The Rosey Thorn

Chapter 5

Warning this chapter contains being beaten. Please skip if necessary.

I grunted in pain as I woke up. My hands were bound as I lay against a pipe. I was no longer in the cage. Instead, I was in a small room alone and there was a door in front of me. I desperately wanted to get up and run for the door, but I felt a presence in the room.

I turned to the darkest corner of the room, and he stepped out of the shadows. The stranger, the one who’s here to break me. “Who are you?” I asked voice trembling.

“I work for El Toro. He is your owner.”

“How did he buy me if he hasn’t seen me?”

“Oh, he’s seen you. You just never saw him. So, he paid someone to take you, brand you, and break you. Then you will be his and his alone.”

“And if I fight back?”

“When I’m done with you, you won’t even dare to fight. You will follow every command El Toro gives you, and if you don’t, you will be punished. You will be his good girl.”

Without warning, he slapped me across the face. I gasp out loud from the blow. I wanted to smooth my cheek, but I couldn’t. I was still chained. He walked to the side wall where a chain hung from the ceiling. I followed it up to the top and across the ceiling and down to where it linked to my chain.

He tugged on the chains hoisting me up until my feet dangled a little off the floor. He went to a nearby table, his back to me, and picked something up. He turns toward me and a small black cane hangs loosely from his hand.

“I have broken every single woman El Toro has bought, but you will be a challenge,” he says with a dark smirk.

“And why’s that?” I asked. My arms are starting to hurt now. My hands are starting to numb. The chains are so tight I can barely move.

“Every woman usually breaks half a day. You have been here for a week now and you’re still stubborn. Why do you think you’re different?”

“Because I know someone is looking for me and he won’t stop at nothing to find me.”

“And why is that?” He asks circling me like a predator until he stops behind me.

“He’s a ranger,” I breathed. “He’ll find me.”

“I doubt that,” he responds.

Before I could ask what he meant, he struck me so hard that my whole body vibrated in agony. Again and again, he beat me with the cane. Strike after strike I screamed in torture. He moved to my front and struck my stomach, my chest, my legs, and other limbs. Without missing a beat, he dropped the cane and punched me with his fists. I don’t know what hurts more the cane or his fists.

“Do you want me to stop?” He eyes me. I know what he’s really asking me. Am I ready to give up, to give in? Well, I have an answer for him. I spit in his face and say, “I got nowhere else to be.”

He tsked and wagged a finger at me. “You are one bad girl. I like bad girls, but I don’t own you. El Toro likes good girls, and you will be his good girl.”

He stood in front of me and ripped my sack in half. I was now hanging naked in front of him. His hands went to his belt buckle and slipped out of his belt loop. I am concerned now. Was he going to r**e me? “We’ll see how long you’ll last.”

I am unbreakable, I chant.

With the belt, he pierced my skin with the buckle, and I felt a trickle of blood flowing down. Feeling it on my bare skin burns like wildfire. I couldn’t stop the screams as he repeated over and over again.

Hours after hours I was beaten. My body turns red and purple with welts and bruises. My body hurts. I can’t make anything move. I feel so numb and so weak. I can’t control my muscles. I can’t do anything. But I can’t stop my chant.

I am unbreakable. I am unbreakable. Jake is coming. I must hold on until he arrives.

The slack of my chains loosened, and I laid on the cold hard ground. I slowly opened my tired eyes and saw him standing above me, his legs on either side of my hips.

“You are a beautiful woman, Rose, with a beautiful body — well before I bruised it up, but still beautiful. But you will break. You will stay here. No food. No water. I will come everyday and I will repeat everything until you give up.”

Without another word and without waiting for me to answer, he left. He left me bleeding, bound, and unable to move. I laid there unable to move, letting the tears flow. I tried to breathe but it hurts too much.

I can’t break. I just can’t.