“By the time I was—um—developing, he became more obsessed with me. He stopped being so discreet in his attentions. Anytime he would see me he would pat my chest, right here,” she held her hand just above the bulge of her breasts, “and call me his ‘big-breasted thing’.”
Alik seethed at the quiver of fear in her voice. Silently, he was promising God he would rid the world of that sick monster. Outwardly, he was offering understanding, controlled nods and looks of concern. He didn’t know how much more he could hear without a blood vessel bursting in his forehead, but if she could suffer through years of sexual abuse at the hands of a sick monster, he could sit here respectfully listening to her retelling and be supportive and sympathetic.
“Eventually, the other metafemales started to really resent the special treatment they saw me get. As far as they were concerned, they thought I asked for the attention. I would get attacked often—jumped by other girls in my squad. The last time that happened they left me with more bruises than Bjorn liked. He brought me weapons and told my instructors to allow me to defend myself. No one else was allowed weapons in the barracks or around campus unless they were actively training with an instructor. I was an anomaly in so many ways. The next time the girls came to jump me for having that special treatment, I shot three of them dead and beat the last one so badly, she had to spend a week in the Facility’s hospital recovering from a broken jaw, ribs and kneecap.”
Farrow glanced at Alik looking for an expression she was terrified she’d see. Instead of the judgment and reproach she was sure he would feel, all she saw was tenderness and pain painted on his sincere face.
“Oh, Farrow. I had no idea you had to suffer so badly—ostracized by the others and abused by your captors. How you survived all those years…” Alik shook his head in genuine amazement. “You are so much stronger than even you give yourself credit for. You are a fighter through and through and I wish to God I didn’t have to, but I admire you for standing up for yourself the way you had to.”
Farrow just stared straight ahead, watching the highway zoom under the hood of the car as they continued on their path toward their missing family members.
“After that day, Dr. Bjorn worked something out with Dr. Williams and before I knew it, I was assigned as the Director’s personal assistant. I knew it was the only way I was going to survive so I accepted the assignment. None of the other girls even looked at me again. They knew what I’d done to protect myself and now they saw I had the Director and his favorite sadistic head scientist pulling favors for me. No one touched me ever again. Well, none of the metahumans.
“All I ever wanted was to find a place where I belonged; a place where I felt safe and could trust those around me with my life. I just wanted to find a place where I could sleep in peace. I never wanted to hear the click of a doorknob turning in the middle of the night. I never again wanted to pray for death when a black silhouette stood in the lighted doorway of my room.”
Farrow was panting with fear. Her adrenaline was pumping fight-or-flight responses to the terror of the memories Alik had forced to the surface of this poor girl’s mind.
“Would you please pull over?” Alik asked in a soft tone. He was controlling his rage at what was done to this sweet girl and knew what he needed to do.
Farrow nodded silently, swallowing the tears trickling down her throat. Within a mile, they came across a highway rest stop. The moment Farrow put the car in park, Alik got out and walked around to her driver’s side. He opened her door and held out his hand to her.
She couldn’t meet his eyes. “We don’t have time for this, Alik.”
“We’ll make up the time. Right now I really want to hold you. Will you let me?”
Farrow frowned, confused. “You’re not repulsed by me now?”
“What? No, of course not!”
Tentatively Farrow offered her hand for Alik to help her out of the car. When she stood so close to him, the world seemed to melt away. The majesty of the stars against the midnight blue night sky paled compared to the look of love in Alik’s indigo eyes.
“I’ve never told anyone what happened with Bjorn before,” she watched him closely, looking for any hint of revulsion.
“Thank you for trusting me, Farrow. You didn’t have to. It took a lot of courage to open up to me.”
“That wasn’t courage,” Farrow scoffed at herself, “it was desperation.”
“What do you mean?”
“Can you imagine what it’s been like living with the…memories of all that has happened to me and never having told a soul? Sometimes I thought I would go insane acting as though nothing was wrong all those years.” She shook her head hard, as though having just tasted something disgusting. “Anyway, it’s in the past, and I’m done talking about it. Okay?”
Her whole body language changed just as abruptly as the tone and content of her words.
“If that’s what you want,” Alik offered cautiously.