Stranded Ch. 15

Welcome to my dark little corner of the universe! DISCLAIMER: like nearly everything I write, this story consists of many dark, fucked-up, non-consensual themes, violence of all kinds, imprisonment, kidnapping, and occasionally even a little bit of torture. If any of this or terrible grammar offends you, then stop now, because this story isn't for you.

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Arioch hung his jacket as he pointed to the staircase. My legs felt like jelly, but with slow strides I managed my way up. I had been doing so well before I opened my stupid mouth. But after all the violence I had seen, how could I not think his family would kill him? They were certainly capable of it, and enough of them wanted to.

"Strip," he commanded.

"Can we just ta..." He paused in the doorway to his bathroom long enough to give me a stare, one that told me, I knew very well he didn't care to hear the rest of my sentence. My fingers brushed gently against the small abrasions left from our earlier scuffle as I tossed the dirt stained dress into the ever-growing pile of laundry. He needs a laundry chute. It would certainly keep the laundry off the floor. I was sitting on the edge of the bed, my feet dangling over when he returned naked, a swirled multi green bar in his hand. My lower lip trembled as I realized it was a bar of soap.

"Face down, towards the headboard."

"W-what are you goi-..." He didn't wait for me to finish the question before grabbing me by the hair and shoving my face into his bed, pulling the rest of my body with it. I tried to move, earning me a smack to the back of my head. Arioch set the soap down close enough I could smell the scent of Irish Spring. He reached beneath his bed and pulled out a small bundle of rope. He carefully looped it around each wrist, securing tightly before tying them to his bed frame. I tested the strength of his knots; I pulled and twisted but they remained in place. The poisonous butterflies returned. It was never a good sign when restraints were involved. He watched my struggle with mild amusement before turning my face towards him.

"Open." I pressed my lips tightly together and shook my head. Like Hell I was going to willingly put soap in my mouth!

"Those with disrespectful or lying tongues, need to be cleansed. And you know very well, dear wife, both of those apply to you. I only plan to make you hold this in your mouth while I fuck you. If you refuse to take it, or you spit it out, I will make you eat it." He pushed the bar in my face, pressing it against my lips until I begrudgingly opened my mouth, wincing as he shoved ¾ of the bar in. I immediately gagged but managed not to spit it out. I had no doubts he would make me eat it.

He positioned himself behind me on the bed, hands caressing my hips as he pushed them forward, positioning me the way he wanted. He leaned over to the nightstand and pulled something out of the drawer. The snap of the bottle cap told me it was lube. I could feel him sliding between my thighs, letting me feel how hard he was. He grabbed a handful of hair, pulling my head back until his lips were pressed up to my ear.

"I want you to remember this exact moment the next time you so much as even think about calling me an asshole. You will learn to respect me."

Arioch grabbed each cheek, spreading them impossibly wide before violently forcing himself in. The bar of soap slipped past my lips as I cried out, every muscle flexing against him. There was no gentleness to his invasion. I shut my eyes against the pain, trying to breathe through it, knowing the more I resisted the more it was going to hurt; I needed to relax. And the more I tried to relax the harder the task became. When it finally became too overwhelming, I began to beg.

"Stop. Please, no more...I won't do it again!" Though he slowed his pace, the pain and discomfort didn't go away.

"I will stop when I'm damn well ready to. Open your fucking mouth." He grabbed the bar of soap and jammed it back in my mouth with a sound of disapproval. A small, slimy, foamy puddle of drool gathered beneath my face and despite keeping my eyes shut, it still managed to seep in, causing them to burn. I grabbed the rope that bound me, and I pulled myself towards the headboard. I spit the soap at him and furiously wiped my face, curling my knees up as if they could protect me, as if somehow, they would stop him from finishing the deed. He reached for me, earning him a hard kick to the chest, my heel landing with a loud satisfying thunk.

"Please. I'm really, really sorry; it was a stupid thing to say." I sobbed.

"You know it only makes me harder when you fight." He grabbed my left ankle, thumb digging into the tendons as my right foot lashed out for his face. He swatted it aside, pulling me towards him with a predatory grin. My knees pulled the corner of the sheet down, my naked breasts raked against the bare mattress making me hiss. Arioch pulled until my arms felt like they would pop out. He straddled the back of my thighs, forcing my knees to grind together.

