chapter 26

My body froze on the spot as I felt his breath brush against the back of my neck. So many things were going through my mind in that moment but fear was the one thing that resonated clearly throughout my body and mind. I could feel the sudden feeling of wanting to run consuming me and my eyes were darting in every direction in an effort to find a way of escape.
Before I could find a way to get away, Scott’s arm clamped around my waist and pinned my arms to my side in the process. Bile rose in my throat as his stench met my nose and he rubbed his nose against my neck as if he were a wolf smelling his recently killed prey.

“You did good kid. Now get out of here so we can get to what we have to do” Scott addressed Mathew who looked away from the scene in front of him.
Mathew was standing there in front of me but he was avoiding my gaze.

“Mathew, please don’t leave me here” I didn’t know if my begging would make him have a change of heart but he locked eyes with me which gave me a small flame of hope.

“I’m sorry Adel but my family comes first” Mathew said and then turned to disappear into the darkness, smothering the only hope I had.

“Well my pet, I promised you would be mine and it looks like I was right” his voice was lined with malice and a promise of something vile to come.

We were alone in a darkened, secluded place and with no one on their way to save me. I was at his mercy and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Please” I sobbed out my last plea but I knew he would not let me go.

“You will love this pet” he said as lust fell off him in waves.
Tears were cascading down my cheeks as I struggled in vain to get away. I could feel the bruises forming on my arms where he was holding me. He seemed to enjoy my despair and pain so he tightened his grip as he began to drag me further into the thickness of the trees. The darkness that had suddenly taken over the night seemed to be closing in on us and aiding him in cloaking our presence.

The idea to scream for help surfaced in my mind but before I could, he seemed to have guessed my train of thought because he clamped a hand over my mouth.

“Stay quiet pet. We wouldn’t want to get caught so early into the game.” he whispered with a sick malice in his voice that would make snakes quiver in fear.

I knew what he planned to do to me and it looked as if he was going to get what he wanted. But I didn’t want this to be my fate and let him ruin my life.

‘Please God!’ I cried out in my mind

He suddenly threw me on the ground with a grunt and I yelped in pain as a rock bit into my hip. The pain was soon forgotten when I looked up to see him looming over me like the devil himself. I scrambled backwards and then turned to get up and run away. But I was too slow and he took hold of my ankle which caused me to fall back to the ground. With the force he pulls my ankle with I hit the ground pretty hard so my hand and cheek became bloody.

“Don’t put up a fight my pet. It will be so much better for you if you just let me have my way.” he said in a voice that held a threat as he got closer.

He was on top of me, pinning me to the ground so I would not be able to fight him. I was sobbing and thrashing under him as soon as his hands began to touch me.

“No!” I screamed as loud as I could in hopes of some miracle happening. Bile was rising in my throat and disgusted Goosebumps were all over my body.

Suddenly he flipped me over and straddled me so I couldn’t get away.

“I told you to shut up” he growled out in irritation

“...”I opened my mouth to scream once again but then he raised his hand and before I could think to block the blow that I knew was coming; he hit me. I could taste blood in my mouth and the sting on my cheek was strong enough to indicate that I would have and ugly bruise. The shock of the hit was something that lasted only a couple of seconds. Then suddenly I was screaming and thrashing while my hands were in fists and I was fighting back.

‘I am not about to go without a fight and if I ended up beaten half to death then so be it’ I thought as he slapped my fists away easily and took hold of my hair.

“I told you to--” he started to say and reared back ready to strike again but suddenly his speech was cut off and his weight was removed.

My eyes were closed and my arms were over my face in an attempt to protect myself from the blows but the blows never came. With my eyes still closed I could hear grunts and thumps as if someone was hitting the ground.

I had to see what was going on but I was afraid of what I would see. Before I could decide what to do, however, a hand grabbed my upper arm and caused me to scream in terror.

“Adel, it’s me” Jane’s voice came flowing through the darkness like a light of hope.

I threw my arms around her neck and sobbed uncontrollably into her shoulder. She cradled me in her lap an instant before someone else lifted me into their arms. It frightened me at first but then the spicy perfume that I knew belonged to Rai, dance across my nose. My arms tightened around her and I clung to her and the knowledge that I was now safe.

“B*****d” Jane mumbled from somewhere behind Rai.

I could feel Rai moving and headed out of the confinement of trees. From the limited vision I had, I could see that the moon had come out of its hiding to shower the world with its light. But I didn’t want to see it so I buried my face in Rai’s chest again.

“Thank God you found her”

It was my mother’s voice that was the first to greet us as we walked into the house.

“Where is he?” Jane asked her mother and her mother shook her head causing Jane to curse under her breath. Jane walked straight to the kitchen after that with a look of pain and anger. Sarah followed her look as if she was about to cry.

Jane’s mother was sitting on the couch with her head hung with a worried expression on her face when we walked in. it turned to relief and then sadness when she took in my appearance. She suspected that her son had something to do with what have happened to me and I knew it was hurting her. I hated to see that kind of look on her face so I decided that what happened in those woods would never be revealed.

Rai sat down and untangled herself from my arms gently so my mother could look me over. She asked Jane’s mother if she had and first aid kit when she saw my cuts and bruises. She fussed over me like when I was little and I had gotten stuck in a deep hole and my father had to get me out. But though that memory was scary, it was also one of the only memories I had of my father caring for me. His was all angles and tan skin with a short top of black hair...
but my father had brown shaggy hair and a plump face and he never cared for me. So why did I suddenly get this image of my father? Could I be forgetting my childhood? What did it mean? I would have to ask my mom but right now I just wanted to sleep and forget all that happened tonight.

“You’re going to be fine now” Belle said soothingly as she rubbed my cuts with a wet cloth.

I didn’t notice I was shaking until I saw my hands shaking like a leaf but I wasn’t cold or anything. Was everyone coddling me because I looked as if I would fall apart at any moment?
Afraid I would fall apart; I leaned against Rai and closed my eyes. I would probably never forget what had just happened but I couldn’t let it consume me, could I? No, I would move on and live my life with this horrible memory like I did with all the others.