Sometimes, Nightmare's Are Real.
Author's notes: Dear readers I am sorry this has taken so long, but in the end I believe that you will find that it was worth it. Everyone please thank Khalthar for he has helped me since the beginning.
Even with everything that was going on around her, Lilith was tired. Enough so that in spite of everything she could do to keep her eyes open to watch what was going on around her, the exhaustion eventually overcame her, and while being carried by a Predator, she drifted into the realm of sleep.
She huddled up as close to the water heater as possible for what little warmth could be gained from it, because she was cold. But then, it was always cold down here. She shuddered in renewed terror as she recalled the way her mommy and daddy had put her down here in the basement. Daddy had finally had enough, or at least, that was what he'd told her before locking her down here, after beating her thoroughly. At first, she hadn't thought that being locked down here was so bad. At least she wasn't getting hit everyday, like she had been when she was allowed to live upstairs. Then it started getting worse. Daddy would always tell her how expensive it was to feed her, and started giving her their left over food, but after a few days, he'd forgotten to bring anything down for her. Pure hunger had finally driven her to the top of the stairs where she'd tried the door. Her parents heard her trying to open the door, and both of them had immediately come to discipline her. Only this time, daddy didn't use a belt like her always had before, this time he used his fists.
"What a worthless bitch! All you do is cost us more damned money everyday! If it's not clothes that we have to buy, then it's food! Do you have any idea how much money you waste? Just by God worthless!"
She remembered those words that her mother had screamed at her that day. Her mother had been so loud, and so angry, that she'd heard every word, even above her own agonized screams as her father kept hitting her.
She woke with a start, and her head snapped up as she looked around quickly, and saw that she was still being carried by the 'Predator' as Sebastian had them. She didn't think to consider, nor did she care about the weird feeling of relief that flooded through her with that realization, but then, if she had thought about it, she would know that it was because she was no longer with her parents. She took a deep breath to calm down, but she was so exhausted, that within a matter of minutes was again sound asleep.
He couldn't help but notice that both of his brothers had also picked up the scent of the ooman pup's fear while she had been sleeping. He thought it strange that a pup could be afraid while sound asleep, but utterly fearless when awake. He shook his head to put those thoughts out of his mind, and continued to make his way through the pyramid.
That had only been the start of things. She tried to move a little closer to the water heater, to warm up, but she was stopped by the sturdy chain attached to the collar around her neck. She had tried break the chain, and had even tried to turn the collar so she could get to the buckle, but it was no use. Without being able to see it, she hadn't been able to get it undone. She knew they had put the chain on her two years ago, when she had snuck upstairs late one night that daddy forgot to lock the door. She never made it to the back door to run away. She remembered how it felt when the beer bottle had smashed against the back of her head. Daddy had beaten her horribly then, while her mother had watched and laughed. The very next day, her daddy had held her down, while her mother had torn her clothes off, before putting this chain on her.
She went over to the wall to where her marks were. She knew that there were 365 days in a year, and there were 793 marks on the wall. What math she had learned in school told her that it had been two years, two months, and three days since they had put this chain on her. Looking through her swollen and partly closed right eye, she saw the disgusting pile where she would always go to the bathroom, and knew that she had been down here too long because she could no longer smell something that she knew was supposed to stink. Once again, she reached up with her left hand to feel her face. The entire left side was so sore that she couldn't stand to tough it, and that eye was still swollen shut. She let out a ragged breath of fear as she wondered when they would come back. Some days they gave her something to eat, other days, they wouldn't give her anything except reasons to scream in pain while her father beat her, but they always gave her a reason to be afraid.
A muffled sob of pure terror escaped her split and swollen lips when she heard the basement door being unlocked. She knew that they were coming back. Why were they coming back so soon? They had just been down here the day before yesterday, so why would they come back now? Lilith didn't know the answer to that, but she did know that no matter how much she begged them, or how many times she promised to be good, they always made her hurt more than the last time.
Lilith felt her heart freeze in her bare chest when she saw the malicious smiles on their faces. They had never smiled before. Even when her mother was laughing at the spray of blood by her father's fists, there had never been a smile, but now there was. Perhaps it was a primeval instinct, or maybe it was subconscious knowledge that made her move as far from them as she could. She didn't know what it was, but something told her that she needed to get away from them fast! She didn't even stop to think about the fact that she had just slid her way through her own piles of feces and puddles of urine in her futile attempt to escape her parents, but she had. Her father laughed as if he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world, and tossed something on the floor next to her.
