Stockholm

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Rue sinks to her knees, hands up, tears in her eyes.

Rue: I don’t want to see, I don’t want to know, I just want to go. 

Samuel: No! It is my turn. Isn’t that why you’re here?

Rue: No please...

Samuel: Did I say speak?!

Samuel bends down, switch blade in his hand.

Samuel: (Shushing) I know you are scared, but it will not be that bad. If you listen to your master, it can all go by quickly and mostly painless. Now take off your clothes.

Rue: What? No!

Samuel begins to pace in a small circle, then leaves the room. Rue cannot help but stand still, her mind is moving faster than her body can comprehend. When she hears footsteps returning, she turns and runs. Samuel, the shortest but the leanest of the brothers catches up easily. He tackles her from behind, they wrestle momentarily before he slips a collar around her neck.

The shock that the collar gives is like no sensation Rue has ever felt before; even when it stops, her whole body feels lasting tingles. Samuel pulls her by her hair to her feet, turning her towards him.

Samuel: You’re going to be a tough bitch to break.

Samuel leans in grabbing the collar, pulling her face to his.

Samuel: How bad do you want to live?

Rue’s eyes are blank, the same as her mind. After everything she has seen and been through, her humanity is lost. Sense is not something she recognizes anymore, isn’t that what cashiers give you? No that’s cents. Rue’s higher brain function is gone. Maybe it is the drinking and drugs, maybe it is all the trauma she has recently experienced.

Her adrenaline hits her like a much-needed inhale of nicotine. Her heart races and her pupils dilate, but she does not give in to the panic. She embraces the heighted state, keeping it in her, compressed, caged. She lifts her chin and bats her eyelashes.  Now what Rue is running on is pure primal survival instincts. 

Rue: Yes.

A dangerous smile comes across Samuel’s lips.

Samuel: Yes what?

Rue: Yes master.

Rue lets the words come out husky and slow.

Samuel: Good girl.

Samuel leads her outside. By now he has made her strip, so she is wearing nothing but a mismatched bra and panties, with long black tube socks that quickly become icy in the wet snow[2]. After about fifteen minutes of walking through the woods they come to a large wooden shed. 

Samuel retrieves a keychain with multiple keys on it from his pocket.  Rue tries to pay attention through her body’s shivers, while he examines each key. But in her head voices are yelling, one yells RUN! While another yells CRY! Rue steadies herself, letting the tightness of the collar around her neck keep her focus. There will be a time to run and a time to cry, but it is not now.

Samuel: Oh! There it is!

Lifting a key, he unlocks and opens the large wooden sliding door, only to then need to open a chainlink door as well.

Samuel: Come on girl!

Rue walks into the old dark shed. It is large with an upper loft, but mostly empty. There is no hay, farm equipment, or anything, just a few boxes on shelves. Samuel grabs a plastic bag off one of the shelves and whistles.  A form running on all fours comes from the darkest, farthest corner of the shed. It stops a few feet away and growls at Rue. The creature tries to jump towards her, but a metal chain connected to the wall pulls it back.

The disbelief of the sight brings feeling back to her numb limbs. Rue takes advantage of the quickened blood flow, she goes straight for the locked door, shaking the chainlink. This is the time to run! Her shock collar brings her to the ground. 

Samuel: That’s no way to treat Dog. She was just coming to say hi.

Samuel gets low feeding the creature a handful of dog food. Rue takes in the image, and as the puzzle pieces in her mind fit together her chest tightens.

Rue: Feda?

The creature’s hair is dirty and matted, but Rue can make out the length and black color. Under the messy mane and dirt, she can see a woman’s body. She is naked, but so covered in grime Rue had barely noticed. She is skinny and her hips and rips painfully protrude. Her breasts almost indent as if her body has eaten away all its fat. But those large saucer brown eyes are still beautiful, even though they lack human expression.

Rue shakes her head.

Rue: Feda?

Samuel: No, this is Dog.

Rue goes to cry, but no tears come out.

Rue: What have you done to Feda?!

Samuel continues to kneel next to Dog scratching under her chin.

Samuel: Dog loves her name. You don’t want to change it, do you Dog?

Dog looks up shaking her head.

Samuel: Feda Beta Bobeta banana fanana.... I don’t know how it goes. Besides, it took forever just for her to learn Dog.

Rue: Why are you doing this?

