Lisa Ch. 01: The Escape

"Maybe spending the day in the corner will do her some good, " Riley said. He knew that she hated that corner, and being so sore, hanging from a hook all day would teach her not to provoke Angus anymore.

Jim was about to argue, but once Riley had spoken, Jessica's usual anger and defiance returned to her face. He felt relief, but only momentarily. How long would it be before they really broke her ... and then what. He had to find a way to broker a truce with Jessica. He looked at Scott and Josh. They sat watching Jessica and it was obvious from their expressions that they felt sorry for her. They would never intervene on her behalf ... Jim had never either, but with a little prompting, they would. With them on Jessica's side, Riley and Angus would follow, he was sure of it.

"Maybe she should be naked in the corner ... " Angus added, and laughed when Jessica scrambled to her feet, prepared to fight off any advances.

"Jesus Angus!" Josh muttered. Angus was always threatening to make her walk around naked. It was little wonder Jessica went out of her way to break Angus' nose whenever she could.

"You willing to try and undress her?" Scott asked not interested in going into battle with her himself at the moment.

"Sounds like a challenge," Angus said stepping toward Jessica.

"The corner will do, "Riley interrupted.

"Come on Princess," Angus said tugging on her leash. Jessica leaned back against the harness and dug in her heels.

"I'll do it," Jim said to Angus while holding his hand out for the leash, "have some breakfast."

Angus hesitated not sure that he wanted to pass on the opportunity to show Jessica who was boss. But hell, he'd done nothing but that the night before.

"Knock yourself out Jimbo," Angus said handing the leash to Jim, "watch your nose though, she's fast with her head."

Jim took the leash.

"Have fun, hanging around," Angus said to Jessica as he passed her on his way to the kitchen.

Scott and Josh put their dishes on the counter and headed out the front door to begin feeding the horses. Neither one of them could look at Jessica. Jessica had spat at them plenty of times and she'd never ended up looking like that. Angus was a hard man, that was not news to them, but ever since Jessica had come into their lives they had seen first hand just how brutal he could actually be. At a not so deep level, Angus scared the crap out of them. They couldn't believe that Jessica persistently challenged him like she did. In her attempts to escape, Jessica was as equally brutal as Angus. And though they'd never admit it, they were afraid of her too.

"You gonna watch over her?" Riley asked Jim.

"Yup." Jim replied.

"Alright, I've got business in town. When you're done hanging her up, can you check out my rifle? Something seems off. " Riley asked.

"Sure," Jim said. "Delivering those pups?" he asked.

Riley nodded. "I won't be long."

The men all had specific responsibilities within the group, some of which involved contact with outsiders. They used assumed names and the contact was little more than pick-ups and drop-offs, but it was something that helped ease the isolation. Jim and Josh help Scott break-in and breed horses, using their horse trailer to haul prize studs to clients' ranches. Jim was in charge of keeping their weapons cleaned and serviced.

Riley trains dogs for the clan, and anyone else that needed guard, attack, or fighting dogs. He had twenty kennels, five of which were filled with their own dogs, ten of which Riley usually filled with the dogs he was training, and five he kept as spares. They had a bitch at the moment, who had just had four to five pups. He was going to drop them off at the buyers' homes. They certainly couldn't come and pick them up.

Angus, was the group's mechanic and handyman. He kept their cars running, overhauled old cars to replenish their needs, or those of the clan. Often if one of the other cells had a car problem, Angus would pick up the vehicle and bring it back to their house for maintenance. He refitted one of the five barns they had into a garage. And if anything ever broke, Angus was the one to fix it. Since the time that the men had attacked Jessica's family and chosen to keep Jessica, they lived together, alone, with her. Their contact with the outside world was limited to them going out into it. No one from the outside was ever permitted to come to them. Not even others in the clan. To ensure this, they chose to live in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town was one hundred miles away.

Jim began to roll the leash over his hand, moving closer to Jessica as he did.

Jessica twisted her body, fruitlessly trying to twist her way out of the harness that tied her to the leash.

"You hate this thing, don't you?" Jim asked letting the leash sag between them. "If you don't want me to drag you by it, you're going to have to walk over to the corner."

