*Reader warning: This story deals with topics which are very disturbing to many people such as abduction, rape, and revenge. It is graphic but not gratuitously so. I've kept such details to a bare minimum, but one can't write about such topics—topics which unfortunately do happen to very real people—in any pleasant sort of way.
It is primarily a love story, but one in which love is arrived at in a very unorthodox, undesirable, and tragic way.
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"Can I get you another one?" the bartender asked her.
She wasn't paying attention to him. Her eyes were focused on the television screen behind him. "Could you turn that up, please?" she asked.
He knew it would piss off a few other customers, but she was really cute, so what the hell. He punched the volume up 4-5 clicks.
"So on behalf of the city of Portland, it is my pleasure to present you with the city's highest award." The mayor placed a blue ribbon with a gold medal around the man's neck then shook his hand. The headline at the bottom of the screen read, "Mayor awards Dennis McEvoy for exemplary work helping city youth."
The bartender had turned around to watch and without turning back toward her said, "That's a nasty scar," commenting on the three-inch cut in McEvoy's upper right cheek.
"Can you please be quiet?" she said sharply as she closed her eyes when McEvoy began to speak.
She listened for a few seconds then said almost under her breath as her body began to tremble, "Oh, my God. That's him."
"You know this guy or something?" he asked her. Not hearing an answer, he turned around to she if she'd heard him, but young woman was gone.
Jensyn Taylor had just turned 24 and her last encounter with the man she now knew as Dennis McEvoy had been a little over two months ago. She'd had no idea what he looked like or what his name was, but he'd held her captive for over four months, brutally raping and torturing her day in and day out.
It wasn't just McEvoy, though. There were three other men who were often either with him or who came by themselves. She later learned all of them wore masks and capes and the ritual was always the same. Other than during the ritual itself, Jensyn was kept naked, bound hand and foot, and blindfolded at all times. She was fed twice a day being forced to eat and drink like a dog unable to use her hands. She was kept next to a toilet and able to use it as needed. Properly cleaning herself afterward was another matter altogether. Before each 'session' someone led her to a shower when she was washed and dried before being taken to what felt like a barber chair where she was laid back and her hair shampooed and blown dry.
From there she was led into what she believed was an adjoining room and strapped down to another table, her arms and legs splayed out exposing her to her captives. Shortly after, she would hear their voices and the laughter. At some point what sounded like long shafts being banged on the floor began tapping in unison as the men began to chant. The banging and the chanting grew louder until a final three hard taps rang out followed by a temporary silence.
"I believe I'm first tonight," one of them would say. Jensyn's body would tense in anticipation of what was to come and she would kick and flail and struggle but to no avail as first one and then another brutally assaulted and raped her over and over again. All of them came inside of her, grunting loudly and mocking her as they did so.
She knew no names or faces, but she knew their voices; voices she would never forget. The man she now knew as McEvoy had been their leader. He was often referred to as 'The Great One' or 'Your Highness' while the others had less flattering names like 'Driller', 'Bug Boy', and 'Sarge.'
At some point, another captive was brought in but she was never kept with Jensyn. She was however, laid on a table near her during the ritual, and the same horrible things were done to her. Jensyn stopped screaming after the first month and had made peace with her belief she would either die of some disease or they would simply kill her when they grew tired of her.
The hardest part was listening to this new girl crying, screaming, and begging for them to stop as she had done early on as they mocked and taunted her saying things like, "Oh, look! She misses her mommy. Isn't that sweet?" and many other horrible things too disgusting to think about.
And now she knew who one of them was. She knew because he, or one of his accomplices, had made a terrible mistake one day. After having their way with Jensyn, they released her bonds then seemed to get distracted by something involving the other girl. Sensing they might not be watching, she sat up and pulled the mask off her face. All of the men were standing around the other girl and even though she hadn't even walked since been taken captive, she knew she had to run. The lights were off and the only source of illumination were candles placed in a circle around the two tables and a lone exit sign over a door in what was a garage of some sort in downtown Portland, Oregon.
As she slid off the table, she saw what she later learned were their capes hanging on hooks attached to the wall, capes the men evidently wore during part of the ritual. Being utterly naked, she grabbed one of them and as she did, the man she now knew as McEvoy saw her. "Hey!" he hollered. He, like the other men, was wearing a mask, but the voice was unmistakeable.
Instinctively, she reached for a weapon of some kind and the only thing available was the glass surrounding each of the candles around the tables. Knowing she would burn her hand made no difference as she reached for one of them. The burn still startled her causing her to lose her grip just enough that the glass shattered leaving just a long shard in her hard. As McEvoy came at her she whirled around and swung her arm viciously. He pulled back avoiding the worst of the blow but not far enough to avoid the sharp edge altogether. A deep, three-inch gash was the result and blood poured from his face. It was close enough to his eye that he thought for several seconds she'd hit it, too, and that was just enough time for her to put distance between them.
Only then did McEvoy's screams drown out the din created by the other girl and the men surrounding her who'd been loudly taunting and ravaging her. The loud voices masked Jensyn's exit until she got close to the door. As she pushed, the other men all turned in unison and hollered out, "The bitch is running!"
As she exited the shop, she entered another large building and had to run across it in nearly total darkness. As she closed in on the door on the other side of that shop, she heard the men enter and scream at her. "Fucking STOP, bitch, or I'll kill you!"
Jensyn wasn't stopping. If they killed her, they killed her, but she wasn't stopping. Just as she reached the other door, a shot rang out and something loud cracked just over head. She later assumed it was a round hitting the door just above her as she shoved it opened.
The sunlight was blinding as she found herself on a street with virtually no traffic and no pedestrians. Squinting hard, she quickly looked in both directions and began to run. Her lungs were on fire and she was weak from malnutrition and dehydration, but she refused to slow down. Behind her, she saw two men giving chase and that's when she saw her chance to escape. A trash truck was maybe 50 yards ahead of her and after making one stop, got ready to take off down the street where no more cans were set out. Jensyn willed herself to sprint and just as it lurched forward, she grabbed the iron bar in the back and pulled herself onto a platform normally used by the second man on the truck.
As it roared down the street, she gasped for breath as the two men stopped running. Were she not still afraid for her life, she might have laughed when she noticed they were as naked as her wearing nothing whatsoever but their black masks.
She rode for many blocks before finally hopping off once she got to a part of town she recognized and where she had a friend who lived nearby. She wrapped the cape around her body and walked as quickly as she could another two blocks. When she arrived at her friend's place, she began knocking loudly and furiously.
"Jensyn? Is that you?" her friend Emma said when she opened the door. "Oh, my God! Get in here." She closed the door and said, "Jesus! What's happened to you? Where have you been? Are you all right? You look awful. My God...you're so emaciated!"
Jensyn didn't feel like talking about it. "I'll explain later, Em. Can I just take a shower? Please?"
Her friend led her to the bathroom asking questions the entire time. She showed her where the clean towels were then asked, "You must be starving. What can I get you?"
