M. Arlidge - Eeny Meeny

The first book in the Helen Grace series, 2014

Sam is asleep. I could kill him now. His face is turned from me it wouldnt be hard. Would he stir if I moved? Try and stop me? Or would he just be glad that this nightmare was over?

I cant think like that. I must try to remember what is real, what is good. But when youre a prisoner, the days seem endless and hope is the first thing to die.

I rack my brains for happy memories to hold off the dark thoughts, but they are harder and harder to summon.

Weve only been here ten days (or is it eleven?), yet normal life already seems like a distant memory. We were hitching back from a gig in London when it happened. It was pouring with rain and a succession of cars had sailed past without a second look. We were soaked to the skin and about to turn back, when finally a van pulled over. Inside, it was warm and dry. We were offered coffee from a flask. Just the smell of it was enough to cheer us up. The taste was even better. We didnt realize that it would be our last taste of freedom.

When I came to, my head was pounding. Blood coated my mouth. I wasnt in the warm van any more. I was in a cold, dark space. Was I dreaming? A noise behind me made me start. But it was only Sam stumbling to his feet.

Wed been robbed. Robbed and dumped. I scrambled forward, clawing at the walls that enclosed us. Cold, hard tiles. I crashed into Sam and for a brief moment held him, breathing in that smell I love so much. Then the moment passed and we realized the horror of our situation.

We were in a disused diving pool. Derelict, unloved, it had been stripped of the boards, signs and even the steps. Everything that could be salvaged had been. Leaving a deep smooth tank that was impossible to climb out of.

Was that evil shit listening to our screams? Probably. Because when we finally stopped, it happened. We heard a mobile phone ringing and for a brief, glorious moment thought it was someone coming to rescue us. But then we saw the phones face glowing on the pool floor beside us. Sam didnt move, so I ran. Why did it have to be me? Why does it always have to be me?

Hello, Amy.

The voice on the other end was distorted, inhuman. I wanted to beg for mercy, explain that theyd made a terrible mistake, but the fact that they knew my name seemed to rob me of all conviction. I said nothing, so the voice continued, relentless and dispassionate:

Do you want to live?

Who are you? What have you done to u-

Do you want to live?

For a minute, I cant reply. My tongue wont move. But then:

Yes.

On the floor by the phone youll find a gun. It has one bullet in it. For Sam or for yourself. That is the price of your freedom. You must kill to live. Do you want to live, Amy?

I cant speak. I want to vomit.

Well, do you?

And then the phone goes dead. Which is when Sam asks:

What did they say?

Sam is asleep beside me. I could do it now.

The woman cried out in pain. And then was silent. Across her back, livid lines were forming. Jake raised the crop again and brought it down with a snap. The woman bucked, cried out, then said:

Again.

She seldom said anything else. She wasnt the talkative type. Not like some of his clients. The administrators, accountants and clerks stuck in sexless relationships were desperate to talk desperate to be liked by the man who beat them up for money. She was different a closed book. She never mentioned where shed found him. Or why she came. She issued her instructions her needs clearly and crisply, then asked him to get on with it.

They always started by securing her wrists. Two studded leather straps pulled taut, so that her arms were tethered to the wall. Iron ankle fetters secured her feet to the floor. Her clothes would be neatly stowed on the chair provided, so there shed stand, chained, in her underwear, awaiting punishment.

There was no roleplay. No Please dont hurt me, Daddy or Im a bad, bad girl. She just wanted him to hurt her. In some ways it was a relief. Every job becomes routine after a while and sometimes it was nice not to have to pander to the fantasies of sad, wannabe victims. At the same time it was frustrating, her refusal to strike up a proper relationship with him. The most important element of any S &M encounter is trust. The submissive needs to know that they are in safe hands, that their dominator knows their personality and their needs and can give them a fulfilling experience on terms that are comfortable for both parties. If you dont have that, then it swiftly becomes assault or even abuse and that was most definitely not Jakes bag.

So he chipped away the odd question here, the odd comment there. And over time hed divined the basics: that she wasnt from Southampton originally, that she had no family, that she was closing in on forty and didnt mind. He also knew from their sessions together that pain was her thing. Sex didnt come into it. She didnt want to be teased or titillated. She wanted to be punished. The beatings never went too far, but they were hard and unremitting. She had the body to take it she was tall, muscular and seriously toned and the traces of ancient scars suggested she was not new to the S &M scene.

And yet for all his probing, all his carefully worded questions, there was only one thing that Jake knew about her for sure. Once, when she was getting dressed, her photo ID slipped from her jacket pocket on to the floor. She snatched it up in a heartbeat thought he hadnt seen, but he had. He thought he knew a bit about people, but this one had taken him by surprise. If he hadnt seen her ID, hed never have guessed that she was a policewoman.

Amy is squatting a few feet away from me. Theres no awkwardness now and she urinates on the floor without embarrassment. I watch as the thin sliver of piss hits the tiles, tiny droplets of it bouncing back up to settle on her dirty knickers. A few weeks ago I would have turned away at the sight, but not now.

Her urine snakes its way slowly down the slope to join the stagnant puddle of waste that has built up at the deeper end. Im glued to its progress but finally the last drops disappear and the entertainment is over. She retreats to her corner. No words of apology, no acknowledgement. We have become animals careless of ourselves and of each other.

It wasnt always like this. At the beginning, we were furious, defiant. We were determined that we would not die here, that together we would survive. Amy stood on my shoulders, her nails cracking as she clawed the tiles, straining to reach the lip of the pool. When that didnt work, she tried jumping up from my shoulders. But the pool is fifteen feet deep, maybe more, and salvation seems forever just out of reach.

We tried the phone but it was pin-locked and after wed tried a few combinations it ran out of power. We shouted and screamed until our throats raged. All we heard in response was our echo, mocking us. Sometimes it feels like we are on another planet, with not another human being for miles around. Christmas is approaching, there must be people out looking for us, but its hard to believe that here, surrounded by this terrible, enduring silence.

Escape is not an option, so now we simply survive. We chewed our nails until our fingers bled, then sucked up the blood greedily. We licked the condensation from the tiles at dawn, but still our stomachs ached. We talked about eating our clothes but thought better of it. Its freezing at night and all that keeps us from dying of hypothermia is our scant clothing and the heat we glean from each other.