The Long Road to Nowhere - Epologue

"Say it." Fernando whispered. "I just want to hear you say it. Then all this pain can stop." And Fernando was right, Andrew was in pain. His ribs hurt, his eye lid was cut, his lip was bleeding, and his big toe might've been broken. Not to mention the fact that he had ropes tided to both hands, which were connected to the ceiling of the large, cement basement, causing him to hang in mid air. He wasn't a fat kid, but he was stocky, he had some weight on him. And all that weight pulling down against the ropes had started pulling so hard they were cutting into his wrists. And to add insult to literal injury, he was only wearing a pair of jeans, everything else had been stripped off. No matter how much pain he was in, Andrew couldn't tell Fernando what he wanted to know. He might've been a lot of things, but Andrew Fernandez always kept his promises. Which meant gritting his teeth and taking anything Fernando had to throw at him. Andrew wasn't a stranger to punishment, he knew he could take it. "Say it!" Fernando screamed, two inches away from Andrews face. He just shook his head. "Fine, you want to make this hard on yourself?" Fernando said. He wiped his hand across his freshly shaven head, wiping the perspiration off. Beating on Andrew was tiring him out. He pulled off the white t-shirt he was wearing and stood there in a pair of black dickies and a wife beater as he took a breather. Once he was good again, he started punching Andrew in the ribs over and over again. What Fernando didn't know was that Andrew was so use to being in pain, he learned how to make it hurt less. Which is what he was doing at the moment. Instead of bracing himself, preparing himself to take the pain, he relaxes himself. He accepts the pain mentally and physically before it comes. Then he goes somewhere else in his mind. While Fernando was pounding on his ribs like some kind of human punching bag, Andrew was eight feet behind him on the stairs with her. Sitting on the steps, silently crying her eyes out, was Carla, Fernando's 14 year old sister. Even though Fernando was twelve years older then Carla, they were best friends. And he would do anything to protect his little sister, which is what he thinks he's doing at the moment. He honestly believes beating on this sixteen year old boy who's tired up and helpless was helping his sister. But Andrew knew the truth, and so did Carla. Which is why Andrew starred at her over Fernando's shoulder. Looking deep into her eyes while she was slowly being torn apart by guilt. "Are you ready to say it?" Fernando asked, panting, taking a break from beating on his hostage.

"Why do you want me to admit it so badly? I mean you've done all this just to punish me for what you think I did, you have to be sure that I'm guilty right?" Andrew asked. Fernando punched him across the face.

"Because I just want you to be a man and face up to it. You're strong enough to rape my little sister and get her pregnant but not man enough to admit it?!" But Andrew didn't respond, he just turned his head and looked into Carla's eyes again. "Alright Andrew, keep being the tough guy." He said as he crouched down next to a car battery on the floor. He made sure the jumper cables were connected right, put on some black rubber gloves, then grabbed the other end of the cables and headed over to Andrew. "You keep playing this game, they're not going to be able to identify your body." He said, putting the negative and positive clamps together causing sparks to fly out. "Got anything you want to tell me before we turn up the heat a little?"

"You're a pussy?" Andrew asked sarcastically. Fernando expected an answer a long that line. So without another word, he took the clamps and put them against Andrew's exposed flesh. The second the metal touched his body, Andrew started thrashing about like a fish on dry land. The electricity traveling through every inch of his body not only made his muscles twitch frantically, but it hurt so much. The pain was like a three hundred pound body builder pinch him, but all over his body. He had no control over his body at all. Finally, after three long, painful seconds, Fernando finally pulled the clamps away. On his ribs, the clamps left black marks and burned flesh. Carla sat on the steps, her face buried in her hands, unable to look at the situation she caused. Fernando, feeling like five seconds was a long enough break, put the clamps back against Andrew's stomach. His body tensed up as the electricity shot through him again. Andrew hung there, panting, his head hanging as Fernando stood there, waiting.