that I would be found holding the knife, but I didn't care, because I could no longer distinguish whose blood was pooling between my legs. I had made him pay!

I have been churning out fan fics lately; maybe it's my new music I listen to when I'm writing! ;) But I hope you like it! And Review, or the review bunny won't visit you tonight. Okay, scary thought, but whatev'. REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!