Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 193

This week's prompt was taken by an author friend of mine, Andy Baker, who lives in Amsterdam. I thought it was very moody. He takes some great pics on his walks round Amsterdam and other places - and he's a great writer too. 

I tried hard to cut this one down to size, but I was not successful! So it's 150 words over! EEK! But the story insisted on being told. Not an easy one this week - very dark. 

The General Guidelines can be found here.

How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.

There is also a Facebook group for Mid-Week Flash, if you fancy getting the prompt there.

Penance

He could feel it. He could hear it. He could almost smell it. They were up there, doing those things to her; using her, exposing her, treating her like she was a blow up doll. He could see it in his mind. He hated it. And he had no choice but to do something about it. He’d been gifted with such sights ever since he’d been sent here. It was his job; his penance; his cross to bear.

Telling the authorities proved pointless. They didn’t want to know unless there was hard evidence, so it was up to him. It wasn’t the first of these circles he’d uncovered; he’d unearthed four so far. And there was only one way he could get in and that was by pretending to be one of them.

He knocked on the door of the townhouse. It opened a crack and a gruff voice asked, ‘What do you want?’

Trevor flicked his head up, indicating the noise above. ‘Some of that.’

‘As you can hear, she’s busy.’

‘When won’t she be?’

‘Depends on how much you got.’

‘How much does she cost?’

‘Bidding starts at a couple of hundred.’

‘Bidding?’

‘You don’t think you’re the only one, do you?’

‘Is it cheaper if I share?’

The man opened the door a little bit more, interested.

‘Would you be happy to be a third?’

‘How much?’

‘We just need someone to keep her calm ... you know?’

His stomach clenched but he nodded. The guy opened the door to a dark narrow corridor which led to an almost vertical staircase. ‘Go up and someone’ll meet you up here.’

Trevor nodded and ascended the stairs. Another man appeared at the top. The girl had started screaming – and not from pleasure.

The man pointed to another flight of stairs. ‘Hurry will you!’ he shouted.

Trevor ran up them. At the top it opened out into a large open studio. There were cameras and a four man crew. Trevor hadn’t expected it, but it wouldn’t be a problem.

What he didn’t expect was that this wasn’t a normal trafficked woman; this was a minor, and a feisty one at that. Whatever they’d had her on had worn off. She was kicking and screaming in an attempt to resist the needle one of the two naked men were trying to put in her arm. He wasn’t having much luck, and no one from the crew was intervening.

‘Are you here to help?’ The one without the needle shouted at him.

‘Yep,’ Trevor said.

‘Good. Strip off and get over here.’

Trevor stripped down to his underwear. ‘I’ll take these off when we have things under control,’ he said.

The men didn’t seem to care, and Trevor approached the bed they had her pinned on. How was he going to play this? He had no intention of helping them, only her.

‘Tell you what, why don’t you hold her down and I’ll give her the needle.’

‘Be my guest,’ the man said, shoving it at him. His willingness surprised him. These weren’t professionals.

Trevor took it and waited for them to get hold of the girl’s limbs. Each man held an arm and leg. The girl started sobbing, believing it was hopeless now, and a tiny piece inside Trevor broke. He wanted all of them to pay for this.

He shushed her and stroked her hair, whispering it would be okay. He looked her in the end, then glanced at the needle and at the man’s arm and then back to the girl. He did this twice while shushing her and she quieted, picking up on his intention. Out of his left-hand peripheral vision he eyed the other man, taking in his position.

‘Now!’ he shouted. In one movement he plunged the needle into the arm of the man on his right, and brought his elbow down hard on the bridge of the nose of the man on his left. The man on the right tried to fight but the drug effect quickly. Trevor pushed them back and swept the girl up, taking the bed sheet with him, and wrapping it round her as he put her over his shoulder.

The crew were slow in responding, but by the time Trevor turned he was surrounded.

‘You can try it if you like, but I’m not alone.’

They look around them and Trevor smiled as the door downstairs slammed open and they heard a man scream. They backed away from the stairs looking at each other as they heard a rushing sound come up the first flight and a second scream as whatever it was encountered the man on the second floor.

Then it stopped.

‘Fuck!’ one of the men said, and rushed over to the sash windows, debating the possibilities of jumping. The other men joined him and they all stood there, no knowing what to do.

Trevor gently placed the girl on the ground. She didn’t want to let him go, but he reassured her he just needed to get dressed. Once clothed, he scooped her up again and descended the stairs. At the bottom was a dark shape. Trevor patted it on the head, and red eyes blinked out at them.

The girl gasped. ‘Oh don’t worry about, Bonzo; he won’t hurt you. They might be called the hounds of hell, but there’s no hell like that here on Earth.’