Heller's Punishment (12 page)

Maybe the
sedation was assisting in controlling those symptoms?

Or maybe she
was still finding a way of using? She did spend a ridiculous amount
of time in the bathroom, but though I searched it thoroughly when I
was in there, I failed to find anything suspicious.

One night,
curious and trying to engage her for a final time, I asked whether
she thought the rehab was helping her at all.

Her stare was
cold and contemptuous. “Who says I want to quit? I love using. It’s
a rush. It’s a buzz. It’s exciting. I’m only here because those
tightarse boring fuckwit parents of mine are making me so they’ll
give me some more money.” She jumped up from her bed and began
striding around the room again like a caged wild animal. “It’s not
fair. It’s going to be my money one day anyway when they die. They
should just give it to me now without all this bullshit. Then I can
do what I want with it without them trying to control me all the
time.” Her eyes landed on me and the hatred rolled from her in
almost perceptible waves of darkness. “The sooner they die the
better.”

That shocked me
into silence. I loved my parents and appreciated their long-time
support and patient tolerance of my often poor life choices since
I’d left school. I could never imagine thinking such a thing about
them; could never imagine feeling that way about them.

We had nothing
more to say to each other for the rest of the night.

Chapter 8

After dinner on
the fifth night, I took a shower, glorying in the hot water and the
momentary escape from Felicia’s constant anger. I looked forward to
spending the evening ignoring her and reading more of my exciting
book. Nothing could tear me away from it now – the female detective
had overpowered the serial killer in the factory, badly injured
during the fight, only to realise that he’d brought along a
partner.
How was she going to get out of that?
I wondered
with anticipation as I lathered and washed.

When I left the
bathroom, Felicia went in for her shower while I made myself
comfortable on the bed and pulled out my book. I read for a long
while, taking swigs from the bottle of water that I kept on my
bedside table. When I glanced at the time I noticed with surprise
that at least an hour had passed. Annoyed, I abandoned my book, not
only wanting to make sure that Felicia was all right, but suddenly
needing her out of the bathroom. I’d obviously drunk too much water
tonight. Plus I was starting to feel very tired.

I pounded on
the door and she eventually ambled her way out, flopping back on
her bed and turning the TV up too loudly. Inside the bathroom, I
screwed my nose up at the wet towels and puddles of water she’d
left on the floor, her toiletries spread out carelessly across the
entire vanity bench.
God, what a slob she was
, I thought in
disgust. It was only courtesy to keep a communal space neat when
you were sharing a room with someone.

I used the
facilities and quickly cleaned up, hanging up the towels, yawning
my head off as I did. While I was there I decided to brush my
teeth, afterwards returning to bed to pick up my book again.

But the book
soon became heavy to hold, even though it was only a paperback. My
chin nodded down towards my chest and my eyes drooped unwillingly.
They completely closed a few times before I managed to jerk myself
awake with great difficulty. It was no use though, and I couldn’t
fight the overwhelming drowsiness. My book thudded to the floor as
it slipped out of my floppy fingers. My last image as I slipped
into the darkness was Felicia standing over me watching me drift
off, a spiteful and unforgiving smile on her lips.

When I roused
again it was pitch dark. It took me a while to remember where I
was. My brain was groggy and my throat burned with dryness. I
lifted a heavy arm to reach over to my bedside table for a drink of
water, only to find my arms and legs tightly bound, my mouth
gagged. I couldn’t summon enough alertness to work out what that
could possibly mean, so lay back and listened for any hints while
my brain cells regrouped.

What I heard
puzzled me – a rhythmic thumping coming from close by, accompanied
by irregular grunts and moans. It sounded as though people were
having sex in the next bed, but how on earth could Felicia have
found someone to shag at this place? It wasn’t Dave, I hoped.
Understanding slowly dawned that my unexplained missing evening and
my bindings were probably connected to the fornicating couple next
to me.

My questions
were answered soon enough when the couple finished, and one of them
leaned over to turn on the bedside table.

