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After AnimeCon: Seven Years Bad Luck
🕑 Added 2023-12-24 13:41:15 +0000 UTCChloe woke to pain and exhaustion and the smell of her own sweat, and as always the first thing she did was test her bonds. Her wrists were engulfed in medical braces that shut with velcro which were then secured to one another with cloth tape and then duct tape. Attempting to kick her ankles free from each other revealed that they were still in the same predicament. Just as they had been for several weeks.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” Chloe snarled out.
Her sudden voice broke the still silence of the dingy ramshackle ‘cabin’ she was locked up in, and she knew Rebecca heard her. Her captor always seemed to hear her, no matter how far out in the woods the girl was ranging. Chloe hated Rebecca, even though she knew Rebecca was in all likelihood just as much a prisoner as she was. A prisoner to brainwashing, or mind control, or some sort of puppetry. The lanky brute of a girl who dressed in her ridiculous medieval tunics was absolutely impervious to reason. She couldn’t be bargained with, she refused to accept any of the points Chloe made, and didn’t even seem capable of understanding them.
True to form, a moment later the door to the shack shuddered and then jolted with a creak to reveal the stoic face of Rebecca.
“Hurry up,” Chloe spat out.
She didn’t even have to pee that bad, because she had been on hunger strike and drinking as little as possible. Escaping on her own while her body was this weak didn’t seem likely, so she might as well be as weak and pitiful as possible for when the authorities inevitably found her. That would make for sensational headlines, and with that kind of tragic she would finally have the social capital to never have anyone oppose her ever again.
The only problem was, her expected rescue didn’t happen in the first few days, and it didn’t happen in the first weeks, either. Her imprisonment here was actually starting to take a real toll on her, and it made her seethe with rage at the police for taking so long to fucking figure it out. How were they not already canvassing the area in search of her? Were they too stupid to suspect Brian and his little gang of victims-turned-abusers?
“How are we feeling today?” Rebecca asked in a soft voice.
It was good to hear that the grating chipper tone was gone for good now, and Chloe felt pleased to see that being stuck out here in the woods for this long was wearing on Rebecca as well. The familiar light-blue of the oblong plastic bedpan was retrieved from the corner, and Chloe grit her teeth and accepted the daily ‘assistance.’ Rebecca pulled Chloe’s sweatpants down and lifted her body up to sit her upon the seat of the bedpan. This too had become routine, and although at first she had used these moments to fight—in the end, Chloe was the one who would then have to sit there smelling her own piss all day, and it really wasn’t worth it.
“You can’t keep me here forever,” Chloe wasn’t even able to keep the malice out of her voice. “Whatever Brian’s done to you—whatever hold he has over you—I know that you know this is wrong.”
“Soon,” Rebecca assured her. “Soon.”
“Soon?! What happens soon?!” Chloe hissed. “Brian and the others come out here? To what? Murder me? Rape me? Pervert me, like he did with those other poor girls? Like he’s done to you? Take everything that makes me me and just—snuff it out, fill my empty shell up with some obedient false me who says yes please daddy and is pliant to all of his sick perverted wishes? Rebecca that’s worse than death. You know it is.”
“What an interesting thought,” Rebecca remarked with indifference. “Is that who I spoke with on the ride out here? An obedient false you?”
“You know that it was,” Chloe gnashed her teeth. “You know that wasn’t me. He had his—his filthy fingers all over my mind. Making me act that way. Making me say those things.”
“Which is the real you, I wonder?” Rebecca let out a sigh that sounded genuine this time. “The Chloe of hate, or the Chloe of contrition—Christine. Both seem so very genuine.”
“I haven’t gone by Christine since I was abused by my parents,” Chloe raged at the uncaring Rebecca. “That’s a dead name to me—I’m me, I’m Chloe, and I choose my name, I choose who I am—not anyone else. That’s how you know I wasn’t myself back before—Rebecca you have to understand that.”
