TORTURE

Besides her son, Kiara hardly ever had anyone to keep her company. She would talk to the boy, emptying all her feelings to the little one. Yes the boy was unable to say anything in response; but it helped Kiara to feel better. And in addition to her son, she still had Kimmy. Kimmy, according to Kiara, was the closest friend she had. Kimmy was the friend who had tried to fill up the vacant place left by Jeremy, and she loved the book with her complete heart.

Staying in the room was beginning to drive her mad. The blue walls were driving her seriously insane. Each time she looked in any direction, she would see blue, and she was beginning to dislike the colour blue. The walls, curtains and bed linens were all blue. Kiara believed Vine had ordered for that to be done intentionally, just to irritate her. She did not know why, but she felt that Vine was capable of stooping to whatever level, as long as it hurt her.

She kissed her little boy and he smiled.

"Do you know that mummy is locked in here and cannot even go outside?" she asked him, and the boy continued to smile.

Kiara was going to say more to her son, when she heard the sound of the door being violently pushed open from outside. From the way the opening was so aggressive, Kiara was able to tell that it was not Rosaline at the door. There was no way Rosaline would have roughly pushed the door in such a way. She had neither seen nor heard from lady Pinkerton since the day Vine decided to lock her in the bedroom. Thus she told herself it was not her. It was Vine.

Kiara turned around to look, and indeed, she met the icy cold stare of him. Vine. He stood there, staring at Kiara with a mixture of disdain and irritation, and the young lady prayed for strength to face whatever was coming her way.

"Has my son eaten?" he asked.

"Yes, he has eaten." Kiara responded, making sure never to stammer. She greatly feared what Vine would do to her if she stammered while talking to him, and she preferred to never find out.

"Come in!" Vine said in a slightly loud voice; for Vine hardly ever spoke loudly. His speech was always soft and he used a gentle voice, yet in its placidness, the voice would be pregnant with mockery, abhorrence and disgust.

Rosaline came in, and she stood just behind Vine, facing the floor.

"Take the child, Rosaline. We don't have all day."

"Yes, young master Vine," the maid moved forward and was about to take the child when Kiara said,

"May you excuse us, Rosaline."

The girl looked at Vine, and seeing that Vine remained silent, she tip toed and exited the room.

"Vine, may I be with my son please? I only get time with him when I am feeding him, and I miss him. Vine, I am his mother, please" she tried to reason with the father of her child.

"Need I remind you, woman; that you're under punishment?" he stated firmly.

"Vine, please don't do this to me. Vincent is my son, but from how things are now, he spends more than two thirds of his day away from me. I love him, and I miss him. Please, don't separate a mother from her son. Please, Vine."

"Enough." Vine said and lifted the little one. The baby smiled widely while Vine kissed him, and he said a few babyish things to him before going to hand him over to Rosaline.

He came back and took out of his pocket a small tablet package. Two small tablets were inside, and he handed them to Kiara with,

"Take them." He gave his command.

"What are these?" Kiara was scared.

"Tablets. Drink them."

"What are they for, Vine? I am not sick and I don't need tablets."

"Kiara, don't waste my time. Take them."

"Why are you doing this to me? You are going to all extents to make me feel pain just because I sneaked out to see Jeremy? Why would you do that, Vine? It's not like you ever loved me. You do not love me, and you stated that clearly. Why then should it pain you that much if I choose to meet another man?" Kiara was beginning to choke, and no matter how hard she fought, she failed to keep the tears in.

"You're very good at crying," Vine mocked.

"Please, Vine. I apologised so many times. Please forgive me, Vine."

"Kiara, you're now wasting my time."

"I am talking and you're ignoring my questions. Why are you this bad? Vine please, have a heart. You never loved me, and you don't love me I know that, but…"

"Kiara, I am doing all this for my son. My son shall not be raised by a whore. If you can't stay away from men, then you shall be locked inside. Now take those tablets."

"I want to ask…" Kiara was trying to buy time but Vine had already picked that, so he stopped her with,

"If you won't take them, I will call Gareth to bring an injection. That should work faster."

"No, no please don't. I will take the pills, but may you at least just tell me what they are for."

Vine pulled out a cigarette and he lit it.

"Vine! You're back to smoking again! I thought you were undergoing therapy." Kiara's intention was to use anything and everything to try and make Vine forget about the pills.

"I stopped that nonsense. It was a moment of madness when I chose to go through with the therapy."

"Oh!" was all she could say.

"Kiara," he sat on a chair and faced her. "On the day that you sneaked to meet that stupid loser, and you came back and saw me in the garden, I was doing my best to quit smoking."

