This story is quite violent from here-on in so please don't read if you don't like that sort of thing! You have been warned!
Chapter 7
When Jenny came to, she could feel that she was sitting upright in one of her kitchen chairs. For a moment, she couldn't understand what was holding her up; that is until she became aware that her hands were bound tightly behind her, and her bare legs were forced together by another knot of rope around her ankles. Dazed, she looked up and around, unable to understand how she had gotten there. With a sickening jolt that brought her back to reality, she noticed that every square inch of her yellow kitchen walls were plastered with photographs.
Photographs of her.
There were hundreds; some of her walking casually down the road . . . some of her in her car . . . some of her with Cutter in her house that had been taken through the window . . . even one with her pulling her top on in her bedroom. But what - what?
She tried to speak, but was shocked that her mouth was bound shut by what appeared to be a large piece of tape. Panic such as she had never felt in her life engulfed her completely as she struggled against the ropes that bound her. She was too weak and groggy however, and failed to make them budge at all.
"Ahh you're awake," a man's voice spoke from the doorway.
She looked up, her eyes widened withshock. He was quite a large man, not in a fat way, but in the muscular sense. He had short brown hair, pale sallow skin, and cold grey eyes that bored into her as he watched her.
She recognized him.
His name was Brookes; well his last name was anyway - she didn't know his first name. He worked at the ARC . . . he was one of Becker's soldiers.
Jenny tried to speak again, but was incapable of doing so, either because of the tape or down-right terror. He approached her casually, looking amused, and lent down so that his face was level with hers, and merely inches away.
"I'm sorry about the drugs," he continued softly, placing his hands either side of her face, to which she tried to jerk away from. "I needed to get you to listen to me."
Jenny could feel her heart pumping erratically against her ribs; this was it . . . she was trapped.
"I'm going to take the tape off now," he informed her. "Can I trust you to be quiet?"
Jenny didn't respond, but gave him the dirtiest look she could with her eyes, her breathing coming hard and fast. He must have took that as a 'yes' as in one quick movement, he ripped it off her, causing her to yelp with the sharp pain.
"Sorry," he said again, flicking the tape to the floor. "I don't want to hurt you - "
The rest of his words were drowned out as Jenny started to scream so loud that her throat felt as though it was about to rip.
"HELP!" she screeched at the top of her lungs over and over again. "HELP!"
He raised his hand and smacked her across her cheek bone with such a force that her head flew to the side. Pain erupted as she felt her cheek split open and warm blood trickle down her face. He was suddenly behind her, leaning his face against the side of hers and pulling her hair backwards to expose her neck. She felt something cold and sharp being pressed against her throat.
A knife.
"Are you going to be quiet?" he breathed into her ear, making her shudder.
When she didn't reply, he pulled her hair back more and pushed the knife closer to her skin. She felt a stinging sensation on her throat as the knife cut into her slightly, drawing blood.
"Are you going to be quiet -?" he snarled forcefully.
"Yes," Jenny cried quickly, her eyes watering from the pain.
He took the blade away and threw her hair from him so that her head was flung forwards. She raised her eyes to look at him again.
"Why are you doing this?" she asked in a mouse voice.
"I am very disappointed in you Jenny," he began wistfully. "You broke my heart when you dropped me for Cutter. How could you hurt me like that?"
Jenny blinked. This man was completely mental.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is seeing you saunter past me every day?" he continued, rounding her chair; she could feel him sniffing her hair, and a sick swooping feeling took hold of her and tears fell down her cheeks. "Wearing that perfume . . . making me yearn . . . looking that good for another man," he said through gritted teeth as he burrowed his head further into her hair.
He straightened up, making her jump violently.
"But that's okay," he continued, walking back round to face her; his eyes manic. "I'm not mad at you . . . you're just confused."
"Look, just let me go - " Jenny begged, her voice cracking as she spoke.
"But don't you see?" he exclaimed quickly, falling to his knees at her legs; the knife in his hand glinting in the light. "I'm doing this for you."
She looked down at him in numb disbelief.
"You're crazy," she whispered before she could stop herself.
His deranged face contorted into anger at her words, and in a flash, he had struck her across the face again; causing her lip to split open.
"I'm sorry," he said immediately as she straightened up again, her jaw in agony. "Why do you make me do this?" he growled in frustration as he lowered his face onto her thighs, kissing her skin.
At his touch, she sobbed harder and looked away, unable to believe that it was happening to her.
"I don't want to hurt you," he insisted softly, his hand creeping up her thigh, and finding the edge of her skirt.
"Please don't," she cried, screwing up her eyes - any moment she'll wake up and this would all be a terrible nightmare . . .
His cold touch wondered further up under her skirt -
Then the doorbell rang.
Before she could even think about screaming for help, he had darted behind her and clamped his palm across her mouth so tight that she struggled to breathe.
Sarah sighed impatiently on Jenny's doorstep, ringing the bell for the third time; where was she? It wasn't like her to just not come back to work, and as Cutter was busy at an anomaly site, Sarah had thought she had better go and check that everything was alright. She knew that Jenny was in, as her car was parked outside the house. Why wasn't she answering? As a long shot, Sarah tried the door to see if it was unlocked; however, she was not expecting it to be. After all, she supposed Jenny would have been extra careful since this whole stalker business had began. To her complete surprise however, the door creaked open. Bemused, Sarah stepped inside.
"Hello?" she said softly, not wanting to startle Jenny.
No answer.
"Jenny? It's Sarah," she shouted louder, shutting the front door behind her as she stepped deeper into the hall. "I know you're in!"
She thought she heard a noise in the kitchen, and unwilling to let Jenny hide away in fear, she strode over to it with the full intention of chiding the woman for not returning to work. But the scene that greeted her as she rounded the kitchen door made her jaw drop to the floor.
Jenny was tied to a chair in the middle of the room; bound by her hands and ankles. Her hair was tousled and tangled, and her face was tear-stained and bloodied as though she had sustained several blows. A piece of tape covered her mouth. As soon as their gazes met, Jenny struggled against the rope, shouting something that was incoherent due to her mouth restraint.
"Oh my God!" Sarah exclaimed, hurrying forward to untie her.
Jenny's eyes widened as she looked behind Sarah's shoulder, screaming something that was too muffled to make out. Then, Sarah felt a blinding pain on the back of her head, and as she sunk into darkness, she could hear Jenny sobbing uncontrollably.
