Chapter 32 – The Worst Kind of Punishment
"So when you woke up where were you?"
Heidi took another deep breath in as she closed her eyes and tried her hardest to compose herself. Even though all she really wanted to do was sit there and cry. She knew why the detective was here, she knew why it was necessary and she knew that she had consented to this in the first place, but it was so much harder than she thought it was going to be. She reached her right hand up to play with the ends of the red hair that flowed down her right shoulder. It was something that she always did absentmindedly and now that her hair was clean and brushed she savored the feeling of how soft it was through her fingers.
Opening her eyes she raised her head slightly and her eyes fell on the detective in front of her that had just asked her that question. She was just sitting there looking at Heidi which thankfully made the 18 year old feel more at ease about what was going on. The detective was apparently a psychologist who had been sent by the local police department for the interview. She had introduced herself the moment she had entered the room and her name was written on a small name badge on her upper chest - Janet. Her green eyes were soft as they looked at Heidi. They weren't staring or boring into her to make her feel uncomfortable, nor were they analyzing or scrutinizing her current appearance. There was nothing intimidating or overwhelming about her presence in the room and Heidi was thankful for that, but it still didn't make the words any easier to leave her mouth.
"Heidi?" Janet spoke again, breaking Heidi out of her thoughts "Can you tell me where you were when you woke up?"
"I didn't know at the time anything about where I was," Heidi simply replied, her eyes momentarily drifting to the other two occupants of the small hospital room to her right; her parents.
While it was hard to tell a stranger a play by play of the last 40 odd days of her life, it was harder still to have to tell her parents what had happened. It was the most frightening part of all of this, having to be there looking at her parents as she told them of the torture and the hell she had been through. Heidi had, however, wanted them there to support her. They had both insisted that their presence was entirely her decision, but she knew that they desperately wanted to be here today too. They wanted to be here because they wanted to know everything. If anything, at least it meant she only had to tell the story once right now. Maybe one day when the memories had faded slightly and when she was finally a little bit stronger she may be able to tell the story to those that were close to her, like Ash and Cena, but for right now she knew it was going to be a struggle to get it all out this one time.
"So you had no idea you were in Sanford?" Janet asked again.
Heidi simply shook her head. "Can you describe the place where you were being held whilst you were in Sanford?" Janet enquired.
Heidi closed her eyes as she answered. She tried to bring the memory forward again. The memory that she had pushed to the back of her mind. The memory of the warehouse where they had kept her.
"It was a warehouse," Heidi spoke, her eyes remaining closed as she did so "It was a large, bare wooden warehouse. It was a large open space with little bits of furniture here and there, and a small bathroom."
"What type of furniture was there inside?" Janet asked, all the while scribbling down bits and pieces of notes on an A4 sized notebook sitting in her lap.
"There was a small circular wooden table, with a 2 or 3 chairs I can't exactly remember," Heidi answered, her eyes still closed "And a bed."
"How did they keep you inside the warehouse Heidi?" Janet asked "Did they keep it locked? Was there someone watching you all the time?"
Heidi took a deep breath as she opened her eyes and tried to solely focus her line of sight on Janet. The last thing she wanted was to see the look on her parent's faces when she told them what she was about to.
"I was confined to the bed in the room all hours of the day," Heidi answered "I was tied to the bedposts by my wrists by rope."
"Were you ever allowed to leave the bed?" Janet followed up.
"Only when I requested it," Heidi replied "And only for the purpose of using the bathroom."
"What would happen when you would ask to use the bathroom?" Janet asked "Talk me through the process of what would happen."
"OK," Heidi replied as she nodded "I would ask to use the bathroom and whoever was on duty would come inside from their point of watch outside the only door to the warehouse, which to my knowledge was always locked. They would untie me and then lead me to the bathroom. I would use the bathroom. They would stand outside the door at all times and only allow me 5 minutes inside by myself. After I was finished they would escort me back to the bed and re-tie me to the bedposts."
"Did you ever think about escaping from the bathroom while you were in there?" Janet asked.
"I couldn't," Heidi replied "There were windows inside the bathroom but they were boarded up and nailed with planks of wood."
Janet nodded.