"Drop this one more time and you're not gonna like where I stick it next." He picked up the bar and this time I opened my mouth willingly. I didn't need to know where it was going to know it wasn't going to be any place I wanted.

I bared my teeth in a snarl as he spread my cheeks again and placed the head of his dick against my tight little hole. He rammed it in painfully, pushing my pelvis against the wadded-up sheet beneath us, sending a different sensation through my body. I was forced to bite down to prevent the soap from falling out a third time. I choked on the awful bitter taste, but I welcomed the distraction. He had rendered me helpless and it was humiliating. After resisting him in the woods, he had finally taken the rest of the fight out of me. He leaned forward, placing his weight on his hands as they pinned me down.

"I love watching the way your face grimaces in pain...the way you whimper just brings me closer to finishing." My body tightened around him with every downward thrust, the pressure against my mound just enough to edge me but not quite enough to send me over. I buried my face in the sudsy puddle beneath me.

"Are you leaning into me, you little slut?" I shook my head vehemently, mumbling a fuck you around the bar of soap, thankfully none of it audible.

"I thought you knew better than to lie to me." His thrusts became stronger, harder; the rocking of his hips had me grinding against the bunched-up sheet and finally, when my body could take no more of the building pressure, I came. I nearly bit right through the soap as a half-strangled cry escaped me. I could feel him pumping my ass full of hot cum as he finished moments behind me. My face was aflame with embarrassment and shame. I began sobbing softly, my back end feeling as though he had torn it wide open. He pulled out with a sigh, sitting on the edge of the bed, rolling me so that his hip rested against my belly. He brushed the sweaty clumps of messy hair from my face, gently taking the bar of soap from my mouth. Smiling as his fingers caressed the grooved marks from my teeth. A symbol of his victory. He set it on his nightstand.

"I debated on following through with it, but I thought this lesson was worth the wasted seed, do you agree?" I nodded weakly, not trusting myself to speak. I had been punished enough already for one day. I wasn't going to call him an asshole again, but there were lots of other things I wanted to call him. I was never going to get the taste of Irish Spring out of my mouth.

"As much fun as that was, unless your behavior calls for it, I don't plan on doing it again. Go on and rest a minute, I'm gonna wash up." He grabbed the bar of soap as he slipped into the bathroom, the next sounds were that of running water. I grabbed the comforter he had tossed to the side and rubbed the soap off my face, then my tongue, as if the fabric could scrape the flavor away. It didn't. I squinted at the knots with burning eyes, tempted to chew my way free, but my sore asshole made me think better of it.

Arioch left the water running as he untied me and helped me to my feet.

"Go on, wash up and meet me downstairs." First thing I did was brush my teeth, but it only left me with a minty soap flavor. I managed to get clean before the hot water disappeared, my new dress already laid out on the bed waiting for me when I finished. It was a rich midnight blue with tiny stars of varying sizes. I slipped it on, admiring the tighter fit. After a few deep breaths I made my way to the kitchen, doing my best to ignore the discomfort I felt with every step. I found him sitting at the table, two glasses of booze resting between us, waiting.

"Now that we have cleansed your mouth, we must purge your soul." I rubbed my nose on the back of my sleeve wincing as I sat down, pushing over my freshly poured glass. Arioch made his way to the junk drawer, carefully lifting out the little orange journal before bringing it over and slapping it down on the table. I cringed. Not this again.

"Normally yellow is known as a color of joy and hope. But today, for you, it represents your cowardice and deceit. Every yellow tab is a time you lied or let fear stop you from doing something you knew was right. You will be washed of this filthiness, and once you are purged of your sins, you will be a true vessel, useful to the Lord." And by useful, he means pumping out more soldiers for the Day of Reckoning. As if he sensed my displeasure, he smiled and continued, "The Lord's law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly." I groaned inwardly and pulled my glass back for a drink.

"What if I don't want to be saved?"

"The wages of sin are death, but the free gift of God is eternal life." Be saved or die, not much of a choice there.