"Oh! You saw me…" Kiara was shocked. She was not aware that Vine had managed to recognise her on that day.

"You thought I wouldn't? Well, I saw you."

"Oh, so…have you always known that I was sneaking out? And did you tell Gareth and grandmother?"

Vine pulled in from his cigarette and he puffed away into the air, making Kiara cough.

He took his phone and dialed a number, then "Gareth, bring the injection…."

"No, no, Vine! I will take the tablets!" Kiara said.

He looked at her and motioned for her to drink, then she lifted the bottle of water nearby and took the pills.

"Good girl" he sneered.

"What will they do to me?" Her voice was full of panic.

"They won't kill you, that's for sure." Vine said as he continued to smoke. "Since you so much love men, those two little pills will awake in you all the desires you have ever had, and you will yearn for a man to just touch you. Your whole body shall be on fire, and trust me, you shall mourn and call for that worthless human being that you call boyfriend."

"And then? What are you going to do to me?" her eyes were wide open in disbelief.

"Besides watching you, I will do nothing else."

"Vine, why are you doing this?"

"You want me to touch you? You want me to make love to you? It won't happen."

Kiara sat down and decided not to talk with him any further. He also continued to smoke, and Kiara was coughing but he did not care.

And she felt it; her body was beginning to respond to the pills, and she told herself that no matter what, she was going to do her best to control herself until the urges left her. She clenched her fists, ready for the battle.

"You are more beautiful when wearing a maid's uniform. Please wear one now." Vine said.

"I don't have one." She said.

"Rosaline brought one. Check in your wardrobe."

"When? How come I wasn't aware that she brought this? When did this happen?"

"Be silent and wear the uniform. Do it now."

Kiara stood up and opened her wardrobe. Sure enough, a short maid uniform was inside, well ironed and ready to be worn. She took it and headed towards the bathroom.

"Where to now?" Vine asked.

"I want to go and wear it in the bathroom."

"You shall wear it right here in front of me," he scoffed.

"Oh. I am not too comfortable…"

"Dress up now or I will call in Gareth to help you."

"Ok. Ok I am changing now.

Kiara began to unzip her jeans, and she removed her clothes.

"I want you to remove your panties as well. Besides the bra, remove everything else."

"Ok. Ok I am doing that."

She proceeded to remove everything, leaving only the bra. She reached out for the maid's uniform and wore it. She quickly fastened the buttons and stood still, looking at Vine.

"You do look beautiful when you're in that. The first time I met you, you were in a waitress uniform almost similar to this one which you're wearing now. And on that other day…" he stopped.

Kiara blinked several times and remained silent.

"When I saw you at Two-Sons, I should have known that behind that beauty there was nothing but an empty shell. A hopeless brain which is full of ideas of chasing after men. I love Vincent Lisandro very much, but many times I have regretted that you are his mother. A cheap waitress who…"

"I am a computer programmer! You know that I was only at Two-Sons because I wanted the extra cash."

"And men too! You needed extra cash as well as extra men." He threw his cigarette in the ashtray. There was an ashtray in Kiara's room. Actually almost every room at the mansion had one.

Kiara curled into a ball and sat on the bed. She was fighting the urge; the great desire to be with someone. Her entire body was in real need of a man, and the man who came to her mind was Jeremy. Dear Jeremy; where on earth was he? And if she could have it, she would have pulled Vine and begged him to make love to her. The pills were strong; that much she could admit.

"The best is yet to come," Vine derided.

Kiara chose not to talk but instead to save all her energy in making sure that even under the power of the drug, she maintained her dignity. But it was not that easy. The urges were driving her insane, and although she put in a good fight, in the end she was in tears. She knelt on the floor and refused to look at Vine.

Vine, seemingly enjoying every moment, watched her closely, and continued to tell her that the maid uniform looked good on her.

Kiara remained in the kneeling position, counting down to the time when the effect of the drug would begin to subside.

"Should I call Jeremy for you?" he chuckled. "Or should I rush over to Two-Sons and grab for you the nearest available wealthy man?"

She did not move but stayed in the same position. Part of her mind thought that after a while Vine was going to take advantage of her, yet he did not. He did not even come close to her, but remained seated on the table, lighting one cigarette after the other, and watching her intently as if he was watching a movie.

"Next time," he said as he stood up and stretched himself; "I will bring a girl. Me and her will make love right on that bed, while you watch. You shall be drugged and when the pills kick in; at that moment when the whore in you has been unleashed; and when you start to drool for a man, when you are crying for a man, any man, to touch and make love to you, myself and the girl that I will bring will do it; right in front of you. That should make you ease your crazy desire for men, stupid, loose good for nothing woman!"