“No. No, that’s not—”
“No, hedoesn’tbarely know you? No, hedidn’tentrust you to take her? Or no, hehasn’tbeen desperate to find her?”
The meat sack falls silent, save for theprat-prat-pratof his blood dripping onto the floor.
“Why does he want her so badly?” I ask.
No response.
“What are his plans for the witch and his son? Why was their marriage so important to him?”
Prat-prat-pratgoes the blood, but the fucker’s totally stonewalling me.
Good. Gives me more time to play.
Skipping the blades and scalpels, I grab a bin full of various odds and ends and give it a good shake, trying to decide my next move. “What’ll it be, what’ll it be. We’ve got rusty knives, rusty screwdrivers, lots of forks, pliers, a metal file, and… Well! Would you look at that! I was wondering where that got off to.”
I pluck the blackened nub from the bin and hand it over, folding his fingers around it. “Hold this. And you’d better not drop it—I don’t want to lose track of it again.”
“What… what the fuck is—”
“Thumb of the last bloke I chained up down here. Normally, I’m meticulous about cleaning up my workspace, but it just goes to show you. Practicerarelymakes perfect, which is why we must keep practicing. Ahh, here we are! Yeah, this will be quite nice.” I select the tool that caught my eye and flip it in the air, catching it right in front of his face. “Most people are afraid to get started in a career like this because they think they need to invest in specialized equipment. Surgical and dental tools, electric saws, flamethrowers. But some of the most effective instruments can be found right in your kitchen drawer. Do you know what this is?”
“Issa… sa… melon baller?” Randall slurs. Blood slides from his mouth in thick ropes.
“Excellent! And on the first guess, too. Do you know what it’s for? Wait—don’t answer. When it comes to learning, I find a demonstration’s always better. Show, don’t tell, as the saying goes.” Without further ado, I push up his eyelid with my thumb and shove the baller into the socket, giving it a good twist and scooping out his eye. “Perfect! All in the wrist—that’s the secret.”
The sound he makes would shatter glass. Good thing I don’t have any windows down here.
“Now that’s lovely workmanship. Would you like to see?” I grab a handheld mirror from the workbench and hold it up. His good eye goes wide, the wailing starting up all over again.
“Yeah, you’re right. Something’s off there. I think I know the problem, though. It’s the asymmetry of it all—that’d bug me too. Well, that’s an easy fix.” I grab his face, do the other eye in a jiff. “How’s that? Oh, shit. Sorry. You can’t see. You’ll just have to take my word for it. Hey, speaking of words… Any you’d like to share with me?”
“Fuck... fuck you,” he pants.
Gotta hand it to the bloke. Most of them crack before I even touch the second eye.
No matter. There’s one surefire way to get him talking. The one method that’s never let me down.
“You know, Randy, there’s a special place in hell for men who hurt women. Since you’ll be heading there soon enough, I’d like to send you off with a prequel of what’s to come. Best to be prepared for a trip like that, you know? My mate Auggie’s that way. Prepared for anything, that guy. Quite an admirable trait, really.”
I turn on my blowtorch, adjusting it to a nice, toasty level, making sure he can smell the flame.
Then I drag it down his bare chest, just close enough to singe his chest hair.
Randall arcs away from the heat, but he can’t get very far on account of the chains.
“Playtime’s over, Randall. Start talking.”
Nothing but babble now.
With that, I lower the torch beneath his shriveled cock and drag it right across his nutsack.
And Randall just…
Well,thatis a scream you don’t often hear from a man.
Five seconds of that, then I pull back, giving him a moment to gather his thoughts.
