Page 14

He noticed me staring at her cheeks. “When we are married, I will paint your body too. Doesn’t that sound exciting?” he breathed.

His eyes were locked onto mine, and I couldn’t breathe. Everything about that idea horrified me. A single fingernail poked my hand. X was prompting me, and my fear was so great that I was forever thankful for her nudge.

“Yes, Sonny,” I replied.

He nodded and then positioned himself. With a single thrust the bed dipped. Bile burned my throat and hot tears filled my eyes. She had been trained to not tense, but maybe it was because I was lying so close this time that she involuntarily flinched.

Inside my head, I begged and pleaded with him to not do this to her, to me. But that is where it ended. I was just a stupid painted doll, with no power and no voice.

“This is how I will love you too one day,” he murmured.

Despite only looking at their faces, I knew what was happening. The movement made me feel dirty, and everything inside me screamed that this was so very wrong. The tears gathered, and as much as I hated them, they fell.

“It will only hurt for a minute, the first time.”

He was a liar because I could tell that he was hurting X, and she was used daily. For her, it never stops hurting, and I understood on every level that I would feel the same.

He pumped into her seemingly lifeless body over and over. It felt like it went on forever. Then he gave off a loud grunt. I knew what that meant. Finally. Maybe now her torment would end.

Standing, he made his way over to the bathroom, leaving us alone. With him gone, she took an enormous risk and reached for my hand to comfort me in some small way. Her eyes remained on the ceiling.

I felt her shame. Her heartache. Her despair. But I also felt her sorrow for what was to become of me. Everything in me shattered because SHE was the one needing comfort. Lacing my hand in hers, I squeezed back and then touched the palm of her hand.

Then he was back. The moment broken. “X, get dressed in your shift and put the dolls back,” he barked.

He hadn’t given me instructions to move, so I stayed on his bed, hating every second. The faint smell of him lingered. She quickly donned her normal clothes. If she was getting dressed in that, then maybe he was going to let me go back downstairs early.

I could only hope. I counted to three hundred as X moved around the room, putting the dolls away. Without warning, there was a loud smashing sound, and a gasp rose in the air.

X stood shaking. The male doll that was fashioned to look like Sonny had slipped from her hand and crumbled on the floor.

“What have you done?” Sonny screamed.

Tiny hairs on the back of my head stood on end, and an icy quiver raked through me. Fear seized my heart.

“You stupid bitch, you did this on purpose. You will pay for it,” he raged.

Abject horror filled her eyes, and if she wasn’t previously been painted white, I was sure all color would have left her. Her silence was eerie, especially given what he did to her. The only screaming was the awful, vile things he screamed at her.

I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. I clenched my hands at my sides. She doubled over as his fists connected with her stomach, and the air rushed out of her. He was fit, and his hard, chiseled muscles flexed. The sweat he’d worked up while raping X shone as he gripped her hair and pulled her back to her feet.

“This was personal,” he screamed, letting her go.

Kneeling down, he grabbed the shattered doll. He shoved it into her face before reaching for a shard of porcelain with his free hand. Then he straightened up, and I let out a small sob. His eyes drifted over to me, and he smiled. I half expected him to stalk over to the bed, and beat me too.

He reached for X once more. Without a second thought, he ripped her half mask off, and I recoiled in horror. It didn’t matter how many times I’d seen her burned face. The skin was discolored and extended over a portion of her forehead and curved down toward her right eye and cheek. Parts of it were red and irritated.

Every bit of hope I had somehow clung to died. How could someone be so cruel? There would be no winning. Even if I’d managed this long without being beaten like Mischa, even if I hadn’t been terrorized like the others, the level of perfection this man was looking for didn’t exist.

The pain X had to endure was never ending, and there was no safety here. One day the other three girls would leave and I would remain. In abject horror, I watched as he held her down. He poked the sharpened edge of the porcelain into the flesh right below the scar with steady movements.

He outlined her scar. Blood erupted around and dripped down the white makeup. A scream threatened to escape as he dragged it further down the length of the scar tissue. It created a crimson river down her face, dripping onto her chest.

With a strength I couldn’t comprehend, she didn’t even cry out. Her eyes met his and filled with sorrow. I wasn’t sure what horrified me more—the brutal act or her response. Her bottom lip quivered, and then in the most remorseful voice she spoke.

The words filled the space between us, crushing me anew. “I’m so sorry, Sonny. Please forgive me.”

A crack of thunder startled all of us, coming out of nowhere. He stepped back from X, and she sagged to the floor, clutching her face.