Kaleidoscope Eyes Pt. 02

My own eyes, however, were very irritated at the moment, since I had left the blue contacts in after we had both basically collapsed together into my bed at around two AM.

I smiled tentatively and covered my mouth in exaggeration, indicating morning breath. She just snorted softly and waved me away with a look and a nod of her head.

After removing the blue contacts and brushing my teeth, followed by a deep piss and washing my hands, I returned to find her once again sitting in the easy chair with legs and arms crossed. This time, she was looking at me in what I figured was expectation.

I pulled on a t-shirt, sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her, and simply said, "I did NOT 'just leave', as you accused me last night... this morning... whenever."

"Then, why..." she began, but I held up my hand.

"When Boyd and his 'Three Amigos' showed up, I had wanted..." Here, she held up her hand and laughed softly.

"'Amigos'," she snorted. "I had always thought of them all through school as 'Boyd and the Three Stooges'. But I guess the 'Three Amigos' works just as well."

"Anyway," I picked back up the thread, "I had wanted to tell you that, as unbelievable as it may have seemed, you had caused... How do the romance writers say it...? 'The earth to move... A dimensional shift'... I don't know. I just know that I wanted to stay with you, or have you come away with me; and be with me forever. That is how much of an impact you left on my heart that evening."

I saw Ruthanne's tears form before I had finished and I let her cry, offering her a tissue from the cheap dispenser on the coffee table. When she had wiped her eyes and blown her nose, she looked as if she were about to say something, but I plowed on with my story.

"Then, THEY showed up. While one held you, two of the others held me while Boyd beat the ever-loving hell out of me. I was already quite exhausted from three grueling weeks of Army Airborne training or I might have been able to hold my own. But they got the advantage and beat me into unconsciousness and tied me to a pole.

"When I woke up, I saw Boyd holding you down, and Dennis Chancey... He was... Well, he was just finishing with you... having sex with you." I looked away after saying this.

Ruthanne began to cry again at hearing how I had been awake to witness the indignity of her being fucked by some other man, after...

"I was enraged that they would inflict such an indignity on the woman with whom I now felt real love for the first time in my life." Ruthanne's body jumped slightly at this, and she tried to smile, but the tears were still coming slowly.

"Then, Dennis rolled away and Hamp Wells took his place. And, all the while, Boyd and Dennis were saying all sorts of vile things about you and about how one of the 'Amigos' had seemed to have vanished ..."

"Sam Chaves," Ruthanne inserted. I just nodded and continued.

"Then, I passed out again; with the help of a kick to the head by Dennis. The next thing I knew, those bastards had me sprawled out in the right lane of the main highway, with the hope and the plan that I would actually be maimed or even killed by a passing semi." I paused and took a deep breath before continuing.

"I saw them pull you into a big pick-up and drive off. Within a short time, another pick-up drove up and stopped. It was the third 'Amigo', Sam. He put me in his truck, explained that it was not safe for me there, and drove me to a clinic across the state line in North Carolina. He dropped me off outside the clinic, told me not to come back, and drove away."

Ruthanne then asked, "But, why didn't you stand up to their threats later and come back for me? Those animals took me to an empty tobacco warehouse and took turns fucking me for the next two days before dropping me off in broad daylight in the driveway to my house. My mother and my father, who had been frantic, ran out to get me, and Boyd and the others just shouted insults as they drove off, like 'preacher's slut', and 'what a whore', and things like that; with all the neighbors coming out to see what was going on as well." Ruthanne dissolved into another tear-filled minute or two, and I just let her cry before I responded.

"I was pretty bad off, with bruised kidneys and a couple of cracked ribs, as well as a mild concussion. My dad had to come get me and take me to Williamsburg to get good hospital care closer to my home. I tried to get him to report the assault and rape, but he said that he had tried and, even with his political connections, was getting nowhere with that.

