Beauty & The Bear

4

Hayley

“Hayley baby, come here” Jason calls me over from across the room, him and his friends have been drinking. Once again. Every night is the same, especially the last few months. I don’t know when things took this turn, but it happened and I feel stuck.

“Jay, I was about to go to bed.. Why don’t you join me.. I think it’s time to call it a night, don’t you?” I glance at my watch, it’s already past one.

“The f**k did you say? I told you to come here. Get your ass over here. Don’t make me tell you again” He yells. Jonah and Clive laugh as they look me over, a predatory look in their eyes.

I slowly, hesitantly walk over to my husband. He pats his knee. I sit down on his leg. “That’s a good girl. See when you behave, you get rewarded. When you're a bad girl.. You get punished” He whispers loud enough for his friends to hear.

“What do you think boys, is she a good girl, or a bad girl?” He looks to his friends

“Bad, very bad” Clive sips on his beer.

“Absolutely, Bad girl” Jonah smiles wickedly

A tear rolls over and falls down my cheek. The feeling of steel slides across my skin and a blade catches my tear and brings it to Jason’s lips. He licks it off the tip of his blade as he watches me.

“Maybe in the future you will reflect on this and think about your actions” He scolds me.

Another tear. The blade rips my shirt. I struggle under him. Clive and Jonah hold me down. More tears as they push me onto the floor.

“Shh baby, don’t cry.. You know I only do this because I love you.. And you know you have been a bad girl that needs to be punished. Once you take your punishment you’ll feel so much better. Right?” He nods, expecting me to nod along with him, which I do. I’m not stupid, you do what you’re told, or else you die.

He begins to carve into my stomach like he’s craving a f*****g thanksgiving turkey and I scream. It takes Clive shoving a hand towel and his own hand over my mouth to muffle the sounds, even then you can still hear me. I thrash and kick and I feel like I’m going to vomit, it hurts so badly. But I don’t give him the satisfaction of passing out from the pain, I know that's what he wants. Me to submit to him. He sighs.

“Roll her over” Clive and Jonah do as he says and roll me harshly on the carpet, it burns my stomach which is now gashed open.

He proceeds to continue carving my back, making long jagged cuts up from my lower back to under my shoulder blades. If I were able to look at it I bet it would look like I was attacked by a bear. My screaming has stopped, my throat is hoarse by this point, my mouth is dry, but I’m still crying. I lay there, body mangled, feeling like I might just die when Jason says something I never thought I’d hear.

“Wanna have some fun with her?” He looks to his closest pals who just a few minutes ago had been eyeing me up like I was a f*****g decadant dessert. There’s no way they will take him up on that offer now, not after what they just did to me, but to my surprise and horror, they start to unzip their pants.

Clive is up first, Jason and Jonah hold me down ad I try to scrim away,

“No.. Jason.. Please..” I cry, begging for him to stop this. I’m his wife. He surely wouldn’t let his friends rape me.

I stare into his eyes, looking for a sliver of the man I married. My pants are torn down, along with my underwear, barring me to the men and he enters me harshly.

“f**k you didn’t tell me she’d be so tight” Clive groans as he begins his assault. He doesn’t last long, thank god. But it’s long enough and I’m crying into the carpet. He cums inside me, I can feel it and I vomit on the floor.

“Jesus Hayley, you’re going to have to clean that up. It’s gonna stain” Jason sighs. Nodding to Jonah

“I wanna see her face” He flips me onto my back which makes me cry out in pain. Jason slaps me. My hair is in my vomit, I have c*m seeping out from me already and now Jonah is getting ready to pile drive into me. He is thankfully a small man so I barely feel him, but that is not the point. I close my eyes and pretend I’m somewhere else. A small peaceful place where Jason can’t find me.

I’ll start over. Begin anew. I’ll get a cat. I always wanted a cat. I have a small trust fund my great grandpa left me that Jason doesn't even know about. It’s my rainy day fund, which I’ve been building up over the last two years. Small amounts that he wouldn’t miss. I have over thirty grand in it. It’s enough to start over.

My decision is finalized when Jason leans over me and says” We will have more fun tomorrow baby.. Just you and me this time.. How does that sound? Go get cleaned up, you're disgusting. You can sleep on the couch tonight. I don’t want blood in our bed.”

-------------

I’m jolted awake by the sound of thunder. It is terrifying. I scream.

“Easy.. it’s just the storm.. You’re safe. I promise” A familiar voice says in the darkness. I know this voice, but don’t at the same time. I try to look around, but it’s too dark.

“The power went out an hour ago and the generator isn’t working, a tree is down on the lines. I can light some candles. Just give me a minute.”

“Kaine?” I whisper into the darkness

“Glad to see you remember me at least. I was worried you had a nasty concussion, still do honestly. But your fever finally broke. I pulled you from the river” He has his back to me as he illuminates the room.

“What… what happened?” I ask, my voice is hoarse. Oh God, I hope I wasn’t screaming in my sleep.

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me what you remember?” Right.. He wasn’t there.

“I remember having lunch and then the waterfall, and wanting to check out the pool… and then falling…” Oh that's right. I pull back the blanket and am quite surprised to see I am not in my leggings and tank top but a giant t-shirt.

“Don’t be mad… I have to put you in an ice bath to break your fever.. And I don’t want you to get even sicker so I put you in one of my shirts” He explains.

I nod cautiously. I can still feel my sports bra and panties so it’s not like he violated me completely, but he’s seen them. The scars, that is worse than seeing my body. Those hideous scars will haunt me for the rest of my life.

I stay silent. I know he’s going to ask.

“Hayley… I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to invade”. He brings a candle over and sets it down on the coffee table in front of me.

“It’s fine” I whisper, a tear falling from my cheek. He reaches out to catch it, but the simple motion has me reeling back in fear. It reminds me too much of Jason with his knife.

Kaine sees the fear in my eyes and puts his hands up, “I’d never hurt you, Hayley. Please believe that. ”

I bring my knees to my chest and bury my face into his giant t-shirt and sob. I can feel him watching me, unsure of what to do so he just sits there, watching over me while I cry. Like a giant guard dog, protecting my tears while I shed them. Once I have nothing left to shed I lay back down and he pulls the blankets over me once more.

“I don’t know what you’ve been through… but I’m here when you need me. No matter what you need”

I don’t want to sleep, but sleep wants me. I’m scared of my dreams, but somehow they always come to find me.

The same three men hunt me and haunt me. Whispering my name like it’s a game. To them, it is, but to me it’s survival.