OFFERING

 By Succubus

Crickets sang with bullfrogs in the humid night. Mosquitoes circled around the girl's head. Their dark bodies latched greedily onto her skin, feasting as her blood raced below the surface.

Darkness filled her world; her eyes were wet behind the cloth that held them sealed in that darkness. Sobbing softly, she pulled her hands against rough ropes, her attempts at freedom halfhearted. Too much she'd fought, and lost, too many times she'd pulled and pulled, watching hope die time and time again.

That hope was dead now, dead as the weight of the concrete block resting between her feet. The block, pulling her head downward, its rope snug at her throat, tied to her.

Sweat trickled down the girl's side, evoking goose bumps across her body, dripping across cuts, and stinging into burns. Biting at her lips, she urged the images from her mind, trying to will her mind to emptiness, a blank slate.

Nothing could erase the image: His face, split evilly with a grin, dirty, leering, as his hand lowered again, cigar clenched tight. Again and again it replayed in her head; his hands clawed at her still, his mouth sought out her own in the foulest of kisses. The blindfold held it all firmly in place, not allowing another image to take its place, sealing it to insure it was the last thing she saw. His eyes, hungry, ate at her still.

Pain throbbed between her thighs, and she felt his hand there, pinching, slapping. Pain bloomed inside and she knew again the disgust of his dirt ripping her apart, filling her up, moving so obscenely. And her unable to stop him, unable to stop still the flood of images, the taste of him in her mouth.

She gasped as she felt the movement, then heard the creaking, as the small boat set out into the lake. She cried as the oars scraped the side, she pleaded in time to the gentle rocking.  She shook as the boat nudged against something, rocking her harder.

She smelled his breath a second before his mouth covered hers, and gagged as his tongue violated every inch of her mouth.

She felt the boat rock again, heard a small splash, and wondered. The noise of metal on metal played at her ears, and she felt her boat bumping against what seemed to be another.

He gave a laugh that felt cold all the way inside the girl.

The girl jumped, startled, at the gun's report, then sobbed as she realized the truth. She struggled now with all her strength, her mind filled with panic, with white-hot fear. Deep down she felt the dread, the certainty of her death--she recognized the futility of her actions.

As the water wet her feet, small noises came from the girl, unconscious noises of terror. As the water met her shins and kept rising, the sounds she made reminded the man of a rabbit in a trap.

Frail moonlight filtered down through the trees and hung upon the girl's body, lit her face up like an angel. Enrapt, the man stared, his body taut, his fist wrapped tight around himself.

Water filled the boat; she could feel it sinking slowly. As the water crested the top of the boat and spilled forth into her lap, one last scream escaped, filling the woods with its fear. She shook her head even as her hair began to float out around her head--the angel's halo.

Water coursed across her face, ice cold, it's fingers grabbed at her pulling her deeper, into its arms. Down she went, into the lake, weighted with the concrete, helpless in her bondage. She held her breath, desperate to the last, until her lungs ached in pain. A sob left her mouth with the last of her air.

Gasping reflexively, water rushed into her mouth, burned as it filled her lungs. Her body shuddered as though separate from her mind. Her mind screamed out a primal "no" even as it knew the truth.

The man stayed and watched until the boat had fully sunk, not finding release until the water had swallowed her whole, leaving nothing but tiny bubbles dancing upon the lake's surface.