"After three weeks, I had to report back to Fort Campbell, since I was still in the Army and I could not be AWOL. From there, the busy-ness of the Army kept me captive.

"I had to pass 'Green Platoon'— sort of a formal rite of initiation into my unit—and then we were into intensive training, preparing for deployment. We had to go through a huge training rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana, and then we deployed to Afghanistan for ten months.

"By the time I had returned Stateside, I had already searched online for anything about Simonton, Boyd Simon, or you." Here, I was pretty sure that I had tears in my eyes, but that could have been residual irritation from wearing contacts most of the night, maybe. I don't really know, but I continued.

"That was when I spotted the notice in your local paper online about your having become Mrs. Boyd Simon. At that point, I thought that there would be no use in my trying to get back here, or even try to push a criminal complaint. Even if I did, I was the outsider, you were married to one of the guys you had known for years, and he was even part of the town's 'aristocracy', so to speak." I looked at her and sighed heavily.

"Honestly, I thought that it was all over, and yes, my heart literally broke," I said in conclusion.

Ruthanne had begun to nod as I had gotten near the end of my recounting things from my perspective, then she began.

"The next day after that awful night and weekend, after Boyd and his buddies dropped me at my house; Mama had me looked at by her gynecologist. The doctor said that I had bruising, both inside and out, but that I would be fine; and she even offered to refer me to rape counseling, but my daddy, for some reason, was against that; he even begged the doctor not to call the Sheriff; I guess, for fear of retaliation by the Simons—especially Old Man Simon.

"I missed my period a couple of weeks later and Mama took me back to her gynecologist. She was my gynecologist by then, as well, and we found out that I was pregnant."

She looked up at me with a half-smile and said, "You got me pregnant on the first try, Rusty, and yes, I know that Mara is yours! The eyes just do not lie."

"Please, call me 'Russ'; 'Rusty', is no longer a name that is in play these days," I said.

Ruthanne nodded and continued. "Daddy went to see Old Man Simon, Lamar. Somehow, they made a deal that called for my daddy to let up on preaching down to Lamar in front of the whole community; and Lamar would have Boyd step up and marry me, so that I could regain some minimal degree of respectability here in town.

"Boyd was caught between being pissed at being told what to do, but thrilled at marrying me, since he had always thought that he was 'entitled' to have me be his wife, since he kept claiming that he deserved the so-called 'best of everything in town', and I guess that included me." Here, she sniffed again.

"Boyd was not very loving or considerate, but at least he did not mistreat or abuse me any during the months of my pregnancy. When they delivered Mara, even though I was absolutely thrilled to see her multi-colored eyes and be reminded of the loving moment that you and I had shared, Boyd was enraged. He knew now that his wife had been impregnated by another man, and a stranger, at that.

"From that day on, he treated me like shit. I got no affection and very little freedom of action. While he did not love Mara, neither did he even offer her any affection as a father should have. He made it very clear that he was going to use Mara as a means to keep me hostage in this town for the rest of my life. To be sure that I understood my position in town, he organized another gang-rape with his two friends, Dennis and Hamp." Here, she cried again for another minute before continuing.

"His own wife!" she sobbed out. After calming down, Ruthanne continued her story.

"Ever since then, Mara spends most of her time with Mama at her house. But since Old Man Lamar died, Boyd has one of his gang members, Herman, living there to serve as sort of a guard. And, despite Daddy's and Mama's complaints, Boyd often leaves a dead animal on the lawn as sort of a warning.

"I'm not sure, but I would not be surprised if Herman is making Mama have sex with him, as well. I can only guess, but Mama sometimes has that same haunted look in her eyes that I see in the mirror in my own eyes."

"Ruthanne," I began, "What about all..." I waved my hand around the motel room, "This? Why all the wild sex and partying?"