"How many men were there?" Janet asked, her eyes focused on the notepad in her lap as she continued to write her notes.
"3," Heidi immediately replied.
"Just 3?" Janet enquired, her eyes rising to meet Heidi's.
"Just the 3 that I saw," Heidi nodded.
"Was there any indication from any of them that there were any more people involved in this?" Janet asked.
"No," Heidi replied, her head shaking.
"So they never mentioned any other people?" Janet asked.
"No," Heidi replied.
Janet nodded, looking at Heidi in a way that made Heidi think for a second that the psychologist was trying to make sure she was telling the truth. Heidi thought it was an odd thing to do considering she couldn't fathom why on earth she would be lying about something like this. It wasn't exactly like those men had been spoiling her at Disneyland and bribing her with candy floss and rides on the teacups to lie about how many of them there actually were. Heidi had absolutely no reason to lie.
"I only saw 3 of them," Heidi repeated "And when I heard them talking amoungst themselves they didn't once refer to anyone else or even indicate that there may be more people involved."
Janet paused for a moment as a small smile crossed her face. She nodded her head again.
"So, what can you tell me about these men then?" Janet asked, changing the subject "Let's start with the first one."
"In my mind I referred to him as 'the leader'," Heidi explained "He was always bossing the other two around. He seemed to be the one running the show. The one that was in charge of the whole thing. The leader of the group."
"Was he the one that raped you?" Janet asked.
Heidi was slightly taken aback with how easily that question came out of Janet's mouth. Momentarily glancing to her side, Heidi could see that her parents had a similar reaction. 'Rape' was such a strong word and it still didn't sit well with Heidi when she thought about the fact that that was what had happened to her. Heidi thought about it again though and considering the line of work that Janet was in, 'rape' was probably one of the most common words she used. She'd probably spoken to dozens of girls that had been involved in rape cases. She'd probably had to utter the word hundreds of time. By now, Heidi imagined, saying it that many times, Janet had probably become immune to the less than delightful connotations that were associated with the word.
"Heidi?" Janet asked, breaking Heidi out of her thoughts.
Heidi sighed before she simply nodded.
"Was he the only one that raped you?" Janet asked.
"Yes," Heidi replied, her eyes falling to the ground near her feet.
It was one thing to try and grasp the concept that she had been 'raped', so it was going to take some time before she could think about seeing the expression on her parent's faces when the fact resurfaced.
"What did this leader look like Heidi?" Janet asked.
Heidi closed her eyes as she forced herself to bring the image of 'the leader' to the front of her memory. Considering how often she had to be in close proximity to the man she knew that in her memory there had to be so many things about him that she could remember. Things that she already wished she could completely forget.
"I don't care how small you think it is," Janet said, her tone softer than before, almost as if trying to not disturb Heidi's chain of thoughts "Just tell me anything that you remember about him. Anything."
Heidi's eyes remained closed as she nodded. She took her time to delve through her memory before she finally took a deep breath and started to process her thoughts and memories into words.
"He was definitely over 6 foot tall," Heidi started "I'd say probably 6 foot 5, 6 foot 4, something like that. He was really well-built too. Really muscular. He had a really broad chest, really muscular arms."
"Did you ever get a chance to have a look at his face?" Janet asked.
Heidi shook her head, her eyes remaining closed as she analysed the memory she had in her mind of what 'the leader's' face looked like, from what she saw of it.
"He always wore this black balaclava so I didn't get to see much of his face," Heidi continued "I do remember his eyes were brown. A light brown though, not really very dark. Through the mouth holes in the balaclava I could make out some facial hair."
"What colour was his facial hair Heidi?" Randy Orton suddenly chimed in.
Heidi almost broke her chain of thought at the suddenness of hearing her father's voice, but she remained focused. Her eyes still closed as she desperately tried to remember every detail about the man that had effectively changed her life forever. The man whose face she didn't even know. The man who was the father of the child she was currently carrying.
"It was a brown I think," Heidi suddenly spoke, trying to change her train of thought and divert it away from where it was going as she started to think about the child she was currently carrying "Maybe more of a darker blonde colour. It was really hard to tell because I could barely see any of it at all under the balaclava."