“Oh look, she’s
finally awake,” said a man I’d never seen before. “We didn’t wake
you, did we?” His snigger was low and dirty, Felicia joining in.
They were both naked, sitting up in her bed, Felicia still
straddling his lap. Neither looked the least bit embarrassed.

He was in his
mid-twenties, medium size and height with messy longish dark hair,
unkempt stubble, cold dark eyes, bad teeth and a vulgar and
detailed tattoo of a naked woman on each upper arm. He pushed
Felicia off him and approached me, leaning over my bed. He ran his
hands across my breasts and down my body. I flinched in
disgust.

“She’s a
fine-looking woman, Licia,” he said, looking over his shoulder at
her, smiling nastily. “Great tits. Better than yours. I’d do her in
a blink.”

Felicia frowned
and grabbed his hand, pulling him away, down on top of her.

“She’s nothing
but a bitch, Paulie,” she pouted jealously, kissing him. “Stop
looking at other women. You’re
my
boyfriend, remember?” He
kissed her back and fondled her lewdly. Her tone immediately
changed to wheedling. “Where’s my hit? You promised me if I was
nice to you.”

“Get my bag,”
he ordered, shoving her off the bed and leaning over to look at me
again. I could feel a breeze dancing across my skin and slowly
turned my head to the window. It was open. I moved my head back and
noticed that Felicia’s bed had been stripped of its sheets. Then I
noticed that mine had as well and I was lying on the bare
mattress.

“Bet you’re
wondering where I came from, aren’t you, gorgeous?” He brushed the
back of his hand across my cheek. “Such beautiful soft skin. Nice
hair, too. Someone looks after you, don’t they? And Jesus, look at
those big eyes! What man wouldn’t want those looking up at him
while you’re swallowing his rod? You’d be a hit working the streets
for me. Punters love the clean ones. I could see you braless, in
high heels and a miniskirt. God, you would pull. Oh, the money I
could make from you. Interested in a fun new career?”

I stared back
at him steadily, trying not to show any fear. I made the most
sneering sound I could manage with a brain full of fluffy clouds
and a gag in my mouth. I wanted to leave him in no doubt exactly
what I felt about his insulting offer.

He didn’t seem
to mind though, merely laughing again. “I only suggest it because
your current career doesn’t seem to be working out too well for
you.”

Felicia
faithfully trotted back to him with a small backpack. He unpacked
the bag, placing a spoon, lighter, a hypodermic, a strip of
material and little twists of foil carefully on the bedside table.
Observed avidly and greedily by Felicia, he heated and prepared the
drug until it was ready in the needle for injection.

“Me first,” he
said, watching with enjoyment as disappointed hunger creased her
face. She helped him find a vein with the material strip and he
injected himself. Then she prepared her own hit and injected
herself. It was repellent but fascinating for me to witness, as I’d
never seen anyone shooting up before.

Euphoria
crossed their faces as the rush hit their brains. They both became
instantly excited, turning hot and heavy again on Felicia’s bed,
neither inclined to care that I was in the room with them. I turned
my head away in revulsion as they fucked each other again with wild
quickness, not even bothering to turn off the light.

Thankfully, the
horror finished not long afterwards with a noisy climax. I heard
nothing then except the heavy breathing of them sleeping. I
cautiously turned my head towards them and it sure looked to me as
if they were both out for a while. I’d read somewhere that heroin
makes you drowsy after the initial rush.

I gently flexed
the bindings on my wrists. They were pretty tight, but he had bound
my arms at my front, so at least I was able to move them together.
I leaned over to pick up the phone receiver, clumsily knocking it
off the phone with my bound hands. It clattered loudly on the
bedside table and I froze, eyes pinned to the slumbering pair. Not
a movement. After several awkward attempts, I picked it up and held
it to my ear. Even though I couldn’t speak with a gag in my mouth,
I could still make some noise to alert the office staff to trouble
in Room 212.

The phone line
was dead.

I followed the
cord to the end with my eyes, only to realise that it had been cut.
I had no choice but to refocus on freeing myself.

