Miss Nobody

(Please read TW/CW in my bio)

Chapter 35

TILL DEATH DO US PART

Day 20

I sat up quickly gasping for air, backing away from the gravedigger and ramming myself into a kitchen cabinet.

Susan's white sneakers appeared in front of me on Eleanora's kitchen floor. "It's time for your morning shower." She hoisted me up to my feet and pushed me back to my cell room in the tower. Into the bathroom. She watched while I prepared myself for the day.

The same black dress was on the bed, this one clean. I put it on and Susan had me in the hallway, on my knees and scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush.

***

I was about to pass out from lack of food when Elenora made an appearance. "Feed her, bathe her, brush her hair. Try to make her presentable. It's time for her showings."

Susan did as Elenora commanded and I followed along, afraid Bishop would take my punishment for disobeying. I could play nice little captive until they let their guard down. I had more time than Elenora.

Susan watched as I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and washed it down with a glass of water. I bathed and donned another clean black dress with buttons down the front, except for the top two, which were missing.

Susan brushed my hair gently and was able to get all the knots out without tearing my hair apart. She put some black eyeliner across my eyelids and brushed mascara over my eyelashes. She dabbed some red lipstick on my lips. She moved her lips together and Roman flashed in my mind. Him giving me lip gloss to go on my date with Keiran. I'd give anything to go back in time. To make different choices. Ones that didn't lead me into being a prisoner in Elenora's creepy house.

Susan led me down into a large room across from the dining room. Old-fashioned ornate couches sat around a glass coffee table covered in finger foods, small sandwiches, and bite-sized desserts.

Three men sat on the couch. Two men stood behind it sipping champagne. Alexander Lopez, his long dark hair framed his shoulders as he sat in an armchair across from Elenora.

She stood as Susan entered the room with me trailing behind her. Susan gestured for me to stand on a small platform backed by floor-length mirrors. The men could see all sides of me from the comfort of the couch.

The men quieted as I stepped onto it. I stared at the ground and felt their eyes bore into me.

"She's not a virgin, like most of my offerings but she's good at cleaning and she's quiet." Elenora sneered from the side.

I looked at her, wishing my eyes could shoot laser beams or my thoughts could make her head explode. Alejandro Lopez stood and walked toward me and I stared at the floor again. I should have read about how to summon Demons before this.

His nice dress shoes entered my vision. He grabbed my hair at the back of my head in a fistful and pulled my head back to look at him.

The rough tug should have had me whimpering but instead it sent a wave of warmth to my toes. I blushed.

His eyes roamed over me. My body. The gap in my dress. He released my hair suddenly and walked away from me and out of the room without a word.

Elenora's eyes widened in shock as he walked out, the group of men following him. The click of the door shutting was loud in the silence. "You did something." She walked over to me and slapped me across the face. "You did something to make him leave." She stood up straight. "Susan, bring her."

Susan wrapped her arms around me and carried me, following Elenora to the basement. Susan locked me to the same chains as before.

Elenora picked up a different sharp instrument and plunged it into Bishop's side.

I could see his face distort and scream with pain but no sound came from him.

She pulled it out and stabbed him again.

"Stop." I pleaded. "I didn't do anything. I swear. Please stop hurting him." Tears streamed down my face, not as pleasurable as before but the tinge of softness was still there. "Please just stop. I'll make it better. Get him back and I'll do whatever he wants."

She threw her bloody poker to the ground and it clattered across the cement. She huffed her way up the stairs without a word.

Susan stood there, unmoving next to me and stared at the wall.

I crawled to the end of my chain, only a few feet, closer to Bishop. I couldn't reach him, or touch him, or help him.

He lifted his head to look at me and we stared at each other until we both fell into restless sleep.

Day 21

Susan unlocked the chains at my neck and lifted me to my feet.

Bishop watched helplessly as Susan prodded me up the staircase. "Time for your morning shower."

I walked to the tower cell room and Susan unlocked the bathroom. I did my morning things and pulled on the clean black dress. Susan brushed my hair and did my makeup again so I knew I wasn't going straight to cleaning.

This time Susan led me back to the parlor. Other men waited on the couches and chairs. A few more than last time. Most as faceless and unrecognizable as the last. I stood on the platform and Elenora told them I was quiet and obedient.

She was smiling today and happily answered questions from the men. "Do you think she can handle all of us? Last one we got from you only took twelve of us before she fucking died. Not that it did her any good." He laughed with some of the other men. He stepped up to me and grabbed one of my breasts, squeezing hard.

Susan smacked his hand. "Nothing is for free." She stood in front of me as I composed myself.

His rough hand sent a thrill of pleasure through my body and I wanted to cry with frustration.

The men laughed. The one that grabbed me, shook Elenora's hand. "We'll be in touch with our offer by the end of the day."

"Not too late, gentlemen. We have many offers as it is and more coming to see her today."

