Tom came back.
She thought this wouldn't happen so soon. She thought he'd wouldn't be out for another 10 years. According to the courts, he was out on parole. They never even contacted her to tell her this. Rationally speaking, why should the parole board contact her? Tom was never convicted of raping her. He was put away because he stalked Emily. The only person that they were legally required to contact was Emily Quartermaine, but she had died nearly two years prior.
It's too bad they didn't give her any warning.
Elizabeth tried to scream, but it seemed hopeless. No one would hear her. She was like a piece of luggage being carted off in the back of a large, dark colored SUV, bound and gagged. The only other person in the vehicle was her rapist, Tom.
Tom had changed physically. He was stronger, which made him much harder to fight off. Tom's face had a few permanent scars, most likely mementoes of fights that he had with other prisoners. Jason had told her that they don't look kindly on rapists in prison.
Jason.
At that moment, she wished she could have seen him. So much had changed in the past year. In the way beginning, before the end of her first marriage to Lucky, they were just good friends. However, after catching Maxie and Lucky having sex, Elizabeth ran straight to Jason. Their friendship suddenly took a sharp veer into a romantic relationship. It didn't last long, though. Lucky tried to get clean for her, and later, for Jake.
He didn't know, however, that Jake was actually Jason's son. In fact, for a while, Jason didn't even know that she was having his child. He was so excited when he learned that the child she was pregnant with was really his, and not Lucky's. Later on, Elizabeth had decided that a family with Jason just wasn't possible. They tried a secret relationship, but that didn't work. Finally, Jason walked away from his family. It was too dangerous, he claimed. She had claimed that once, also.
In a way, she still understood the danger. Michael, Sonny's oldest son and Jason's nephew, was living proof that children were not exempt from the violence. The boy had survived a bullet in the head, but not without a price.
It pained her to admit this, but even with all that danger, Elizabeth still wanted Jason. She wanted to pursue him, reunite with him, create a family with him, and she wanted it at that very moment. The danger no longer mattered to her. Hell, the danger she was facing now would be as bad as any danger that would come to her in the future. Jason is Jake's father. That will never change. If Jason's enemies were smart, they could just dredge up that paternity test that she had taken almost 3 years earlier. Jake would be in danger no matter what.
Despite that overwhelming encouragement, one factor was enough to make Elizabeth jump back to the safe side: Cameron. Her sweet, oldest son had done nothing to deserve the life Elizabeth tried to bring him into. In many ways, Cameron was just like Michael; he was forced to become associated with mobsters. Although Cam had never been harmed physically by the violence, the fact that he could be hurt always stopped Elizabeth from claiming Jason. She couldn't bare the thought of her precocious, sweet boy becoming the target of a hit man. Choosing that kind of life for Cameron would destroy him, as it is destroying Michael.
The SUV come to a halt. Tom exited his driver's seat, and then opened the door to the back seat, smiling sickly at her as he roughly grabbed her, pulling her out of the back seat. All the while, Elizabeth thrashed herself around, making it harder for Tom to get her out of the car. Despite her efforts, Tom over powers her and swings her over his shoulder.
"If you don't stop, Lizzie," Tom whispered in her ear with a cold, calculating voice. "I will kill you, right here."
Elizabeth immediately froze, not willing to risk being killed. She knew her fate would could eventually, but she hoped that if she gave the Port Charles Police Department some more time, they would find her. She hoped, at least, they would.
It pained her to know that her boys were alone in her house. What was worse was that Lucky was out of town. Tom had broken in while Elizabeth was at work and the boys were at daycare. He had surprised her when she walked through the front door with the boys in tow. Tom pointed his gun at her and ordered her to give up her cell phone, informing her that he had already cut the landline telephone wires. Elizabeth had quickly complied, shoving the cell phone at him. He later demanded her whole purse, which she also gave up immediately. At the time, she assumed that Tom would steal her money and leave. It later became apparent that he wanted more than just money. Her fears escalated when he forced her into his SUV.
"What about my boys?" she had pleaded as he bound her.
Tom smiled sadistically at her. "Maybe Lucky'll come by later." He sneered Lucky's name as if it was an evil, taboo word that could not be used.
Roughly, Tom threw Elizabeth down onto what she realized was a hard mattress with stains covering it. She took in her surroundings, she was in what seemed to be an art studio. Several lines of fishing wire were draped across the room with a few pictures pinned up on the wire. Tom seemed to notice Elizabeth's staring.
"After spending 10 years in prison, I get out to find that no one uses film photography any longer. It's all digitalized," Tom shakes his head in disgust. "Digital photos don't even show creativity. Any bozo off the street can take a picture and call it art now. Film, however, is gutsier and it can depict a person's emotions much more precisely."
Elizabeth watched in horror as Tom drew closer. "Emily understood what it took to make art, up until she put me in prison. I used to think you understood art too, but I get out to find you working as a nurse? Artists don't become nurses."
Tom then eased back and began circling Elizabeth. "You becoming a nurse wasn't the only surprising thing I learned about you, Lizzie. You've been involved in a cast of colorful men. Emily's dead, ex-husband, the DA and brother of Sonny Corinthos, a professional hitman, and let's not forget Lucky Spencer, the son of the most infamous con man in Port Charles," Tom laughed and then leaned into Elizabeth.
"How is my good friend, Lucky? I heard he's a drug-addicted cop now. That must have been a tough time for you. Is that why you divorced him?"
Elizabeth turned her head away, trying to rebel against his antagonistic behavior. Tom exhaled angrily and roughly turned Elizabeth's head back towards him. "You're still the prudish bitch you were ten years ago."
As cliché as it sounds, the next few moments were a blur, Elizabeth thought later on. Tom seemed to snap. Tears streamed down her face as she reflected on the horrific actions he took.
It was so much more different than the last time. Tom had raped her in a park right before the Valentine's dance. She was wearing a red dress that she hoped Lucky would notice her in. Tom grabbed her out of nowhere. He held her down, tore off her dress, and quickly raped her. It lasted for only about 15 minutes. He vanished soon afterwards. Elizabeth then crawled out from the bushes, bloody and broken. That time, Tom had taken her virginity and a part of her self-respect.
It was different this time. Elizabeth had since been over the rape. At times, she still felt the effects of the trauma. Like when Manny Ruiz grabbed her and held her hostage, or when Lucky pushed her down when he was high on pills. However, she was a stronger person now. The person she was now greatly differs the young girl who crawled out of those bushes 10 years earlier. So by all accounts, being hurt by Tom should have been easier to bear.
She was wrong.
It seems, Tom had learned a few things in prison. During the first few hours Tom had her, he tortured her with mind games and sexual perversions.
Elizabeth squeezed her eyelids shut, trying to block out the images. It was too horrible to dwell on. She had assisted in caring for patients who had been sexually assaulted in horrible graphic ways, but she never imagined she would endure an assault as perverse.
Again, she was wrong.
She felt herself drifting to sleep, but she knew she couldn't. She wasn't sure when Tom would strike. However, a simple notion comforted her: Cameron and Jake. She had to stay alive for them, if not for herself.
Morning came and evening followed. The day was filled with much of the same abuse; sometimes even physical beatings were included in the rapes. She received one meal, a turkey sandwich.
The next day was similar, except she found that Tom had decided to photograph her. The following day, he spent the majority of his time locked in his dark room, developing his pictures.
By this time, Elizabeth had been unbound and gagged. She was allowed to walk freely around the studio. She studied the pictures he had taken before, learning that he had stalked her for quite some time before he had abducted her.
The thought chilled her to the bone.