The Oakhurst Murders Duology

4

4

Lucy Goulding stirred at the sound of an approaching vehicle. Her chin lifted from her chest, so she could search the darkness that surrounded her; the movement was minimal, but enough to reawaken the pain caused by her arms being tied above her head so that she was suspended from something, she didn’t know what, the pain that had earlier made her decide it best to stay as still as possible.

She wanted to scream but didn’t, she knew it would be pointless; not only was her jaw broken, a gag had been stuffed into her mouth while she was unconscious. Even if she could make a noise, it wouldn’t go anywhere.

It was a minute or so after she first heard the approaching vehicle that it came to a stop, and the sound of a door opening and then slamming reached her. A few moments later a door was opened across from her and light flooded in, revealing her prison; she had been hung, naked – she had no idea where her clothes were – from a beam in an old barn. She had suspected she was in an abandoned building of some kind from the smell, which she now knew was that of rotting straw, but had no idea where.

There was no time for her to look around and see any more than that, her attention was caught by the figure that entered the barn. For a moment there was nothing but a black silhouette, then He moved closer and she was able to see him more clearly. She couldn’t believe who had attacked her; she was so astonished that He reached her naked figure before she could recover from the surprise.

“Let me go.”

“What was that, I couldn’t make it out. You’re mumbling.” He reached up to remove the gag.

“Let me go,” she said again, trying to make something more than a barely audible, unintelligible noise.

He c****d his head to one side, as though he was trying to listen more closely, and then he shook it. “Nope, can’t make out a thing, you’re still mumbling.” He reached a hand up, as though to caress her cheek, and grabbed her jaw, sending fresh pain shooting through her as he waggled it back and forth. “You need to move your lips if you want people to understand what you’re saying.”

The comment amused him, and he laughed at his own wit. His laughter died quickly when Lucy lashed out with her feet; her left foot struck him in the arm, which he ignored, but her right caught him in the groin. His eyes widened, and his face went white with pained shock as he doubled up.

Lucy was pleased she had hurt him but couldn’t help wishing she had hurt him more seriously.

“Think that was funny, do you?” He demanded when he recovered. “You’ve obviously learned nothing about behaving. I guess you need a lesson.”

The pleasure Lucy felt at having hurt Him disappeared when she saw him pull his belt off and fold it in half. She felt a cold shiver of fear run up and down her spine. She couldn’t take her eyes off him as he smacked the belt emphatically into the palm of his other hand; the sound it made spoke eloquently of pain.

“My dad used to take a belt to me when I did something wrong, or he thought I had,” He said, staring up into her face in a way that made her wish he would pay more attention to her naked body. “Let’s see if it’s as good at making you behave as it was me.”

Lucy anticipated what was to come and prepared herself as best she could; despite that, the pain that came with the first lash of the belt was still a shock. Again and again he whipped her with the belt, making her body jerk and twitch. She would have screamed if she could; not only did the blows hurt, but the way her body moved in response to them made her shoulders howl in protest.

How long the assault continued for, she had no idea. All she was sure of was that by the time it ended, she couldn’t tell where the pain was coming from, it seemed to be originating from every nerve in her body.

“That’s the lesson out of the way,” He said, his voice ragged from the exertion of whipping Lucy, as he tossed the belt aside. “I hope you’ve learned to behave, because it’s time for playtime.” He took a large lock-knife from his pocket and cut her down, letting her fall to the floor, while he began stripping the clothes from his sweat-soaked body.

Even before He unbuttoned his jeans to reveal his arousal, Lucy knew what he had in mind for her, and what he must have done with Georgina. She hoped her fellow teen had fought him, she didn’t like to think that Georgina had simply given up and let him do what he wanted; there was no way she was going to do that. She hurt, worse than she would have believed possible, but she still intended fighting with every last ounce of energy she possessed.