Chapter 40

Rebecca woke to the incessant sound of a dull and monotonous beating drum only to realize that the sound came from her own head. Her head felt strangely heavy, as was her body. It felt as if she was moving underwater. She blinked but could see nothing. Everything was pitch black. It was then she began to register the fact that she was blindfolded, gagged, and tied up.

What happened? Where am I?

Then her memories came rushing back in a tidal wave, from the moment when Thomas Silverman stepped into her apartment to the last second before she lost consciousness. Her hands were bounded tightly together to her feet by what felt like nylon rope, making her body arch back in the shape of an inverted ‘C’. The positioning of her body made her chest stick out awkwardly, causing her to feel extremely exposed and vulnerable, She had nothing on but a t-shirt and an extremely short pair of pants. She was on an extremely cold and damp floor too and it was giving her the chills, making her cough into her gag.

All around her was the pungent smell of a damp and musky odor, it was as if the room she was in had been flooded once without ever getting the chance to dry up.

Her head hurt from the blow Thomas Silverman had landed on her earlier, but otherwise, she felt fine. Except for the tightness in her chest. She could feel her asthma acting up again. She strained against her binds but found it to be useless. The more she moved, the more she could feel the knots cut into her skin.

“Mpphhhh! Mpphhhhh!” she tried to call out before a spasm of cough took over.

“My my, sleeping beauty awakes.” An unsympathetic voice called out from nearby.

At the sound of the voice, Rebecca froze. It was Thomas Silverman.

Rebecca recoiled, hoping to be able to get as far away as she could from her preparator.

She could hear a slight high pitched metallic screech; a metal chair being pushed aside perhaps? Or was he dragging a metal bar across the floor? Then ominous sound of footsteps came closer and closer as her heart raced faster and faster.

Rebecca coughed into ger gag again, finding it extremely hard to catch her breath.

A rough hand grabbed her by her hair, pulling her face up.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Thomas whispered into her ear menacingly as his other hand trailed down her neck and onto her collarbone, lingering much too long at her bustline. Her body-hugging t-shirt did nothing to protect her.

Rebecca squirmed both in disgust and fear, “Hmmmphhhhhh! MMMMMMPH!!!”

The hand yanked at her head again, “Shhh…..I don’t like loud noises.”

She could feel him breathing down her throat even as her chest heaved for air when suddenly, Thomas pulled the gag from her mouth.

“Let me g…” before she could even finish her sentence, his mouth clamped over hers, forcing his tongue deep into her throat.

No….please no.

Rebecca had never felt anything viler enter her mouth. Every part of him felt repulsive to the point that she felt like vomiting. A part of her wanted to cry and beg for mercy but as Thomas’ hand started to roam her body, she bit into his tongue with all her might, drawing blood.

She would rather die fighting than be claimed by this filthy man. 

Thomas immediately pulled back and screamed, “BITCH!!”

Guess he’s fine with loud noises after all.

For a moment he let go of her and she spat out the mixture of saliva and blood in her mouth only to hear him dragging something across the cold damp concrete floor, It was the screeching metallic sound again.

I’m going to die.

And then came the pain. Rebecca had never experienced pain as excruciating as that before. Thomas struck her in the abdomen with a metal rod and she could feel her stomach on fire. The agony was more than she could bear, and she screamed, only to have him hit her again and again. 

***

Mrs. Silverman stood outside the white closet door of the Silverman mansion with a hand over her chest. All the housemaids had been sent to their quarters and no one save herself was left standing in the room. William had called her earlier to plead with her. They had been trying to cover up for his twin’s misdeeds but now Thomas had gone too far.

He will listen to me, she thought.

She inserted a key into the keyhole and unlocked it, opening the closet door to reveal a hidden spiral staircase that went all the way down to the basement. A whiff of cold musty air penetrated her nose as she opened the door to a squeak. The Silverman ancestors had specifically built the basement as a bomb shelter many decades back before the World War.

The basement had largely remained unused after the war and even Silverman senior had forgotten about his. But Mrs. Silverman had turned it into a ‘good’ place, for down in the basement, she had disciplined her son, Thomas Silverman for having been such a ‘bad little boy’.

Oh, how naughty he was as a baby, he would cry all through the night even after the wet nurse had fed him. It got to a point where she had to keep him quiet so that everyone else could get a good rest. The basement was where she would teach him to behave and not cry for milk.

She couldn’t have a Silverman growing up to be a whiny man, so she had decided to ‘train’ him, away from the eyes of the world. In the basement, she had locked him in whenever he ‘misbehaved’. And as he grew, it was where she had hidden him from the world when she felt the world was too dangerous a place for such a frail young man like him.

I protected him. I nurtured him. I gave him everything and this is how he returns my love?!

Down below she could hear muffled screams.

She closed the door behind her and began her descent into darkness.