I was tied up
with a couple of dirty lengths of thin nylon rope. I spent the next
half-hour wriggling my wrists around until I’d achieved a modicum
of give in the bindings. But I couldn’t work out the final knots
without using my fingers or teeth. I decided instead to concentrate
on my ankles. I struggled to a sitting position and contorted
forwards. Using my fingers, with their limited range, I slowly
unpicked the knots tying my ankles together. And after another
thirty minutes or so, trying desperately to keep my fuzzy brain on
the task, I freed them. Red welts around my ankles showed just how
tightly Paulie had tied me.

I swung my legs
over the side of the bed and cautiously stood up. I was incredibly
groggy, not sure of my strength.
Felicia must have drugged my
bottle of water with some of her sleeping tablets
, I thought.
It had been the only thing that I’d ingested to which she had any
access since we’d returned from the communal dinner. Whatever I’d
been doped with packed quite a punch, and I was quite unsteady on
my feet when I stood up.

There was only
one thought in my brain.
I had to get out of this room and raise
the alarm with Dave.

I staggered to
the end of my bed, heading for the door.

“Where do you
think you’re going?” taunted Paulie from behind me. I twisted to
stare at him with hostility, not able to reply because of the gag.
He stared back at me with a hateful arrogance – a man used to
disrespecting and exploiting women. “Get back on the bed now like a
good girl.”

Reluctantly, I
moved back towards my bed. He turned too, leading me back. Big
mistake on his part.

I rallied all
my strength and rushed at him. I threw my bound arms over his head,
around his neck and rammed him forward using the momentum of my
whole body towards the nearest wall, crunching his face up against
it. Unfortunately it didn’t knock him out as I’d hoped, because the
sedatives affected my coordination and I wasn’t as strong as I’d
expected. But Paulie was a street scrapper, used to looking after
himself. His reaction was swift.

He cursed,
using his wiry arms to push himself off the wall, forcing me
backwards and making me stumble. I fell down heavily, unable to
protect myself. I hit the ground hard, Paulie on top of me, because
I still had my arms around his neck. My head whacked the floor with
a crack. He untangled himself from me immediately, but I was down
and out, stars swimming in front of my eyes.

“Dumb bitch,”
he laughed, looking down at me. He snapped at Felicia, who was
rousing drowsily, “Help me get her back on the bed.” With clumsy
ungentleness, they lifted me up and flung me back on the bed. I
couldn’t move. I could barely keep my eyes on them, wanting nothing
more than to sleep forever.

“We’re not
taking her with us, are we?” demanded Felicia.

“I thought
about it. She could get us inside your parents’ house more easily,
but nah, not now. You fucked her up. I told you not to give her too
much. She’s useless to us like that.”

“Well, look at
the size of her. I thought I needed lots.”

“Just forget it
now. Come on Licia, we have to get moving if we want to get there
in the dark. You’re positive your key to their house will still
work?”

“Yep. They told
me to use it when I returned from here.”

He smiled, his
rotten teeth on display. “Excellent. We’ll give mummy and daddy a
taste of their own medicine. What a fun evening we’re going to
have. Get dressed.” They hurried to dress, but Paulie turned,
looked at the drug gear and shot Felicia a heartless smile. “Pack
that shit up, babe.”

“Oh, Paulie.
One more?” whined Felicia. “Please? One for the road.”

He slapped her
across the face, not hard, but not playfully. “Pack it up, my
little junkie slut. We have a date with mummy and daddy.”

He slipped into
his clothes and while she repacked the drug paraphernalia, he stood
next to my bed, regarding me thoughtfully. “Hey, Licia? You stashed
any more of those barbies?”

She rummaged in
her clothes and pulled some tablets out from the hem of one of her
short skirts. “Here you go, babe. What are you doing with
those?”

“We need to
keep this hot little bitch down and out. We have to make sure she
doesn’t raise the alarm anytime soon. This will knock her out. That
means that nobody will be even notice you’re gone until the
morning.”

He leaned down
towards me with a couple of tablets in his hand, a pitiless look in
his cold eyes. I struggled then, afraid of what he was going to do.
I didn’t want this to happen to me. I didn’t want any more drugs. I
could hardly think straight as it was.