Mary spent the next few hours in that warm comfort. She forgot all about Ellie, about Arthur, about the black man walking through the mansion, about the strange woman in the basement and, most importantly, she forgot about calling the cops.
A vague mix of fungus and dust lingered in the air, untouched by the sun that would never reach the darkness that filled this basement. A dampness gathered in the room, grabbing the throats of all visitors and slowly choking the life out of them. To be cloaked by the shadows underneath the Toaves mansion was to slowly succumb to an unnatural madness.
Unsettled by their new guest, the rats scurried along the walls, ever hesitant to get a closer look. Eventually their curiosity would outlast their fear of the unknown and they would approach her. Perhaps they might even take a nibble from her toes, just to see if she could replace the spiders they usually hunted.
Large spiders that built massive webs in the corners of the dark basement. Large spiders that crawled up and down the walls. Traversed the ceilings with their silent little legs, sneaking up on unwitting creatures innocent enough to stay in the basement longer than they had to.
Here, underneath the Toaves mansion, predators found prey. It was nature at its finest, confined to the microcosm of shadows and dust and beyond illusions of morality and decency. Here all was dark and only dark things lived here.
In the middle of the basement sat Gold on a tired old chair that groaned underneath her weight. Her hands and feet were tied and she had never felt this vulnerable. Naked, alone, and slowly choking in the dust and fungus that defiled her lungs.
Gold was dizzy and her jaw was burning. She didn’t know where she was, let alone how she had gotten there.
All she knew was that the squeaking rats were getting braver by the minute and that, eventually, she would become their meal. Their tiny snouts would puncture her flesh and taste the blood underneath. From there on, Gold knew, there would be no stopping the little monsters.
In Gold’s mind the rats were just like the men her mother had always warned her against. They wanted, and wanted, and wanted until their fat bellies exploded under the pressure of their own gluttony. But it hadn’t been a man that got to her, right?
The last thing Gold remembered was the climax she reached with the girl she had picked up at Ray’s Liquors. Gold shook her head in defeat. She hadn’t picked up anybody; she had been picked up instead. Was that last night? Gold had no way of knowing what time it was, caught in the darkness of this terrible room.
The cold air tickled her skin and sharpened her nipples to the point that Gold thought they would explode. They never did and she sat tiredly on her groaning chair, wondering what her beauty could do to get her out of this situation. She had gone from predator to prey and now she was subject to whatever whim her captor indulged in next.
It was hard to focus her mind through the dizziness that assailed her head. It was hard to ignore the burning sensation in her jaw. When she tried to open her mouth, just to see how it would feel, it was as if a thousand needles attacked her cheek.
The black man! There had been a black man, Gold realized as she struggled to remember. He had pulled her off the girl and smacked her against the wall. It was his fist that had shattered her jaw!
So it had all been a setup. It angered Gold that she had fallen for the same trick she and her sisters had pulled all those countless years ago. She had been tempted. She had been seduced. Just when she felt safest, just when she felt she had won, it had all been taken from her. Like Black’s arrow piercing a man’s throat, she had been crushed by big and powerful hands.
A man’s hands, of course. Her mother had been right. She had always been right. Men would forever be her undoing.
Yet where was the man she was supposed to serve? The man that had awakened her and pulled the fog of ages spent in darkness from her mind? Where was her infinitely beautiful father? Could he not protect her now? Could he not save her? Or had she failed him so terribly that he no longer cared for her? Was there no more love now that she was useless?
The thought of her father’s abandonment chilled Gold to the bone and tears of fear and sadness welled up in her tired eyes. Sobbing, she sat on the old chair that struggled to carry her weight. Her beautiful round shoulders shook uncontrollably and her blonde curls stuck against her wet cheeks.
All she had ever wanted was to serve him. To be perfect for him. She had failed, and now her life was meaningless. She was stuck in this dark basement forever, Gold thought. Her once beautiful body would be torn to shreds by the vicious rats until only her bones remained. Those bones would stay here forever, scattered across the dusty floor.
Such a desperate sadness overtook Gold. She realized that her foggy ancient mind, cursed by the ages, had been the kinder thing. At least she hadn’t been able to really feel anything back then. It had all just been a large blur of one moment moving into the next.
“You mustn’t give up so soon….”
Gold raised her head at the voice, but found herself unable to see through the long strands of hair covering her eyes. She didn’t have to see him to recognize his warm and beautiful voice. That voice that had sung to her all those ages ago on the field, telling her how beautiful and wonderful she was.
She could hear him walk toward her now and soon felt how he brushed the hair from her face. His hands were warm and soft and he smelled of fresh grass after the rain had fallen.
Gold looked at the infinitely beautiful man standing in front of her. Even through the darkness she could see his flawless, almost silver skin and long, dark hair. His lips were curled eagerly and his smile felt as if it was just for her. A private little moment that fueled the tired and bruised Gold.
Gold whimpered, “You came for me after all….”
“Of course…. What kind of father would I be to let you rot in a disgusting old basement?” he asked.
He’d called himself her father. Gold’s heart was warmed by this quiet confession of unconditional and eternal love. If that love came from such a beautiful man, Gold thought, it had to be the most precious love there ever was.
“Won’t you untie me, Father? I’m scared to be here by myself, with the filthy rats and the ugly spiders.”
Gold’s heart almost broke when she watched him shake his head.
“No,” he said. “You must stay here for now. It is important to me that your body remains on these grounds.”
Gold tried to swallow her fear but found herself unable to. This terrible, dark room was going to tear her to shreds, she felt.
“But Father… I am so very frightened….”
As she admitted her feelings her father’s face went dark and cold. Gold could tell that he judged her weakness in the harshest way. How she desired then to take back the words she had just spoken. Words that had angered him… or worse, disappointed him. She had made him think that she was less than perfect.
“You don’t want to serve me anymore?” he asked.
“I do! It is the only thing I want! Please! Let me serve you, Father!” she cried hastily.
“Then you must stay here for now and be ready.”
“Ready for what?”
He smiled at her again now that she had professed her loyalty. She would stick with him forever and she would defy even this hell of a room if need be.
“Ready for what, you ask, my perfect Gold? Why… for me, of course. You must be ready for me….”
Gold didn’t know what that meant and she found herself unable to care. His smile for her was warm again and she would kill for that warmth. She had done it many times before, after all.