"Pick it up, you worthless waste of money! What the hell are you waiting for? That's your Christmas present, and it's the last one you'll ever get from us!" Her mother had told her.
With one eye completely swollen shut, and the other partially closed from the beatings her father had given her two days ago, she couldn't tell what it was. She reached out, picked it up, and brought it close to her face so she could see it. Four inches of solid horn, carved from a single piece of a deer's antler, the pocket knife was truly beautiful to see. When she opened it slowly because her right arm hurt too much to move for some reason, she saw that the blade was a beautifully made piece of silver. Then she saw the skull etched or engraved deep in the metal of the blade. Turning it slightly, the light in the basement hit it just right and she was able to read what was underneath it. 'Till You Die!'
Not understanding why they would give her something like this, Lilith looked up at her mother and father, with a silent question on her battered face.
"Now, you're going to take that knife, and slash both of your wrists, and we're going to watch!" Her mother told her in a tone so happy that she sounded like she'd just won the lottery. "If you don't do it, then your father will beat you again. Once he gets tired, I'll beat you with a belt until I get tired! Then he'll start all over again! So they'd better be good ones too!"
A wordless cry of pure animalistic terror escaped her as she quickly slashed her right wrist. She had some trouble holding the knife in her right hand, but somehow, she managed. She had to move her left arm while holding her right still in order to actually slash her left wrist, but she'd done it. With both arms now bleeding freely, she looked back up at her parents to see them making out in front of her. She didn't understand why she had to be hurt and suffer like this, and she didn't know why they wouldn't just let her run away and never come back, but this was how it was. This was her life now. This was what was expected from her.
With a wordless gasp of fear, she opened her eyes and saw that she was still in the arms of the same Predator that had spanked her. She would have snarled in anger, but she knew that it would only make this Predator mad, which would probably make him spank her again, and she certainly didn't want that. She was so tired, that she shut her eyes and tried to doze back off.
She never bothered to make anymore marks on the wall, because she knew exactly how many where there. Now all she had to do was add that number to the scars on either arm, and she would know how long this chain had been on her neck. Two hundred and sixty one. That's how many times her parents had made her slash her wrists. That was how many days in a row, they had come down to watch her do it. Last month had been the start of something new though. Last month, her mother had given her a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
After being instructed in how to light the cigarette, she had done as she was told. Then her father had told her to use the cigarette to burn her legs. She had to put the coal against her leg and count to thirty, then puff on it ten times before moving it to a new spot, and keep repeating that until the cigarette went out. Once the cigarette was finished, they still made her slash her wrists.
She didn't know why she was so worthless, but it just had to be true! After all, she was told everyday that she was worthless and expensive too. She sat there on the floor near the large pile of her own bodily wastes and wondered if there might be some way that she could stop being so worthless, so that her parents would stop making her hurt so much.
This time, her parents were stumbling as they came down the stairs. Lilith shrank back away from them in total fear. They had just left a while ago, so why had they come back? What would they make her do now?
"Time for you to have a cigarette, you worthless bitch!" Her mother told her as she stuck her right hand down her own shorts and started doing something between her legs.
Lilith did exactly as she was told. She knew that she wasn't allowed to make any sounds, or even cry while she was burning or cutting herself, or she'd get a horrible beating from both of her parents. The sickly stench of burning flesh assailed her nostrils as she held the lit cigarette against her right leg. Flakes of dried blood fell from her shaking wrist as she struggled to keep tears out of her eyes, so she wouldn't get hit anymore.
"Just fucking worthless! Hell, I bet she'd even be a worthless fuck!" Her mother snarled drunkenly.
"You know… I think it's time we found out, don't you honey?" Her mother smirked suddenly, before lunging forward and grabbing her wrists.
She couldn't help but cry out in pain as her mother opened more than a dozen of the cuts on each of her wrists. That was when she realized that she'd been so focused on her mother that she'd completely forgotten to keep an eye on her father. She turned her head back to face him and saw that he'd taken off all of his clothes. He grabbed her legs forcing them apart, and brutally shoved that thing between his legs into her. So intense was the pain of the dry insertion that she couldn't even scream when it felt like she was being ripped in two from the inside out. Her mother was behind her, holding her in place with a knee in her back while hanging onto her now bleeding wrists from the reopened wounds. Then finally, a scream left her mouth as tears of agony fell down her face when her father began pulling himself out of her. That was when she thought that whatever was being done to her was over, but she was wrong.
