The nurse rushed to my IV, and the nameless monster moved out of the way. “It’s not going to knock her out, right?”
The nurse stopped what he was doing, thinking he’d made a mistake. “Is that what you wanted? I just got her something to calm the panic attack.”
“No. I just want her calm. Don’t knock her out.” He paused and looked at me. “At least not yet.”
“As you wish, sir.” He injected the liquid into my IV, and I watched it course through the clear tubing into my arm. The drug was so strong I couldn’t believe it wouldn’t knock me out. I felt it change my brain. Why had they not given me this before? I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation. My breathing calmed. Everything was fine. He’d get me out of here somehow. He was here to save me, not hurt me.Silly Magdalena.We’ll get out of here soon, and then I’ll see Daddy and Mommy.
He walked over to me. “Better?”
Oh, yes, I was so much better. I nodded.
As he removed the ball from my mouth, two men brought in a rolling table with a covered plate and a bottle of water. I hadnot eaten or drank anything since arriving here. “Water, water, please. Please. I beg you.” My voice was so scratchy that even I struggled to know what I was saying. He took the cup from the table and fed me the water with the straw.
“Magdalena, right?” he muttered after the other men and the nurse left.Why is he acting as if he doesn’t remember me when it’s clear from the way he’s looking at me that he does? That’s not my name.“Right?” he repeated.
I nodded slowly.
“You’re incredibly beautiful, in an exotic way.” He smiled, and two of his fingers caressed my cheek as his green eyes admired every corner of my face, then he wiped the tears from it. I almost told him he was attractive too. “I’ve been assigned as your trainer.” Trainer? While sitting at the edge of the bed, he brought his lips to my ear. “There are cameras everywhere. If you want to live, then you never knew me,” he whispered. “Call me Sir. You’ll be here another two days, then we’ll begin your training,” he said outloud.
“T-training?” It was freezing.
“The first thing you should learn is to not speak without my permission. The faster you learn that, the less pain you’ll have to endure.” He paused, studied my face, then pierced my eyes with his suspicious gaze. “Good job. You may speak.”
“I’m… so cold…” The longer I struggled to address him correctly, the angrier he appeared. His jaw tensed and his eyes narrowed into slits. I didn’t want to lose the only kindness I’d been granted. I would’ve given my left kidney for a thick blanket. “Sir—” I cleared my throat. “May I have a thick sheet, please?”
Ever so casually, he walked to a closet, withdrew a comforter, and returned to my side. As he spread it, warmth seeped through me. “You’re at a training center,” he explained. When he saw my confused expression, he added, “For sex slaves. I will train you and then they’ll determine if you’re good enough to be sold orthey’ll harvest your organs and kill you.” His expression softened after a few minutes of taking in the horror my eyes held.
They weren’t going to sell me as anything. After killing Mael and his brother, there was no way out of this place alive. The bitch twin had already tried to explain that to me. I wondered if he knew that and was lying to me to keep me calm. “Sir, w-what’s your name?”
“My name is Sir.”
“Oh. Of course… Sir.”
He untied me, readjusted the bed so I could sit, then pulled the rolling table and fed me hot, bland soup. The warmth of the liquid soothed my sore throat. With every spoonful, our eyes met.
His gentleness once again broke me, and my lower lip trembled. Everyone who had walked through that door came to take from me, to hurt me, but he was feeding me. I didn’t know how long it had been since I’d taken my antipsychotic meds. I didn’t want to cry again, but my emotions were raw from all the torture I had unfortunately survived. I’dalready known by what they’d done to my hands that I was in a terrible place, but anytime I had to face it again, it twisted my insides. That reality and his selfless acts were a lethal mix. I bit the inside of my lower lip to keep from crying like some little girl again.
“Don’t worry, I’ve never had a slave fail. You’ll survive,” he reassured me.
The most-innocent, vulnerable, gullible corner of my soul wanted to hug him and never let go. In this hellish place, he was the safe space for the little sanity, hope, and faith I had left in humanity. A long time ago, that had been Killian, but he was gone.
It hurt to have to really let Killian go, to replace him. A part of me did feel guilty, but I didn’t have time to feel anything. I needed someone present, and there was no one else. I pushed allthose emotions and thoughts away and silently grieved; I knew with every fiber of my being that to survive, I’d have to really let him go, not write it in my diary and forget it. No, this time, there was no going back. The moment I pushed Killian away, I’d started hating myself. Everything beautiful about me and this world left with him.
Every time I took the spoon of soup, a speck of a smile curved the corner of Sir’s lips, as if he were happy or proud of my obedience, as if each slurp was a ray of hope for him.
He gently pushed me to lean back after. My eyebrows wrinkled, not wanting to return to the state I was in before. “Shhh…. Take a deep breath for me. I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you, okay? You need to rest. I want your hands healed. You’ve done good, Little One. Now that I’ve been assigned to you, no one else will enter this room without my permission,” he explained, lowering the bed and tying me back up. “And stop trying to escape. I don’t want more bruises on your body.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Two days. Get some rest now.”
I stared into his eyes, trying to drink in as much of them as possible so I could remember them when the night terrors came. “Good night, Sir. Thank you.”
“Good night, Little One. Sweet dreams,” was the last thing he said before placing the ball back in my mouth.
I didn’t tell him how much I needed him to stay so I could feel safe and really sleep. I watched him push a button on the controller attached to my bed then the nurse came back in. “Knock her out. I need her to rest and heal as much as possible.”
At the sound of being alone and completely unconscious I rushed my breathing, shook my head then moaned several no’s. “Shh... relax. No one will come in. I promise. I’ll place a guard at the door. Okay?”
