Chapter 7

“Daniel, I want to go home,” she sighed. She shivered, feeling cold, while her ass burned as if on fire.

“We will, but first I must insist that you never, ever go in that basement again, agreed?”

“Agreed.” She tried to caress him.

“And second, we’re taking you to the hospital and getting you examined. I heard about some of the stuff you were made to swallow, and I shudder at the thought. Who knows what kind of pills and alcohol were poured down your throat? You’ve likely been poisoned and have to be treated.”

“Okay,” she nodded. “But to Trenton Memorial. I have nothing against Bellville General, but Memorial has a better drug and alcohol treatment unit.”

“Let’s get you showered up, you reek!” Dan said, standing up. He put Karen’s bound hands over his head and lifted her in his arms. With her considerable weight loss, she was as light as a feather.

Dan looked at Thor, who was now sitting on a chair with Tanya rubbing her man’s arm. It was now that he realized the music had stopped and the room had gone silent. “Make way, make way!” Wei cleared a path for Dan, Karen, and Wendy as he carried her across the room.

The door to the basement was locked, and Tanya had the key. Dan looked at the hinges and, not seeing any, knew the door opened inward. With Karen in his arms, he took two steps back and lunged forward. His right foot hit the door to the right of the doorknob, breaking it open. The impact stung his foot.

Down the stairs, he gingerly carried Karen to the shower room. “Think you’re able to stand up?” He asked, letting her feet gently touch the floor.

“I’m not sure; I’ve been on my hands and knees for hours, and I feel so weak.” Her knees buckled slightly, so she held onto the safety bar. Dan stripped off his shorts and started

the shower water to turn lukewarm. She flinched at the sudden feeling of the water on her back as if it were stinging her. Dan deflected the stream until it warmed up more. He undid the straps on her wrists, while Wendy undid those around her ankles.

“Oh, honey, the bruises!” Dan exclaimed, examining the various colours. He kissed each wrist.

“Thank you; it feels better already.” She tried to smile.

“Is this why you covered up so much with clothes, to hide the bruises?”

“Yes, I feel so ashamed of myself,” she said, unable to meet his gaze. He held the shower hose so the water flowed over her body. “Warmer, please; I feel so cold.”

“No wonder with the beating you’ve taken. Your ass feels like it’s on fire,” Dan said, wetting her down.

“Wendy, there is some shampoo and crème rinse in that cupboard; can you get it for me? There is bottled water in the fridge. I need to drink a lot of water to dilute the crap still left in my stomach.”

Wendy found the shampoo and crème rinse. “I figured that you’d want a bottle of this too,” Wendy said, holding up a bottle of mouthwash.

“Oh yeah, big time. I can’t stand the smell of my own breath, let alone kiss you.” Karen took the two bottles of water and downed them both. “I need to have something in my stomach. I don’t think I’m done throwing up.”

She took the bottle of mouthwash from Wendy and took a big swig, gargled, and rinsed several times. She spits the green liquid on the floor outside the shower.

“I better take some of that too. I gave a guy named Rob a blow job before we found you,” Wendy said. She washed Karen’s hair several times to rid it of all the stench and filth while Dan gently soaped up her damaged body. She leaned her left arm over his shoulder for support as they tenderly washed her breasts.

Dan and Wendy gently made their way down to wash her sore pussy and ass. “This isn’t the reason I had in mind for a threesome in the shower,” Karen was able to joke.

“We’ll have enjoyable ones again, for sure,” Wendy smiled.

“I’m feeling better already, thanks to you both,” Karen said, finally able to smile.

The water helped ease the stinging on her skin. “Uh-oh, here it comes again!” Karen reacted, leaning out of the shower. Dan comforted her as he felt her stomach heave, tossing up the water and more disgusting contents.

“Sorry,” she said, and she rinsed with mouthwash again.

“Your body must be trying to rid itself of the pills and booze,” he said.

“And a lot of cum too. I have no idea how many loads of cum I swallowed. How did you get Thor to stop hitting me?”

“You should have seen him, Karen; Dan was amazing!” Wendy smiled, rubbing his shoulder.

“Several years ago, I took Tai Kwon Do lessons for something to do and to keep in shape after Laura died. I never thought I’d ever have to use those moves for real. I’m surprised it actually worked.”

“Dan hit Thor with his knuckles really hard and fast, right in the throat,” she demonstrated.

“I was scared shitless facing him, but I knew I had to defend you. I had to do something, even if it meant me being beaten up.”

“You certainly are my hero, Dan. I love you so much!” She kissed his cheek and said, “I’ll need to clean my mouth out really good before I kiss you or Wendy.”

Karen let the warm, soothing water cascade down her body. “There’s something I should tell you, Dan, worse than what you saw upstairs.”

