(Watch for Chapter 6 coming soon!)

There was no way for me to be comfortable. That was the deviousness of the predicament he’d directed his people to put me in. My arms were stretched high above me. So much so that my shoulders were raised up against my ears. Or rather, up against the leather hood that had been buckled snugly over my head. My wrists were tied so tightly together. The binding material felt like twine, or maybe hemp. It bit into my skin with enough friction that I could not so much as twist or turn my hands. My elbows were also tied together just above the hood. This additional measure was utterly redundant as the bondage used to tether my wrists to some anchor high above me was more than enough to render me helpless. I hoped that this was intended to be a form of psychological torment meant to push me closer to the breaking point. A point I vowed I’d never reach. That’s what I hoped it was. My concern, or rather, my fear, was that this was done more for an aesthetic function. Because that would be that something really had changed. This would mean that I truly was no longer an honored if unwilling guest. It would make me “something” else. And that could only be worse for me.

A door opened. This was not the loading dock door on some other floor that I had been brought in through. No. This was the heavy and ornate front door to the residence. Everything about the space, including the door, was selected to make an impression. The massive door opened silently on perfectly weighted and well-oiled hinges. However, the sliding of heavy metal locks and handles served to project power, or perhaps dominance.

Footsteps. I could just make out their sound, despite the muffling effect of the hood. There were two sets. One was heavy with a longer gate. I could tell it was my captor. His rapid steps were all over the room while his companion walked a straight path. He was full of energy. I could not make out his words, but his tone was exuberant. He was “performing” for someone.

I tried to rise up, but I was held in my awkward kneeling position by the lashing that secured my ankles tightly to my thighs. I could not extend my legs up out of the kneel, nor could I pull my bent legs in underneath me due to additional cords tethered to secure anchors splaying them apart. It was a compromised position. It was a humiliating position. This realization made me understand why he’d ordered me stripped naked before they bound me. My predicament was not ONLY to punish and break me. It was also to make an impression on someone else.

I focused on the clicking of heels on the stone floor. Her steps were slow and hesitant. A stark contrast to his frantic stomping. The pair were making their way toward me. I instinctively strained against the ropes but found no give. I was pulled out taught from above and below. Whatever modesty I had somehow retained during my days of captivity caused me shame to be seen like this. Not by a monster like him. I could never feel shame regarding someone such as him who had no shred of humanity. My shame was to be seen by the nervous woman he’d brought with him into his lair. My shame was over the knowledge that I was being used, somehow, as a prop in the game he was playing.

She stopped. She must have seen me and was frozen by the sight. I mewed a feeble warning but nothing intelligible escaped the heavy gag that filled my mouth. Then I heard him close to me. His voice was booming. I still could not make out the words, but his tone was jovial. He was proud of himself. He was sure of himself. Just like he was when he came to me in the gilded cage I’d been kept in. He occasionally paused in his words. She must have been speaking, asking questions. Her voice so soft I could not hear it at all. Could she be falling for whatever lies he was speaking.

Desperation boiled over inside me. I turned my head about and continued my useless effort to by heard. My fingers stretched out searching for anything to grasp but found nothing. I pulled down as hard as I could but the line suspending my hands would not yield. I twisted the few inches I could to my right and my left. I could only just barely shift on my hips. I’m sure my ferocious struggling would have appeared as nothing more than shifting my weight.

With a final eruption of laughter, he led her to the couch just in front of me. They were conversing as though I wasn’t even there. The absurd, naked, bound and helpless woman kneeling before them just blended into the décor or the room! It was too much for me. My physical exhaustion had finally caught up. I’d tried to ration my strength all this time, so I’d have a reserve if he ever made a mistake. To give me a chance. But I used everything I had left in this futile effort. This wasted prayer. My body went limp. My head hung as much as the collar of the hood would permit. And for the first time since I was taken from the book signing, I sobbed in defeat.