INSUFFERABLE

Chapter 3

I sat on the bed, mind numb no matter how hard I tried to conjure up any thoughts. I wanted to ask him to check on the woman but I know it will do her no good. But knowing that she might get beaten harder because of me is unsettling.

This place is horrid and I wanted out as fast as I can but it’s impossible. I need to build a good plan but what about the women and children? They must have wanted to get away as badly as I am right? To take them all with me would be impossible and leaving them behind is the same as killing them.

I hadn’t even noticed he had done showering, half naked when he sat in front of me, watching me with curiosity.

“You wanna take a shower?”

“What’s your name?” I asked instead.

“Is that important?”

This man, he enjoy leaving me in the dark, letting me stumbling in this land of unknown, basking in my misery. I can see it in his eyes.

“Tell me your name.”

“Call me Daryl.”

“That’s not your real name.” I said firmly and he chuckle, eyes twinkling in amusement. He seems to like my sharp wits.

“No, it’s not but that’s close enough.”

I blink, not bothering to know why he refused to let me know his real name. All I want to do is hide under the cover and wish all of this is just a nightmare. A stupid wish.

Daryl stood up, walking towards his desk and opening his laptop. After a while he called me up.

“I want you to watch this.”

I stared at him dumfounded but didn’t resist when he pushed me into the seat, a video with bad quality already played on full screen. There was a woman on the floor and two men standing to her sides. I turned back at him.

“Consider this as educational purposes.”

I open my mouth but the loud yell from the video halted me. I look at the screen anxiously and got a bad feeling about it when the two men tied the woman on a pole, leaving her defenseless.

She was crying, begging with all her might but the men were unbothered. Another man entered the view, I don’t get to see his face only his broad back. I jolted as the man suddenly punch the woman in the face twice.

My whole body stilled, shocked at the sheer violence. The woman’s face was bloodied and she’s crying even harder now. The man said something to her, I can’t hear clearly but for a moment I thought he was coaxing her from the way he caress her hair, leaning in and kissing her lips.

But I realized I was wrong when one of the men disappeared and get back in the screen with a long sword and hand it over to the man. I shifted in my seat, eyes bulging and breathe erratic as I could already see how this is going to end.

“No…” My eyes got teary and it feels so hard to breath. I gasped when the man stood back a bit and swung the knife forward. “No!”

I jumped so hard that I fall backward on the floor, eyes still locked on the screen. I started to cry as I watched the head lolled about the ground, blood splashes everywhere. I felt dizzy and sick to my stomach and seconds later I was heaving, dispelling the content of my stomach.

Daryl said something to me but I was lost in my own mind and vaguely aware when he picked me in his arms and brought me back to the bed.

He put me in his laps, swaying me lightly back and forth, shushing my crying which doesn’t work. I wanted to forget the thing I saw but each time I close my eyes, I saw the head on the floor over and over again and it makes me even sicker.

“That is what happened to someone who tried to run.”

I cried even harder, almost hyperventilating in his arms but his soft shushing and the swaying makes my nerves calm, though it does take a moment.

I know what he’s trying to do, I can see it clearly but I can’t stop myself from finding comfort from him. Daryl is the only other living thing with me right now and I need comfort badly after what I just saw. So against my better judgement, I clung tightly to him, pressing my face towards his chest willing myself to forget all of the bad things that had happened today and slowly I fall asleep in his toxic, yet warm embrace.

I woke up the next morning when he pulled away from me. I listened to the sounds of water hitting the floor, smelling the floral smell of his body wash as I sat up hugging my knees tightly.

Minutes later he walked out buck naked. Perhaps he thought I was still asleep. Any other time I might shrieked or look away but right now I don’t f*****g mind.

He halted a bit but made no move to cover himself. “Get back to sleep. You need it.”

‘What I need is to get the f**k away from this f*****g hell.’ I wanted to say but instead I just shake my head. I do feel strangely sluggish and warm despite it being early in the morning.

Daryl didn’t say anything after that, focusing on getting ready for work. A knock sounded and Daryl went to unlocked the door. Two women entered, placing breakfast on the table before walking out with the same silent. Everything is so damn fix and repetitive in here.

He gestured for me to eat with him and I replied with a blank look. I won’t move from this f*****g bed for the whole day and Daryl seems to sense my resolution. He filled his plate with some fruits and desserts, taking it with him and sat next to me.

I turned my head when he shoved the banana slice my way. “Not hungry.”

My voice sounded gruffly and hoarse. Weird, I don’t remembered yelling last night.

Daryl put it inside his mouth instead, still staring at me. “If you be a good girl for me, follow my rules, what you saw last night will never happened to you.”

I turned to him with a glare. How dare he threatened someone’s life like this. Treating a person like they are seconds to him, so inferior in status that they should be beheaded simply for disobeying this fucktard of a man.

At this moment I despise everything about this man in front of me, wishing how I could just kill him this very instant.

He recognized the challenging fire in my eyes. The smirk that slowly blossomed in his face told me that this sicko enjoyed it. As much as he had been sprouting about obeying him, he also wanted me to retaliate.

“Dying is the easy part. I won’t let you go that easy. I’ll make you suffer, so badly that you’ll hope you never even thought about going against me, sweet little Jasmine.”

I glared at him so hard my eyes started to burn but still I refused to turn away. Instead I stared and stared until warm tears fall down my cheeks, one at time until it running down like waterfall as I watched him going around the room nonchalantly.

He even had the audacity to kiss my wet cheek before going out, leaving me behind to wail in my misery.

Right after the door clicked and the obvious sounds of chains clucking from the outside I let lose all the control I had. I yelled and wailed, wanted this nightmare to be done but no matter how hard I cried, I’m still here.

Feeling restless, I stood up and started to turn the room upside down. Things thrown on the floor, papers torn and flying in the air. My eyes caught two laptops on his study table.

With a great hatred I grabbed both of it and bashed them on the wall until it break, and still I didn’t stop. I keep on hitting it until the splinter hit my hands and my fingers, wounded them.

I heaved, slowly coming to my senses as the adrenaline left my body. I slide down the floor as I took in the mess I created. This will show him that I am not that easy to bend. I am scared of him, scared of what he capable of doing to me but I won’t make it easy for him as well.

His threats keeps on repeating themselves in my head but it enraged me thinking how a person could do this to another. What makes he think he was above me? Who did he think he is, child of god? If he intended to make me suffer, I will make it hard for him too.