Her father had continued hurting her inside for a long time. Then he grunted and pulled that painful thing out of her, and even through her sobbing tears of agony, she couldn't help but notice that her blood was all over it. Her father then laughed and said that he wasn't even close to being done! He had pinned her legs with his and maneuvered his body so that he could stick that throbbing and twitching thing inside her again. But this time he stuck it in a different place.
Lilith screamed until her throat was raw and sore, but her father didn't stop his brutally agonizing method of anally raping her still developing body, and her mother wouldn't quit laughing. Then her whole world exploded in fresh pain from another source as her father began using his free hands to pound on her sides and stomach with his fists.
"No daddy please! Please stop! I'll do anything! I'll leave and never come back… anything… please! Just… just please don't hit me anymore, please!" With that pleading shout, Lilith jerked awake to realize that she was still being carried by the Predator.
While he didn't know how to speak the ooman language, his mask was able to translate the ooman tongue into a text that he could read. What he saw on his HUD froze the blood in his veins. The very strong scent of fear emanating from the sleeping pup was bad enough, but those words that the little female had screamed in he what knew was desperation before waking, told him that this pup should be taken to the Elders.
She froze in place in his arms not being able to grasp the fact that she had actually spoken after only a few days. She had never wanted to speak again. Not to anyone, and not about anything. She knew that she was still worthless, because nothing had changed. Well, she was now out of that basement, but otherwise, everything was still the same, and she knew that if she said anything at all, that these Predators would somehow learn just how worthless she was, and then they would start hurting her just like her parents had done.
Getting over the shock of what she had done her eyes grew cold and angry. She glared at the Predator before she leapt out of his grasp and ran a short ways off. She turned and glared at the strange looking alien, and when it took a step towards her, she took one back away from it.
He looked at the female ooman that reached no higher than the bottom of his ribs. He once again found it strange that this pup only smelled of anger now that she was awake. Taking another step towards the little ooman, he saw her step back again. A warning growl left his mouth, and he made a deliberate motion for the pup to return to him. When the ooman's face tightened as she shook her head negatively, he heard his brothers also let out warning growls.
The ooman pup turned her face towards each of his brothers before looking back at him. Then she stepped slightly closer, but made it clear that she wanted to keep her distance. Suddenly, the pup's face changed and it began looking around almost frantically. The sounds of plasma cannons were heard as his brothers activated them. Then, the ooman pup changed everything, by grabbing herself between her legs and making very clear gestures that were easily understood. He poked his head into a nearby room and looked around. Seeing that there were no other exits, he motioned for the pup to enter, while he, and his two brothers waited outside.
As soon as she saw that she was alone in the room, Lilith released a deep breath of relief. She quickly pulled out the pocket knife and raised the sleeve of her coat. A quick but somewhat deep slash instantly appeared as she drew the razor sharp edge across her wrist. A deep sigh left her mouth as she once again felt the sensation of pain. After more than four long years, it was something that was known; her pain was a constant companion, and it was now the only thing that was familiar to her. Besides, she knew that she deserved every bit of it.
When some time had passed, and he still didn't hear any sounds of the female either removing her clothing or making her bodily waste, he took a quick glance into the room to make certain that nothing had happened to the little pup. What he saw was the pup just standing in the middle of the room with her eyes closed. Without making a single sound, he moved forward with a silent and deadly grace. He reached out and grabbed the pup by her arm, only to have the pup begin to struggle to be released. He shook his head angrily, and growled a warning before he shifted his grip on her arm. A sudden cry of pain from the pup made him look at her arm in curiosity. He knew he hadn't grabbed her with enough force to cause any harm, but when he looked at the limb in his grasp, he couldn't help but notice the numerous wounds on that limb.
Lilith instantly stopped struggling when the Predator slowly tilted his head down, and started looking at her now bare wrist. Her struggles had caused her coat sleeve to slide down towards her elbow, and now, several dozen of her cuts were clearly visible to the gaze of the Predator. That was when she heard it. This was the softest and quietest growl that this Predator had made yet, but she knew that it was also the deadliest one as well. As she stared in shock at the thing while wondering what he would do to her next, she noticed the other two enter the room and begin looking straight at her wrist.
She hated being stared at and now they knew her shameful secret, taking a deep breath she punched the predator across his mask shocking him into letting go. She ran to the farthest side of the room. The predators kept their deadly gaze on her. The one who looked at her wrist approached her, but the unexpected happened…the temple shifted and a wall came up that separated them. She was now alone, and her only way out was a dark tunnel leading down to her left