"Did he have any defining characteristics?" Janet asked, her voice drawing Heidi's attention again "Any defining habits that he was always doing?"
"He was always chewing gum," Heidi replied as she leant forward on her hands, her forehead resting on her palms as she kept her eyes closed "I never once saw him not chewing gum."
"OK," Janet replied "Anything else you can remember about him? What about his voice?"
"It was pretty low, but there was nothing really defining about it and I didn't recognize it," Heidi replied "He didn't have a characteristic accent or anything. He definitely wasn't from the south – well at least he didn't have even the slightest hint of a southern accent."
"Everyone that has lived in North Carolina has some kind of southern accent," Lita suddenly spoke "Everyone."
"Does that suggest to you Mrs Orton," Janet spoke, turning her question to Lita "That he doesn't live in Sanford, despite that being the place where your daughter was found."
Heidi's eyes finally opened as she turned her head to face her mother just in time to see her mother nod her head. Lita noticed her daughter's eyes on her and sent a small smile in Heidi's direction. A small reassuring smile. Heidi smiled back.
"Did 'the leader', as you referred to him," Janet spoke "Ever use any form of contraception during the times he forced you into sexual intercourse with him?"
Heidi cringed and shut her eyes as she thought about what Janet had just said. She couldn't bear to look at her parents right now. However, even though she didn't, she knew what their faces would have looked like. She knew that the thought of someone raping their daughter would have produced a range of emotions for both her mother and father: sadness, anger, frustration. They were all emotions that she was feeling too. That and embarrassment. Embarrassment that she now had to talk about this in front of them.
She had heard so many stories from the women in her life, mostly the WWE divas that she had grown up with, about how awkward it was when their parents found out they were sexually active. Heidi, herself, remembered the first conversation her dad tried to have with her about sex. She remembered, regardless of how cool her mum was about it, how cringe worthy it was when her had sat her down and given her the talk about 'the birds and the bees' when she was 12. She had always known that the day she chose to lose her virginity she would eventually tell her mum about and no doubt that message would then be relayed to her dad, but she never in her wildest dreams thought that she would lose her virginity like this. To have her parents find out that she was forced into it. That her virginity was taken from her before she had the chance to make the decision to give it away. To have to sit there in this room right now and have both her parents know that she was no longer a virgin was not only embarrassing, but painful, especially when she had to relive it like this.
"I know this is hard," Janet suddenly spoke softly, her hand reaching out to rest on Heidi's on the table between them "I know it is, but we need to find out everything we can so we can have a fighting chance at finding justice. To find these men and make them pay for what they have put you through."
Heidi bit her bottom lip to control the tears she felt welling in her eyes. She so badly wanted to break down into a mess of tears but she knew that if she did it was going to make this all harder – it was going to make her feel worse and then there was going to be no way that she could compose herself enough to continue on answering Janet's questions.
"He didn't use any form of contraception, no," Heidi finally spoke, her voice soft as the words finally left her mouth.
Janet took a moment to look at Heidi before she turned her attention back to the notepad in her lap.
"Now from the hospital report you sustained a number of injuries during your time in that warehouse," Janet continued as she raised her eyes to lock with Heidi's "Bruisings, cuts, fractures etcetera. Is that correct Heidi?"
Heidi simply nodded her head.
"Was there a reason, to your knowledge, why these acts of violence were performed on you?" Janet followed up.
"The leader was the only one that physically abused me," Heidi replied, her eyes breaking the eye contact she had with Janet "It only ever happened when I would resist him and what he wanted to do to me."
"So he would get violent with you if you refused his sexual advances?" Janet asked.
Heidi simply nodded.
"When you resisted him or fought back what was generally the consequence in terms of physical violence Heidi?" Janet asked.
"His initial reaction would always be a slap across my face," Heidi replied "After that he'd try and use force and his weight to pin me down so I'd stop struggling. Those times left bruises on my legs and/or my arms. If he was really pissed off though he'd get out his knife."
"And he'd cut you?" Janet asked.
Heidi simply nodded, absolutely refusing to look in her father's direction, knowing full well how much anger would be welling inside him at the words that were currently leaving her mouth. "Where would he cut you Heidi?" Janet enquired as she continued to scribble notes into her notepad.
