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with anybody. You will never be married; your place is here in this house with me. Understand?”
    “I think so—I mean, yes, I understand.”
    “You’d better. Now go to your room. I don’t want to see your sinful face the rest of the night.”
    David picked up his plate, tableware, and drinking glass and took them to the kitchen sink. He hurried to rinse them but made sure he did it right.
    Alone in his room, he peeled his shirt off and twisted his shoulders to see the red welts in the mirror. His eyes filled with tears. Why does she do this? He pulled his shirt back on and stared at his reflection in the mirror. A single tear ran down his cheek and dropped to the floor. Why does she beat me? Suddenly, he whipped off his belt, reared back, and slapped the top of his dresser, only inches from his Bible. Why?

 8 
    THE ROOM HAD a peculiar odor, a mixture of sandalwood, cheap aftershave, and sex. He had raped and sodomized her three times, and the smell of him—and herself—hung heavy in the room.
    Through it all, he hadn’t removed the black kerchief covering her eyes or the nylon ropes binding her wrists and ankles to the bed. The only other piece of clothing he’d left on her was the white Lycra top, now pulled up over her small breasts. Her head throbbed from the chloroform. And the ropes were too tight, digging into her flesh, the slightest movement of her body made them burn. On top of it all, her mouth was parched. I need insulin.
    “Sara Ann?”
    His voice was barely a whisper, but it echoed inside her head.
    “I said Sara Ann!” Loud now, his voice was like a whip.
    He was close, so close she could feel the heat of his body. Oh God! He’s naked!
    “When I speak, you answer. Understand?”
    “Yes—yes,” she whimpered.
    “Yes, who?”
    He demanded that she call him Gabriel, like the angel. “Yes, Ga—Gabriel.”
    “That’s better, my dear.”
    “Please let me go, please” she pleaded, as her tears soaked the black cloth covering her eyes.
    “Listen to you beg.”
    “I won’t tell anyone, I promise! I—I don’t even know who you are! I haven’t seen your face so you could let me go and—”
    “Shut up! Stop screaming or you’ll get the duct tape on your mouth again.” He leaned against the mattress, making the springs of the old bed creak. “You aren’t going anywhere. Besides this should be seventh heaven for you. Don’t you like me inside you, Sara Ann?”
    She twisted away from his words, but the hot pain of the ropes digging deeper into her skin forced her to cry out. She stopped thrashing and sobbed.
    “Can you loosen the ropes, please?” She was barely able to utter the words between her sobbing and dry mouth.
    “Of course not,” Gabriel laughed.
    Gabriel placed his meaty hand on the inside of her thigh. Her entire body involuntarily jerked away from the contact, the ropes once again cutting into her flesh. “Please, oh, God, please don’t hurt me again.”
    “Hurt you?”
    His hand moved up slightly on her thigh, and her body jerked again. No, please no!
    Suddenly Gabriel removed his hand from her leg. She could hear a rustling sound, and then objects hitting a hard surface.
    “What’s in the syringe, Sara Ann?”
    He’s in my waist pack!
    “It’s my insulin. I—I’m diabetic.”
    “You don’t say?”
    “I need an injection. I need one right now.”
    “I’ll give it to you. You don’t worry about a thing. Understand?”
    “Yes,” she said. “I mean yes, Gabriel.”
    “You know where seventh heaven comes from?”
    Her head was spinning. She needed her insulin.
    “I asked you a question!”
    “No, I don’t,” she mumbled. “Gabriel.”
    “I didn’t think so.” He paused and she heard a syringe hit the nightstand. I need insulin! “Well, some say there are seven heavens, one lying above another. They’re graded accorded to the degree of merit one has acquired on earth. Don’t you want to be in the seventh heaven someday, Sara