Angel’s bliss

Ava parked her car and got out. She couldn’t help but yawn as she got the groceries out. After working since seven am, and it now being well past ten in the evening, she was exhausted. The hospital was short-staffed when it came to nurses, and she had agreed to stay and work an extra shift. They needed the extra money and Ava always felt bad for her colleagues if she didn’t help out. It wasn’t like she had kids or a husband waiting for her at home.

She looked at the house, it was strangely dark tonight. Her aunt and uncle usually would be sitting in the tv-room, watching one of their shows, by now. But there was no flickering light coming from the window. Maybe they had gone out. Sometimes uncle Jonas took aunt Laura out for the evening. Ava didn’t like when the two of them went out. They usually came home in the middle of the night drunk and loud. Aunt Laura was an honest drunk and would not shy away from telling Ava what she needed to change about herself. Weight being on top of her aunt’s list, closely followed by helping out more around the house. Ava didn’t think she was that overweight, and she did her best to help out. But her aunts words always seemed to find her weak spots.

Ava sighed and started up the three steps that led up to the front porch. They needed to be replaced, the first step flexed as she put her weight on it and gave off a moaning sound.

Ava did the maths in her head, she wouldn’t be able to afford a handyman to come out. But maybe she could use her day off and get the materials and do it herself. She was sure she could find a tutorial on the internet that showed her how to do it. She got her keys out to unlock the front door but found it to already be unlocked. Ava frowned, had her uncle and aunt not locked it before they left? She stepped into the dark hallway and switched on the light. Nothing looked out of place. She walked into the living room and dropped the bags she had been carrying as she saw her aunt and uncle lying on the carpeted floor, tied up. It took Ava’s brain a second to register what was happening. But when it did, she rushed forward towards her relatives. As she got closer she could see their injuries in the dim light of the lamp in the hallway. Her aunt had a split lip and was tied and gagged. Her uncle was more black and blue than skin-coloured and he was out cold. Blood oozed from several wounds on his face and his nose and mouth.

“Aunt Laura, what happened?” Ava asked as she started working on loosening her aunt’s gag.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, poppet,” a coarse voice said from behind Ava. Ava jumped in shock, but before she could do something, someone grabbed her by her ponytail and yanked her back. Ava cried out from the pain and the terror that now coursed through her system. She tried to grab the hand that was holding her to get it to let go. What is going on? She thought as she tried to break free.

“Now, now, don’t be a stupid bitch,” a second voice told her. She turned her head and looked up at a rough-looking man. He was skinny but looked like he could handle himself in a fight. He had cold eyes that looked down on her without an ounce of remorse or pity.

“Please, what do you want?” Ava shouted at him. He backhanded her over her mouth and Ava could feel the taste of copper in her mouth.

“Shut up and do as your told, bitch,” the man snapped at her. She heard a laugh coming from the man behind her, holding her hair. She couldn’t see him. Ava was yanked to her feet and the man behind her grabbed her wrist and twisted it up behind her back. She cried out in pain as she felt her shoulder straining.

“Fucking whining bitch, can’t even stand a little pain. We’ll see how long that lasts,” the man that was now in front how her laughed. He was short, Ava realised as he barely came up to her nose. She looked down at him and felt pure fear as she met his eyes. She was in big trouble, and she knew it. What she didn’t know was why.

“Please, we don’t have much, but I can show you where the silver is, and I have some jewellery you can have. Just don’t hurt us,” Ava tried pleading. Her attempt was rewarded by another backhand.

“I told you to shut up. Fucking bitch, we don’t want your tacky jewellery or fucking silver,” he hissed at her. Ava let out a sob. Her left cheek was on fire and was starting to swell up, her lip was split, and she was beginning to fear for her life. If they didn’t want their valuables, what did they want?

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” the voice behind her said. Ava felt a wave of relief wash over her, they were going to leave. When they left, she could untie her uncle and aunt and get her uncle to the hospital. The short man shrugged and started to walk toward the door to the garage. Ava’s relief was short-lived as she felt the man behind her drag her in the same direction.

“W-what are you doing?” she desperately asked. There was a burst of cold laughter coming from hind her.