Jim took a step past her in the direction of the corner with the hook in the ceiling. She didn't move.

"One way or another, you're going to hang from that hook Jessica," Jim said, she cringed at the name he'd used. "You can avoid the humiliation of me dragging you by the leash. I'm counting to three ... one, two ... "

Jessica began to move toward the corner. Once there Jimmy pulled a set of handcuffs from his pocket. "Put your hands out," Jim said. Jessica didn't move. Well, he supposed that was too much to ask for.

"Need some help there Jimboy?" Angus demanded from the dining room table.

Jessica tensed, and stuck her hands out before her.

"Didn't think so," Angus added as Jim cuffed her wrists. Raising her hands above her head, he lifted her up and hooked the cuffs to the hook. Jim stepped back, and Jessica dangled from the hook. She grunted, but stubbornly refused to cry out. Looking over his shoulder, Jim saw that Angus had turned his attention from them, to his food. Jim leaned closer to Jessica and whispered,

"If you hate the leash and harness so much, why don't you do something to get out of them?" Jessica looked startled. "If you stop making us use them to drag you from place to place ... stay where we put you, I think I can convince the others to remove them. But it's up to you. Think about it." And Jim walked away. He dropped onto the sofa, picked up the book he'd been reading earlier, and began to read.

Jessica felt a searing, burning pain shooting through her arms, her back. As was her usual tactic, she searched for something to think about that would distract her from the pain. Jim's suggestion about the leash and harness was just the thing to do it.

She never knew quite how to take him. He'd never touched her sexually, but then, neither had Riley. But there was something else. He was always whispering to her, suggesting ways that she could possibly be happier ... or depending on how you looked at it, ways that she could submit to them. She did hate that damn harness and leash though. Long before the sexual abuse, this had been her first devastating humiliation. It was true that by going where these men directed her was a form of obedience ... but if it got them to remove the harness and leash, it was also a step closer to escape.

She decided then, that she would do it. Images of the bodies of her parents and brothers returned. 'I'm sorry,' she mentally said to the crumpled bodies. Jessica stifled a sob. She wanted nothing more than to feel her mother's arms around her again ... to bury her face into her father's chest.

Would they forgive her for the concessions she was about to make?

Twelve hours later, an eternity to Jessica, Jessica couldn't feel her arms any more. Riley was leading her to his room. As they walked Jessica hoped to feel the tingling sensation that accompanied the return of the blood to her arms, but it wasn't coming.

She stifled a groan when Riley led her to the corner in his room. She looked at the hook with a feeling of dread but she steeled herself against it. Under no circumstances was she going to let Riley know how she felt.

"Maybe spending the night in the corner will make you think twice about spitting at us," Riley said after hoisting her onto the hook. He stepped back and dropped onto his bed. He stole a look at Jessica hoping for some indication that she was getting the message, for some indication that she was at least a little bit sorry for her actions.

'Damn it!' he cursed under his breath. Jessica hung on the hook undoubtedly as uncomfortable as she'd been all day in the corner of the living room, yet she didn't look the least bit sorry. In fact she seemed her usual smug self.

Riley lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It was mostly his fault, he supposed. It'd been his idea to abuse her sexually, and yet, he couldn't do it. He knew Angus was following the plan... he wasn't sure about the others.

But they were decent men. Too decent for this kind of behavior.

Maybe he should've been happy to know that at least in this respect, he was decent also. But he wasn't happy. Not at all.

For the past year they'd gotten nowhere with her and he was no longer sure what the goal was.

They had started out to humiliate her, to use that humiliation to cause suffering for her parents, somewhere in the afterlife. But for every bit of humiliation she was supposed to feel, she had caused them a humiliation.

He had never seen anything like that before.

He couldn't help but wonder if they should just kill her and be done with it. But somehow that didn't seem a satisfying end to the situation.

Riley exhaled.

For the first time he allowed himself to ponder the thought that had been in the back of his mind for the past few months. He hadn't allowed himself to think about it ... but it was there and now he was willing to acknowledge it because it spoke to this situation.

