Chapter Eleven
I didn’t know how long it had been since I had been snatched. Time seemed to have stopped moving – every minute feeling as if an hour had taken place.
My head lolled to the side so that it came to rest upon my shoulder. Manacles were tightly wrapped around my wrists and my ankles, clamped on so tightly that they had cut into my flesh. There was no doubt that they would leave me with permanent scars should I survive this particular ordeal, though at times I was very much tempted to give in. To let the nightmares have their wish and take me into oblivion.
I was in the deepest levels of hell – or at least that is where I thought I was. I had heard many different levels of torment when they had dragged me down here. But where they kept me - these had to be the worst. It wasn’t just physical pain they tortured me with - it was pure torment of the mind, body and soul. I knew about that first-hand because these people, these demons, enjoyed making me like through the worst things that I could imagine. They turned every good thing in my life and made it into my worst nightmare.
As pants of warm air blew from my mouth and beads of sweat rolled across my forehead, I prayed to God that I would be saved. That God would reach down with his powerful influence and pluck me from the fires of Tartarus. But it came to the big question, could he even reach me in the deepest and darkest parts of hell?
A whimper escaped my lips and pure hopelessness threatened to consume my soul.
How long have I even been down here?
Footsteps slapped against the wet stones floors, the sound getting louder and louder each moment that past. The person was obviously drawing closer. A shudder coursed through me causing the chains to shake and rattle within their fitting. I knew that it wasn’t water that soaked those stones but the life blood of some unfortunate soul. I had learnt from the other bound souls, that down here, blood meant more than that – each drop that was shed stripped away more of the person’s humanity. It drove many to insanity but I had managed to retain some of mine – or at least I thought I had.
The footsteps sloshing closer caused me to gag as my stomach roiled in protest. The thought of someone walking through blood caused my stomach to churn, but it was the dread that those feet brought with them which finally caused me to dry heave. I had nothing to bring up though which only hurt me more because I was gagging to no avail. I hadn’t eaten anything since the party, and down here it seemed I could survive without nourishment. Obviously it was another type of torture.
The feet came to a stop less than a foot away. The stench blowing across my face smelt like something had quite literally died. I held my breath, determined not to be mixing air with whatever creature was before me.
I did not dare open my eyes to stare at the person. They had already cut out my eyes once for that, but, in true hellish condition, I had a new set the very next day. After the third time I chose to keep my eyes closed at all times. It was better to be in the dark anyways.
“My sweet, how are we today?” I struggled not to gag once more as the heat of my torturers breath fell upon the side of my face before he nuzzled his own face into the crook of my neck and took in a deep breath.
Jumping away from the disturbing hiss that was masquerading as speech, I swung on the chains causing the manacles to cut in deeper and draw more blood. He was the twin to my captor, and as such, loved to play around with my nightmares as much as his sister. The searing pain of the manacles was so much more bearable that the mind games this thing liked to play.
Tears threatened to fall as he stepped closer to me, yet as I struggled to regain my footing without opening my eyes, I knew it was futile. Even if I had them, I wouldn’t allow myself to shed another tear in front of this beast. He loved them. It made him happier and, in turn, made him inflict more pain. My tears had long since dried out anyway. So all I did was whimper silently and wait for the torment that was sure to come.
And my horrible kidnapper happily obliged.
A hand was placed over my eyes causing the bloodshot orbs to roll back behind my closed lids. My entire body shook as the cruel being standing before me sifted through my mind to find his material for the day’s torments.
“I think I will do my favourite, it’s always so much fun to see you writhing about in those chains. You don’t like it much do you my sweet? But it is just SO good to watch.” I didn’t have to see his face to know that he was grinning manically at me as he spoke the words.
A pressure began to build up within my skull as the demon continued to rifle through my mind, playing with my perceptions so that when he placed his horrible slimly lips on mine, I was drawn into a world of horror.
Soft music filled the room from the little radio on the countertop. I was stood in the kitchen dicing up onions ready for dinner. I could hear soft laughter in the living room, Danny’s laughter. My heart leapt into my chest, pure joy at the happiness of my son. Humming to myself, I continued slicing and dicing, adding stuff into the cooking pot. In that moment I felt like a normal woman with a perfectly mundane life.
But the demon wouldn’t let it last.
Still humming merrily, my hand lifted the cutting knife up into the air so that light glinted off of the stainless steel blade. I could feel an excitement building in my stomach, thoughts of blood and death running through my mind and filling me with an insatiable desire to kill.