“Hmm,” Rebecca mused, remaining in a crouch beside Chloe for long enough to examine her eyes in a long, searching look. “I hope you’re wrong. I’ll leave you some privacy so you can piddle! I’ll be back in a while to take the pan.”
“You’re not even listening to me!” Chloe croaked. Her voice felt hoarse already from all of the days they had gone through the motions of these same conversations, again and again.
* * *
Rebecca sat with her legs crossed upon the top of Mount Rock, surveying the untamed majesty of the forest beneath her. The leafy greenery was vibrant and dappled with sunlight that danced this way and that as the canopy of branches above swayed in a gentle breeze. The sun kept today just warm enough to ward off a chill, while the wind rustling along at its tepid pace was just enough to ensure things didn’t get too hot for the simple linen tunic she was wearing. It was a perfect afternoon, and in times like these she felt the need to soak in as much peace and contentment as her soul could absorb, so that she could carry these feelings within her throughout times when things were difficult.
‘Mount Rock’ was a several ton stone perched on the shoulder of a hill overlooking her uncle’s property line, and it was a craggy old thing bearded with vines and moss that had become tangled with dry leaves. It had been named when she was a wild-haired six year old on the occasions she was left in her uncle’s care, running around exploring this mountainside and filling her imagination with exaggerated discoveries. Likewise the nearby Big Tree Cave was in fact just a slight dirt overhang created when a large tree had fallen over, its roots lifting up to unearth a small divot in the ground, and Table Rock and Rocky Rock were an enormous pair of nearby boulders she had painstakingly uncovered cleared an evil thicket off of.
Or at least, the thicket and boulders had been enormous when she was six.
Table Rock seemed like a massive stone altar for sacrifices, or an ancient slab that belonged in a castle dining hall! A special, giant, sacred thing—a place where heroes and kings might sit. It’s cute and also disheartening that when I’m all grown up, Table Rock is barely large enough to spread out my bedroll on.
She’d been so fiercely proud of each of these discoveries back then, having crawled through brambles to find them, with her tiny hands digging the massive boulders free from a peat of old leaves, dragging away dry old branches and uprooting undergrowth so that the majesty of these huge rocks could be seen. There was something magical and inspiring about discovering caves and boulders and secret meadows deep in the wilderness that moved her, and though so many years had passed since then, Rebecca still found herself quite moved. Revealing each of them to the world, however, wasn’t something that could be undone.
In her childhood, these woods had been an endless labyrinth of the dark and mysterious, with growth so thick that she could scarcely see through any of it—but now, visibility was a full thirty yards, and Rebecca could just about view her uncle’s entire property at once with a single glance. The forest never reclaimed the fallen tree nor the big rocks she had named, because clearing all of the old underbrush off of them back then had allowed low ferns to creep in. Now ferns choked out most everything else from reestablishing a foothold, and between this veritable sea of fern fronds canvassing the forest floor here and deer grazing throughout the season, it seemed like Rebecca’s childhood triumphs would remain bared to the world forever.
That was a powerful metaphor she couldn’t help but ruminate on every time she came here, and it was difficult not to pine for that innocence and sense of adventure. The world was so vast and beautiful and full of endless possibility when you were six years old! In some sense or another, Rebecca suspected that she’d been chasing that spiritual feeling of magic and wonder her entire life through various means, and never managed any closer to reaching it.
Until now.
Real magic had tumbled into her life from the most unexpected of avenues—her close friend Emily of all people had blundered into it. Brian and Chloe were involved as well, and she’d been acquainted with them but not particularly close. Now, Rebecca was acting as the warden of one while her thoughts kept returning to the other, turning each of the moments over in her mind and attempting to examine them from every angle. Because there weren’t a lot of times they had shared together; their relationship hadn’t been very close.
