Eternal Things II

Sark had the upper hand   the moment the champagne touched Sydney's lips and he knew it. Sydney didn't stand a chance. In another moment he was on his feet and the room blurred as he grabbed her and pinned her to the bed. She cried out at the harshness of his grip as they

            grasped her arms. Francie-or the body that had been her- was a mere inches away. She would be the only witness to the blasphemous act that was to take place. Sydney let out another scream, more from sheer, internal agony than any pain Sark could inflict. For now, anyways. But what happened between this moment and whatever horrendous thing that would occur was beyond Sydney Bristow's control.

            Sark's breath was warm on her cheek as he breathed "As you probably figured out, there was a mickey in the champagne. How else do you think your roommate became so pliant to my wishes?"

            "You bastard!" she screamed into his face, her tongue beginning to grow thick. "You son of a-"

            He silenced her curses with a hard and contemptuous kiss on the mouth. Those same lips laced with lies had kissed her trusting, doomed roommate that same night. Sydney felt her system rebel at the thought and her body rose as she repressed a gag. She tried to keep her lips sealed against his dark, lustful tongue but it forced its way through nonetheless and began roaming her mouth like an intruder.

            As the drug began to kick in she felt her body lose feeling as though it was wrapped in lead. She realized to her despair that she would not black out into unconsciousness during the ordeal as she had hoped. Her body would be rendered numb and paralyzed but she would be ever aware of what he was doing to her. He had, after all, planned it out this way.

Tears welled in her eyes. This was wrong, profane even. She wasn't supposed to be The Victim. Francie shouldn't have died. She screamed one last time only to have it devoured by Sark's mouth on hers.

 Ohgodcan'tbreathepleasepleasepleasestopstopstopdon'twantthiscan'tbreathhelp

He pulled away for a moment and gazed at her like a lover, admiring her beauty. For one delusional minute, Sydney could see the man Francie fell in love with. "I love it when you play hard to get," he demurred, taking off his belt and unzipping his fly.

It was useless to struggle. Sydney couldn't even lift her hand. But she didn't have to look at him as he forced way into her. She kept her glassy eyes focused on the other wall (she certainly wasn't going to look at Francie) as he jammed himself into her. Even as the pain and shame assailed she would not give him the grace of hearing her cry out like a wounded deer. But that was partly because she no longer had it in her to scream. She felt herself harden to him even as he believed that he was breaking her. She refused to break. She would not break and she would not give in to Sark and his animal urges.

Humanity. She had to hang on to her humanity.

But it was difficult as he was hurting her a lot.

The only sounds Sydney could hear was Sark on top of her, heaving like a beast during mating season. As she lay beneath him, she allowed her mind to blank out in a white static. Odd visions began to invade the empty canvas of her mind…

A sunlit park…Vaughn and her finally out in the light together and in public. In the light where the evil and Sark couldn't touch her. Just safe and warm and happy. She wanted to stay in this beautiful place forever…

The agony cuts so deep at times we believe we will never stop bleeding. Didn't someone once say that wounds heal but scars, well those suckers are forever. But sometimes we heal and we begin to understand the pain. And sometimes… it swallows us whole.

They stayed in their sick farce of an embrace a few moments longer. After a few more thrusts she heard him give a nauseating groan as she felt him give, flooding and infecting her being. Oh my God, I helped him get off. I gave him pleasure…

Finally he straightened, wiping away her kiss as though it were something foul. Her own mouth felt bruised and cut from the abomination that left him empowered and her empty and violated. Every fiber of her being felt detached from what had happened and her mind registered it even as her heart repressed it.

As she lay on the bed, weak and hurt, Sark threw his jacket on. "Well darling I hope you enjoyed that. It was one of my best performances to date." The dark, lecherous look he gave her made her feel cheaper than she had ever felt in her entire life.

"You sick fuck. You raped me."

He shrugged it off. "I'm sorry we can't snuggle a bit longer but I have work to do. You understand."

Sydney kept her eyes on him, her hatred and her helplessness burning bright. "I'm going to kill you," she said flatly.

He laughed good-heartedly.

Then struck her unconscious.

Pain is more than we can bear. Whether it is the inflicted or the tormentor, pain is a primitive thing. It unites within us the human and the animal.

She jerked awake to find herself facing the snout of a gun. Police had swarmed the place when neighbors reported sounds of screaming and fisticuffs.

Francie- or the body she had become- had already been bagged and taken away.

The rest of the siege was a blur. The police were prodding, trying to stir some info from her. But all Sydney knew was the stream of thought running endlessly through her head:

Francie's dead Sark seduced her he killed her Francie's dead Sark raped me am I dead what I am going where now?

Sydney hardly felt the cold snap of handcuffs on her wrists as a blank-faced officer read her her rights. She was beyond caring that she was being arrested and that outside the sirens were wailing her condemnation to the world.

Outside, the police were putting an inappropriately bright yellow tape around the house. Outside, Jack, Vaughn, and Will were standing there attempting to grasp the situation. When they spotted Sydney in handcuffs their eyes widened in horror. Oh, but they barely knew the surface of it.

Sydney's father came running up to her, prompting the police officers who were withholding her to stop.

"Sydney!" he exclaimed. "What happened?" His face was touchingly etched in rare concern. Perfectly natural. After all, yet another person in her universe was gone forever. He was probably wondering what effect it was having on her sanity. "What happened?" he repeated.

What happened? What happened? You wanna know what happened, Daddy? Really? Well, let's see…my best friend was killed by Mommy's good friend. And then I was raped a few inches away from her corpse. Now I'm getting arrested for her murder. That's right, Daddy, your baby girl is damaged goods. But enough about me how was your night?

Instead of saying those words, Sydney kept her eyes glued to the patch of nothing on the ground.

She heard Will say something with the word "hell" in it. She ignored it. Then she lifted up her eyes and felt them lock onto Vaughn's. Something about those brilliant green orbs seemed to stir something from within her stupor. They were filled with all the grief and anguish that Sydney was incapable of expressing at the moment. She could tell he wanted to hold her, to soothe her like he did so many times before, but the hard wall of cops kept him at bay.

In a moment, she knew that when the coroner had brought out Francie's bagged body, he believed it had been Sydney inside of it.

He's empathizing with me. How sweet.

But his strength, so strong and silent, only seemed to bring back the memory of what had passed in a jolting flash of realism.

Francie-dead. Sydney-destroyed.

Oh take it away, she thought as the self-disgust rolled in waves up and down her body. Please just make it go away.

She broke her stare with Vaughn and let her eyes glaze over.

"Your daughter is going to be questioned for the murder of her roommate."

"That's ridiculous," Jack fumed. "My daughter would never…Sydney, tell them."

No Dad. Let this happen. It's only right. I did get her killed. And there's a penance to be paid.

When Sydney did not answer, when the only response she gave him was a blank, uncomprehending stare, he knew she would not do a thing to defend her innocence.

The three of them stared after her in stunned bewilderment as she was pushed in the back of a police car and hauled away.

End chapter 2