Chapter 4 - Bottle and a Gun
Pain ripped through her back in time with the whip crack behind her. She bit the leather strap in her mouth to hold in her screams. Screaming only made it worse. Screaming made him angry. Tears burned her eyes almost as much as the sting of the leather bit at her bare back.
"You will do as you are told!" he demanded as cracked the whip across her back a third time, the liquor in the bottle he held splashing across the floor, "You will be punished if you do not do as you are told."
Her nails dug into her palms as she held in her screams of agony.
"You were a mistake," he growled as he pulled his arm back, dragging the whip across the concert floor and into the spilt alcohol, "I should have had your mother kill you when she got pregnant. You have been nothing but a disgrace to this family. You are not worth what a pig could spit."
The whip lashed her back again and she shut her eyes tight, closing her throat to the scream that clawed her vocal cords. The alcohol stung her open wounds and she could feel it, like hot nails being dug into her back.
"I should get rid of you now," he said and dropped his whip, walking over to her, grabbing a hand full of her copper curls, "You filthy, stinking shit. I should just kill you now, no one would miss you."
She held her eyes closed tight, not wanting to see those dark eyes full of hate and evil, the black eyes that haunted her days and nights, never giving her peace.
'Then do it,' she begged internally, 'Do it and free me of you.'
"But that would too easy," he spat at her the smell of the liquor invading her nostrils and he jerked her head back hard making her whimper, "Look at me!"
She forced her eyes open against her will and was inches away from the horror of her life, those black eyes that held nothing for her but hate and loathing.
"You deserve everything you are getting," he hissed a whisper in her ear, his alcohol laced spit splattering her tear-stained face, "You deserve all of it. You brought it on yourself the day you came into this world. You are no better than your whore of a mother."
He dropped her head and walked away from her, picking up his whip once again, "Five more should do for today's punishment," he said too happily and her heart dropped at the sound of the leather coated with her blood dropped to the floor, "Remember, you scream and we have to start all over again."
She heard it scrap the floor as he drew back his arm, her heart and throat gripped with terror, her fists clenched, her nails digging crescent moon red lines into her palm, her naked chest pressed painfully against the wooden and splintered support beam of their basement, her bare knees scraped and bleeding from having to kneel on the cold, dirty concert floor, and she tried to prepare herself, tried to find that empty far away place, for the coming snap of agony that would tear her pale flesh and rip through her body.
She woke with a start, throwing her arms out to protect herself, screaming as she sat up, drenching in sweat.
"Emmy," Mark said gently from her feet, true pain covering his features, his sapphire blue eyes showing the deep love he felt for his friend, "You are okay. I just got home."
Emmy panted, her heart still racing, her whole body shaking, "Mark?" she rasped through a tight throat that ached, her eyes wide and full of terror.
Her bottom lip trembled and her vision swam as tears filled her eyes just before she broke into sobs, burying her face in her hands and pulling her knees to her chest, rocking subconsciously. She thought the nightmares were done. It had been almost ten years since that had ended, and the nightmares had stopped when she moved in with Mark three years ago. Why now?
She heard Mark quickly move to her side, wrapping her in his strong arms and pulling her into the floor with him, holding her to his chest, "It's okay, Emmy," he whispered running his hand over her hair, "It's over now. You don't have to be afraid. I'm here. You're safe."
She sobbed harder, gripping Mark's shirt as more tears flowed down her face as she felt the ghost of pain in the old scars that crisscrossed her lower back.
Mark rocked her and continued to say soothing things for over an hour before Emmy's sobs had ebbed and then stopped completely, though she still clung to him.
"I'm going to pick you up and put you on the couch," he told her gently, "I'm going to put my hand under your knees and around your shoulders to lift you."
She nodded weakly and hiccuped as he moved her from the floor to the couch.
"I'll get you a fresh cup of tea," Mark said gently holding her tear streaked face, leaning in to kiss her forehead.
Emmy stared unseeing at the wooden planked floor of their living room, picking at her finger nails. It was because he called her. She shuttered and pushed the thought away. She would call her phone company and have them put a block on that number so that he could never call again.
Mark was back by her side after a few moments, the smell of hot tea filling the room, "Here," he gently handed it to her.
"Thank you," she said softly tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Was it the nightmares again?" he asked slowly, knowing she didn't want to talk about it.
Emmy bit her lip and slowly nodded, "Yes," she said with a small sigh, "It was the nightmares."
"The same one?"
"No," she answered, her voice airy, "It was the one in the basement."
Mark sucked in a breath and put his hand on her knee, "Emmy," his voice full of pain, "I'm so sorry."
Emmy looked up at Mark sweetly, smiling a soft smile, and put her hand on his, "It's not your fault, Mark," she reassured him, "You couldn't have known."
Mark pressed his lips in a tight, thin, hard-line and gripped her hand, "I'm here for you, Emmy," he stated, "For real this time. None of that crap from all those years back is going to happen again. I'm on your side no matter what. K?"
Emmy eyes teared up and she was reminded again why she loved her best friend so much, "I know you are," she said lovingly, "You always have been."
"I'm glad your my friend, Emmy," Mark informed her, tugging at her hand.
She laughed lightly, "I am, too," she smiled and tugged on his hand, "To infinity."
Mark laughed at their joke from their high school years, "And beyond," he ended with a smile, "Now come here," he ordered tucking himself into the back of the couch, patting in front of him, "We are going to watch a movie and laugh at it."
Emmy genuinely laughed as she sat down her tea on the hand-me-down coffee table in front of the couch, and curled up in front of Mark, who turned on the television and scrolled through the channels till he found Tom and Jerry.
Half way through the fifth episode of an anime Mark had changed it to, Emmy grabbed her phone to check for messages. She had two, both from Danny, sent shortly after she must have fallen asleep.