He wondered how much of the dissatisfaction that would come from killing her would be due to the fact that they had not got their way, and how much of it came from the fact that Jessica was ... Jessica?

She was stubborn, tough, brave, and ... female.

For a group of men that very fact was appealing. She was female and she was their prisoner. She had no rights. No choice to leave them. She was theirs. And that's what bothered Riley.

The oldest of the men, at 25 years old, Riley wanted her. Not sexually so much, but ... he hated to admit it, emotionally. And, although not quite old enough to be her father in years, emotionally he felt twice his age. And therefore, old enough to be her father.

Riley had dated before. Had had a few relationships, but nothing that could have been considered serious. There were too many variables, to many unknowns in relationships to make it worth the emotional effort. He saw what Angus' relationship with Beth had done to him. He could hardly consider his parents' relationship as a model of what he strove for. They had stayed together until the end, but it was not clear to Riley whether they had truly loved on another.

Riley shook his head. His parents had to have loved one another. His father always watched out for his mother's best interests. Making sure she didn't step out of line, behaved herself. And he still remembered the grumbling his father did about Jimmy's sister and the ways Jimmy's father was handling her. His father had made it clear that she was being given too much leeway, not being put in her place. And then she'd killed herself, so Riley supposed his father had been right.

From that time on, it had seemed easier to deal with dogs. Dogs obeyed. Even the most difficult ones did eventually. They rarely tried to exert free will. So why couldn't females do the same thing? Every woman he'd had contact with had some level of free will, but when tamed they eventually fell in line. Except, it seemed, Jessica.

Riley slid his eyes over to watch her hanging, stoic expression on her face, in the corner. He used to want to break her so that it could be a strike against his enemies. So he could feel the pleasure of victory. But now he wanted to make her conform to the role of a potential mate. He still felt too old for her. Right now. But in a few years ... she'd be good for him and the men. But how to get there? Everything he'd thought of so far had failed.

"Riley!" Jimmy's voice was behind his door, accompanied by an urgent knock. "Open up!"

"What is it?" Riley asked, instinctively reaching for the handgun tucked in the waist of his pants at the small of his back. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as the possibilities ran through his mind. Were the cops here? Was what he dreaded the most finally going to happen? Relief flooded over him when he saw that Jim did not have his gun.

"We've had contact ... you and Angus need to go meet the others. Something has happened."

"Now?" Riley asked, poking his head into the hall and looking for Angus, or any of the other men who could offer an explanation. But the hallway was empty.

"Yes." Jim replied. "I won the draw. I'll take Jessica to my room."

"Right, okay." Riley said moving back to allow Jimmy to enter.

Jim stifled a curse. What the hell was Riley doing, hanging Jessica back on a hook? Had he intended to leave her there all night? By then, her arms would fall off, Christ!

Jim lifted her off the hook, and then took her hands in his. They were ice cold, and blue. For a moment he thought he saw a flicker of relief behind Jessica's mask of defiance, but then it was gone and she went back to pretending he wasn't there and that hanging by her arms for 12 hours was nothing more than a day at the beach. For a girl, she had a lot of balls.

"Angus is waiting in the car," Jim continued as he led Jessica from Riley's room. Funny that she wasn't resisting that too much.

"Got it," Riley said, following them into the hall. "See yah."

"Later ... good luck," Jim said.

In his room he stood facing Jessica.

"Bed or floor?" he asked, as he always did when he had his night with her.

Jessica nodded at the floor, as she always did.

Jim sighed. She never took the easy way out.

He pulled her to a spot on the floor next to his bed. Pulling the cuff keys, he undid her hands, looped the cuffs through the hook on his bedpost, and re-cuffed her. He caught her hands as she started to pull them away, and inspected them again.

"They're going to hurt like hell when the blood comes back," he said. She stared at him, attempting to shoot darts of defiance at him with her eyes. "I can rub them for you, help bring the circulation back faster. All you have to do is ask."

Jessica's expression didn't change.

"Suit yourself." He replied and let her hands drop.

