Daisy and Boss: 23 - Barely Breathing
#25 of Daisy and Boss
Ever feel like you're on the edge of not being real? Frayed until the fabric of reality is so thin you cant be positive you're even breathing?
When Boss returned, Daisy had already climbed under the covers. Only her face peeked out. Her large honey eyes watched him as he walked around to the other side of the bed. He stood there a minute and Daisy stared at his bare shoulders, his broad heavily furred chest, her breathing tense.
"Daisy..." Boss, started, thinking to himself that there was no way this was going to work, but she stopped him with a shake of her head and pulled back the covers in an invitation. Reluctantly he climbed in and she immediately slid close and wrapped her small arms around him as far as she could reach.
"I'm so screwed up, Boss... I'm sorry..." She whispered.
"It's okay..." He hugged her back and closed his eyes. "I understand." He was surprised by her bitter chuckle when she answered.
"No, you don't..." She pulled away and pressed her palms against his shoulder, silently urging him to roll away from her and lay on his stomach. Confused, he complied. Daisy sat up, but before Boss could move she rolled to her knees and scooted close to his side. Laying on his belly like he was it made it hard to see her when she nestled into his hip and leaned over him, resting her arms along his shoulder blades and pulling the blankets up around them. After a second her fingers wove through the fur at nape of his neck, scritching lightly. He gave in and began humming in contentment, laying his head down and ceasing to crane his neck to try and catch her eyes. It was what she had been waiting for, and she started talking.
"I don't remember him taking me... All I remember was going back to the car because Mom had left her purse. At the supermarket... everyone was inside waiting in line... she handed me the keys and told me to run and grab it for her..." Daisy nibbled on her lip as the words forced themselves from her. She kept pausing as if to repress them, but they emerged anyway. Stubbornly. Her fingers paused in their gentle scratching, and Boss turned his head in her direction.
"You don't have to tell me if it's too hard." He whispered. She shook her head. No, she did have to tell him. She needed to tell Boss how she had lost everything.
She continued.
** "I woke up on a floor... and my head hurt. My stomach felt sick... I didn't know where I was." She murmured, and Boss listened silently, her voice coming from somewhere over his shoulder. "It was a warehouse, but I didn't know that at first. There was only one light, way up high, so it was pretty dark. All I could see was a big metal door... you know the ones that... slide sideways? And a workbench, one of the really heavy wooden ones.... And... And a big chest freezer... s-sitting next to the workbench..." Daisy's voice got very tiny, and her fingers stopped petting him. He could feel the tremble in her body race through where they touched, and he raised up on his elbows, a whine rising in his throat.**
"Daisy, you-"
"It's okay..." Daisy stopped him. "I want to tell you..." She pushed gently at his shoulder and he relented, lying back down. "I just can't... do it if you look at me, okay? I'll just start to cry if you look at me."
"Okay." Boss nodded reluctantly, and closed his eyes as Daisy told her tale.
When she had first woken, she had groggily tried to open the door, and finding it locked from the outside, had explored the room with a rising sense of fear. The whole room stunk of blood and other disturbing things Daisy's inexperienced mind couldn't identify. A stained mattress lay on the floor in one corner and up on the wall overlooking the dingy bed was a surveillance camera with a little red light that blinked at her.
*"Hello!?" Daisy had called out, wondering if the camera had sound too. "Can anyone hear me?" She bleated. "Where am I!?" The cameras red light continued to blink without reaction, and there were no sounds outside of the door. Daisy went back over to the door anyway and pulled on it again, harder, trying both directions. It wouldn't budge but there was a small amount of light sneaking in around the edges and along the bottom where the rollers were. Daisy lay down on the concrete floor and tried to peer under the door, but her horns made it hard to get her head flat on the floor and after a little bit of shuffling and scraping around, she gave up and stood. *
"What's going on?" She whispered, and her eyes settled on the freezer sitting next to the workbench. Daisy walked over to it and stared down at the dingy thing as it hummed quietly. It gave her a bad feeling, but almost without thinking about it she reached out and lifted the heavy lid. And screamed.
Daisy scrambled backwards away from the freezer, tripping and landing hard on her butt several feet back. She didn't stop there, scooting rapidly back until the hard metal of the opposite wall stopped her from retreating further. Her eyes fixed in horror at the freezer. Its lid had flipped back against the wall and a weak glow came from the inside light. Vapor slipping over the edges like a transparent fog as the cold air escaped and mingled with the air in the room. And inside the freezer were packages of meat, wrapped in cellophane, neatly stacked... and on top of the stack was the severed head of a white rabbit girl resting on a green platter. Her eyes were open, a clouded over shade of strawberry cream, her face frozen in an expression of anguish.
