How did Diana never stop smiling? Did she know there was so much evil in the world? Maybe she had never seen it first hand...but on the other hand, maybe she had. Either way, she had a glow that always remained lit wherever she went.
As soon as I knew as Damon went to his room, I slipped from my bed toward Diana's room. Elliott was called into work, leaving his wife to my blabbering lips. I suppose I felt that I needed to speak to her about the baby that was growing in me, a fear no one can see in my eyes. I found her room, and immediately noticed her reading a book of some sort. She smiled as I opened the door more, her face inviting and soft.
"I'm so happy you came, Elena. I wanted to talk to you," She said in a soothing voice.
I sat on the end of her bed and she began to speak.
"Don't be afraid of anything, ok? Not the baby nor your old life. Everything will be good!" She told me with a soft smile as she shut her book.
"Diana, how can you be so positive when there is so much hatred in the world?" I asked in a whisper.
"There's something I learned many years ago when I read 'Anne Frank's Diary'. She said that you always have to see the good in people. She believed there was good in everyone and I believe she is right. Look at Damon. At first you thought he was evil, but then you realized there was more good than bad," She held my hand as she spoke.
"The Prophet doesn't have any good in him," I whispered when I felt my eyes tear up.
"You have to give people the benefit of the doubt. We all have good in us, Elena. Some just don't know how to retrieve it. You have to believe there is good for there to be good." She pulled me into an embrace as I let a tear slipped from my eye.
"Thank you," I mumbled into her shoulder.
"There is good in the world, Elena...I promise. You just have to find it!"
I returned to my room, where I decided I should try to sleep. I slipped back into the bed, the sheets slightly cold from my absence. I fell asleep instantly, finding a sense a peace. Everything felt right, and as I had hoped, I fell into a deep slumber.
"Momma?" A small child asked, his piercing blue eyes so familiar. I pulled him to my chest as he cooed softly.
"Where's Daddy?" The boy asked, allowing a small cry to escape him.
"I don't know," I responded, while I tried to remember where he was.
"He went back to them," He screamed and suddenly he began to thrash his body. I tried to calm him down, but he just would not relent.
"It's all your fault he left," The boy cried at me. I tried to understand him, I really did.
That's when his face morphed into someone else's. I struggled to figure out who, but I couldn't grasp it. His face distorted while he smiled at me.
"You're next, Elena" He hissed, his eyes boring into mine.
He grabbed me by the throat, choking me. I let out a long shriek when I finally realized who he was...Damon.
Sometime later, I felt my eyes snap open as a sharp shriek slammed against my eardrums. I sat up, my eyes searching the room.
That's when it all happened. They came into the room with their rifles, grunting in adrenaline. They came at me with such force, I didn't even have time to react. Their hands pulled me to the floor before they violently rolled me onto my stomach, soon tying the rope around my wrists like I was an animal. I began to scream in horror when I finally realized it wasn't a dream. Damon's faint voice from down the hall was barking for them to let me go, but I listened as they gagged his mouth in an instant.
"Daniel, what should we do with the woman in the other room?" One of the men yelled from the door.
I was sobbing as I tried to break free from my restraints. No matter how hard I screamed for them not to hurt her, they just spoke louder. I was becoming hysterical and I tried to wiggle away in desperation. Someone grabbed at me, throwing more punches as I begged for them to stop.
"Kill her," The man holding me hissed, beginning to yank me by my shackled wrists down the hall.
"NOOOO!" I cried.
The screams left me in sobs. I fought so hard, but it wasn't enough. I had lost all control and it was agonizing to come to that realization. My pleading was muffled by my crazed warbling and at some point I even tried to bite my abductor's hand. Angrily, he slapped my face away, pulling me more aggressively down the long hall. Then it happened. The man entered Diana's room. My body thrashed in panic and I began to plead again.
Her scream was deafening, heart stopping.
"Tell him I wasn't afraid-," She cried at her maximum capacity.
Her message was lost with the shutting of the door and I waited in horror for the sound of the gun. Daniel dragged me down the staircase finally, begging them for mercy, not for me, but for Diana. I heard them fire the weapon moments later. My heart stilled, my soul died, my lungs heaved. My shrill cry was that of defeat and pain and hopelessness. Never had I known death. I had never seen it or felt it or understood it. No words could ever fully express the unending anguish that accompanied Diana's murder.
"Shut up, you bitch" He snapped and I felt him place a rag over my nose roughly.
I felt the darkness engulf me as he held it over my face, my cries finally coming to a merciless end.
I awoke in a small room, my wrists tied to the twin bed. The ropes scraped into my flesh and the muscles of my arms cried out in their own protest of sorts. I yanked at the restraints over and over. I was panicking, my heart already racing. Three women dressed in the usual compound attire walked into the room, their eyes casted at the floor.
"Please help me. Please let me go. I can help all of you," I cried, but their faces remained unaffected.
