A Guide To Murder

Chapter 66

"P-Please," Toby begged, words bubbling up from his throat, pushing forth another slick, wet stream of blood through his lips. He didn't feel any pain but the sight disgusted him so much he might just throw up the contents of his stomach along with the blood that fell from his mouth.

He didn't know what he was asking for. For this to stop, for mercy. Death, perhaps. If this torture continued much longer, Toby knew that he would die. The amount of blood surrounding him made him certain of the fact, although Toby did not know where all of the blood had come from. It continued to pool out from him, from some invisible wound, spreading out to the shadowy corners of the room.

"Toby," a voice called, unseen in the shadows.

A hacking cough cut off Toby's reply, adding dark clots to the ever-growing pool.

"Come on, bro, you could have saved me. You could have, but you left me," the voice whispered, and Toby could not breath.

"S-S-Sis?" he asked the darkness tentatively, crawling towards the sound of the voice on his hands and knees, already soaked in blood.

The voice did not reply.

"Toby!" another voice screamed, this time on the opposite side of the room.

Toby turned towards the panicked voice. Certain of who it was, he shouted towards them. "KATE!? K-KATE!"

Toby attempted to stand, to run towards the voice, but he felt an invisible force send him crumpling back down.

"RUN! RUN! YOU GOT HIM MAD! RUN! HIDE!" Kate cried, sounding just inches away, but Toby was unable to move. Kate's sobbing whimpers ceased abruptly, replaced with an unnatural silence.

"I'm not going to hurt you, now get over here, Toby..." a man's voice said, its source seemingly directly above where Toby lay, bowed down on all fours. The blood was as deep as his forearms now. The voice belonged to his father, although Toby was unsure, he hadn't heard that voice in a long time. "You know I'd never hurt you, Toby..."

The lie shot through Toby like lightning, making him cry out. The blood had risen past his elbows. Toby was unsure of how he was still alive.

Voices continued to call to him; His sister, Kate, doctors, and his father. His mother, questioning why he was tearing apart his fingers with his mouth. Bullies, repeating the same words each time, "Retard. Freak." Kate never really left, she seemed to almost always be somewhere in the shadows, screaming or trying to suck in ragged breaths of air. His sister was crying so quietly, whispering that it was all his fault.

Toby did not speak again.

All the while, the blood around Toby continued to rise, so unbearably hot there were beads of sweat rolling down his forehead. Toby stood, pressing his hands over his ears in a pitiful attempt to block out the voices. The blood was lapping at his shoulders, threatening to quickly overtake him.

Toby waited patiently for it to do so.

Tilting his head back to keep his face above the blood, Toby took in short, panicked breaths. The voices continued, loud as ever, even with his ears submerged.

A long, strong tentacle grabbed Toby's leg, yanking him underneath.

---------------------------------------------------

"You said he can't feel pain?" Ryan asked, looking over at Sally, who levitated in the air beside the scientist.

Sally nodded, looking through the one-sided mirror at where Toby was. He was strapped to a metal chair, all sorts of wires attached to his body. They had dressed Toby in a hospital gown and he was put in a room full of one-sided mirrors. So, if he were to wake up, he'd only see himself while they all saw nothing but him. He was lay on that chair unmoving, with his eyes clenched shut.

"This nightmare-y stuff," giggled Sally. "It's cool, isn't it?"

Ryan shrugged, looking at his watch. "The only thing I want is to torture him enough to tell me where Charlie is. You said you don't know where he is, right?"

Sally pressed down on her middle finger with her thumb, smiling. "Of course not, Ryan. I would never keep a father from his son like that. Maybe I'm a little bit evil, but that's just a whole new level of evil."

Ryan looked over at Toby and saw the trembling boy. "Don't forget that this is new technology and all, he could end up having brain damage from this."

Sally laughed then snapped another finger before hugging her teddy bear close. "Even better."