“S-suck what?” I asked as I swallowed. Had I heard him right? I begged myself to wake up, to free myself from this strange dream, but the cold seeping into my bones and the grit digging into my palms told me it was no dream. It was a living nightmare.
He grabbed his crotch and dragged his hand along the visible ridge. His lip tugged up and due to the light, his expression was sinister. It sent a splash of cold through me and sent my mind racing.
What was going on?
“Just wanted to make sure I had your attention. As I was saying, I’m your god. Your master of pain and pleasure. If you want to eat, be a good little princess, but if you’re a brat, you’ll fucking starve,” he sneered.
“Why?” I asked. Though vague, it covered so many questions running through my head. The most prevalent: why me?
He stepped forward and loomed over me as he sneered down at me. “Because we can.”
Because we can? What does that even mean?
A snap of his fingers and I heard a shuffle of feet in the dark before he turned and faded away into the black.
Once alone, I took in my surroundings. The cell was small, maybe a six-foot cube, placed at one end of a large open space. The ceiling had to be around twenty feet tall, and the expanse around was impressive. A large opaque skylight ran about thirty feet down the center of the room. The moon sat high in the sky on a cloudless night. The half-exposed surface showered the earth with a sprinkle of light and created a soft glow through the dirt-smudged glass.
In the cell sat a twin-sized mattress that looked like it had come from a dumpster, but at least the blankets looked decent, even if they were basic.
In one corner sat a bucket with a roll of toilet paper next to it. I cringed in realization that it was my toilet for however long I’d be there.
I searched for any weakness outside of my cubed prison, any route of escape should I be able to free myself from the steel that surrounded me, but I would have to wait for the sun. Dust motes swirled in the warm beams of yellow light that shone from streetlamps outside. That meant the area was not remote, but populated. Maybe someone could hear me?
“Help! Somebody help me! Please help!” I yelled, praying someone would hear me. I projected my voice as loud as I could. I clung to the bars, begging for help until my pleas turned into hiccupping sobs.
What was going to happen to me? Were they going to kill me? Rape me?
Why me?
Why Ella?
My screams did nothing. Nobody came, not even my captors. By the time my throat was raw, defeat crawled in and took hold. I slumped back against the bars. While my sobs had subsided, tears still trailed down my cheeks.
My stomach opened up in a pit of uncertainty and nausea rolled through me.
I was all alone. Trapped in darkness and suffocating on the emptiness.
The silence was deafening. Devoid of anything. My heartbeat was a war drum, and I could hear the whooshing of blood pumping through my veins—sounds I’d rarely even noticed were blaring, blatantly obvious.
There was nothing within reach, the space empty with the exception of some pillars and another cage about ten feet away. The stale smell of decay filled my nose—a combination of dust, dankness, and dirt.
There was no real way to tell how much time had passed, but I guessed hours since they had retreated into the darkness. I wasn’t even sure if they were still in the building or if they had left entirely. My eyes fluttered, and despite how gross and disgusting the bed looked, I crawled onto it and pulled the thin blanket on top of me. In no time I was asleep, my last thought a prayer that I would wake in my own bed.
The chatter of voices stirred me, and I awoke in my nightmare. The cold robbed me of any more sleep, and I opened my eyes to find that it wasn’t all a bad dream after all.
With the sun shining, the large expanse was illuminated, exposing the cobwebs hanging in corners and the paint chipping from the walls. One wall was covered in windows that were shielded with some sort of film or paper that was yellow, either due to its original color or time. Tears in the material let in unfiltered beams of light.
I sat up and finally got a look around. What I’d thought was one more cage turned out to be an entire line of them—which meant they could hold up to six girls at a time.
They all sat empty except for the basic materials my own cell was outfitted with.
How many girls had sat in those cells, frightened and alone? My chest clenched as I felt their fear as my own. I imagined the weaker ones working themselves up into a panic attack, struggling to breathe.
What happened to them all? Where were they now? How many were still alive?
Family and friends devastated by their disappearance, never knowing what happened to them.
Maybe it was a small comfort that nobody would miss me, because I’d disappeared long ago. Did anyone mourn me? I knew people searched for me, and found me, but was my void even noticeable to them?
My eyes widened as realization dawned.
Fuck.
Mac.
He had been headed over last night. What had he thought when I wasn’t there? Did he call? Where was my phone now? Did he even know I was missing?
Did anyone from my current life?
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I straightened my spine as I searched for the source. Hidden in the shadows of a deep alcove, a figure sat so still I barely noticed him. When our eyes met, his head tilted to the side.
“Do you know who I am?” I asked. It wasn’t a question of my fake identity but of my real one.
“Of course,” he said as he stood.
A shiver ran through me. He called me Ella, but did he know who I really was? Maybe it wasn’t some random kidnapping. Maybe they knew exactly who they were abducting. The sudden regret that I didn’t take my father’s guards seriously rocked through me.
As he emerged from the darkness in a fluid motion, I got my first good look at my captor.
The version in the daylight was just as menacingly beautiful as the one I’d seen the night before—and just as chilling.
“There are some rules we need to go over, princess, and you will follow them. First is that you do what I say without question, or you will not like the punishment for disobedience. Second, don’t bother screaming. You can scream as loud as you want, but there’s nobody around to hear you. Those few who might won’t lift a finger, because I rule this area.”
“And just who are you?”
“I am your god, remember? The third rule I told you yesterday—be a good princess and you get food. Be a brat and you’ll starve.”
“How long will I be here?”
“Until the boss says so.”
“I thought you were the boss?”
“I am a god to everyone in here, but even gods have a ruler,” he said before leaving me and heading over to a man I hadn’t even noticed.
He was the leader of everyone in here, but in the end, he was still a henchman. Whoever he was past that, I didn’t know, and he refused to give anything up.
The sound of laughter caught my attention, and I turned to find a group of men sitting against the wall, cups of coffee in their hands as they spoke. Every once in a while a set of eyes would glance my way, but otherwise my presence was ignored.
Near them another member appeared from a staircase. As I looked toward the only door in the room, I understood—we were at least one flight up.