“You didn’t think that we would leave a poppet like you behind, did you?” A voice whispered in her ear. Ava could feel the wet breath against her skin, and she shivered in revolution.

“Please, don’t take me. Please, please,” she begged and started struggling against the man who was pushing her forward.

“Stop that or I’ll let my friend fuck you in front of your aunt and uncle,” the voice behind her said. Ava stopped struggling as her insides turned to ice. “That got your attention didn’t it?” he chuckled. “Don’t tell me you are a virgin, not with a fuckable ass like yours,” he said, using his free hand to grab and squeeze her ass. Ava was a virgin, but there was no way she would admit it to the man. She just shook her head. “Didn’t think so. My friend wouldn’t mind giving you a quick fuck to shut you up. Me, I’m not into that. No, I would want to get you somewhere private, far from nosy ears. The things I would do to you with my knife, you would be a piece of art when I was done,” he told her in a whisper. Ava’s heart was beating like the wings of a hummingbird at the same time as her body felt cold. Her mind had turned into a black hole of nothing. Pure fear was running through her veins. As the man was pushing her through the door to the garage, she hooked her legs through the banister of the three steps leading down. She wrapped them tightly around one of the posts and refused to let go when the man tugged on her arm. “Let go,” he growled. Ava shook her head and clung to the banister, her life depended on it. In the corner of her eye, she saw the short man walking over to them. She heard something clicking and felt cold metal against her temple.

“Let the fuck go, or I will put a bullet in your fucking brain,” the short man told her in a low voice. For a moment, Ava considered letting him pull the trigger. Whatever they were planning on doing to her once they left the house, she knew it wouldn’t be anything nice. Would it be better to die? But she changed her mind. No matter what, life was better than death. And maybe if they took her somewhere else, she could get help from someone. There was no hope in death, only life offered that. Ava let her legs go limp and when the two men dragged her away to the big, black SUV, she started sobbing. The man behind her took her other hand and pulled it behind her back as well. She felt and heard zip ties go around her wrists and tighten.

the short man pulled open the back door and she was shoved inside, laying on her stomach across the seat. Someone grabbed her legs, bent them, and fastened zip ties around her ankles before closing the door. Ava was laying, face down, with tears streaming down her face. She felt the set getting wet as she continued sobbing. “Stop that. That crying shit is fucking annoying,” the short man said. He had got into the front seat and the other man sat down in the driver’s seat. From what Ava could see, he was a large man with muscles that bulged under his black t-shirt. He was bald and the skin that stretched over his muscles was covered in colourful tattoos.

Ava tried to stop her sobbing. She couldn’t stop the tears or the fear, but she continued crying in silence. The men had opened the garage door and they were now backing out, avoiding hitting her car, and started driving down the road. Ava was left with her fear and a pit in her stomach as she wondered where they were taking her.

They drove for what felt like hours to Ava. But as they never left the city it felt unlikely. At some point, her tears stopped, not because she had resigned to her faith but out of sheer exhaustion.

She had been tired when she arrived home, and now as the adrenaline started to wear off, she was left feeling like a balloon that had lost its air, empty and deflated. Her two captors hadn’t sad a word since they had left her house. In her mind she had dubbed the short one Mr Tiny and the other Mr Muscle. It made the situation feel less intimidating. T was just a coping mechanism, but t served her well.

The car slow down. From Ava’s point of view, it was hard to see anything other than the top of the buildings and the night sky. But she could hear the steady beat of club music and the occasional shout from people. Ava perked up, if there were people around, she could be rescued. She had a firm belief in the inherent goodness in people. You would think after three years working in the E.R, her rather naive worldview would have faded. But she found examples every day of the good people did for each other. She, therefore, was convinced if she only could let the people outside the car know she needed help, they would provide that help. She just needed to figure out how to let them know she was there. As she was thinking, the car pulled in to what looked to be an alley, judging by how close the walls of the buildings were on each side of the car. Mr Shorty turned around and gave her an intense look. Ava would rather not think about what was in that look.

