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 wasāI've teased up to the edge of this before, but there were some serious differences this time. For one thing, I actually did it. Iāafter 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'tāI'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 mineāobviously, 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 computerāand 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 timesāit'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 showeringāhe'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? Jesusāmore wineāI 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.
He grabbed me without a word and his hand was over my mouth before he stuffed the clean pair of black panties I'd left as a signalāas starting flagāover the front doorknob, into my mouth. He'd told me he'd bring what else he needed, but I was still shocked when the rasping of duct tape roared in my ears and he stuffed my mouth and wrapped it. I kept my eyes closed as I told him I wouldāif I were going to play this out, I would go all the way. You don't let the rapist know you've seen his face. You see his face and he will have no choice but to kill you after. After he rapes you. This is what I've invited into my home, my little safe home. A rapist. A stranger. I think all this as I'm thrown onto my stomach onto my rumpled bed and I stop racing my mind only when I cry out when heāall according to my sloppily scribbled scriptāfeel him wrench my arms behind me. He has ropeāthick rope, it feels. He pins me and I struggle, because I want to feel that I fight, I'm a fighter. I don't want this, I don't want thiā
When he springs off me, he binds my eyes with a blue bandana. I can see the blue. I kick out, partly so he'll tie my legs, partly because I want to kill him. It's easy for him to do this thenāI've lost, but, trussed hand and foot and mouth and eyes, I kick and scream and wriggle and shriek. I probably came, if I could separate the pain and fear and pleasure I was feeling in the brutal frenzy of it all.
He was nothing special to look at online. Big, a belly. A beard and glasses. In the flesh, he smelled like sweat lathered with a quick shower and cheap soap. His breath, when he leaned in to brutally kiss my taped mouth, tinged with toothpaste, and some sort of beer. I felt a rush of panic againāis he drunk? Oh God, what if he's out of control? What if this is how I die, I thought, and felt cold sweat simply drench my armpits, my back under the plain old t-shirt I'd worn. My cunt felt icy, the wetness that had risen freezing suddenly in my oldest pair of panties. I needed him to cut them off me, of course. I'd even laid out a knife, a steak knife, wondering as I laid it on my night table, if this is what would be used to kill me. I just drank down my wine and put it aside anyway.