Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.
Where's Tori
Chapter 14 – Haunt thy native place
No one's Pov.
Slowly Tori walked down the steps, her heart seeming to beat faster with each step. At the same time her nerves seem to become more frayed with forward movement of her shaking form. Finally she made it down to the landing at the bottom. On the left was a plain door which Tori knew, lead to the room with the furnace, water heater and a small workshop.
Straight ahead was an open door. Anyone looking at the door would notice, that it was made of metal and had a very heavy lock. Tori hated that door more than anything, it being the primary barrier between her and freedom.
But now it just sat open, it looked almost inviting. That alone made Tori feel more unsettled.
Tori closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She could barely think straight, her nerves were shot. Giving herself a final bit of resolve, Tori once again stepped across the threshold into her private hell.
The basement appeared to be very much like a small apartment. The floor had faded blue carpeting and the walls were wood paneling. Inside and to the immediate right was a small kitchen and small was the word. It had a stove, refrigerator, cabinets, sink and microwave. To the immediate left was a closet that doubled as a storage closet and pantry. On the far side of the kitchen was another door which led to a tiny laundry room.
Just past the kitchen and pantry the area, it opened up into a small living room. On the right was a small entertainment center. Flanking the entertainment center were two large bookshelves, each shelf filled to the brim with books. In her time there, Tori had read every single one of them. There were toys scattered about on the floor in a haphazard fashion. In one corner there were some storage tubs with various items, that weren't used too often. Normally Tori kept her quarters very neat but felt no obligation to clean up when she was escaping.
There were two other doorways leading out of the living room. One door that was located in the far corner lead to a bathroom. The other door in center of the wall opened to a small hall way. At the end of hallway were 3 doors.
The one in the center was a linen closet. The one on the right was Little Jade's room and the one of the left was Tori's room.
It would seem like a normal basement apartment, albeit rather cramped and stuffy, not to mention quiet. The walls had been soundproofed and all basement windows were bricked up long ago. In the early days Tori damaged things to try to show her displeasure that she was being held captive. Several of the scars on her back came as a result of her punishment for such actions.
It looked like an apartment but Tori knew better; it was a prison. Of course it appeared pretty much as she had left it. She knew the police had obviously been there. On the counter in the kitchen was an unused police evidence bag that some officer had probably forgotten during their search.
Tori half expected Jade to be on the brown couch that sat opposite the entertainment center, but she wasn't. Before she went any further into the apartment, Tori took the trash can from the kitchen and put it in front of the exit door so it wouldn't move. It probably wouldn't move in any case, unless someone actually tried to shut it. But it made Tori feel just a bit better to know that she had put something in front of it.
Tori walked into the apartment and went to where she guessed Jade would be; her old bedroom.
Tori's room was very small, a double bed, sat in one corner. A wooden dresser and a small vanity were the only other pieces of furniture in the room. A small closet sat open, along one wall.
To her relief, Tori spotted Jade passed out on the bed, holding a bottle of brandy in her hand. Tori now hated the smell of brandy, which was a frequent drink of her captor. She could smell it on his breath as he raped her more times that she could count. After a brief moment of relief, Tori suddenly felt a tremendous surge of anger swell up inside of her.
It was anger at this place primarily, but it was also anger at the person who had made her come here once again. She knew Jade has problems, but Tori needed help and she needed Jade. It may have been a bit irrational but her surging anger quickly focused on her passed out fiancé. In any case, her anger had been building up for a long time and she could hold it in no longer.
She left the room and went to the kitchen, pulling out a grey plastic bucket from under the sink. Tori then filled it with ice cubes from the freezer and then filled it with ice cold water from the large sink in the laundry room.
The then took the bucket into the bedroom where Jade was snoring on the bed.
"I'm sorry baby, but I need your help and your love, not your self pitying bullshit." Tori said as she then proceeded to dump the entire bucket on Jade's face.
Jade was passed out in a drunken stupor when she suddenly felt very cold and very wet. The Goth suddenly sat up, coughing and choking as some of the ice cold water had gone down her throat. A moment later, still somewhat disorientated, Jade looked around.
"What. Who. Fuck." The Goth sputtered in confusion as she wiped some of the ice cold water off her face.
"JADE!" Tori barked, as her anger seemed to run out of control.
The soaking wet Goth's head snapped around towards Tori just in time to get slapped clean across the face. Now Jade felt cold, wet and her left cheek stung.
"Jade. You never should have come here! Now you make me come back, to drag your drunk ass out of my personal hell. Do you have any idea how nerve wracking that is?" Tori shouted.
Jade opened her mouth to speak but Tori cut her off, still shouting. "In this room especially. Do you want to know how many times I was raped in this room? Do you remember the nightmares I have every night Jade? Well this is where they all take place. Whether John was beating me senseless or fucking me up the ass, it was right here in this room Jade! Right now a part of me wants to leave you in this shit hole cause I'm so mad at you, but I'm not going to. It's the same reason that I ignored the fact that I'm terrified out of my wits but came anyway, so I can drag your self pitying drunk carcass out of here."