They did not even make eye contact with me as they continued setting some towels on the bed, along with some other stuff I did not recognize.
"Please don't ignore me. You know this isn't right. God would never support this," I screamed just as one of them began to pull my night gown up toward my chest until my hips were exposed.
The other two women grabbed at my legs, tugging them apart. I had no idea what they were doing and understandably, I continued to sob. Just as the abductors had done, the women ignored me, as if their ears could not register my vocal decibel.
"Please don't," I screamed, trying to tear my legs away from them, but they held their composure, only grasping them tighter.
The woman not holding me down took out a jar of something before grabbing a tongue depressor. She dunked it into the jar, mixing it around. It looked like honey and it only made me shriek louder. She scooped some of the mixture onto the stick before spreading it onto my pubic hair. I bucked my hips, trying to stop her, but she seemed unaffected by my pleas and resistance.
She continued to spread it all over before grabbing what looked like some pieces of cloth. She pressed one of them down, rubbing her hand over it roughly. She looked up at one of the women before I saw her grab an end with her fingers.
That's when she tore it off like a bandage and I shrieked so hard that my chest vibrated like an earthquake. Their faces were expressionless as if nothing had happened and once again, the woman reached her hand out for the jar. I began pleading with them, still convinced that there was good in their hearts, just like Diana had told me.
"We can not let you see the Prophet looking like this. That is his order," One of the women finally spoke.
He had to rip all the hair off me just to see me? I was so afraid already and this experience wasn't helping. What would that man do to me? He already killed Diana and took Damon, and now he would annihilate my soul...that I was sure of.
The woman continued tearing the cloth pieces off, the hair violently ripped from my body. There was no mercy left in the world, not an ounce of humanity. I eventually lost the energy to fight, and instead of screams, mumbled whimpers escaped my lips. She moved lower and lower, violently removing the hair wherever she went. I suppose at some point I tried to kick them, but their grip was so tight, as if they had done this habitually. Were they brainwashed? Drugged? How could they be so obedient when they were doing something so horrific? They were partially responsible for what was to come and they felt absolutely no remorse. The thought broke my heart.
When they finally finished, I had exhausted myself. I was gasping for air when they finally released my legs. The area between my legs was throbbing, not to mention the pain that filled the rest of my body. I was pregnant and they didn't know. Would it have made a difference? I laid there on the hard-as-a-board bed, my hands as numb as my mind.
Some agonizingly long time later, two men untied my wrists before pulling me off the bed while I wearily pleaded. They each grabbed one of my arms, leading me down the hall to a gigantic room with a massive king sized bed. It was a room fit for a king of royalty, or a ruthless cult leader. There was a chandelier, numerous sofas, wall to wall bookcases, and even a polar bear rug on the floor...the head still attached. My feet were trembling as the men literally dragged me, never showing any compassion toward me.
My body crashed against the bed when they nearly catapulted me onto the mattress. Scrambling, their hands clawed at my arms to once again capture them. I saw two other men run over as I flailed my body, trying futilely to get away. The men grabbed each of my limbs until I was completely incapable of moving my body.
"Please don't do this!" I screamed as they tightened their grip.
My nightgown barely covered my hips. I was forced to realize how exposed, how vulnerable I felt. I shook my head violently, the only part of me left I could still control. That's when I heard the door slam open. It was the Prophet, standing in the doorway for a few moments before finally traipsing toward me. My heart was racing uncontrollably and I feared for a fleeting time that it would give out on me.
"I told you it wouldn't take long. I kept all my promises just like I knew I would," He barked as he stepped closer and closer. His eyes were a soft blue, his brown hair swept to one side.
The heartless leader held a small pocket knife in his right hand, moving his left index across the blade with a prideful smirk. Once again, I tried to fight these savages off, but they wouldn't budge, not one bit. I just sobbed, sobbing a prayer of mercy to anyone who would listen. Mosiah was finally standing between my legs when I lifted my head up again, and I instinctively attempted to being my knees together. His calloused hands slowly pushed my nightgown upward, his face lighting up at the sight.
I winced and cringed and cried, completely helpless. To my surprise, Mosiah touched the knife against my privates, the cold blade sizzling my skin until the back of my neck prickled in response. He slid the knife upwards between my feminine lips painfully slow, a sick smirk plastered across his face. The blade stopped at the hood, and he thrust the tip into the skin until it broke. I let out a shriek of agony, but he just smiled and brought the bloody knife up to his mouth.
"The hair was too much of a distraction. I like a clean pussy," He hissed, licking the blade.
He began to pace around the bed, wanting me to be unexpecting and unsettled, like a lion when he stalks his prey.
"I know I made a lot of promises, Elena. One of them was to make you submissive and I just want to apologize for taking so long to fulfill that promise," He whispered huskily.
His fingers reached for the buttons of his shirt and I knew it was over. Even death would have been more merciful than Mosiah Barlow.