Read Vanished for Free Online

back still to the Papria, spoke after a moment.
    “It was a simulation. No damage was done to your body.”
    Papria’s voice was little more than a whisper. “Scars don’t have to be visible to be present.”
    “You’re being silly. Now let’s go or I will drag you out in restraints.” Farali turned, her expression threatening.
    Papria trembled harder. The world began a slow spin, swirling until she wondered if she would spew the contents of her stomach all over the white room. Blinded by shock and fury, she followed Farali, her movements wooden. What else was there? If she fought, she’d be sedated. Blind terror accompanied the thought of sedation, along with the memory of his knife slipping up her belly, of the material parting…
    Her breaths quickened. They couldn’t sedate her. Panic begged to break free, but cold, murderous rage took over. She followed, imagining how many ways she could dispatch Farali before sinking into a deep ocean of helplessness.
    They took an elevator, then followed the maze of white halls to the facility. Eyes trailed her, narrowed and cold. She sensed an odd electric twinge in the air, some charge she hadn’t felt before. Most emotions were damped by control, but a select few judged her openly.
    They didn’t care about the horrors that had been done to her. All they saw were the lives she took. They couldn’t see what had been stolen from her. How terrible it had been. How dirty she felt, how betrayed she felt. She hated them. Hated every single person that stared her down, silently judging her as the criminal.
    Papria stared forward her chin lifting under the twisted gazes. But as she pushed forward, something changed. People lowered their heads, their eyes studying anything but her. Refusing to allow them to insult her further, she inclined her head a fraction of an inch higher and marched forward.
    Every footfall echoed through her mind as she followed her captor. Whispers preceded her, stares trailed her, and shame blazed over her cheeks. Everyone had seen the violation of her body, the attempted breaking of her spirit. They knew she’d been defiled; they’d watched .
    She wanted to scream. Every last one of them had betrayed her, now they stared at her like she was some creature on display, some oddity, a freak for their entertainment. Her knees trembled, threatening to spill her in a puddle there, in the middle of the hall. But somehow, she managed to keep upright.
    The hall split again, and Farali followed it to the right. Papria’s numbness began to thaw. People stumbled out of her way as if she might kill them for being there.
    This kind of thing didn’t happen. Rape didn’t happen. Her people didn’t even have a word for it; only her extensive grasp of the Earth-people’s language allowed her to name the action. Men couldn’t force themselves on women, their ability to sense the danger and pain of their mates equated to torture – another Earth word her kind lacked.
    Her eyes narrowed, seeking out the faces around her, and she wanted to shout to them all. Would you not have done the same? She wasn’t wrong, she knew it. Yet she bore the weight of guilt, shame and judgment with square shoulders and a chin creeping up a half-inch higher.
    Her fists clenched and released, her whole body tense, and she wondered if anything would ever be the same again. Farali halted before a door, her motion ending so abruptly Papria slammed into her.
    The woman ’s hands gripped her shoulders, as if to keep her from falling, but her lips moved, a gentle whisper resounding in Papria’s ear.
    “You’ll be okay .” Farali thrust her in the room with no further explanation. The door slammed shut, and Papria wondered if she’d imagined the whole thing. She paced around the room, wandering with no goal in mind.
    Though modest, the space offered plenty of room to move. A cot-like bed rested in one corner, next to a small dresser decorated with a glass vase. The clear, water-filled