Jade finally was able to get a word in edgewise, almost immediately beginning to cry. "I'm sorry. I feel so guilty. Not just because I was a drunken whore, but because I gave up on you. I gave up looking for you. I never should have stopped. I found a few days ago out that John made some cryptic comments on one of the Tori Vega memorial internet sites. One was a comment on the day Little Jade was born about how it would have been nice for Tori to have a little girl. I used to read that site, to try and learn something from the people that would offer their theories. But I gave up, I stopped looking. I should have picked up all that clowns weird comments, he made dozens of them. But I was too busy getting drunk and fucking any girl that moved. Now look at me. I'm still drunk and I'm an emotional wreck, what good am I for…"
Tori cut Jade off with a second slap to the face and continued to shout. "I don't ever want to hear you say how you're not good for me again. Do you understand! I get it. You have issues and you suffered. I forgive you for sleeping around. I'm not happy about it, but I forgive you. I understand you thought I was dead. I forgive you for that too. I will help you in any way I can. But here's the thing Jade. I NEED YOU. I need your strength, I need your touch, I need your love. I need you tell me I'm worthy human being and not some psychos personal fuck toy. I need you tell me you love me."
Tori took a deep breath as she continued to seethe. "I craved all those things while I was here in this shit hole and I need them all badly. What I don't need is your self pitying bullshit. You are going to go to therapy with me, I'm not giving you a choice. I know you tried to kill yourself at least twice and I'm sorry you suffered but I need you and I don't want to lose you."
Almost without warning Tori's hands started to shake as tears suddenly burst from her eyes. "I just need you Jade. I know it's hard to talk it is for me too. I love you so much. When I was here I…I…missed you so much. He would touch me and after I would just cry because it was him touching me and not you."
Tori's strength seemed to evaporate on the spot as she sank to her knees. "HE RAPED ME JADE! OVER AND OVER. I FEEL SO DIRTY!" Tori shouted, through her sobs as she seemed to just come apart.
Between the ice cold bath, the dressing down that Tori just gave her and the fact that Tori was now sobbing on the floor, Jade snapped out of her rather depressed mood. It became painfully obvious to Jade that though she had serious issues to deal with herself, Tori was in desperate need of her love and support. Jade also realized that her continual self-pity party was only hurting the woman she loved. Jade couldn't believe Tori still loved her after all this, but it warmed her heart to know that Tori still did.
Jade, jumped off the bed and threw her arms around the now inconsolable Latina. Tori just sobbed uncontrollably in Jade's arms, ignoring the fact that Jade was still dripping wet.. Only now, was Jade getting a true idea of the depths of Tori's pain. Jade felt terrible for making Tori come back here and not supporting her as much as she could. She made a vow that she would do her very best to help Tori recover in any way she could.
"I'm Sorry Baby. I won't let you down ever again. I promise. I love you." Jade whispered quietly in Tori's ear as she gently rocked her.
Jade knew she needed to get Tori out of this place, both physically and mentally. Ignoring the fact she was soaking wet and still a bit drunk, Jade helped Tori off the floor. She then walked Tori out of the door into the hallway.
"Wait" Tori suddenly said and quickly disappeared into the other bedroom. She reappeared a moment later clutching a small stuffed grey elephant.
"This is Mr. Muggs. This is Little Jade's favorite stuffy. She would sleep with him every night. She was very upset we left him behind." Tori said between sobs.
Jade nodded and moved on into the living room, where Tori paused at the bookshelf. She pulled a rather worn paperback book from one of the shelves and clutched it along with the elephant. Jade didn't even have to guess, to know what book it was. It seemed fitting to Jade, that Tori would grab the one thing that both her and her daughter seemed to depend on most while they were held captive here.
Tori was still crying and very distraught, but the presence of the book and stuffed animal seemed to calm her a bit.
Jade looked at Tori. "Are you ready to leave here forever?"
Tori could only nod in reply as Jade eased the still sobbing Tori towards the door.
"Promise you'll never leave me Jade." Tori whimpered.
"Never" Jade replied, as she guided Tori out beyond the open metal door to the base of the basement stairs.
Tori paused for a moment and looked into the apartment, just staring into it, tears streaming down her face. She reached in and flipped a light switch causing the lights in the apartment to go off. She then moved the trash can and with a look of determination slammed the door shut.
Tori just seemed to wilt in Jades arms at this point, her strength gone.
"Come on Baby, let's go home." Jade said as she started to help Tori up the stairs.
I hoped you liked this chapter. You got a description of where Tori was kept and Jade realized she wasn't helping Tori with her self-pity.
I hope to have the next chapter out in a few days. What do you all think of Tori's reaction to Jade? I had her get very angry and just vent at Jade.
The chapter title is part of a poem called "The Giaour" by Lord Byron. That part of the poem is actually about a vampire, but I liked that particular phrase so I used it as a chapter title.