• Chapter 6

    She pulled my head back and slammed my forehead into the wall, “Mph”, was all that escaped me as I felt blood beginning to trickle down my forehead. That was the one thing I wasn’t expecting. She then chained my arms and legs to the wall by my wrists and ankles.

    “They told me twenty lashes, but I don‘t think that‘s enough.”, she chuckled darkly.

    She started the lashings as the blood from my forehead began to flood my left eye. It was excruciating, I could feel the blade digging deep into my back and tearing my skin as she pulled it back. It took everything I had not to scream and cry for her to stop, but I wasn’t going to let her win.

    By the time she had finished, I was so weak that when she unlocked me, I crumpled onto the floor. I was surprised I hadn’t passed out yet, at least my head stopped bleeding. Helen put her lips next to my ear, “That’ll teach you to speak of the king and queen that way.”

    I gave a weak laugh. The lashings didn’t change a thing about how I felt for or would speak about them. Helen just left me crumpled on the floor like an unwanted doll.

    I had passed out until I heard the door creak open and the bright lights came on. “Oh my god.”, Rian whispered. He came across the room to me. He helped me sit up, that’s when he got a good look at my forehead and tears started rolling down his face.

    “Please don’t cry for me Rian.” I wiped his tears away, but he quickly replaced them with fresh ones. I sighed and put a hand on his cheek, “I’ll be fine.”, I gave a weak smile.

    “I could’ve stopped it. But I didn’t hear you.”, the flow of his tears grew faster.

    “That would be because Helen shut the door. But it wouldn’t have mattered, I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of screaming.”

    “Helen did this?”, he asked. His tears finally stopped.

    “Yes.”

    “Then I guess I’ll have to be here whenever she is, so I can make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

    I sighed, “No, because if I offend her or your parents, then I’ll be punished. If you were here, then she’d probably make you watch, or even participate.”

    He grimaced, “Then could you try to not offend anyone?”

    “No, they’d be looking for a reason to punish me anyway. At least if I offend someone it’s justified.” I was exhausted and the lacerations on my back were burning. I crawled over to my blanket pile and laid on my stomach.

    “Are you alright?”

    “My back just hurts a little.”

    “I’m sure most of those are infected.”

    “Probably, Helen didn’t bother to clean them before she left.”

    Rian sighed, “Then I’ll clean them for you. I‘ll go get the stuff, I‘ll be back in a couple minutes.”

    “Okay, I’ll be…here.”

    He shut and locked the door behind him. I tried to keep my mind from the burning feeling all over my back. To my relief, Rian was back soon. He made sure he locked the door after he came back in. I looked at what he held in his hand, it was a bowl full of a rosy colored liquid and a towel.

    “I’m sorry this is such an old technique, but it seems to get the best results.” He knelt beside me and tore the towel into several strips, at least as many as I had lacerations on my back if not more.

    “It’s alright. Thank you so much Rian.”

    He smiled, “No problem.”, he dipped the first strip in the medicine, “This is going to sting.”

    “Okay. I can handle it.” I braced myself for the fierce pain I expected on my back, but he got my forehead first. I clenched my fists, the medication hurt my head so bad it was swimming.

    Then he moved to the lacerations on my back. Whenever he cleaned one it felt like he was torching it. He didn’t work very quickly, I guess he was counting them.