Page 9 of Not Your Body

Jade shook violently, barely able to hold onto the phone. Tears streaked her face as a flurry of pain, rage, andhateroiled inside her.“Motherfuckers!”Jade screamed at the phone. “Stop! STOOPPP!!”But there was no stopping the nightmare. What surged through the cell’s speakers was merely an echo of the horrors already committed.

A violent scuffling erupted and one of the men shouted in a raspy, strained voice –“Get back here, cunt!”

“Catch her!”Another yelled.

“I can’t…”the first man gasped.“She kicked me in the balls!”

“Just finish with this one and let’s get out of here.”

“Hang the fucking slave!”

Jasmine cried and gagged as more scuffling ensued.

“Forget her! Let’s go!”

A dullthudas something hit the ground, and then the sound of retreating footsteps.

Jade couldn’t stop shaking as an ominous silence filtered through the phone.

I’ll kill them… I’ll kill them… I’ll fucking KILL THEM ALL!!

Almost an hour passed before Jade calmed down enough to go to the Sheriff’s department. Her insides continued to shake as she entered the building. She’d vomited three times after listening to the videos and felt like she might do so again. But there was nothing left inside her.

Jade was empty—in body, mind, and soul. She felt like ahuskof a human being—barren and brittle—certain that one more hit would blow her to smithereens, scattering her ashes to the four winds. A part of her hoped for thathit.A final strike that would put her out of her misery.

Not yet. Not until those fuckers pay for what they did.

Jade was directed to the sheriff’s office to wait for Sheriff Hunt. She sat hunched over in the chair before the desk, the hood of her light jacket pulled over her head as she stared blankly at her hands. Her mind wasn’t on the sheriff. Other thoughts infiltrated her mind. Dark imaginations that hadn’t surfaced since she was raped eight years ago. Her therapist had encouraged her to fight those thoughts and feelings, and she had. He’d said the healing would come, with work, but only if she let go of the negative emotions and focused on the positive things in her life. Like Amy. ForAmy,she fought off rage and depression.

But Amy was gone—taken by the same type of monsters that attacked Jade.

The rage had returned… and no one was left to give her cause to resist.

The office door opened behind Jade. She didn’t turn around.

“Ms. Palmer? I’m Sheriff Hunt.” A woman. Jade had expected a man.

Jade slowly raised her head as the sheriff walked around behind her desk. Sheriff Hunt was slim but shapely—even in the unflattering uniform—and Jade guessed her age as early thirties.

“Thank you for coming in,” the sheriff said, a soft edge to her voice. She sat down and met Jade’s stare for the first time. “I…” The woman faltered and her eyes widened a bit as if shocked by something not apparent to the naked eye.

Jade felt thepunchin her chest at the same time and for s a split second, the two women just stared at one another.

“I, uh…” Sheriff Hunt cleared her throat and averted her eyes. “I know this is a difficult time for you. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

Jade’s head was reeling, and she didn’t understand why. Her heart pounded,thumpingagainst her ribs. She couldn’t catch her breath. When the sheriff met her eyes again, the sensation renewed with another “punch”—this time straight to the heart.What the fuck is happening?

“I know you’ve already spoken to my deputy,” Sheriff Hunt said, a slight rasp in her voice. “But I was hoping you could tell me what happened yesterday evening in the park.”

Jade avoided the woman’s eyes, unsettled by the uncharacteristic emotions the sheriff stirred inside her. It didn’t make sense. Jade spoke hollowly as she recounted yesterday’s events in painful clarity.

“Jasmine…” Jade whispered shakily. “She… she had abrasions around her neck, like… likeropeburns… or something.”Hang the fucking slave.She closed her eyes, and squeezed them tight, forcing back the tears. “Did they… did theyhangher?”

“There was evidence of that,” Sheriff Hunt confirmed. “Bark on a low-hanging tree limb was rubbed away where we believe the rope was positioned. My deputies found the rope tossed into some bushes. There were bits of bark on the rope and… Jasmine’s blood.” She faltered. “When you found Jasmine in the park, did you… see what was written on her chest?”

“Written on her chest?” Jade hadn’t moved Jasmine from her fetal position. “What?”

Sheriff Hunt licked her lips and exhaled. “In black marker, they wrote…MY Body, Slave.”

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