Samuel: Oh god, don’t get all psychiatrist on me already. We have not even started the fun part.

Samuel walks to the middle of the room while Dog follows on all fours. He lifts a treat in the air.

Samuel: Spin!

Dog on her knees spins her body around.

Rue cannot watch, she looks at the floor while Samuel calls out more tricks. The humanity she thought she lost is back. It’s in her throat, no her mouth, no it’s on the ground covered in stomach acid. 

Buzz, buzz! Rues eyes fly up.

Samuel: Damn it! My brothers never let me have any fun.

Samuel pulls out his phone and types on it a moment.

Samuel: Damn, fuck man. Okay we do not have much time. Dog corner!

Dog instantly retreats to the far corner.

Samuel digs through another box.

Samuel: There it is!

Samuel pulls out a heavy metal chain, like the one Dog is connected to. Then he turns and starts walking towards Rue. Before she can scream the most powerful shock yet takes over her body, she shakes uncontrollably, her muscle spasm at an alarming rate. By the time she regains any movement the metal chain is connected to her collar and clamped to a metal ring on the wall.

Samuel: You’re a feisty bitch, aren’t you?!

Rue growls, the psychological damage has already begun. Samuel walks back to the boxes and gets out a yellow frisbee, then he spins the frisbee on one finger.

Samuel: Awww frisbee, such a classic.  Okay the game is simple. I’ll put the frisbee in the middle of the floor, and when I say go, whoever gets it first gets a treat!

Samuel places the frisbee in the middle of Rue and Dog. He backs away quickly, almost skipping like an excited child.

Samuel: Ookay! GO!

Dog scurries on all fours retrieving the frisbee with her mouth. Rue remains planted on the ground.  Samuel walks over to Dog, giving her a treat. 

Samuel: What a good Dog!

Samuel walks to Rue. She holds her breath waiting for the shock, but it does not come. Kneeling on his knees next to her, he pets her head gently.

Samuel: No need to be shy. I think you and Dog will be great sisters in time.

Samuel’s grin goes dark, but still dangerous. There is a hint of something sinister behind his eyes.

Samuel: Just know this Pup, games are the good part. I have small spaces I can force you into, objects I can put inside you, and places I can dangle you up from. know if I do that, you will happily crawl around in circles just to play frisbee like Dog does. Now let’s try this again.

Samuel walks to the middle of the room and sets down the frisbee again.  Rue leans on her hands and knees facing the yellow disk.

Samuel: Ookay! GO!

Rue crawls as fast as she can, but she is new to being on all fours and cannot keep pace.

Dog gets the frisbee in her mouth first. Then fixing her brown eyes on Rue, jumps on her. Rue is pushed backwards as Dogs straddles her, while digging filthy uncut nails into Rue’s flesh.

Rue’s lucky Dog has the frisbee in her mouth or she is sure she would have bite marks.

Samuel: No Dog! Off! Bad Dog!

Dog gets off Rue, who stands up and runs back to her corner. As Rue retreats her chain gets wrapped around her leg, almost tripping her. By the time she gets to her spot the metal links are so tight it is cutting off circulation to her leg. She scrambles to release the metal knot.

Samuel grabs the frisbee from Dog, swatting her head.

Samuel: Bad girl!

Samuel walks over to Rue.

Samuel: Don’t worry Pup, she is just used to being the head bitch around here. I might have some tennis balls...

Rue: No!

Rue repositions herself; ass up, back arched, feet ready to kick out from under her.

Rue steadies her voice peering up with soft fluttering eyes.

Rue: I want to play frisbee again master. 

That dangerous smile re-emerges on Samuels lips and does not leave.

Samuel: Good Pup!

Samuel places the frisbee.

Samuel: Ookay! GO!

Rue launches her feet out from under her like a sprinter, using her forearms to keep forward momentum. Rue closes in on the yellow frisbee. Dog beats her, grabbing it with her teeth.

But the frisbee was not Rues target.

Full speed she crashes into Dog, smacking Dog’s back hard on to the ground. Rue pins Dogs arms and legs under her. Dog weighs nothing so it is easy to keep her down. Dog thrashes so Rue pulls Dog’s hair back, arching Dog’s neck. Dog begins to whimper. 

Samuel runs up hitting both of them.

Samuel: Bad Dogs! Stop! Off!