I ran my fingertip along the edge of the blade and gave a girlie squeal of delight when it sliced open the fleshy pad of my finger. Almost instantly blood pooled out of the cut and spilled down my skin. It sickened me because it only increased my excitement tenfold. It made me even more desperate for the kill.
In the back of my mind, that little thing called a conscience was telling me it was wrong. But then - I shuddered and gasped as a painful stab reverberated through my skull causing white spots to dance across my vision. And, like that, the little voice was silenced.
I treaded slowly towards the sounds of joyous laughter, my heart beating fast in anticipation.
And then I saw them.
Lucius was on lying of the beige fluffy carpet with a huge grin on his stubbly face. He looked so different to the man that I knew. His hair was longer than I had ever seen it, the dark black tendrils now at shoulder length but he hadn’t even aged a day. I couldn’t get over it – he was so different. He looked so relaxed, like he was finally comfortable. He was home.
More raucous laughter ensued as he playfully dug his fingers into Danny’s sides causing my little boy to roll about on the floor in merriment. Yet even he was different. He wasn’t my Danny. He was older. My little boy looked around ten years old and was the spitting image of Gabriel.
The little boy in question smiled up at Lucius with complete hero worship that all small children seem to have for their dads. My heart just about melted at that and I felt tears rise unbidden to my eyes. This was what I had always wanted for my son, for me too, a proper home.
But there was a dread that came with this image. As with the past two hundred times I had lived through the scene, I knew that it would soon turn into my worst nightmare. And this time, it would be worse than it had ever been before.
Almost as if my morbid thoughts had commanded it, my humanity turned off and I stepped into the room silently. My arm was hiding behind my back with the blade firmly in hand as I approached the happy scene. I hated the fact that the pure thrill of what he was going to make me do was filling me up. I even licked my lips in anticipation.
“Hey Vannah, is dinner ready?” Lucius asked as he pushed himself up to his feet bringing Danny along with him.
The two smiled at me with love shining brightly within their eyes and it just about broke me because I knew that this time, it would be me who would be pulling this horrible stunt.
“Not yet, love. I need to chop the liver first and tenderise the meat.”
The weird evil version myself gave them a sickly sweet smile while my hands tightened around the handle of the knife. And then not giving them a chance to react, I stepped close and I felt my arm moving getting ready to swing the knife around to injure them – to maim and kill.
Love was stronger than fear and it allowed me to push myself through the pain and the evil welling within me.
“NO.” I shouted out loud causing the two figures to falter and waver before me.
I clung onto that with both hands and reminded myself over and over that they weren’t real. They were both safe. I couldn’t hurt them.
The knife clattered to the ground behind me as beads of water rolled from the corner of my eyes, cascading over my blanched cheeks before dripping off of my chin. I felt far from relieved though, I knew that wouldn’t be the end of the torment.
A movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention to the doorway. There under his hood and brandishing his knife was the man who had put me into these nightmares.
“You didn’t think you could escape that easily. Did you?” The voice hissed at me and then in movements so fast that my eyes barely saw them, he was across the room and his blade disappeared into Lucius’ back.
The blade was thrust forwards with so much force that the creature’s hands had disappeared into Lucius flesh and the blade was sticking out the other side of his body. Snatching Danny out of the way, I hid him behind me as I struggled not to empty my stomach onto the carpet.
“No hiding the toys, my pet.” The voice hissed as it pulled his hand and blade free from Lucius, both of which were covered in blood.
My eyes were glued to the shocked look upon my loves face as he opened and closed his mouth in silent question before collapsing to the floor and dying. His eyes never left mine.
“Hand the boy over and this will go a lot smoother, my sweet.” The voice hissed as it placed the tip of the bloodied blade against my chest and dragged it through skin causing it to tear open.
I didn’t wince. I just stood there and let him carve. And when he seemed to grow tired, I didn’t the only thing I could think of, I snatched the blade from his lax grip and plunged it into his heart. I wanted him to hurt like Lucius was hurt but he merely laughed and disappeared in a blink of an eye leaving me there with a trembling boy and a corpse bleeding out onto the carpet.
Oh god, please save me, I begged as I collapsed beside Lucius. Reaching out with trembling hands, I closed his unseeing eyes and then just wept with fake Danny huddled beside me.