"Isis Campbell." Boss breathed, interrupting her as Daisy recounted the horror of finding the body in the freezer. Daisy jerked against him at the sound of his voice, and was silent for a moment, stunned.
".....I.... I never knew her name."
"She went missing about three weeks before you did." Boss remembered. "A high school student, her body was never recovered."
"No... I imagine it wasn't... after all..." Daisy's eyes were wide and blank when Boss caught sight of them over his shoulder. She was caught in the memory. "He made me watch him eat a piece of her... every day for lunch..."
It took Daisy a long time to work up the courage to go close the freezer. She finally managed to do it, her breathing ragged and her fingers trembling as she fumbled for the lid with her eyes averted from the dead rabbit's stare. Almost before the lid slammed down with a bang, she was back clawing at the unyielding door. Her mind was in a panicked jumble, tugging at it until the tips of her fingers were raw and she slid to the floor in despair. She didn't know how long she lay there in the semi darkness listening to the hum of the freezer that she couldn't block out of her head. She knew it was a long time, because she began to get very thirsty. She got up and made countless laps around the room, skirting the workbench, the freezer, and the mattress in the opposite corner. The walls were mostly unlit and unbroken by doors or spaces. The corrugated steel rough and cold to the touch. Her hands were bleeding in several spots by the time she gave up and returned to a patch of floor next to the door, not sure what to do next, or what to expect. Theory's raced through her mind, each more horrible than the last. There was nothing she could have imagined that would have come close to what actually happened next, however.
She was startled to her feet by the sounds of someone approaching. Chains rattled and were pulled from the outside of the door as Daisy backed away, trembling. For a moment, she felt hope blossom, hope that whoever was opening the door was there to help her, to take her home. But the second the door slid noisily aside, she knew it wasn't true, and terror made her knees wobble. Standing backlit in the doorway, was a figure, black as a shadow. She squinted and could just make out the blue eyes fixed on her and the twisted smile, a sickening cold smile full of horrible promises.
"Let me out... I want to go home..." Daisy managed quietly as the moment dragged on without the dark stranger saying anything. A chuckle rumbled out of the blue eyed figure and then he moved, but it was not to let her out. He stepped in and turned, shutting the door and latching it in a fashion that Daisy couldn't see as they were both submerged in the gloom. He spoke over his shoulder and the little goat girl felt her throat constrict at the sound of his voice.
"Oh, Sugar... That's not how this works..."
"Who are you!? Why are you doing this?!" Daisy moved back to the far corner as he turned and advanced on her. As he stepped into the circle of dim light, no longer silhouetted by the brighter lights outside the room, Daisy could see it was a wolf, pure black pelt broken only be frosted highlights around his head. He was lean and predatory in his approach and Daisy found herself backed into the corner until she was standing on the dirty mattress, her eyes darting around wildly searching for escape.
"Why?" He chuckled low, hovering over her, those blue eyes wandering with unsavory hunger all over her. "Because I can."
Stunned, Daisy didn't dodge fast enough when his paws flashed out, and she shrieked as his claws snagged her about the waist and dragged her in to press her close. His hot excited breath puffing in her face as she struggled wildy to try and break free. He was too strong, and no matter what she tried, his callous touch was suddenly everywhere and her clothes were torn from her in bruising strips. The sound of tearing material filling her ears with a sharper sense of panic than she knew was possible. She kicked out and managed to land a glancing blow to one of his shins with her pointed hoof, making him snarl and dig his claws deep into her soft flesh. Fangs flashed in the gloom and Daisy bleated harshly as she was bitten, once quickly on the neck. Part of her ear was caught in the snatching bite as well, and blood droplets flecked the wall to join a myriad of old stains.
"Spirited, aren't we?!" The wolf grinned, showing her his bloodied teeth as the doe gasped in shock and pain, feeling wet heat start to trickle through the fur at her throat. She found herself shoved roughly down onto the mattress and the wolf's body was a suffocating weight over her. His musk choked her nostrils and she wiggled frantically, twisting in a futile effort to dislodge him from on top of her. His growl vibrated through her palms when she pushed at his chest. It was her only warning as his teeth came down again, digging viciously into the curve of her young breast, making her scream in agony as his sharp teeth punctured deep. She almost didn't register that he was forcing her legs open, the pain was so bright in her mind as he worked his fangs against her tender flesh.
Boss growled and Daisy jumped, her nerves on a razor edge. Immediately, he stopped, and turned his eyes back towards her apologetically.
*"Sorry, Daisy..." *
She lowered her head and pressed her face into his shoulder.
