Caught in the Web Chapter 47

This chapter may upset some readers, so apologies.  You can purchase Caught in the Web from Amazon either as an Ebook for Kindle, or as a paperback.  It is also available from bookstores and Fareham Museum.  Over a thousand copies have been sold to date.

Chapter Forty-seven

Karen tried not to sleep. She kept thinking about what Peter had said at the table. By the time he came to bed her mind was in a turmoil. She had managed to get through the evening without giving him the chance to drug her but wondered how long it could last.

Peter sat on the edge of the bed. In one hand he held a glass of water. He passed it to her.

‘It’s time we stopped all this pussy-footing around,’ he said. ‘I’ve brought you your tablets, which you will take, my darling, but not before I’ve finished with you.’

Karen froze.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘What I should have done weeks ago,’ he said. ‘Maybe if I had, you wouldn’t be pregnant with someone else’s kid.’ He placed the water on the bedside table and pulled his t-shirt over his head.

‘Are you going to rape me now?’ Karen’s voice broke.

Peter laughed, undoing his trousers. He turned to her. ‘It’s not rape, you silly girl. Just taking what I’m entitled to.’ He stepped out of his trousers, peeled off his underpants and got into bed beside her. Karen shivered, pulling away from him to the other side of the bed.

‘You can’t force me,’ she began. ‘Please, Peter. I don’t want to do this.’

‘Of course you do.’ He was stroking her leg beneath her nightdress, his hand rough against her skin. She felt herself shrinking further away from him.

‘Kiss me.’ Peter’s face loomed over hers, his mouth was wet and sour with whiskey. Karen tried not to gag as he kissed her lips, his tongue forcing its way into her mouth. He moved away again.

‘There, you see. You do like it don’t you?’ His hand was at the top of her leg now, the other hand forcing her nightdress high up over her breasts.

‘Get off me!’ Karen was pleading now. ‘Please, don’t do this.’ She struggled under the weight of his body as he pushed her legs apart. He rose up above her, looking down at her nakedness. ‘I love it when you’re feisty,’ he laughed. ‘We should do this more often.’

‘You bastard!’ Karen shouted, desperate to make him stop. ‘Get off!’ She struggled, pushing him away.

‘Oh, yes, do that,’ he said. ‘You’re making me really horny. I like a fight,’ he groaned as he reached down and forced his fingers into Karen. She screamed in pain.

He laughed again, pulled his fingers out, rolled back on top of her and thrust his penis into her.

‘You’re hurting me,’ Karen sobbed, but he wasn’t listening any more.

She knew then that the only way to get through this was to detach herself from it. She felt herself floating, the pain between her legs fading into a numbness. She seemed to be watching the scene from a point somewhere above them, the unreality of what was happening her only defence. Who was this grunting animal forcing himself on this young woman? Who was the young woman? Karen watched in horror, wondering why it had come to this and how she could get through it all. She watched as he reached his climax, rolled off her and lay on his back snoring. She watched the young woman’s body go limp and watched herself sobbing silently beside him.

Gradually Karen felt herself in her own body again, sore and angry, but with something like a faint hope in her mind.

He was asleep. Maybe she could get away now.

Almost as if he’d read her mind, he woke up with a start.

‘You thought I’d gone to sleep,’ he accused, sitting up and looking down at her.

Karen reached under her pillow for a tissue and wiped her nose.

‘It’s no good turning on the tears. You know you enjoyed it as much as me,’ he said. ‘Now, it’s time for your pills.’ He reached for the glass of water and the dreaded tablets. He turned and smiled at her, holding them out to her. ‘Sit up,’ he ordered.

Deciding that it would be best to go along with what he wanted, Karen pulled herself up to a sitting position and took the pills. He watched her as she put them on her tongue, then pushed the glass of water into her hand.

‘Swallow them,’ he said.

Karen remembered the patients on the ward and how they’d sometimes hidden pills in their cheeks but realised that it was harder than it looked.

‘Come on, drink the water,’ he insisted. ‘Wash them down properly.’

Karen took a sip of water.

‘That’s not enough,’ he said. ‘Have a proper drink.’

He watched as she drank the whole glass.

‘Now open your mouth.’

Karen opened her mouth.

‘Under the tongue,’ he said.

Karen lifted her tongue to show that the pills had gone.

‘Good girl,’ he smiled as he pushed back the covers and sat on the edge of the bed.

‘Where are you going?’ Karen asked.

‘Only to the bathroom. Don’t worry I’m not going to leave you on your own tonight,’ he said. ‘I’m already feeling horny again, just thinking about it.’

Karen’s heart sank at the thought. As soon as he’d left the room, she hooked the half-dissolved pills from the side of her mouth and stuffed them inside her pillow case.

Peter was back within minutes. He climbed back into bed and reached for Karen. She tried to pretend she was asleep, but he didn’t seem to care whether she was awake or not.

‘Come on, Karen,’ he said. ‘Show me what a good wife you can be.’

‘I’m tired,’ she complained. ‘It’s the pills.’

‘Don’t give me excuses,’ he said. ‘They don’t work that quickly.’

Karen felt sick but knew he would never give up until she did what he wanted. Sighing, she rolled over on top of him and pushed his penis into her, hoping that it would be over as quickly as possible.

‘Show me you’re enjoying it then,’ he said.

Karen started to moan in his ear and felt him getting harder inside her, until at last he reached his climax with a groan of ecstasy. Karen lay still for a moment, then slid off him onto her side of the bed, grateful that it was over at last.

‘You could at least have said you loved me,’ Peter complained. Karen said nothing.

‘Well?’ Peter said again.

‘I love you,’ Karen whispered but she only heard the soft sound of his snoring in answer.