“What could possibly be worse than what you just went through?” he asked.

“You have protected me all these years from every conceivable threat. After I lost our baby, you did everything a wife could ever ask from her husband. However, the more you tried to love me and help me, the more I pushed you away—pushed everyone away. What you couldn’t protect me from ... was myself.”

She lowered her head in shame, water streaming from her nose and chin. “I’ve had Tanya arrange several gang bangs for me with at least a dozen men at once. I’ve gone to most every club and bar in Belleville for three to five guys to pick me up and take me to a stranger’s home for fucking and blow jobs.”

“I’m probably the easiest fuck in all of Belleville, a truly married, slutty whore. I’d also been fucked by dogs before we got Sarg. Why do you think I agreed so easily to get him? I was fucked by a dog owned by a couple that I had sex with and their dog twice. Tanya walked me in a park, and I was fucked by a dog. Plus, Sarg has fucked me several times, and I’ve given him blow jobs,” she confessed.

“Honey, most of the women in our family have been fucked by Sarg or Major. I think I’m jealous of him being able to last longer at fucking than I can,” he joked, and she gave a slight smile. “I enjoyed watching Major fuck Tina, Diane, and Brenda, and Sarg fuck Wendy. I’d love to watch Sarg fuck you and you give him a blow job.”

“Dan watched Sarg fuck me for my birthday, and I liked it too,” Wendy supported.

Karen muttered several words that Dan couldn’t hear: “What did you say, honey?” She glanced up at him, then let her gaze drop. She felt so ashamed that she couldn’t dare look into his loving eyes.

“I shouldn’t be here,” she said, tears mixing with the shower water.

“Sure, you should be here. You, Wendy, and I had planned on coming here for my birthday,” he replied.

“That isn’t what I meant. I shouldn’t be here at all,” she began. Dan raised her chin so they could see eye-to-eye. She looked into his eyes, and his loving gaze began to bring her back to life. “I shouldn’t be here because ... earlier, I tried to kill myself. I tried to commit suicide before ending up here!” Her voice trailed off into confessional sobbing.

Dan was speechless and dumbfounded. He didn’t say anything. The shower water was replaced with his tears. “Remember the old road we sometimes walked that’s near the closed-out rock quarry? After arguing with you and hitting you, I was so disgusted, so mad, and so fed up with myself that I drove down the road. I broke open the gate with the car and sped towards the cliff. I knew it was high enough that the impact with the ground below would kill me. You didn’t deserve me. You deserved to live a happy life with Wendy.”

“I deserve to live a happy life with you both,” he said, looking at Wendy.

Dan suddenly realized how close he’d come to losing Karen and started crying uncontrollably on her shoulder, saying, “I’m so sorry for what I did to you! I badgered you to the point of making you want to kill yourself.” He sobbed.

“Oh no, no, no, no,” Karen gently lifted Dan’s head with the palm of her hands and said, “Shhh, my love, no, my darling, it wasn’t your fault at all. It was all me. My world had closed in on me, and I couldn’t see any other way out except to end my misery and die.”

“But what stopped you?” He asked as she stemmed his flow of tears.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she said. Dan looked at her, waiting for an explanation.

“I think I may have been saved by ghosts or guardian angels. I know that sounds crazy; sorry for the pun. I know I wasn’t thinking clearly when I was trying to kill myself, but I believe I saw the ghost or spirit of our Laura and another woman that I didn’t recognize.”

“I remember I was speeding towards the edge of the cliff when I think two transparent figures appeared in front of me. They seemed to command me to stop as I drove through them, like they were made of smoke or fog. At the speed I was driving, I’m certain there wasn’t enough road left to stop my car, but for some reason, the car didn’t go over the cliff. Somehow it stopped before I reached the edge and should have fallen to my death.”

Wendy covered her mouth, gasping with amazement. “When the car stopped close to going over the cliff, I screamed and beat my head because I ended up being too chicken to kill myself. While driving here, I decided to kill myself by jumping off the Quinte Bay Bridge after Thor was finished punishing me.”

“I taunted Thor on purpose so he’d beat me. I wanted him to keep punishing me for losing our baby. Then, while he was beating me, I wanted him to kill me. So if you hadn’t found me tonight, I would have been dead from Thor killing me or in the morning from jumping off the Quinte Bridge.”

Dan hugged her frail body tight to his and sobbed uncontrollably at how close he’d come to losing Karen. “If Laura had the power of her premonitions to see into the future and write her letters, then she certainly could have the power to save you. I’ve lost one wife already; I certainly don’t want to lose one or two more,” he said, looking at her and Wendy. “That would have been one hell of a birthday present—killing yourself today.”