“You better be quiet, bitch, if you know what is good for you. If you try to scream and someone comes over to check on you. I will put a bullet in them. Do I make myself clear?” he asked. Ava felt herself go pale. There went her plan right out the window. She would never endanger another human being like that. She nodded. “Looks like the bitch finally understood she shouldn’t speak,” Mr Shorty laughed to his friend. Mr Muscles chuckled as both of them got out of the car. Ava tensed up and she felt the adrenaline kick back in as the back door opened. Someone cut the zip ties from her ankles and hauled her up and to her feet. Her legs felt stiff after being folded into an uncomfortable position for so long. No one cared as Mr Muscle pushed her forward, her hands still tied. They were indeed in an ally, Ava noticed. It was wide enough for the car, but not much else. Further down there were a couple of dumpsters and three flickering lamps on the side of one of the buildings that provided some light. They were headed toward a green steel door, the only door in sight.

Mr Tiny knocked on the door, and after a moment it was opened by a blond man in a dark blue suit. He looked like he came right out of a board meeting. Even through the fear and panic, Ava could see he was a mouth-watering man. The kind of man that made women go crazy. He looked at her, without meeting her eyes and one of his eyebrows shut up.

“I thought you two went out on a collection round,” he said in a cool voice. Ava wanted to plead for him to help, to not let the other two men take her away. But he seemed to know them, she had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t help her.

“Does it look like we come back empty-handed?” Mr Tiny told the blond hunk. The blond man looked down at Mr Tiny, Mr Tiny didn’t even reach to the blond man’s shoulders. The blond god looked at Mr Tiny for a long while, all that could be heard was the steady beat of the music coming from the building.

“Take her to the counting room,” the blond man said, and Ava felt all hope die. Mr Tiny and Mr Muscles grinned, and pushed Ava through the door and into a long, white corridor with doors on both sides. “Untie her hands and wait for me,” the blond man said as they stopped in front of a door. He took out a security card and held it up to a reader by the door and entered a number sequence. The lock clicked and Mr Tiny pushed it open. Ava was roughly escorted into the room and the door closed behind them with a thud. To Ava, the sound was the final seal of her faith. She had no chances left to escape. Mr Muscle took out a knife and Ava jumped. He chuckled and cut off the restraints around her wrists. Ava brought her arms forward, rubbing her wrists and starting to feel the blood flow being restored to her arms. Her right shoulder, the arm that Mr Muscle had wrung behind her back, ached. She didn’t think it was badly injured, maybe a small tear in the muscle tissue or a stretched-out ligaments. As Ava rubbed her wrists, she started backing up, making sure she had an eye on both men. They were watching her as the back of her legs hit the table that was standing in the middle of the room. Ava carefully followed the shape of the table, never looking away from Mr Muscle or Mr Tiny. The blond god had not joined them in the room. She got to the edge of the table and started backing up again, putting the table between her and the two men.

“Come on now, poppet. No need to be scared of us,” Mr Muscle grinned. If Ava wasn’t already scared beyond her mind, that grin would have scared her senseless.

“Yeah, bitch, we are nice,” Mr Tiny agreed.

“Stay away,” Ava told them with a clear wobble to her voice.

“The little bitch has found her voice again,” the short man taunted.

“Stay away, don’t come near me,” Ava repeated, desperately.

“But we need to test the merchandise,” he told her with a broad grin.

“W-what merchandise?” Ava asked and looked around to see what she could use to fend for herself. The room was empty besides the table in the middle. On top of the table, there were a couple of pencils, a bill counter, and a stapler. Ava hated her life at that moment.

“You, you are the merchandise, poppet,” Mr Muscle informed her.

“Are you crazy? I’m a person not a thing,” she screamed at them.

“Bitch, you are a person that we will sell to other persons. You will make them enjoy themselves for a while and then it will be the next person’s turn,” Mr Tiny told her. “But first I need to sample you, we need to know what price to set,” he grinned and started moving towards her. Ava had moved beyond panicked at this point. They were going to sell her body to men to have s*x with? The thought of it made her sick to her stomach and cold out of fear. No, she couldn’t let that happen. She needed to do something, anything. Ava could not let that vile human who was moving toward her rape her. He was revolting and cruel and she hadn’t waited for the right man to have s*x with for him to be her first. She recognised she there wasn’t much she could do. But she needed to try. Something snapped in her, and she picked up the bill counter from the table and hurled it at Mr Tiny.