Ruthanne smiled grimly. "I do it partly to get back at Boyd," she said bitterly. "Starting after that second gang-rape, after Mara was born, I felt as if my libido had been hyped up to the max. I needed sex more often, but Boyd was now into fucking some of Old Man Lamar's whores rather than fucking his own wife. And I avoided him as much as possible, since I knew that some of them just had to have STDs.

"Anyway, when Lamar died, Boyd got into fucking some of the Latinas who started showing up around here more and more. I finally figured out that he and the 'Stooges' were into smuggling illegals through here, especially women. It only bothered me a little bit, as that meant that he would not be fucking me; or bothering Mama, Mara or me.

"But that urge for sex seemed to grow. It wasn't long before I started picking up guys, first, at Skinner's bar, and then, at the truck stop, when the local wives began to lock down their husbands. The way they had all treated me, and continue to treat me, I just said, 'fuck 'em all,' and turned into what you see here."

She got a sort of faraway look on her face for a second and shook her head as she made the next revelation.

"You know, the first time that I ever had an orgasm, it was with you." Here, she snorted in disgust and said, with a bitter tone, "AND the LAST time that I had an orgasm, it was with you. All of these... sexual adventures... and I can't even..." Then, she wiped a tear away from one cheek; and the 'Hard Ruthanne' returned quickly.

She now looked up at me with a touch of defiance. Since this was truth time, I took her unspoken challenge and asked her what I was thinking.

"Have you fucked every man in this town?" I asked.

Without only a bit of detectable embarrassment, she said, "Just about; I figured that I would do all this wild shit so that I could REALLY scandalize this place."

"Oh, Ruthanne..." I started. But she waved me off.

"I'm just kidding, well, sort of. I don't really know what is wrong with me, but I haven't had anyone to help me find out." With that, she broke down crying again, stood up, and held out her arms toward me. I accepted her into my embrace and we sat down together, once again with her in my lap.

"What about your mother?" I asked. "What does she say about all of... this?"

"Well, she disapproves, of course, but she understands... sorta. After all, we are all prisoners of a sort here in this hellhole. But Mama's advice is practical as well. Since I began doing this, and she found out and realized that I was not going to quit anytime soon, she said, 'From now on, you make them all wear a raincoat'. But that is just for preventing STDs.

"I can't get pregnant, it seems. Boyd tried with me some after Mara was born, but it didn't work, so he took me to a doctor he uses with his whores (snort) and that quack told me that I have some sorta 'genetic abnormality', as he called it, that seems to affect my fertility. So, no more kids; that is why I am sorta glad that my mother is so protective of Mara, my only child. Meanwhile, I continue to get under Boyd's skin by repaying his sexual antics with those of my own."

"Look, Ruthanne," I said with a sigh, "you may not believe that you need help with all of this. And, by 'all this', I mean all of this sex stuff that is just NOT normal; as well as with your having to live as a prisoner in your own hometown, but maybe I can help somewhat.

"I believe that I can get you clear of all of this, but you will have to trust me."

"Like I trusted you five years ago?" she asked with a sudden venom.

When I started in surprise at her vehemence, she broke down and shook her head apologetically as she began crying again.

"I'm sorry, Rusty." I did not attempt to correct her about the name this time, as she continued. "It's just part of this mindset that I have had for five years. I know now that what happened was beyond our control. It will take some time for my mind and attitude to adjust."

"I understand, Ruthanne," I said gently. "But, in order to have the opportunity to 'adjust', as you put it, we first have to get you out of here."

Ruthanne snorted and said, ruefully, "If only it were that simple. Boyd runs this place. And he controls everything. And when I say, 'Everything,' I mean me, Mara, and even Mama and Daddy."

She looked up at me with a forlorn expression and said, "We will never get out from under his threats, and his intimidation, and his abuse."

I smiled with what I hoped was an encouraging expression, and said, "We may be able to get y'all out sooner than you had realized."

I began to explain what was about to occur in this outwardly peaceful, but inwardly evil, little town in rural Virginia.

****

TO BE CONTINUED