Evelyn dreamed of freedom that night. The cool rain touching her skin as she swung on the deck. The sounds of thunder and the visions of lightning dancing across the sky. She dreamed of the sounds of the ocean and the feeling of it splashing her feet as she stepped away. Evelyn dreamed of the feeling of freedom. What would it look like? What would it smell like? Would it feel any different since it's a something she had never known?
She had never even seen the ocean, or smelled the salty air. Only imagining the sounds of all the different voices carrying over the boardwalk. She had only read it in the books on her Master's shelves. Before her previous Master died he had let her read as much as she could. Every book on his shelves she had paged through endlessly. She was one of the lucky slaves that had been taught to read, many were denied that luxury.
Evelyn could feel her own sheets underneath her. It wasn't the expensive satin like Eric had used on his bed. They felt scratchy yet safe, any place better than the cold satin she had laid on. She could feel her body aching as she laid completely still listening for any sign of life outside the doors. Light was peaking from under her door and she knew it was past time to start the day.
But she couldn't move herself from the bed. She couldn't move out from the covers and she couldn't seem to shake the broken feeling she had. How could she let this happen? How could she make herself come in front of this man? She had promised herself she would never let him win, yet here she lay letting him.
Evelyn couldn't let him win and it didn't matter that she had tried twice to escape, her time would come. She would never surrender her virginity to him no matter what punishment he had laid out of her.
She thought of the toys spread on his bed awaiting her humiliation. How he made her pick what torture she would get. And how she begged for him to touch her and let her come. She had begged for release to get the aching to stop.
She didn't want to feel that ache again. The pit in her stomach and then the shame that followed behind. She felt disgusted with herself. And the only way to feel free of him was to be free of him. She knew the whole house was surrounded by a gate, the windows had been double sealed and protected. The front door had an alarm system rigged to go off unless there was a code.
The back door to the horse stables had a different code and each slave had their own number assigned to them to prevent runaways. Only slaves that had more than 2 years of service were allowed the horse duties and a code. Evelyn hadn't had the chance to be given one yet, and she wasn't close with anyone to ask for theirs either.
Evelyn felt hopeless, how could she keep up the fight when he had already taken so much. Who would want her now? And if she escaped, where would she go? The country had no problem punishing escaped slaves, she had no existing family and by the sounds of it the North and South were about to be at odds again.
The one thing she had left to fight for was her virginity. That alone was worth it. She didn't have to know the code, she would just sneak behind while the door was still unlocked. She could say she had switched duties with another slave there, no one would be the wiser. Then she could feel the sun on her, the warmth wrapping around her, the feel of the morning dew on her feet so barely felt the last time before slipping.
That's when she felt it. The itching of her wrist. She dragged her fingers across the bump and saw the numbers burned into her skin. Her eyes almost didn't believe it, in the darkness of her room it didn't seem real. There is no way he would do this, right? The black ink was surrounded by raised red skin.
'0348'
As plain as day on her skin. He had marked her in a way she never thought possible. This was worse than making her come, she could block that out. She would wash that off. This, this was permanent. She was no longer broken but filled with rage.
Evelyn jumped out of bed, she didn't care how she looked or how her hair laid. She ran from the room in barely a nightgown to his study. She knew on Wednesdays he had a meeting with all of the high ranking men there. She was seeing red, tears filled her eyes and streamed down she cheeks as she sprinted towards the heavy wood engraved door.
She pushed the door open without a knock and heard it slam against the back wall.
"What did you do to me, you bastard?" Evelyn's voice rang out against the walls shattering the silence in the room full of men.
By now she was out of breath from the sprint down the hall, she must have lost some of her strength from the last few days she thought.
"If you'll excuse me, gentlemen." Eric stood up from behind the head of the table, his arms crossed in front of him.
"No you'll tell me now! I won't let you take me again! Not without witnesses!" Evelyn was screaming at him now. Her voice filled with anger soon changed to terror as she looked around the room.
There was a long wooden table filling the center of the room with men on each side. And along the walls some men had women hanging from the ceiling in stocks. Some of them had gags in their mouths while other were blindfolded and gagged.
One woman was covered in red welts all over her back and ass as someone stood behind her with a belt.
Another slave was in the corner completely spread apart with a black metal bar between her legs and her hands behind her back. She was gagged and moaning, Evelyn could see a vibrator attached to her. She knew the exact pain that woman was going through.
Evelyn looked down at the table and could see a man's pants around his ankles while a woman had his length in her mouth. His eyes were closed and his head was back against the chair.
Evelyn couldn't believe her eyes, she had never seen anything like it. She knew he had meetings weekly but never knew what it consisted of. She covered her mouth with her hands and drew in a gasp. Some of the men looked just as startled as she did as she was stepping back out of the room.
"You stay right there, Evelyn." Eric's voice floated across the table. She stood frozen in fear. Is this what was ahead of her? Is this what he planned to do to her? No, no, no. She wouldn't let this happen. Her stomach churned around and around, if she had had anything to eat it would have been on the floor in front of her.
"What, what is this?" Evelyn barely got it out in a whisper. Her anger no longer radiating the room but fear filling the air. "What is this?" Evelyn kept repeating it to herself over and over.
She looked around the room again searching for any safety. Men of all stature sat at different places. The man with long black hair seated beside Eric had a slave over his lap and was spanking her. She had seen him a few times before walking the hallways with Eric.
Another man with dark blonde hair was fondling a woman's breasts beside him, she was on her knees letting him! It even looked like she was begging for it! Evelyn didn't understand, these women looked like they were enjoying themselves. Was that even possible? What kind of life was that?
Evelyn backed up into the hallway. Her hands were trembling and her feet were barely letting her move.
"Evelyn." Eric's voice sounded louder and closer. She shook her head, trying to forget everything she had just witnessed. He would do that to her, he is allowing it to happen in his home. She would be next. She turned to go back to her room but her legs failed her. She crumbled onto the floor of the hallway as giant sobs poured out of her. She tried to be strong and get back up, she didn't know where this was coming from.
She had just made a promise to herself in her room to stand up and fight him. But there she laid on the stone floor in pieces.
"You would do that to me."
"You know better than to interrupt Evelyn."
"I don't care, look what you did to me!" She lifted her wrist at him with what little strength she could manage.
"Yes, I had your slave number tattooed."
"I hate you. I hate you! You can't do this!"