Rue holds steady. Samuel bends down trying to lift Rue off Dog, Rue stiffens her muscles. Then in a single motion she rolls, throws Dog into Samuel, and then leaps over Dog pinning Samuel down.[3] This is not the time to run. This is not the time to cry. This is the time to kill.

As the other two struggle in confusion, Rue grabs Samuel’s shoulders and pushes him down while thrusting her hips up and kicking her legs around. Once the chain has caught, she pulls it tight, squeezing Samuel’s neck. She slides under him and pulls her body up hard. Dog latches onto Rue trying to get her to release Samuel. Rue tries to kick Dog, but both her legs are tied up in the chain.

With all her arm strength she pulls herself up compressing the chain more. Dog bites into Rue’s lower thigh, breaking skin. Rue screams but keeps pulling herself up, continuously compressing the chain around Samuel’s neck. Dog bites again, even deeper, tearing tissue and muscle but Rue will not stop pulling. 

Rue does not think about her family or her happiest moments. No, Rue thinks about all the awful things that have happened to her in Stockholm. She focuses on all the times Benny passed her up on a project or kids picked on her in school. The angry fire within her helps her dig her fingernails into the dirt forcing herself up.

Then snap!

Rue continues to inch up, scared to release the tension on the chain. It is Dog that lets go of Rue and whimpers while rubbing her head against Samuels. Rue carefully untangles her legs. As Rue stands up Dog lunges at her. Rue on two feet limps to the far side of the shed that Dog cannot reach. Dog returns to Samuel, licking his face.

Rue slides to the ground, her lower thigh is injured and bleeding badly. She pulls off one of her tube socks and ties it around the wound. Dog continues to cry. 

Rue: He’s dead! You’re welcome!

Dog growls showing teeth. Rue tries to stand but her leg hurts, so on her knees she slides towards Dog.

Rue: We need his keys, there in his pocket. 

Rue slides closer. Dog guards over Samuels body protectively; dark eyed, growling low.

Rue: We can leave now. Don’t you want to go home? You are free!

Dog lunges forward only for her chain to pull her back.

Rue pounds her fists on the ground.

Rue: Fuck!

Rue puts her hands together in prayer.

Rue: Mary, Jesus, God, if you are there, if you’re watching, please look the fuck away.

Rue takes a deep breath and forces herself to stand on unstable legs.

Rue: Bad Dog! Your master’s dead Dog, I am your Master now!

Dog lowers her body, unsure where to look. Rue grabs a dog treat from one of the shelves.

Rue: Dog! Dog come forward!

Dog takes a few steps.

Rue: Dog stay! Stay Dog!

Rue slowly approaches Dog who has followed her commands.

Rue: Dog spin!

Dog looks confused for a moment, but after a few seconds gets on her knees and turns.

Rue: What a good Dog!

She holds her hand out and Dog retrieves the treat. Rue waits until Dogs done eating.

Rue: Dog corner! Dog go to corner!

Dogs slowly goes back to her corner passing Samuel. 

Rue hurries to Samuel’s body removing the keychain, phone, and the remote to her collar. 

She limps back to her corner. After much trial-and-error she gets her collar off, leaving the chain on the ground.

Rue goes to the chainlink door and finally unlocks it. When she gets to the final shed door, she is grateful. Her head is light, and her knees and hips are shaky.  Rue could sing when the key undoes the lock, she slides the door open embracing the Swedish air. But then her heart sinks like a stone in a pond. Rue walks back into the shed.

Rue: Dog! Dog come here!

Dog comes slow, watching the open door the whole time.

Rue: Sit Dog.

Dog sits.

Rue spends the next few minutes trying different keys on Dog’s collar. When one clicks, Dog’s collar falls to the ground making a clanging noise. Dog tries to go back to her corner. 

Rue: No, no, no! Stay! This is good, you’re a good Dog!

Rue starts to cry, probably because of the loss of blood.

Rue: Okay Dog, are you ready for a walk? The best walk you’ve ever been on.

Dog’s eyes light up. Rue sees a folded tarp on one of the shelves and pulls it down.

Rue: Stand...can Dog stand?

On wobbly legs Dog stands hunched.  Rue puts the tarp over Dog’s naked body.

Rue: Holy mother fuckin Jesus.

Rue helps Dog walk outside. 

Rue: In fifteen minutes were going to be somewhere great! there it is warm and there’s food. And it just will not be here. Then we will get help, and this can all be over, finally over.

Rue and Dog help each other walk back to the manor.