Cold white wine, depression, loneliness, the internet, and the evil little spark inside myself that, after a storm of those three things sweeps over me, seeks reckless, heedless self-destruction.
So I invited a stranger to rape me. And he did.
Took the day off from work today. Probably inevitable when you watch the dawn leak up through your bedroom curtains with your wrists tied behind you, a cold, sopping gag in your mouth, some stranger's come clammy and thick on your tits. Oh, and hungover, rope-burned, eyes red-rimmed and aching. Desperately needing to piss. Struggling to your feet, tottering to the toilet. Sitting awkward and painfully peeing with arms tied behind, urine dribbling down your thigh when you stand because you can't wipe it away.
Walking to the knife where you'd told him to leave it online before he came to your house at 2 a.m. and gracelessly chopping yourself free, scraping your abused wrists as you do, drawing a little blood.
Yeah, probably a personal day.
....................
I had fewer takers than I thought I would to a drunken, seemingly sincere calling all cars for freelance rapists on the "adult" site that's my escape valve most nights. There always are—which isn't a bad thing, in the long run. I try not to take it personally, anyway. I figure if there's a rape enthusiast online at 1 a.m., he's not going to be picky about belly rolls and wrinkles. Or so I tell myself. I weed out the newbies with hardly any information, and the illiterate—not looking to be murdered, or bored with some unimaginative sexual assault roleplaying. Nothing duller than a boring rape, am I right, ladies?
Also weed out the overly solicitous, and the concerned. And one judgmental bitch now on the blocked list—go join Christian Mingle, tight cunt. Why are you even here? I'm not looking to be analyzed—I have people for that, and pills. I know what I want.
In the end, he was not the result of some long vetting process though, but a war of booze and attrition. Nights, early mornings are a dangerous time for me these days. I've deliberately, or again heedlessly, thrown myself into some fucked up shit in the wine-soaked wee hours. And that's what this was—I've teased up to the edge of this before, but there were some serious differences this time. For one thing, I actually did it. I—after we had a series of weirdly businesslike exchanges about my limits, backed with promises of copied emails and bullshit assurances that there was someone who knew what I was up to. (There wasn't—I'm still pretty new to this city, and I have no one I could call at 2 and tell, "Hey, I'm leaving my door unlocked so some strange man can walk in and rape me.")
My limits are mine—obviously, no murder. I told him anal was out (it's pretty rare I feel confident enough to allow that.) And that he couldn't film me, or bring along friends. You know, and no robbery, no cuts, no murder (always good to stress that.) I got him to send me a series of pictures, which I saved on my computer‚and printed out and saved and hid. I supposed he could force me to tell him where they were with torture, etc. But, in my whirling, drunken state of who gives a shit, I felt I'd gone far enough.
I almost backed out a hundred times—it'd be easy. Shut the computer, double lock the door. He'd be left alone and frustrated and furious and I could fall into bed and masturbate myself sore and be at work the next day.
Instead, almost as an afterthought, I sent him my address, and instructions to get in. I bought a condo last year, but I chocked open the door to the shared entryway after I hit send and finished, ridiculously, tidying up my bedroom. I caught myself in my dresser mirror, an armful of tossed clothes and underwear, and let out a laugh. I didn't recognize it and dropped the dirty clothes in a heap.
How does this work? Why? What am I doing? I poured more wine and slugged it. I peed twice in rapid succession, and thought about showering—he'd told me he was at least 20 minutes away. But what if he's lying? What if he going to surprise me and I'm in the shower? Jesus—more wine—I felt myself hyperventilating and forced myself to breathe. A half hour. A hundred times moving to lock the door. I drank, I held onto the door frame and watched my fingers turn white and start to shake. My body was shaking. I felt a screaming anxious moving knot in my stomach, in my womb. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. And then the sound at the door. Then the inner door opened. I closed my eyes and stood in the doorway, as if in terror. Which it was.