** "That... that first night was the worst. You said, that my scars remind you of how strong and brave I am, but every time I look at them I'm reminded of how I was weak. How I couldn't stop him from... from doing what he wanted with me." She whispered. Boss said nothing, but he couldn't lay still any longer. Despite her protest he rolled to his back and wrapped his arms around her petite body, tucking her in under his arm. After a tense second or two, Daisy seemed to relax and lay her head on his shoulder.**
"I had never... That was the first time... you know..." She struggled. Boss felt sick to his stomach when he realized what she was saying.
"You were a virgin." He whispered. The doe was slow to respond, but her silence was telling all the same.
"I remember laying there when he was done, wondering why I was still breathing... wondering why I wasn't dead. I hurt so much I didn't think I could survive it, but I just kept breathing anyway, Boss..."
Hours had stretched into days in that cold room in the warehouse. Whenever the fancy took him, Julian would have her, and he would play mind games and hurt her in new and horrifying ways each time. Sometimes quick, sharp nips that bruised, and other times slow deliberate punctures as he forced his flesh into hers. Sometimes he would talk to her, and call her filthy names, other times he would tell her how good she was being. Afterwards he would always pull himself free and settle down for a snack from the freezer. He would set the package out to thaw at the start of his visit, or sometimes chew the strips frozen. And always he dragged Daisy over to sit in his lap or kneel at his feet while he fed pieces of raw bloody flesh into his muzzle. Closing her eyes or looking away would earn her punishment, and nearly always he would pull the platter with the head out and set it nearby as if to taunt her with her inevitable fate. He occasionally left water that she would choke down eagerly after he left, but not food. Daisy lost track of her hunger, and the gnawing cramps in her belly soon turned into a steady ache, accompanied with chills that made her shiver constantly. She lost track of the days, the time, the universe. Her world was pain. She grew weaker. She stopped trying to run from him when he visited. On one visit he brought with him a large loaf of bread and her stomach stuttered at the sight, reviving itself in the hopes of nourishment. She crawled on hands and knees towards the black wolf with the loaf of bread and her hazy mind barely registered his chuckled words.
"Don't want you dying just yet, Daisy... But you're going to have to earn it."
"Please..." Daisy rasped, hollow haunted eyes gazing up at the food. She didn't even look away from the food when she heard the sound of his belt buckle being unfastened. Her focus was on the food until out of nowhere his rough grip on her horns brought her back to the present. She whimpered when he twisted her head cruelly and lay his firming erection along the side of her muzzle.
"Lets see what you can do with this mouth of yours..."
Daisy stopped talking and Boss could feel something tickling the fur where her head rested on his chest, eventually they soaked in and Boss realized Daisy was crying silently as the hot moisture made its way through his thick coat.
"How did you get away?" He asked gruffly, tucking her tighter against himself in a hug that said more than 'I'm sorry'. Her choked bleat of laughter sounded forced, but she continued.
"It was a fluke. I wasn't trying to get away any more; I did whatever he wanted me to do. For bread, for water, to avoid pain... But I knew I was dead... I had said goodbye to everyone in the darkness while I was by myself. Part of me was happy...."
"Happy?" Boss asked, confused. Daisy nodded into his chest.
"Yes. I remember thinking, that it would be nice to see Dahlia again. And that I really didn't deserve to be alive while she was dead, anyway." Daisy's voice dropped to a miserable whisper. "I was never the special one... It should have been me."
"That's not true."
"You didn't know Dahlia." Was the doe's bland reply. "You know how I got out?" She sighed. Boss shook his head, and she felt rather than heard the small negative response. Daisy closed her eyes as the memory.
"That last day he had been drinking. He beat me, raped me, and fell asleep, drunk.... And forgot to close the door. I wandered around the room, trying to figure out if he had brought any food with him that time, I stumbled past the open door I don't know how many times before I realized it was open. Boss... I just walked away from that place and somehow ended up down at the river's edge. And I have no idea how I got there. Someone called the police to report a dead body, they found me, laying in some tall grass, practically brain dead. I couldn't even tell them my name. I was a Jane Doe for twenty four hours before they connected me to a missing fur report."
"I read the report... but I still can't imagine." Boss murmured.
"I try not to. Sometimes the memories... they swell up and try to drown me. For no reason at all I'll be scared, stuck re-living something awful. I try not to but it's there."
*"But you survived." Boss nuzzled at her head and inhaled her wonderful earthy alive scent. It was a scent he was beginning to be addicted to. *
"Not really." Boss' eyes snapped open at this and his breath caught as she turned her head so she could look up at him with her honey gold eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"Julian Wilderson didn't get to chop me up and put me in his freezer for sandwiches... but he killed me Boss. He still killed me."
"Nope... I can see you breathing." Boss said, gazing down at her, trying to make her smile. And she did, but it was so sad it nearly broke his heart.
"Just barely, Boss... Only just barely."