He sat on his bed and debated what to do. He'd planned on playing his guitar tonight. He tried to play whenever he didn't have her with him. On his usual nights with her, he would spend the time having a staring contest with her. The challenge was to see who would look away first. They were equally matched for the contest and usually by the time he was too tired to keep it up it'd been hours before either one looked away.

One thing he knew for sure, Jessica was determined. That determination caused him some concern when he had her in his room for the night. Though she was chained and could not conceivably do anything of harm to him ... he couldn't relax enough to do anything but hold the staring contest with her.

Often a one way conversation accompanied the contest and he found himself blabbing to her about things that he didn't talk to anyone about, and she most assuredly cared little about, in hopes of getting some response from her. But he rarely got one, just a determined, angry stare.

Well. Tonight her arms were like rubber, and in a matter of minutes she would be in indescribable pain as the blood made its way back to her extremities. There was little she could do to him tonight, even if she weren't chained. He went to his closet and retrieved his guitar. When he turned back, Jessica was staring off into a corner of his room. He sat on his bed and began to play.

Jessica leaned her head against the wall and sighed in relief. Thank God she was going to spend the night here instead of Riley's room. Of all the men, Jimmy was the easiest to tolerate. He rarely bothered with her when they were alone.

She gritted her teeth. Her arms began to tingle. This was going to hurt. It wasn't the first time she had to endure this pain, but at least Jimmy would leave her alone, not needle her with verbal abuse, or find some way to make the pain worse. All she had to do was concentrate on the corner of his bedroom and clear her mind, and this could be an okay night.

But suddenly, she heard a sound that she hadn't heard in what seemed an eternity. Without thinking, she looked over at Jim. He sat on his bed, rocking back and forth, watching his fingers move back on forth on the neck of his guitar. Music! She could hardly believe it.

For a moment she forgot where she was, forgot the pain that was building in her arms. She knew how to make those sounds too, she had played the guitar with a passion at home. She even recognized the song.

A noise broke through Jim's concentration, and it brought him back to reality. He'd forgotten that Jessica was in the room with him. He looked over at her and she was looking at him. She was looking at him and kind of smiling.

Jim stopped playing. Smiling? Yes, she was smiling, and swaying slightly, and there was that noise again. It was low but definitely coming from Jessica. Jim leaned closer. She was humming. He recognized the tune that he'd been playing. Suddenly Jessica realized what she'd been doing and jumped as if she'd been slapped. She sat staring at him, and he stared at her. Jessica's gaze slid down to Jim's guitar, and he followed it.

"Do you ... you know the song?" Jim asked.

Jessica nodded, still staring at his guitar.

"Do you want me to keep playing?"

Jessica nodded again.

Jim couldn't believe it. All of these months of getting nowhere, and it turns out that his biggest passion could get a positive response from Jessica?

Without hesitation, Jim began playing again. Jessica closed her eyes and swayed. Jim could tell by some of the contortions on her face that her arms were killing her, but Jessica never stopped her swaying. Jim played song after song, and Jessica swayed. He was able to tell exactly when her pain subsided, because her facial contortions were replaced by a look of serenity.

That was something he had never seen before. It wasn't until Jessica fell gently against the bedpost, asleep, that Jim stopped playing. He looked at the clock. Two hours. He had played, and she had swayed, for two hours.

He put his guitar away, turned out the light, and lay back on his bed. Despite how tired he was, excitement coursed through him. For the first time since Jessica had come here, Jim felt hope. Hope that things were going to get better. The constant tension and hatred emanating around them all of the time was beginning to wear on him. He lay thinking of ways to use the music to his advantage. To use it to broker a truce of some kind. He drifted off to sleep with the sweet image of Jessica singing, and laughing. No traces of hatred left on her face.

The next morning Jim stretched, yawned, and rolled to the side of the bed that Jessica was cuffed to. He found her already awake and staring at the ceiling.

His standard greeting of "Morning," was met with Jessica's standard silence. He sat up. "How're your arms?"

Jessica continued to stare at the ceiling.

"Jessica," Jim said, "Hey, Jessica," he said snapping his fingers in her line of sight.

Jessica slowly swung her eyes onto Jim. Gone was the dreamy look she'd had the night before.

"My name, " she said through clenched teeth, "is Lisa."