A cool liquid hit his lips, wet them and took away the heat that hurt them. He opened his mouth, silently begging for more. More of that cold trickle. It came, not just to his lips this time, but his mouth; his tongue tasted it. Felt it. Water. This was his first time ever experiencing the feel and taste of water. It wasn’t as thick as blood and it was strangely refreshing. He craved more. And more was given.
Whoever was giving him this, he owed them much. He tried to form the words of thanks while at the same time still drinking. The liquid fell down his parched throat and he was so busy swallowing it and savouring every drop of it that he couldn’t form the words.
“Don’t try to speak, not yet.”
The voice was familiar but his thoughts and mind were sluggish. Not keeping up - he couldn’t understand. He needed to. He needed to regain his senses.
“Easy there, easy.” Hands pressed down on his shoulders and held him lying on something soft but he knew he needed to get up. He needed to get to Lily. He couldn’t lie in comfort any longer. He had to go. He had yet to even open his eyes.
A wet cloth was wiped across his brow and he breathed in relief at the coldness he felt; it eased the sting of his skin. He hurt all over. His breath was harder to take in and breath out but he managed. He had to.
“Recover. You are no use to anyone in the state you’ve got yourself in.” He tried to speak again but no words came out. “Relax.” That voice was saying to him, “It is past midday, not yet evening. You have time yet, to recover and be gone. Take more water, rest a little longer.”
The water was poured into his mouth and he drank eagerly and then he felt himself floating again. Slipping away. He tried to stop it but he was too weak to hold on. He fell back into the world of unconsciousness…
Her first night of torture and she was already losing it. She had slept the day away only to wake to the kidnapper at the door and her new family dead all around her. Still in her hell she wondered what she had done to deserve such horrible experiences. Why when she had grown to love someone where they taken away from her. Perttu was gone, Adon was gone. She had long ago made the mistake of thinking of Berneice back at home and alone without Adon. Berneice had ended up laying lying at her feet, eyes open and staring. Lily had tried to not think of anyone else, not wanting to see them dead but she had pictured all the warriors that came to greet her, and they too ended up dead. Her mind was feeling heavy and very tired. She was missing something, she knew it, but she was too afraid to think of it. Too afraid to look into her mind and see the missing piece just in case it was another person. She didn’t want to see another person dead.
He was still taking perverse pleasure in seeing her crying and screaming out loud every time he latched onto another person in her mind and twisted that vision. He loved to see her looking around at herself and sobbing at each and every one of the people she thought of. Illusion like this was far too easy for him. He didn’t even need to see the person; he could simply feel thoughts in his victims mind and he twisted these thoughts, no sight of the ‘dead’ needed. Sometimes he did wonder what it was that sent his victims into insanity. Sometimes he could guess. Lily was easy to guess, it was people she loved. Others clung to their minds and logic for a very long time. They cursed him and hated him. They fought him mentally and physically and when they finally sank into instability he also was shocked and surprised. He didn’t always care either but other times it was merely curiosity.
Sometimes Lily would get a look in her eye, a confused expression that told him she was trying to reach for the logic in her mind. And so he pushed harder at forcing her to think of someone, anyone, just a person and he would show them to her as dead. He wanted to make her feel alone and cut off from the world so it was him and her and no one else. He liked his victims to scream at the world knowing there was no one coming for them. They gave up more easier then.
He saw her clutch at her chest and knew the pain she would be feeling was grief. That overwhelming feeling of an iron hand hovering over her heart and her lungs. He knew it because he had felt it before in his victims. He liked it. He loved them to feel what he once had felt. He would never feel that again; he was stronger now and he would make them weak, slowly making them feel that terrible feeling forever.
She whimpered as she looked at her right side and he curled his lip back in a smug expression. Another one was ticked off her list. Her hand was still resting on her shoulder and he laughed at the pathetic gesture. “There’s no one coming for you, they’re all dead.” He laughed. “And now that their dead, tell me, what are their plans for the full moon?” Insanity it was a good way to get information out of captives.
“Full moon?” She muttered. She shook her head and tried again to latch onto the sound. But she couldn’t. She didn’t understand the question. What had the full moon to do with her when she saw Perttu dead?
“Yes full moon. Six nights away. What is happening? I want names of those soldiers who turned up at your dear Perttu’s house. I want to know their plans. What did Perttu tell you?”
Perttu. Her dear Perttu. She sobbed harder and then gasped in pain as her hair was caught up in a tight grip. She was pulled up by the very ends of her hair and couldn’t help but cry out in pain. Her body was shook. “Tell me!” Her kidnapper screamed into her face. “Look! Look around you!” By her hair she was spun around and all the dead people around her was shown off. She cried out afresh. “There is no one to save you, so you might as well just tell me what they were planning since they are not around to go through with that plan.”
He didn’t mind lying to keep the illusion going. Lily however stopped, that niggle in her mind was there. “Why do you need to know if they are unable to carry out that plan?” She asked. A hard slap to the face stopped her talking and she felt her mind getting heavier and heavier. She wanted to think of something else and while part of her was screaming at herself to keep her thoughts on the here and now the other half of her wandered through the family and friends that were not already dead at her feet. Her own biological mother popped into her head and the minute she embraced that image her mother was dead also. She screamed and flailed her limbs, gasping when her hair was let go off and she fell to the floor – onto the heap of bodies. Screaming anew she rolled away, backed up away from the dead and into the legs of her kidnapper who took hold of her arms and lifted her up.
“I can take the images away, but I want you to be good first. Tell me what they were planning.”
“I don’t know what they were planning.”
“Then give me names.”
She knew something was wrong. Something inside her very chest was warning her that this would be betrayal if she said anything. And in all honesty she did not want this nasty man to go anywhere near her family. But her family were dead. Adon, Perttu, Berneice were dead. Surely telling him their names was nothing? She shook her head. She couldn’t’ even dishonour their names by uttering them to this kidnapper. Now that made sense in her chaotic mind. They may not be alive but she would not let their memories be tarnished by this horrible man. She spat. Very unladylike it was but she was tired of talking, tired of screaming and instead simply spat at the man. The spit landing on his face. The next thing she knew she was flying in the air to come to an abrupt stop as her back hit the stone wall and she slid to the floor, amongst the dead bodies and the door was clanged ominously shut.
“So you’ll sacrifice your mind for them.” His voice echoed back to her in the closed cell, “Very well, I’ll be back in an hour. Enjoy your time… with the dead.”