"Anywhere he felt like really," Heidi replied "The first time he cut the entire length of my forearm and once he cut down my chest inbetween my breasts. Most of the time though, he favoured my inner thighs."
"What type of knife would he cut you with?" Janet asked.
"Just a regular pocket knife," Heidi replied.
"How would you refuse his sexual advances Heidi?" Janet asked.
Heidi took a deep breath as she focused her eyes on a point on the wall behind Janet's head to try and take the pressure off herself and to imagine that she was just speaking to herself in this room, rather than the audience of 3 that she currently had.
"I would spit in his face, kick any part of him that I could," Heidi replied "I was pretty limited in the ways that I could resist him when I was tied to the bedposts at all times."
"He never untied you whilst trying to force himself on you?" Janet enquired.
"Only once," Heidi replied, a small glimmer of satisfaction playing in her mind as she spoke the words "As soon as he untied my hands I punched him in the face."
Randy Orton also felt the glimmer as he listened to his daughter's words. It was the worst of situations and listening to it, and all his daughter had been through over the last 2 months, was a special form of torture, but part of him was also proud. He was proud that his daughter was strong. He was proud that she had fought tooth and nail to stay alive, and that no matter what the consequences she had not given up and let that man have her as easily as he had probably wanted. Heidi was so much stronger than he could have imagined she would have been in such a situation. To withstand all she did in that warehouse by herself and then to have escaped when she did and reached help when she was inches away from being in a critical condition which could have well and truly lead to her death. Randy Orton was proud of his daughter and he made a mental note to tell her that next time they were alone together. Now was unfortunately not the time or place.
"Now you mentioned there were 3 men Heidi, is that right?" Janet spoke again, breaking Randy out of his thoughts and back to reality.
"Yes," Heidi simply replied.
"Who haven't you spoken about already then?" Janet asked.
"The other guy," Heidi answered.
"Tell me about him," Janet encouraged.
"He wasn't like the other two," Heidi replied "He never abused me or touched me like that."
"What kind of interaction did you have with him?" Janet asked.
"He would come into the warehouse and check on me a lot," Heidi replied "If I had fresh cuts he would tend to them and clean them for me."
"Would he keep you tied up while he was doing this?" Janet asked.
"No," Heidi answered with a small shake of her head "He would untie me and keep me untied the entire time."
"What can you tell me about the way he looked?" Janet asked "I mean I assume he wore a balaclava as well?"
"He did," Heidi replied "But…"
Heidi suddenly froze. She knew that it was the right thing to do to tell them she knew that the other guy was Adam Copeland, but at the same time another part of her was resistant to say it. She wasn't sure why. He had been there holding her hostage while she was continually raped, beaten, cut, starved and all the rest of it. He had probably been lying and feeding her stories about his family and all that other crap he'd told her the night she revealed his identity. The smart choice would be to not believe anything he had said to her while she was in that warehouse, but then again part of her couldn't help but want to believe the best in him. To believe that he had been telling her the truth. It was partly because of the childhood memories that she had of him in the time he was friends with her parents and in the time he was a member of the WWE. The other part was the fact that he had helped her survive in there and he had set it all up so she could escape without raising suspicion that it was his fault that she had. He had even left his sweatshirt there for her and in hindsight she probably should have taken it – she probably would have saved herself a lot of cuts and a lot of blood loss.
"But what Heidi?" Lita spoke, breaking Heidi out of her thoughts.
Heidi hadn't even realized that her mother had moved and was now kneeling in front of her, her hand on Heidi's knee. Any normal person would not have known what the hell Lita was doing at that moment or why she'd reacted in that way, but it was because it was her daughter. Heidi and Lita had a special bond that went so much further beyond being mother and daughter. Heidi knew that her mom knew her better than she knew herself at times and this was one of those times. Lita had sensed Heidi's mental turmoil and hesitation and she knew it had to be for a good reason. Lita knew that what Heidi was about to say was big and that it wasn't going to be easy for her to say it. Heidi took her mother's hand as she looked her in the eye.
"He took me to the bathroom a couple of nights before I escaped," Heidi explained, looking Lita in the eyes the whole time like it was just her that she was telling this to "I had had enough that night and I flipped out. I threw the chair in the bathroom into the mirror. I started trying to claw my way out of the bathroom window through the planks of wood."
