Chapter 21

The next morning when he woke up he tried to stretch and couldn't move. Ralph found himself cuffed to a bed and in pain; so much pain, that he screamed out. He yelled for Lora.

He screamed for her. He tried his hardest to break his restraints to no avail.

Lora heard Ralph from down the hall and was delighted in hearing him. Her revenge felt sweet. It relieved her mind. Her plan was a success. She walked up to the attic room door and opened it. She smiled at him as she spoke. "So Ralph, how does it feel to be in a position of helplessness and in pain?"

"Lora, please let me go. I didn't mean to hurt you. I know you didn't have feelings for Marshall I am sorry. I wanted to apologize last night. You see I ...."

Lora cut him off. "I don't care if you thought I was enjoying sex with him or not, you didn't have the right to rape me and share me with the world! I am going to make you wish you had never touched me. I thought you loved me. Now I know that you couldn't have hurt me like that if you loved me. You have dated me for four years and still don't know me. You couldn't have known me if you thought I could forgive you for hurting me like that." With that, she stormed out of the room and slammed the door not giving him a chance to reply.

He screamed after her but she never came back. Ralph struggled to maneuver his body so he could see his wounds. She had whipped him severely while he was knocked out by whatever drugs she gave him. He also had cuts (not big cuts) thin cuts on his penis and a band around it that was keeping him swollen. He had clips on his nipples and she had a tattoo put on him (she probably did it herself). He couldn't read it but he knew it couldn't have said anything good.

Lora was back in the living room. She sat in front of the fire next to the bear skin rug. She put on the CD that they played when they first came to that house and made love on the bear skin rug. Lora just sat there, not saying a word, not moving, and not feeling. She lost all touch with reality.

Lora didn't hear Tracy and Carlos come into the house. She didn't hear them talking to her. Carlos looked thru the house, looking for Ralph. By the time he found the room Ralph was in all Carlos could hear was crying, Ralph was crying Lora's name, not yelling, screaming, or howling her name; but crying.

Tracy was in the living room with Lora. She was trying to get through to her but she was unreachable.

"Hey, Ralph, we are here, we are going to get you out of there." Carlos tried to comfort Ralph. He tried to break the door down but it didn't work. He needed the key.

Tracy asked, "Lora, where is the key? You have got to let him go. If he dies you will go to prison. Don't let him win like that. Where is the key?"

Lora finally spoke, "I have been here just thinking: how many people have had sex with me now, how many decided to hurt me instead? I have no idea who was here that night, so I am ashamed to face the world. He took my life, he took me and then he gave me away to anyone who came in his door that night. I can't walk down the street without wondering did this guy have me, did that woman have me, and what about that dog? He hurt me. We were together for four years and he didn't know me well enough to know I loved him and only him, he had to get some kind of proof from somewhere. He couldn't just ask me. He assumed things. After four years, he hadn't learned that you can't assume things about me. Well, he really underestimated me. That's what he did. Did he really think he could hurt me and not have to pay for it? He's paying for it now. He is paying for it now!" Her speech was shocking. No one interrupted her while she spoke. She didn't shed a tear. She just stared at the bear skin rug and stroked its fur.

Carlos searched the house for the key to no avail. Tracy stayed with Lora. Unexpectedly Marshall and Denise showed up. They caught a plane back and Marshall decided he wanted to have it out with Ralph. They drove up to Ralph's house and went straight up to the front door. When they saw Carlos frantically looking for the key. Carlos filled them in and they went to Lora's side.

"Lora?" Marshall called her name softly and familiarly.

Lora looked up, frowned, and went back to staring at the bear skin rug.

"Lora, you have got to snap out of it. He is not worth this. You have got to let go of this or it will drive you crazy." Marshall could have chosen better words.

"You are part of the problem." She yelled. "If you wouldn't have gone straight for me at that party and looked like you loved having sex with me so much, Ralph wouldn't have gotten jealous and hurt me."

"I did love making love to you. It was more than sex to me. I loved you."

"You what?" Denise asked shocked. "I thought you loved me."

"That was the problem. Let me explain. I do love you, Denise but I also once loved Lora. I have never been with anyone like you Denise but ... "Marshall paused and Carlos jumped in.

"Marshall you have got to tell the truth. Clear this matter up. Tell them the truth. You tell or I will."

"Oh, why don't you all just shut up? I don't want to hear any of it. Just leave me to my feelings. Leave me to my revenge. Get out of here! I don't want to hear anymore." Lora ran upstairs without hearing anything else. She went into Ralph's bedroom and locked the door.

"Well, you can clear this up with me. Tell me the truth. Do you love me or Lora?" Denise asked with an angry tone.

"Denise, you know I love you. Just listen quietly and let me explain why I say I once loved Lora." Marshall explained who he really was and how surprised he was that they never recognized him or that no one ever found out. He explained that he loved Lora as an old lover. He never thought he couldn't bring his love for her back, but when he met Denise as Marshall, he knew it was where it belonged in the past. He didn't know Denise was going to be the cure for his stupid love of Lora. The parties sparked old feelings. Before then he had never slept with Lora and it felt good. He loved making love to Denise. Denise was passionate and enjoyed slow hot love. Making love to Lora was just the satisfaction of a fantasy. He told them how he was obsessed about making love to Lora on her birthday so he could end his wanting for her for good. He was told by a friend that it would give him closure. He did seek her out that night. He wanted to have her once more before asking Denise to marry him. He knew then he would have Lora out of his system and could devote himself to Denise and just be Lora's friend. He couldn't figure out a way to bring out the truth. He didn't want to marry Denise without her knowing the truth.

"So should I call you Michael or Marshall? Does Michael or Marshall love me? How am I supposed to feel? Just don't come near me right now. I need time to think this through." Denise left out to the beach to walk and think. Marshall or Michael well, he sort of proposed to her. He got over his feelings so he says. What was she going to do now?

Lora came out of Ralph's room and went to the door to the attic room. She could hear him crying and wincing in pain. A smile broke across her face as the satisfaction went through her. She couldn't believe that she could enjoy someone else's pain like that. Was she any better than he was?

Tracy called the police and an ambulance while Lora was upstairs. Then she went to find Lora. She found her in a window seat across from the attic room.

"Lora, are you with us now?" Tracy asked. "You have got to come back to the reality plain. Let the police handle Ralph when they get here. You have hurt him but now it is time to turn him into the law. We have enough information to put him away for a long time."

"What do you think they will do with me? Oh, I don't care anymore. It will take them hours to get in that room and he will continue to suffer all the way through that time. I will never have a normal life. Ralph took that away from me. I can't walk down the street without wondering if the people on that street slept with me that night. I can't graduate with my class without trying to figure out if the looks I was getting were a look of pride in my accomplishment or a look of lust after another piece of me. I will never know who he shared me with. I hate him for that. The police can do whatever they want to, but it will be without my help. I just don't care anymore." Lora spoke her pain without a tear. Tracy couldn't help but cry. How could anyone be so cruel as to destroy a person's soul and sense of justice?

Carlos let the police and paramedics in and then showed them which room Ralph was locked in. Lora was still in the window seat with Tracy at her side. Asking Lora for help didn't get them anywhere. She just stared out the window, smiling. Ralph was yelling and crying wanting desperately to get free. Ralph was weak and hurt badly. They tried ramming the door down, a lock pick and getting in through the window to no avail. Finally, the police had to blow the door with explosives. The paramedics got him out of the cuffs and carefully onto a stretcher. They got Ralph to the hospital in good time to save his life and the penis even though the use of it would be painful. He shouldn't worry though, where he was going he wouldn't need it.