It’s very strange, Rebecca thought to herself. But also it doesn’t feel strange at all. It’s just INTERESTING. Time spent with someone isn’t just a matter of hours and seconds, it’s about MEANING. I think I AM involved now, deeply involved. I have my own feelings for Brian I really want to explore, and as for Chloe…
Rebecca didn’t just see Chloe as a challenge, she was starting to see the young woman as her personal life challenge. Just as Rebecca had been a challenge for her grandmother to face, all of those years ago. She could only pray she had some sliver of her grandmother’s patience and compassion to overcome this kind of trial of character, because she genuinely thought that Chloe needed her. Everyone else was in a position where it would be very easy to give up on Chloe.
Rebecca wasn’t willing to give up on anyone. She refused to.
The morning had been quiet, and after Chloe woke and was assisted through her morning ablutions, Rebecca made them both a late breakfast of camp toast over the fire. Her ward was a picky eater and had been steadfast in refusing oatmeal, she turned her nose up at lentils, and even insisted that she didn’t eat bananas. Which is just silly—who doesn’t love bananas! Over the past weeks Chloe had wrinkled her nose in distaste at eggs no matter which way Rebecca made them, and thus far the only things her captive ate without complaint were expensive cups of greek yogurt and cans of weight loss breakfast shakes—both from the store in Tionetta, and campfire toast.
I DO make great campfire toast, Rebecca smiled to herself. So glad I kept the cinnamon and all of my fixings in with my camping gear!
The back road that was just down the hill from the property here didn’t see much traffic at all this time of year in the off season, but that would change soon. In the next month or so, many hunters would be driving out here to prep their cabins and lodges in the area for buck season. Checking on tree stands, setting up trail cameras, reactivating wellwater pumps or dropping off cases of water, doing property maintenance to clear downed trees or simply top off their stores of firewood.
Rebecca had of course asked her uncle for permission to spend time at his cabin, and in their messages back and forth he had been happy to lend her the unused rural property. ‘A friend of mine is going through a very difficult and confusing part of her life, and I wanted to help give her a retreat out away from everything and everyone.’ She didn’t lie to her uncle, per se, but Rebecca had to admit that the present situation wasn’t exactly one she would be comfortable with her uncle walking into.
So, when she heard the telltale sound of a vehicle approaching, Rebecca went still and strained her ears. Its engine wasn’t loud, and from that distant hush sound profile of its passage, it was not the typical big truck or offroad vehicle that came out this way. From the way it sounded, it wasn’t even driving that fast—all of these things were cause for caution, and with a frown Rebecca rose to her feet so that she could better see through the gaps in the trees.
Just below the property, a car eased to a stop on the gravel so that it could park just in behind her own vehicle—and from the flash of bright red hair she saw through one of the windows, it seemed like Kelly was driving. That meant Brian was likely here; they had promised to come out and see what to do about Chloe the moment he was up and about. Rebecca was thrilled and full of nervous tension and altogether excited as she crouched down to put a hand on Mount Rock for balance and then drop down the half dozen feet to the ferns below.
She landed with a crunch of leaves and twigs and immediately took off down the hill.
They’re here! They’re here, Rebecca suspected she had been without human companionship for too long—Chloe was a friend but distinctly not companionable because of her understandable circumstances—and Rebecca simply had been longing for some friendly faces.
“Chloe,” Rebecca called, trotting up to the cabin in a whirl of her tunic skirts. “Our company is here. Would you like help… tidying yourself up or anything?”
“Rebecca,” Chloe’s voice was full of unconstrained rage. “I don’t give a fuck about how I look. They’re here to either kill me or rape me, to, to mindfuck me into compliance. If you don’t—if you are not able to realize that, then, then can you at least promise you won’t just let them defile me. Rebecca? Rebecca, answer me.”
With both hands and her shoulder, Rebecca grabbed the heavy door by the handle, lifted, and shoved it open so that she could check on her charge. Chloe’s eyes were livid with anger but didn’t contain fear, which was a small relief. The slender brunette was dressed in simple sweatpants and sweatshirt, and though her wrists and ankles were bound, the girl looked somewhat comfortable here with the inflatable camping mattress and small nest of blankets. It smelled a little—they both carried the particular fragrance of sweat and campfire smoke, but neither were unpleasant to Rebecca.
