Oh yeah...the rating increase is because of the inclusion of some physical and sexual abuse in this chapter, nothing too drastic but it needs a warning.
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Take Me Or Leave Me
Slowly her consciousness took hold of her again and Emma opened her eyes, still groggy from the crack on her head she'd received. Carefully lifting one hand to touch the back of her head she found a bump slowly forming, she winced as she touched it before cursing quietly and trying to stand up. She soon tumbled back to the floor and, after recovering from the pain, quickly decided that hadn't been the best idea she'd ever had.
"Idiot", she muttered to herself, deciding to content herself with regarding the room she was in from her seated position on the floor, it was dimly lit by a source Emma couldn't determine and with the exception of an odd looking piece of equipment in the centre of the room there was little else, a few blankets but nothing of any interest. With no intentions of touching the odd device Emma leant back against the wall and decided to distract herself by trying to piece together the events of the last day...or the events of the day she'd been knocked out at any rate.
"Where's Shal?", Emma mused, moving her head slowly to look around, checking if she hadn't missed her friend, not sure how she would have managed that if she had. As it turned out Shal wasn't in the room. Emma suddenly froze and strained her ears as the sound of voices came towards her, laughing and joking as they pounded down the hallway. A key was pushed roughly into the lock and the door flung open, a battered Shalimar was thrown onto the floor and the door slammed shut as the men walked off, still talking casually as if nothing had happened. Ignoring the horrendous pain Emma stumbled over to Shalimar and gently checked her vital signs, trying to submerge her emotions for the sake of logic and common sense.
"Emma?", a soft, distant voice whispered, Emma glanced down to find Shalimar's eyes open, barely due to the bruising and swelling which was keeping them almost shut. Emma felt her heart begin to break as tears slowly reached her eyes whilst she regarded her friend, so fragile. She lifted one hand and gently caressed Shalimar's cheek.
"It's me", Emma whispered, her voice catching, Shalimar tried to smile but ended up flinching instead.
"Good", she murmured, "At least they didn't get you...the scum kept their promise". Emma felt terror grip her body and she choked slightly before lying beside Shalimar and gently putting one hand on her stomach, ever so gently in case anything was broken. Her body had filled with an uncontrollable feeling of dread and yet she didn't want to question why that existed. She just lay next to Shalimar and prayed the feelings disappear. Soon she felt her body fall back into sleep and her mind followed soon after, followed by the emotionally exhausted Shalimar.
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"You'd willing suffer just to prevent us touching your precious little friend?", Harvey laughed, crouching in front of Shalimar and cocking his head on one side. Shalimar lifted her defiantly and nodded.
"Of course", she replied softly. Harvey laughed a cold and empty laugh before standing up.
"I didn't expect anything less from you Shal", he smirked before his face dissolved into an ugly, twisted sneer and he stepped forward to deliver and violent kick to Shalimar's stomach. She grunted in pain but managed to lift her head again, determined not to crumble from a single blow.
"Have fun guys", Harvey smirked before turning his back on Shalimar and leaving the room. Out of the shadows stepped 3 young men, brandishing an assortment of weapons and each with a substancial bulge in their pants. Shalimar realized in horror what Harvey meant but still kept her mouth shut, reminding herself this was for Emma.
"Come on then bitch...prepare yourself for real men", one snarled as he brought his fist down in a shattering blow to Shalimar's face before pinning her down and grabbing hold of her breasts with both hands. Shalimar moved to kick him off but found her legs pinned down by one of the other men. The man on top her laughed and smashed his fist into her ribs once...twice...before grabbing at her clothes and ripping them off of her. The third man stepped in and delivered a kick to her face before concentrating his attention on her ribs kicking them at least 5 times as her clothes were hurriedly ripped off. The man jumped up and lowered his trousers and pants and Shalimar tried to pull back in terror, vulnerable and unable to stop them. He lowered himself onto her and began to thrust, pushing her to the edge despite her desperate attempts not to.
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Shalimar woke up screaming, waking Emma as she did so, who sat up to check if Shalimar was awake or screaming in her sleep.
"Shalimar baby...what's wrong?", Shalimar shook her head as the images burst into the foreground tormenting her like demons in the night. Emma gently stroked Shalimar's face, slowly caressing it and trying to calm her friend, not sure what else to do. Shalimar felt the soft touches and turned her head towards them, hoping they would help alleviate the images whilst Emma ran through all the possible scenarios in her head.
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:( Now I feel mean for doing that to Shal......
Anyway I'm grateful for any feedback you can provide, until next time. Byzy byz!