***

Susan followed me up to my cell tower after a long day of being shown. Several groups of men were brought in to see me. Some paid Elenora cash on the spot to see under my dress. Susan watched closely to make sure no one touched me.

One paid enough to rip my dress from my body and I was left to stand naked in front of them and their friends.

I wanted to sleep and never wake up.

Susan locked the door behind me and I stood on my tiptoes to look out the only small window in the room. All I saw was forest. Thick trees as far as I could see. How much longer could this go on?

Day 22

The day passed in a blur as I stood on the little platform while men and a few women were brought in to 'examine' me.

After it was over I was brought to my tower room and collapsed to the bed while Susan locked it behind her. I cried myself to sleep like I did every night since being here.

Evening Day 22

The key turned in the door lock and I quickly sat up.

Keiran opened the door quietly.

I huddled away from him on the bed.

A hushed whisper, "Come on, I'm getting you out of here."

"I'm not going anywhere with you. If you're going to kill me you better do it right fucking here." I screamed at him.

"Ssssshhhhh, you'll wake her up. I'm sorry, Ruby." He knelt next to the bed.

"Summoning that Demon worked," he was so quiet, "I'm free from your bitch of a mother's thrall." He looked over at me.

I could see the sorrow in his eyes.

"I'm sorry about absolutely everything. I remember now, everything I did to you and-" he trailed off and sighed. Running his hands through his dark hair, he had gotten a haircut, the top half a little longer than the almost shaved bottom. I wouldn't have recognized him if he wasn't in front of me. "This is all very fucked up."

"You're trying to sell me." Tears streamed down my face. "Why would my own mother do that?"

"I had to go along with Elenora's plan so she wouldn't know I was free from your cunt mother. I had to find out what she had planned for you so I could get the Zantana Brother's help. Your bitch mother had me under her spell since I was young. I only knew what she wanted me to know." Tears streamed down his face. "But what you did, worked." His voice cracked. "I'm free of her, for good."

"I'm not," I whispered.

"I know. I want to help you." He wiped his tears away with his sleeve.

"Why does she want me dead?"

He shook his head. "She doesn't want you dead, she wants you to-"

"My own son betraying me?" Elenora feigned hurt from the open door.

Susan came into the room and stood at the end of the bed while Elenora blocked the doorway.

Keiran stood to face the large woman in the room. He had my knife and stabbed it into Susans chest. She didn't move or blink. Her face was expressionless. No blood came from the wound.

Keiran's mother laughed from the doorway. "You know better than that Keiran. You can't hurt my lovely Poppet."

Keiran pulled the glass marble necklace from under his shirt. He kissed it quickly and put it over Susan's head. He adjusted the marble so it was touching her skin.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly and she sat in a chair in the corner of the room. Docile and lost in her own little world.

"That's enough Keiran. You think you're some powerful Magician because you trade trinkets?" Elenora was saying the words but it was not her voice that came through. It was not my mother's voice either.

"How much is my mother paying you to put curses on me?" I stood up from the bed and noticed my necklace was still around her neck.

She looked at me, her eyes black. "I thought I was being quite merciful with my gifts." She flicked a long bony finger in my direction. "Do you really want to remember?"

A sharp pain shot through my chest, blinding and all-consuming. I screamed and fell to the ground writhing and trying to catch my breath. Wishing I would die.

Keiran was in my sight. "Fight her off Ruby. You are more powerful than she is."

I heard him faintly.

"More powerful?" Someone laughed through Elenora. "Is that why she's sniveling on the floor?"

A deep heartache settled into my bones. A sorrow I didn't know existed flooded me. Despair and hopelessness possessed my very being. My soul shriveled to ash.

Keiran shouted at his mother, "It's time we stop this curse. We need to be free from her control." He hurled a lamp at Elenora, knocking her out of the doorway.

The pain was gone and I focused on willing my sluggish heart to beat again.

Elenora was back in the doorway, a deep gash across her face and angrier. "I have given you everything. Everything you are is because of me." She chanted in Latin, "Faciam ut mei memineris." A wind rushed around the room. "You want to see what she's really like Keiran, you want to see who you've really fallen in love with?" Her chanting grew louder, competing with the hurricane wind flying throughout the house. "Faciam ut mei memineris." Everything sped up. "Faciam ut mei memineris." Her words were a howl and the house shook.

A point of light swirled around the room and straight into my forehead. I was blinded by its brightness.

Keiran was the rich kid who went to a different high school than me. Wreaking havoc in my life and disappearing. Playing a friend just to sabotage my efforts. The memories swirled to a different time. When we became more than friends. When he would promise me that he would help me escape my crazy mother. That we would live happily ever after together, away from her. He made me fall in love with him.

I wanted him to be my first. I remembered the night I gave my virginity to him and when he broke up with me. Publicly humiliated me. It wasn't long after that the rumors started. My friends dropped me one by one. It left more time for me to get straight A's but in the end it didn't seem to matter.