I stared down at my journal lying between us on the table, the tabs brighter, as if to mock me. Why did he have to be so damn nosy? Why couldn't he have let it burn with the rest of my things? Knowing he had been combing through it had me feeling more exposed than when he stripped me naked. I took another sip of my drink, swishing it around like mouthwash; but I still couldn't quite rid myself of the taste of soap.

"What do you want me to do exactly?"

"Confess your sins to me so that you may be absolved."

"I have nothing to confess."

"Sweetheart, I got proof." He smiled as he turned to the first yellow tab, opened his mouth and began to read.

#### "Travis stopped by today to surprise Stacy with flowers, and not just any flowers, a dozen ROSES. I told him she was studying at the library. I wish I could tell him the truth. But Stacy would never forgive me. I should be studying but all I can do is picture him wandering around the library aimlessly searching for her. I hate that she does this, Travis is a nice guy. Why can't she just dump him if she's so bored? Leading him on is cruel. Why am I even friends with her?

You let your fear of Stacy's disapproval stop you from telling the truth. Where was she really?"

"Sleeping with her professor." And it hadn't even been to get a good grade, she said she had a craving for older, married men. Eventually her and Travis broke up, but it had been because he walked in on her fucking his roommate. The same way you found her fucking your boyfriend. I took a few deep, calming breaths. Now was not the time to break down and lose it. I had better things to focus on than her stupid betrayal. It just seemed so minuscule in comparison to what I was dealing with. His lip curled in disgust and he flipped to the next tab. I cringed as more of my secrets were exposed.

#### "I told Professor Young I missed the quiz because my grandmother died, but the truth was I had a massive hangover from the party last night. On the bright side, I have learned a powerful lesson: never challenge a frat boy to beer pong."

He lifted his eyebrows questioningly. I shouldn't have even been there, I should have been back in my room studying. But Stacy had talked me into it, then of course abandoned me at the first chance of getting dick. One of the frat boys challenged me to a game, told me I was being a party pooper, giving his house a bad name. And that frat boy had been Zane. I learned that I had a very low tolerance for booze. I woke up in a hallway closet, but thankfully clothed. I found Zane had slept in front of the door the whole night, and he had given me his Rolex as 'collateral'. I'd blacked out, Stacy had abandoned me, and I had a minor panic attack. He said he did what he could to make me feel safe until morning. It wasn't exactly the story you want to tell your grandkids someday, but I found his chivalry admiring. He even made me breakfast, promised it would help with the splitting headache, which is the real reason I missed the quiz.

"Beer pong...and lying about the death of a relative."

"You lied to me from the moment I met you," I protested.

"We're not talking about me right now. Now be quiet, this is one of my favorites.

#### Something terrible happened today, Gwen was expelled. Miss Goody-Two-Shoes found a half-finished bottle of vodka under Gwen's bed and turned her into the RA. The worst part of it all is, it wasn't even her bottle. It was mine. I should probably turn myself in, but I don't want to be expelled too. I worked really hard to get into this school, I don't want to lose my scholarship, Dad would be furious..."

A long silence followed him.

"That guilt, that shame you're feeling, that's how I know underneath all this wickedness is a good, decent woman."

"What do you want from me!?" I growled. It wasn't as if I was proud of my actions, letting Gwen take the fall had been a pretty shitty thing to do.

"Confess."

"What's left to confess? You've read the whole damn thing."

"I doubt these are your only offenses. You lie too easily and too often for that."

"I can't recall every single time I've lied in my life!" I replied sharply.

"For someone who doesn't want to be left behind with my family, you sure are resisting the one thing that might convince me to take you with me." Time itself stood still. Was he really considering taking me? Hope swelled in my chest, but I pushed it down. I couldn't get excited just yet. Odds were he was using it to get what he wanted from me.

"Take me along? On-on your trip?"

"Well I certainly can't leave you there, and I still don't trust my sister not to murder yah. That doesn't leave me with a lot of options left." I had a million questions but kept them to myself.

"I really can't remember every single lie I've uttered," I finally announced, voice softer. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I felt almost dizzy from his reveal. It was an opportunity I might never get again. I had to play it carefully, I couldn't risk him sensing my eagerness and changing his mind.

