This will be deleted soon - The Wrong Hope *Complete and Free*

9. Resist

Sally-Anne

Year: 1983

The smell of blood.

I burned.

I tried to move toward the scent, it promised to soothe, to heal; it called to me. My limbs were heavy and unwieldy, twitching uncooperatively as every fibre of my being demanded to be united with the heavenly aroma of blood. There was nothing else. My arm jerked divisively in its direction. Chains clinked angrily. A dim memory began to bloom. I whimpered in the dark, I was so thirsty. MOVE! I reached out again catching air, metal hissing against the floor above me. Above me? No wait I was on my back. My perception shifted, it was a weird sensation like rolling over without moving. I groaned. Everything was off. This wasn’t my dark prison. Tentatively I tried to roll on to my side, the floor was smooth and dry under me – not the damp brick I'd become accustomed to. Where was I? A thought bubbled in my mind, floating atop a sea of bloodlust, I was drowning in my need for blood, but I was used to drowning, I'd been drowning for so long, too long, 32 years long. How did I know that?

The thought bubble didn’t pop, instead it bulged and oozed, expanding, pushing the bloodlust to one side and bringing my mind back to me. NO! No, this couldn’t be, my eyes snapped open. My new prison was bathed in a soft glow from the lamp and I wasn’t dead. I looked around stiffly, my head pounding and nostrils flaring, still hunting for the source that sang to the monster within. Everything was pretty much the same as I last recalled, the man was gone along with the bucket. Empty beer bottles, cigarette butts littered the table and four empty plastic bottles were strewn on the floor. Four? I could only remember drinking 3, but what made my breath hitch, made my eyes snap into unwavering focus was a bottle of blood only a few feet away. I gulped. I resolved right there and then that I wasn’t going to drink it. With great determination I backed away as far as I could. The game that he was playing was one I didn’t understand and I didn’t want to play. At any rate I didn’t deserve to drink it, to feel it sliding down my throat, soothing the burn, relieving the almost unquenchable thirst. I shook my head. I couldn't think about it. I needed to think about something else. I wrapped my arms around myself and hid in the safe memories of the past.

_ _

“Ricky!” I whisper shouted “How did you get up here?” I whipped my head round to check on Nancy but she was still asleep.

“I missed you, Sally-Anne.” He murmured.

Something had stirred me from my sleep and when I awoke Ricky was clinging to the sill of the open window.

“Can I come in or do I have to hang here all night?” Ricky said softly.

Oh my, I thought to myself, what to do. I should send him away. That’s what a good girl would do but he was soo gorgeous and he was interested in me! The boys always flocked to Nancy, despite our similar looks. Nancy was bubbly and flirty while I was quiet, shy Sally-Anne. If Pa found him here he would kill me! I bit at my nails. It was entirely improper. All day I'd been thinking about him. Trailing after Nancy and Charlie on their date in the strawberry fields I pretended that I was on my own date with Ricky, daydreaming about him holding my hand and feeding me strawberries. When we went swimming in the lake I imagined Ricky splashing me and brushing wet hair off my face. I was so occupied with my day dream that I paid Teddy and Bobby no mind, their teasing fell on deaf ears. Teddy and Bobby always got away with everything like the time when they cut my hair or when they put paint in my shoes, Nancy was often cheeky and she was always sneaking treats from the kitchen. I never did anything, boring Sally-Anne. I could break the rules this once right?

“Sally-Anne....? I’ve been thinking about you all day. I just had to see you.” There was an intensity to his voice that made feel powerless to resist. Twisting my hands with indecisiveness I glanced back at my cousin.

“What about Nancy? We might wake her.” I took another glance back, she hadn’t stirred and was still sleeping soundly, one foot poking out the blanket.

“I promise to be extra quiet” he winked and flashed me a smile. My heart started beating so loudly that I was sure it might wake the whole house, let alone Nancy. I took a step back from the window so Ricky could climb in.

“So I can come in then?” He asked cautiously.

“Yes.”

He grinned wickedly and lithely passed through the open window. I took the candle and matches from the night stand and led him across the hall and up the steps into the attic. My bare feet scuffed softly against the wood as I walked. We settled on the floor with the candle between us and hours ticked by as though they were minutes as Ricky asked me a thousand questions about myself; my favourite colour, the foods I liked, if I'd ever courted, did I finish school, did I like to read. An endless stream, all of which I answered with barely a first thought, let alone a second, as I stared longingly into his eyes.

_ _

The door groaned as my mystery captor entered. I tried to hold onto the memory, especially the way the candle light reflected in Ricky’s eyes but the sound of the man’s heart was too distracting, making my mouth water and my mind scream. Eyes totally transfixed on him. He looked at the untouched bottle of blood and pursed his lips.

“Not thirsty, Doll?” He voiced tersely.

Glaring at the soft flesh of his throat I shook my head.

“You going to speak? Cos I got some more questions.” He asked while halfway to sitting in his chair.

I shook my head, speaking meant breathing, breathing meant I'd smell the blood in the air and then...

I wouldn’t be able to stop myself.