Lita nodded as an indication for Heidi to keep going with her story.
"He tried to calm me down but I was still flipping out and I struggled," Heidi continued "Eventually the struggle ended when I accidentally grabbed his balaclava and pulled it off him."
"You saw his face?" Randy suddenly asked, his voice coming out of nowhere.
Heidi immediately turned to face her father and took a deep breath before she nodded.
"Do you know him Heidi?" Janet chimed in.
Heidi nodded again.
"Who is it Heidi?" Randy immediately spoke, the anger evident and rising in his voice "You have to tell us who it is. You have to tell us now Heidi. You…."
"Randy," Lita warned as she turned to face her husband.
Randy's voice immediately stopped. Lita shook her head at him before she turned back to face Heidi. She squeezed Heidi's hand in hers, drawing Heidi's eyes to lock with hers.
"So you realized then that you knew him?" Lita asked.
Heidi simply nodded, maintaining her mother's eye contact.
"The first time he looked me in the eyes when he was wearing his balaclava I knew that I knew him," Heidi answered "I didn't know exactly who he was until the balaclava came off though."
"Have you known him for a long time?" Lita asked again "Since you were a little girl?"
Heidi simply nodded again.
"Do you think you can tell us who he is right now?" Lita asked again, trying to ease Heidi into it "I know this has been a lot today and I know you know that we need to do this but do you think you're strong enough right now to tell us who he is?"
"I don't know," Heidi honestly answered, the tears starting to well in her eyes again.
"OK," Lita spoke again.
"Why is it so hard for you to tell us Heids?" Randy suddenly joined in, his voice a lot calmer than before.
Heidi turned her head to face her father before she spoke again.
"Because….," Heidi started.
Suddenly the door to the hospital room swung open and a nurse briskly entered. Heidi stopped speaking immediately. The nurse made a beeline directly for Janet without so much as looking or acknowledging the presence of the Orton family who were also in the room. Heidi, Randy and Lita all looked on with curiosity and intrigue as the nurse leaned close into Janet's ear and started fiercely whispering. All Janet did was stare in her lap as she nodded and nodded whilst listening to what this nurse was telling her. The nurse then gave Janet one last nod before she left the room just as quickly as she had entered it. The door to the room was closed behind her.
Janet took a deep breath and took a moment before her eyes rose to look at the Orton's.
"It appears there's been a break in your case Miss Orton," Janet spoke as she closed the notepad in her lap and stood from her seat "Unfortunately I have to head back to the station immediately to deal with some things in light of this."
"What kind of break?" Randy immediately asked as he quickly stood from his chair "What's happened?"
Janet sighed as she tucked her notepad into her handbag which she had just picked up from the floor next to her chair.
"I am not supposed to say anything at this stage," Janet spoke with some hesitation "But the nurse has just informed me that the station called moments ago and mentioned that one of the men who was involved in Heidi's abduction had just turned himself in to local authorities in Sanford."
All 3 sets of Orton eyes widened in shock.
"Who?" Heidi asked immediately "Who turned themself in?"
Janet hesitated again but as she looked into the blue eyes of Heidi Orton she knew that it was not her place, nor her right, to keep it from this girl that had already been through so much already. She deserved to know any kind of update in her case. She deserved to know the name, and eventual face, of the men who had abducted her and caused her so much mental and physical pain.
"A Mr Adam Copeland."
A/N: AHHHH SO LONG BETWEEN UPDATES! Thought that I'd round up the year with at least 1 update for you guys for this story! This chapter was very hard to write, especially because I started it and then left it so long before I finished! Going to try and alternate updates between My Daughter and A Guy, A House and A Hot House Mate as they seem to be the more popular of my fanfics! Please READ & REVIEW! Love hearing what you guys have to say!
Next chapter is 'Chapter 33 - Homecoming' and may involve a nice, steamy love scene as we definitely haven't had one of those in a while! Correctly guess the couple that it takes place between and I'll name one of the future My Daughter characters after you (just put your answer in a review)!
God Bless, Mrs Bridget Orton xxx