“Answer me,” Chloe repeated with vehemence.
“We’re all going to talk,” Rebecca promised. “You will be a part of the decision. I think that we don’t need to keep escalating or antagonizing each other—all of you need to sit around the fire and work this out, and that’s what is going to happen.”
* * *
“Is this it?” Stephanie asked with apparent doubt.
“That’s Rebecca’s car for sure, yeah,” Emily affirmed, scanning the woods around them. “So… should be?”
Each of them climbed out the car and stood beside their open doors, searching in confusion across the stretch of country road that was framed by trees for as far as they could see. Forest rose up on the left side of the mountain road at a steep incline—the grade was so severe that if Brian leaned and stretched from the gravel beside the road, he could just about reach out and touch ground that had risen up to shoulder-level. On the opposite side, ferns and trees plateaued for fifteen yards and then must have turned into a sharp drop into one of the many valleys, because visibility through the trees became an impenetrable mess of canopy cover.
Rebecca’s station wagon sat beside the road, as if abandoned there.
“There’s a bit of a car path going up that-a-way,” Kelly pointed towards a gap in the treeline that snaked upwards. “Maybe?”
“But, is that the address? If that was her uncle’s property, she woulda pulled up and parked up there,” Emily guessed. “Right?”
“Well, nah, this is how she intended for us to find her, probably,” Brian glanced around again. “There’s not exactly mailboxes or addresses anywhere along here.”
“GPS just has the road, yeah,” Stephanie nodded, checking her phone again. “Fox Den Road. No numbers for it.”
“Sooo, do we holler for her, or what?” Emily asked. “Does yellin’ out here ‘tract bears?”
“Sure will, darlin’,” Kelly teased. “Voice like honey, who could rightly resist?”
“Aw shucks, Kelly-Lou,” Emily drawled. “Y’all’re fixin’ to make me blush, uhhh, redder’n a fresh apple pie?”
Traveling the rest of the way had disabused them of the notion that the cabin Rebecca was holed up at out here was near Tionetta—if anything, Tionetta was more of a halfway point. The country road their directions led them to was a long one, and for several hours their GPS was barren of adjoining streets or other nearby routes. Fox Den Road was a single linear path on an otherwise empty navigation screen for the final leg of their trip, only on rare occasions intersecting with other back roads with increasingly rural names like Cow Creek Run and Deer Park Drive.
The expectation of being nearly there wore down into unease and impatience, and for the first hour after Tionetta they had been riding mostly in silence rather than exchanging banter as they had before. The tension was worse for Stephanie, since she was receiving everyone’s feelings about it, and with a nervous laugh she had finally asked if they could distract her. Kelly discovered a country classics radio station whose songs all featured twangy steel guitar, which she and Emily would sing along with as soon as they picked up on each song’s chorus—which then devolved into them attempting to out country gal each other with their phrases and accents.
Brian had an even better time. Since he was sharing the back seat with Stephanie, he was able to distract her with a hand in her lap and plucking kisses along her neck, and she giggled and squirmed and finally was forced to fight back with her own lips. Throughout the rest of the ride he discovered several more of Stephanie’s sensitive spots, as well as the fact that Steph was downright bad at attempting country accents. She would pause overlong trying to imagine something to say with an embarrassed smile, and then at best poorly copy some of the sayings Kelly or Emily had already thrown around.
The fact that she wasn’t good at that kind of wisecracking was somehow just as endearing as the way the two up front heckled each other back and forth, and Brian made sure to reward each of her blushes with more and more attention. By the time Emily had spotted Rebecca’s car on the roadside, Brian and Stephanie had been making out off and on for half an hour, stopping only to gasp for breath or burst into laughter, because by then Kelly and Emily had turned the radio down to background noise and were insisting back and forth that Steph and Brian were first cousins and that ‘them two better quit pawin’ at each other ‘fore momma catches wind of them sinful deeds.’