My thoughts changed to see him changing my grades from A to C's and D's in the school computer.

I was pulled out of the swirls of memories briefly when I heard a gunshot.

Elenora fell to the ground, her face blown off by a bullet.

A bruised and bloodied Sheriff and Jonny? No, it must have been Diego, entered the room as I was sucked back into the tornado of unpleasant memories. I managed to look at Keiran lying next to me with my eyes, still seeing him as a young man in my head.

"I can't shut you out," he shouted over the tornado of our memories being exchanged.

I was just out of high school reeling from the repercussions of Keiran's harassment and torment. The realization I would never escape my mother's wrath drove me to gulp down a handful of bitter pills. Not the last time I would do something so drastic in my desperation to get away from her.

He looked at me with tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Ruby."

I imagined a steel box around my head and there was immediate silence. I was in Keiran's teenage room, sitting on his bed. I just need to wait here for a little while. All will be well soon, echoed in my head.

Keiran as an adult barged into the bedroom. He punched me across the face, knocking me flat on his bed. He climbed on top of me.

I fought him, I tried to fight him off me. I struggled with him until I didn't have the strength and then I stopped struggling.

He disappeared and I was sitting on Keiran's bed again. I just need to wait here for a little while. All will be well soon, echoed in my head.

Keiran barged into the room. He stabbed me in my heart.

I looked down and watched the blood soak through my favorite dress. "Fucker." I kicked him hard in his groin, grabbing him by the ears and jamming his face into my thigh. I felt his nose shatter and I held onto his detached ears as he fell to the ground.

He disappeared into the floor and I was sitting on Keiran's bed again. I just need to wait here for a little while. All will be well soon, echoed in my head.

A woman I didn't recognize appeared in the room and I ignored her.

Keiran barged into the room, water following him and filling up the room. He lunged at me and I struggled with him in the water. He was trying to drown me and hold me under.

The woman said, "she's stuck in her memories."

I struggled under the water.

They both disappeared and I was sitting on Keiran's bed again. I just need to wait here for a little while. All will be well soon, echoed in my head.

The woman was back flickering in and out. "Don't kick me out Jane, I'm trying to help you."

I ignored her. Just like everyone else?

"No, I can help free you from your own mind."

"GO AWAY!" I screamed at her. Maybe I liked it here.

Keiran barged into the room.

The woman was an annoying flicker in the corner.

Keiran lunged at me but this time I dodged him.

I grabbed the woman and held her in front of me. My knife appeared in my hand and I pressed it against her throat. She looked at me and it was me.

I was staring into my own eyes in a bathroom mirror, holding the knife to my own throat.

A child screamed and I ran to the haunting sound down a dark hallway. The Lodge hallway extended forever.

Jonny appeared in front of me and I stopped.

I cried. "I'm so sorry, Jonny. I'm so sorry, Jonny." I carved out his heart with my knife and repeated, "I'm so sorry, Jonny." I held his beating heart in my hand, it pumped blood down my arm, I held it up to show him. "I'm so sorry, Jonny."

"You can have it." He stared at me. "Please wake up."

I was sitting on Keiran's bed again. Jonny's beating heart in my lap. I just need to wait here for a little while. All will be well soon, echoed in my head.

The woman appeared flickering in the corner of the room. "You don't have to do this Jane. Come back to us."

I stared at her. "I don't want to."

She sat next to me on the bed, her straight black hair shaking with her head. "I know it hasn't been easy for you."

"Who are you?"

"My names Claire. Bishop sent me."

We were no longer in Keiran's bedroom, instead, we stood on a giant empty black and white chessboard. "There's no one here."

"You're here." Claire's voice echoed.

"I'm nobody."

Claire squinted at me. "You think she would go through all this effort, money? For nobody?"

"It doesn't matter. Everyone is dead." I held up Jonny's beating heart.

She shook her head. "Jonny's awake. Did you know? In the real world."

I was sitting on Keiran's bed again. I just need to wait here for a little while. All will be well soon, echoed in my head.

Keiran barged into the room, he lunged at me and stabbed me in my chest, where my heart should have been. He froze in place and I slid my body backwards off of the knife.

I slowly moved around him and opened his bedroom door. I stopped before I fell into the cavernous hallway with no floor.

Claire appeared behind me. "We're running out of time."

A violent and loud tornado ripped its way through the hallway. Sucking in everything in its path.

"How?" I yelled over the torrent.

"Take my hand." She reached out to me and I was pulled back by the tremendous wind. I held onto the doorway, my feet pulled to the vortex. I looked back, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, to let it suck me in.

"She's giving in. I can't hold the connection much longer." Claire shouted to someone.

I stared at her not comprehending what was happening. It would be so easy to just.

Let.

Go.

My fingers slipped from the door frame.