closer. It sounds like he’s dragging something made of metal toward me.
“What are you doing?” I ask, nervously awaiting my fate.
I was expecting him to kill me now. I mean, he’s wanted to do it for ages. I’ve known for a long time that he’d come for me one day. I just didn’t expect it to be this soon. Guess I underestimated his escape methods.
The moment that he found me, I knew this would be a struggle for life and death. He swore to take his revenge out on me, so that’s what I’ve been expecting, which is why it’s distressful for him to leave me in this attic alone. I don’t know why, and I don’t understand. If this is his idea of how to torture me, then I’d rather have it end now than to endure it one more second.
I know I have it coming for me anyway. It was only a matter of time before death came to claim me. And now he’s at my doorstep, staring at me without making a move.
What is he doing?
“There,” I hear him mumble as he places the metallic thing behind me. “Perfect.”
“What?”
“I suppose you’d like to see what I’m doing, but you’ll know soon enough.”
Shuddering, I ask, “How are you going to kill me?”
He laughs again, as if I’m making a joke or something. “Jesus, you really wanna die, don’t you?”
“You want to kill me, Phoenix. It’s what you came here for, isn’t it?”
“I did.” He places his hand on my shoulder, which makes me flinch. “And I do.”
“Then why don’t you?”
“Because you’re asking for it.” Suddenly, I feel something sharp near my neck, and I immediately hold my breath. It must be his knife. “And I’m not going to give you what you want. Ever. You see, I’m not an enabler like all those other guys. I don’t just give you what you want and hope that you’ll be merciful enough to give me what I want as well.” I can hear him smile from the breaths he’s taking so close to me. “No, I’m going to take what I want, when I want it, without your permission. And you’re just going to have to accept that.”
“So, you’re not going to kill me?”
“Yet,” he adds as he gets up.
“Then what do you want from me?”
Suddenly, my chair leaves the floor, and I squeal from the weightless feeling. “Isn’t it obvious?” he says. “I want you to suffer.”
“Fuck you!” I spit through the bag.
I can’t do much, but this I can do.
It’s not as if I have anything to lose, being tied up. He’s probably going to kill me anyway, so I might as well speed the process. I don’t want to be in this situation any longer. I’d rather die than have him torture me any longer.
“Call me whatever you want; it’s not going to help you. In fact, it’ll only worsen your punishment,” he says, hauling back my chair with me on it.
“Just kill me! Just get it over with already.”
“And that was why, while I was gone, I decided that I’m not going to kill you.”
I gasp, but I have no time to respond because my chair suddenly spins around with me still on it, causing me to almost drop off. The only thing keeping me from falling is the belt wrapped around my wrists.
“Killing you now would be a huge waste of all the potential suffering I could give to you. Oh no, I’m not going to let you go that easily. Why would I, if there are so many more ways that I can give you what you gave to me?”
“What are you doing?” I squeal, as he pushes my chair forward, my head tilting to the ground.
“Giving you exactly what you deserve. The same thing you put me through.” He shoves the chair until my head is pushed against the floor, and then he lets it go. God, it hurts for my entire body to rest on my head. What in the hell is he thinking? Is this is his way of punishing me?
Suddenly, something pokes between my wrists and the belt is loose. The sudden release makes me drop to the floor. The chair is hauled away quickly. Another screeching sound is audible and then a chain, and the metal clings together. It almost sounds … like a cage.