"I don't expect you to. Let's start with the first big lie you ever told." I knew the answer instantly because my first lie had been awful. I still carried the guilt around.

"I'm not sure how old I was, just that I was little. My father and I were coming home from grocery shopping. My father told me to shut the door behind us, but I didn't, and my mother's dog was run over. I blamed my father and he...he never corrected me." It had been an awful fight between the two of them, it was why the memory was burned so deeply.

"Did you ever ask your father why he didn't correct you?"

"I was too ashamed to bring it up. Especially after they had gotten into such a big fight; he just stood there, letting her scream at him." And you let it all happen instead of fessing up. Had I been a coward, even then?

"Did you know it was wrong to lie at that age?" I nodded. It was painful to remember, but mostly it was painful to expose that side of me to someone I needed to loathe.

"Did you ever tell anyone the truth?"

"You are the first." I replied.

"Perhaps he let you blame him to spare you your mother's wrath." The thought had never honestly crossed my mind, I had been too busy blaming myself to even consider the reasons why he hadn't ratted me out.

"Tell me about a time you lied to a friend." There were dozens of possibilities, was he expecting me to tell him all? I didn't want to share everything.

"Summer, we had been best friends since preschool. In 2nd grade I got invited to Claire Taylor's birthday party, she was the popular girl in our grade. I was told Summer wasn't invited and that if I told her, I would be uninvited; so, I lied about where I was going. Turns out she was invited, Claire was just playing a sick little game." Arioch slammed the rest of his drink and poured himself another.

"Now, tell me every lie you do remember, big or small it doesn't matter, I want to know every last one. There will be no secrets between us." I started with some of the minor lies, sorry, I don't have change. Yes, you look great in that outfit. My dog ate my homework. No, I haven't seen your lipstick. I threw in some of the bigger ones I could remember. I found the more and more I shared, the lighter the weight on my shoulders started to feel. I told him things I had yet to tell any living soul, hoping that if I could prove I was truly opening up to him, perhaps he would consider trusting me. It was clear he was adept at reading me, so the only way to do that was to tell the truth. Share that small intimate part of me with a man who was keeping me prisoner, knowing the more I divulged the more he was learning, more information to be used against me. When I finally ran out of lies I was willing to part with, I realized I had very few left and it felt...surprisingly freeing. He leafed through the journal once again.

"I am satisfied with your confessions, though I have some serious doubts that is all of them. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, whoever desires to love life and see good days, let her keep her tongue from evil, from speaking deceit. There is a reason it is considered a deadly sin, KitKat. So, I want you to swear on your father's life, that you will never lie to me again." I felt the blood drain from my face as I processed his words. Not my life, not on the bible or to God himself, but my father's life. If I swore it, I would have to do it, there were no lingering doubts that he would follow through.

"I swear." I replied, the words were strung together as they tumbled from my mouth. He snickered as he grabbed my glass and downed the rest of that too.

"I want to hear the exact words, darlin." My lips felt suddenly cold and numb, but I knew I had to say it.

"I swear on my father's life, I will not lie to you again." Was there an alternative? Death? Was the ability to lie worth dying over? You could always go for radical honesty; see how long he can stand it when you speak nothing but truth. The thought alone almost made me smile before I managed to quash it. Thoughts like that would only get me into trouble, though it made me feel a bit more like myself.

He stood, tossing the journal back into the junk drawer. I'm gonna burn that first chance I get.

"What do the other colors mean?" I inquired, clearing my throat.

"Don't worry; we'll get to those soon enough. Redemption isn't something that happens overnight."

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I was tempted to pinch myself; it couldn't be real. The whole situation left me feeling like I was watching it but unable to interact. Maybe it was the grogginess of the drugs, or perhaps it was my mind's only way of coping with the surrealistic situation. From the moment I woke up bound in his basement, I never thought I'd even see the real world again, let alone be able to touch it. He squeezed my hand as we came towards the end of our loop, lips smiling but his eyes remained vigilant. He was nervous, I could tell by his sweaty palms and the amount of times he ran his hand through his hair. He's not the only one learning things. I had been outside before, sure, but this was very different. The air seemed fresher somehow, the sun warmer.