“Guess… we might as well head up and take a look?” Brian suggested, swinging his door closed. “She’s gotta be somewhere around here, right?”
“I hear banjo music start to play, I’m outta here,” Emily frowned. “S’creepy out here.”
“It’s nice,” Stephanie said, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. “It’s beautiful.”
“No way,” Emily shook her head. “Not this far out. We’re like, way way way out here away from everything. Anything could happen out here, and you’d be fucked. Wait, we have a spare tire, right?”
“I dunno, you were the last one in and out of my trunk,” Brian chuckled. “Do I?”
“Bow chika wow wow?” Kelly raised her eyebrows.
“Th-the tires are all fine!” Stephanie said, stepping around the vehicle to double check them. “Emily—what are you going on about?!”
“Yeah, but I mean like, what if,” Emily threw out her hands. “We’re way out in hillbilly territory. “Reckon we’s ‘bout ta—”
“Hey, hey, alright,” Brian held up a hand. “Ease up on messin’ around with all that country talk, okay? I don’t want Rebecca to think we’re making fun of her, or anything.”
“She won’t care,” Emily snorted. “She’s the one who’s—”
“Rebecca!” Stephanie called out, doing a little hop.
To Brian’s surprise, when Rebecca emerged from the trail leading up into the woods she turned out to be wearing a linen tunic. The simple attire didn’t seem out of place on her, either—they weren’t that too-clean and freshly laundered sort of look that made costumes in movies seem out of place sometimes, and they weren’t tattered and filthy, either. They were just her clothes, and they fit her so naturally here that it made their intruding group here seem like the ones who were out of place.
Once again he was struck by that strange wild beauty Rebecca possessed. She didn’t look like someone who was roughing it out here for months. Instead, she was simply living out here, some integral part of her belonged out here and had never quite completely fit in around the urban sprawl. While she appeared a little tired, she wasn’t frazzled—she seemed satisfied and at peace, and that steadfast serenity about her was incredibly attractive here when she was in her element.
“Hi guys,” Rebecca exchanged a small half-hug with Stephanie and then a crushing glomp of a hug and squeeze from Emily. “It’s great to see you all! Brian—you’re looking a lot better.”
“So I hear,” Brian couldn’t help but grin. “But hey, I—”
“No bite marks?” Emily carefully drew back Rebecca’s wild hair. “Right? I’ve gotta check.”
“No bite marks!” Rebecca gave her a smile and patted her shoulder. “No ticks or deer flies or… anything more serious. I’ve been careful!”
“Good,” Emily grunted. “So, uh, is she—?”
“She’s in a mood, today!” Rebecca informed them with a wry look. “She might not be happy to see you.”
“Christine, you mean?” Stephanie asked.
“I… don’t know that you should call her Christine,” Rebecca gave them a wince. “But. Yeah. Come on up! Do you guys have sleeping bags or stuff or anything? Were you all staying overnight?”
“If it’s not imposing,” Brian nodded. “But—yeah, I can grab all that stuff later. I think we should see her.”
“Hmm,” Rebecca gave him a long look but finally nodded in return. “You’re right. Let’s… let’s get that out of the way. This way. Watch your—Emily, watch your step.”
“I was watching, this stupid fuckin’ rock—”
“Language!” Rebecca admonished. “C’mon, just walk along the tire tracks. Follow Kelly!”
“Yeah, Emily’s mouth’s been awful lately,” Brian ribbed as he took Stephanie’s hand and started leading her up after the others. “She even has Stephanie swearing now.”
“Emily!”
“That’s totally not even true!” Emily protested. “She picked those words up from Kelly.”
“I think Steph’s been watching dirty videos,” Kelly deflected. “There’s no way I would use that kind of language.”
