With many, many thanks to LissaSue for editing my stories! Without her, I would not have come far.
***
Blackness enveloped her like a suffocating blanket. Struggling for air, her chest rising but inhaling no comforting oxygen, her body convulsed, trembling in its bindings. The pain made her mind numb. She couldn't remember how long she had been left there, chained to the ceiling. Her body screamed and she felt like she was on fire. Stars started dancing before her eyes, tempting her to give in to the fatigue. Desperately she tried to shrug the all-consuming darkness, but her strength failed her. Then again, the blackness was painless, thoughtless, and she was so tired. So tired. A new wave of the thick cloud hit her. She welcomed the overwhelming depth of the numbing pool, immersing herself in it this time. She didn't care anymore.
***
A searing pain shot through her back, pulling her from the comforting void. Voices started entering her mind. They sounded angry and exited, words indiscernible. She tried to remember where she was. The burning sensation from her wrists and arms told her she was dangling from the ceiling again.
Again?
The memories hit her. They had tortured her. For days or weeks or years. Time had no meaning anymore. She had cried, screamed, begged, told them everything she knew but it had not stopped. All she remembered was pain. She didn't know what to say anymore, drained from every emotion she had ever had.
She tensed at a whooshing sound behind her.
Pain exploded from her back as the sound changed into a sharp crack and a moan escaped her lips.
"Boss," a low male voice behind her called, "she's come round."
"Start questioning her again."
Her eyes shot open to the familiar voices, her heart quickening in fear. The two men stood before her, smirking at her pain and anxiety.
"Are you ready to answer us yet my dear?" the dark taller man asked her.
She was in the same room again. Windowless concrete walls surrounded her and her captors, a heavy steel door right behind her. The rough poured floor scraped the soles of her feet as she tried to reposition her weight. She had difficulty focusing her mind on the man before her, the pain distracting her from his words.
The taller man nodded to the blond one, gesturing him to begin the questioning. He moved up to her, his eyes holding hers. With a slight smile he extended his hand to her right shoulder, softly stroking the tender bone.
"This has been going on long enough, little girl. Why don't you tell us what we would like to know?
His hand slowly tightened on her shoulder. She felt the bones scrape sickeningly beneath her skin, pain radiating where his hand pressed the joint. Suddenly he turned his hand, twisting the broken bones. A moan escaped her lips again. Heaving, the emptiness of her stomach prevented her from throwing up.
"Tell me your name."
Dehydrated, she had no tears left. She did not know. She had told him everything. Every name she had ever used in her life. Her pen name, avatar, alias, e-mail, pseudonym, her login. He wanted to know another name. She could not remember other names. Could not remember ever having had one.
A name.
Her name.
She shook her head in desperation, looking at him beggingly.
He backhanded her. Her head lurched sideways as the throbbing pain in her cheek marked his hit. Stars danced before her eyes and it took her some seconds before she realized that warm blood trickled down her nose and cheek. The feeling distracted her, surprising her that her body had blood left to bleed.
He roughly grabbed her hair, forcing her to look at him again, regaining her attention.