*Just got out of the shower. Nice n hot.*
She smiled and moved to the next one, sent half an hour after the first.
*Guess ur asleep. Hope ths don't wake u. I wanna see u again. 2day wasn't long enough*
Emmy gasped and Mark leaned over her shoulder.
"Damn," Mark whistled, "What did you do?"
Emmy's face heated intensely, "Well, um," she stuttered, "We hung at the park, like we said we would, and talked for a bit before a news crew showed up looking for him."
"Why did they want him?" Mark pressed surprised.
"He is a stage hand for Hollywood Undead!" she squealed flipping over to face Mark, "Isn't that awesome!"
"No shit!" Mark exclaimed, "Do you think he could score us some tickets?"
"Mark!" Emmy playfully slapped his chest, "I'm not using Danny for that!"
"Sorry," Mark laughed rubbing his chest, "Geez, I was just curious."
"Anyways!" Emmy rolled her eyes and continued, "Well, I helped him escape, ya know, like he helped me, and we hit out at my spot."
"Whoa!" Mark's eyes went huge in shock, "You won't even take me up there! You have officially hurt my feelings!"
Emmy sputtered a laugh, "What feelings?" she playfully poked his chest.
Mark opened his mouth as if to reply, shut it, then shrugged, "You have a point," he admitted.
Emmy laughed, "Well," Emmy's face flamed with color, "We were up there for a bit and almost kissed again but then you called about the weather," she pinched his arm, "So, we hopped down and headed back for the car when it started to rain on us," she glided over the kiss at the base of the boulders, "And he brought me home."
Mark looked at her and smiled, "You made out with him in the car didn't' you!"
Emmy's face grew hotter and she looked away him.
"Oh, my God!" Mark shouted, "You did! Damn! You sexy little minx!"
"Shut up, Mark!" she huffed getting up from the couch and walking to the kitchen, "It's not that big of a deal! I know for a fact you make out with almost every girl you bring home in the car for at the very least ten minutes! And that, my friend, is just the tip of the very noisy iceberg in regards to your sex life."
"See," Mark said as he sat up and turned to face Emmy as she fussed around the kitchen, "That's the difference between you and me. That's my usual deal. I mean, you even talking about a guy who isn't some fictional character or movie star is rare, meaning it never happens."
"People can change," she squeaked turning her back to him, taking a thick strand of her hair and began to braid it.
"Oh no," Mark jumped over the top of the couch, "No you don't, we are not changing the subject. You like him dont' you?"
"Like him? Pfft!" Emmy blew Mark off, flipping her strand back half braided, "I don't know him well enough to like him."
"But you're attracted to him," Mark pointed his chicken strip he had pulled out of the fridge at her.
"Uh, duh!" Emmy exclaimed, "He's fucking hot as Hell for Christ's sake! Who wouldn't be attracted to him!"
Mark raised an eyebrow and his hand, "Me," he countered.
"You dont' count!" Emmy said throwing her arms in the air exasperated, "You are straight!"
"Look," Mark gave in and hopped onto the counter top, "Just admit that you like him. I'll drop the whole subject."
"Fine," Emmy surrendered, "Yes, I like him, like, a lot."
She brought her thumb nail to her mouth again, gnawing on the edge of it.
"What do you like about him?" Mark pressed as he took a bit of his chicken strip, "Damn, these are good! You want a bite?"
Emmy stalked over to him and stole his chicken, taking a huge bite out of it, "What happened to dropping the whole subject?" Emmy demanded through chewing.
Mark looked at his empty hand to the chicken strip in hers, then back again, "That was my biggest one," he said sadly looking to the chicken strip in her grasp.
"Drop the subject," she pointed at him with the fried meat, "And you can have your stupid chicken back."
Mark's bottom lips quivered, caught between his need for information and his love of food, "Fine," he sighed dropping his hand, "I'll drop the subject of how badly you want to bang Danny."
Emmy smiled triumphantly and skipped over to Mark, gently placing the breaded delight in his twitching finger, "Thank you," she laughed and kissed his cheek before going back to the living room and Hellsing, one of her favoirte animes.
"You must be from the dark side," Mark called to her from the kitchen, "Using food as leverage is down right dirty."
"Like you don't do anything dirty," Emmy retorted with a laugh.
"Well," Mark started.
"No!" Emmy put her hands in the air, "No! Don't go there! It's bad enough I have here it."
Mark laughed loudly in the kitchen and continued to eat seated on the counter top.
Emmy picked up her phone and replied to Danny.
*Sorry I didn't reply sooner. I know it's late. I just got up.*
His reply was almost instantaneous.
*It's all good. I've been busy anyway. Just got a few spare minutes.*
She smiled.
*Well, I don't' want to distract you from work.*
*U would only b a distraction if u were here*
Emmy laughed out loud and replied.
*I would be on my best behavior, promise*
*Just seeing u would distract me. Specially after 2day*
Emmy blushed.
*Which part?*
*All of it, but specially with the tongue thing u did*
Emmy giggled ridiculously, holding the phone to her chest, kicking her feet happily before she replied.
*I did that purely on whim.*
*Well, tell ur whim to do that more often*
Emmy's eyes went huge and the blush covered all over chest and ears as well.
*I'll try to remind it of that from now on*
*Well, back 2 work. Later Emmy*
*Bye, Danny.*
Emmy held the phone to her chest and sighed happily, a girlish giggle rising in her throat.
"I think we should take you to a doctor or something," Mark said leaning over the back of the couch.
Emmy squeaked with a start and looked up at him, "What do you mean?"
"You are acting so weird," he laughed and ruffled her hair before heading to his room, "I'm going to bed! Night!"
"Night!" she called back to him and laid back on the couch.
She couldn't wait to see Danny again.