No Man Left Behind: A Veteran Inspired Charity Anthology by Elizabeth Knox (black authors fiction TXT) 📕

The timber in his voice was dark and deadly and I felt the goosebumps on my skin as the sound of flesh hitting flesh filtered into my small bedroom. My head swayed as I forced my eyes open, blinking as the harsh sounds filled my room. Someone had shoved my twin bed against the far wall and as my blurry vision started to clear, I could hear my mother’s sobs.

“You promised you would care for her, to protect her, and love her. And what did you two do? You neglected her, you beat her, and you starved her.” The stranger's voice sounded hollow and deadly as he questioned her.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

“You were paid well to take care of her, and you failed. How could you do that to her?” I felt my heavy legs begin to move, the pinpricks of feeling starting to ease down my limbs, causing me to twitch with pain. The bed squeaked, and I forced my limbs to still, afraid whoever was causing all the commotion would come to see if I was awake.

“Please. We never wanted this. Never wanted her.” Her cries echoed into my bare room, and I felt the last little piece of my heart shatter. I was aware they never wanted me, but to hear someone had paid them to take care of me and that they didn’t care enough to even try, had tears falling down my cheeks, soaking the pillow under my head. “We were forced to take her, and she’s nothing but a little whore. Strutting around the house, trying to catch his eye. She is a dirty slut who deserves . . .”

Her scream pierced the last of the fog I was trapped in as Roger’s grunts sounded over the attacker’s roar. Sally pleaded and begged for the man to stop and finally, the thuds ceased, and the only sounds were heavy breathing and her broken sobs.

The rusty bed frame groaned slightly as I moved, trying to get the blood back into my limbs. My head was swimming and my vision was hazy from the drugs they had forced on me, but I needed to see whoever was causing my tormentors pain. I needed to know who was avenging me, the unwanted girl.

I tried to lower my arms but found they had been bound to the bed with soft silk. My heart thumped loudly in my chest as the drug fog threatened to take me under again. The low voice of the unknown man drifted through the room, but my brain was too hazy to understand the words he was uttering to my ‘mother’.

Fuck her and her bastard husband for what they had put me through. I hope, whoever he was, he made them suffer. I hoped it was painful and drawn out before they met their makers. The fresh pain of their abuse was clear on my emaciated body. I should have forgiveness for them but having spent a life unloved and unwanted, I had hardened the last of my heart to survive.

“You want me to do what?” she screeched and my head snapped to the door at the fear coming from her.

“You heard me you stupid bitch. Either you do it or I will, and I promise I won’t be merciful. I promise to make you suffer for everything you did to her. Now choose,” he yelled, and I tried to draw myself into a tight ball on my bed.

I was covered with a light sheet and there was slack in my restraints, but not enough for me to free myself. I was stuck between nightmares with no place to go, forced to be the silent witness to whatever danger Roger and Sally had brought to themselves. I silently prayed that sleep would take me back under to avoid whatever fate awaited me, but with each passing second, I became more alert.

The cocking of a gun stilled me in my bed and my body trembled. Was I going to be next after he was finished with them? Was tonight the night I would finally die in the hell I had existed in for so long?

“CHOOSE!” the man bellowed, and I turned my head into the pillow, hoping to silence the begging and pleading coming from Sally.

“I-I-I c-c-can’t,” she cried, and the gunshot echoed into the room, making me jump as my ears rang, muffling the screams coming from Roger.

“You killed her you son of a bitch,” Roger wheezed out with a cough and the anger and terror in his voice scared me to my core. “How could you kill her? After everything we did for Elise. For you!”

“You did nothing for her, you selfish bastard. You lied to me and I warned you to never try to double cross me. I thought out of everyone, I could trust you to keep your word. You’re a depraved man, Roger. Too bad Sally beat you before she killed you. Sad, she felt the only way out was suicide.”

“Please, don’t. Don’t!” Roger screamed as the gun sounded again.

The silence stretched out, and I was shivering from panic as the door opened. Slamming my eyes shut, I hoped it would be over soon and I could finally be free from the horrors my life had been. He walked slowly across the room and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t hide the trembling.

The bed dipped as he sat next to me and I squeezed my eyes closed and waited. Softly, a hand brushed the hair off my face and with a gentle stroke, he ran his finger down my cheek. He leaned in and whispered into my ear, “You’re safe now. They can’t hurt you anymore.”

My eyes opened slowly, and the bright lights shining through the door shadowed him. I could tell he was a large man and the only thing I could make out was his jet-black hair that framed his face. His intoxicating scent enveloped me; a woodsy scent mixed with the bitter smell