When Brian checked to gauge Stephanie’s expression, he saw that she wasn’t too put out by being the sole recipient of their teasing remarks once again. He gave her hand a squeeze anyways, so that she’d know he was thinking about her, and she returned with a squeeze of assurance back. The simple problem was, it was always too much fun to tease her, and because Stephanie wasn’t very aggressive with her responses, he sometimes worried that it would actually start to bother her, or make her feel like she was being singled out.
“It’s okay!” Stephanie promised him in a knowing whisper. “They’re all—everyone’s just nervous.”
“Yeah, hah,” Brian wanted to give her a long look but was forced to watch his footing as they trekked up between tire tracks that became deep ruts. “Just—like, let me know. If anything ever starts to bother you.”
“I do. I did!” Stephanie promised him, nearly stumbling herself as they climbed up the incline together. “I needed distraction in the car, and, and—you all went out of your way for me. I can feel the love.”
“Oi, what’re you lot whisperin’ ‘bout back there?” Emily called back. “What’s goin’ on—anything you’d like to share with the rest of the class?”
“Let them have their moment, geez,” Kelly scoffed.
“Actually wait,” Emily dropped into a low voice, pausing so she could turn towards Brian and Stephanie. “Steph—can you like, sense Chloe up there? Can you feel Rebecca?”
“I can’t, no,” Stephanie revealed. “However my sense works, they’re not connected to it, I don’t think.”
“Okay,” Emily stared for a moment as she processed that. “Rebecca—hey, Rebecca?”
“What?”
“You still have the charm, right?”
“I do! I have it safe in my little lockbox in my car,” Rebecca explained. “I haven’t touched it. Or—or at least, when I move it, I use my little cooking tongs. That doesn’t appear to effect me.”
“Okay,” Emily acknowledged. “Just. Yeah. We might need the charm.”
“I know,” Rebecca said. “I do want you to talk with her first, though.”
“Not just for her, either,” Emily chuckled. “For you, too. Remember what you said?”
“I-I said—” Rebecca actually sounded flustered for once, and when Brian looked in her direction he noticed Rebecca quickly looked away from him. “We’ll talk about that, too! Emily.”
“Alright, alright,” Emily grumbled. “Geez. I’m just sayin’.”
If nothing else, the climb up the hill towards the rickety-looking ‘cabin’ illustrated why Rebecca had parked down by the road—Brian wasn’t sure his car would make it up here either without getting stuck. The cabin itself was… humble. He didn’t know how else to describe it—it looked like a play fort young teens might have assembled out of stolen odds and ends, but it was scaled up for adults. Cinderblocks, exposed plywood, railroad ties, treated and untreated boards of different lengths in different hues—it appeared sturdy enough, but was absolutely not built with any consideration towards how it might look. In fact, all it was missing for that typical post-apocalyptic atompunk shantyhouse aesthetic was rusting sheet metal.
“Damn, sweet,” Emily remarked. “Did you build that yourself?!”
“My uncle did!” Rebecca answered. “The door and some of the roofing bits are new, he was working on it again just earlier this year.”
“She’s inside?” Kelly’s voice was blunt.
“I’ll bring her out, and um… calm her down,” Rebecca told them with a tight smile. “We can all sit around the fire.”
( Previous: Tionetta Trip | After AnimeCon | Next: The Forest for the Trees )
Comments
Wrath
Merry christmas. I miss christine.
Marcus Cassin
So, so happy to hear the Amazon debut is doing well, even if I super, duper miss the old cover art. I love that artist for BtDEM, but I still kinda wonder why their new cover art for ACH doesn't hit the same way.
Thomas Pruckner
Merry Christmas everyone!!
Todd Neal
And I will be buying it come next paycheck
AzureXIII
Merry Christmas its good to hear that Anime Harem Con is selling well. Thank you for another great chapter as always
Jeanie6754
Merry Christmas 🎁 I am glad to hear that the book is doing well on Amazon. Try to find some time to relax in the next few days.
Toodles McGhee
Merry Christmas!!
Mocherthrath
TYFC Awesome as always! Have a happy Holidays. 😊
