Talia's Torment

Chapter 7: Memory is Torture.

Laurent slowly walked up to Talia and traced her jaw with his finger.  The movement used to make her blush and look away, now it just made her recoil.  How could this have happened, where is the man she had begun to believe she was in love with, how had he hid this monster that was now on the surface.  It just seemed like a completely different and alien person was now standing in front of her wearing the guise of her former lover.  In a flash her whole world had been turned upside down, reminding her that all we have can be taken in an instant, and there was so much in life she had yet to accomplish, so much left that she would never taste.

                He chuckled, actually chuckled as the emotions she was feeling flitted across her face.  When he saw the realization that she would not be leaving this room alive finally settle on her face he let the full mask drop and she saw the most terrifying smile cross his lips. “Well, now that you know the deal we can begin, this is going to be so good.”  “Talia, do me a favor and try not to pass out, I don’t want to have to try to wake you back up again because it can be so tedious.”  With those words her instruction of what true pain really was began, she had been so clueless to what the human body could really withstand.

                From the darkness Laurent grabbed a rope that had a hook attached to it.  The hook reminded Talia of the hooks on chains that every bad guy in every movie she had seen used to hang their victims, and Laurent apparently was one for nostalgia as he attached the hook to the rope holding her hands together in front of her body.  In a swift motion he began to pull and lift her hands from her lap and as far as the ropes on her elbows would allow them off the arms of the hard wooden chair she was lashed to.  He then proceeded to free her from the chair being sure that she was unable to leave once free from one restraint as she was now attached to one hanging from the ceiling.  It may have been an impossible venture but he laughed out loud as he moved the chair away and set it against a wall in the dark and she attempted to run anyway.  She knew it wasn’t going to work but her mind and body demanded she try it anyway, it seemed like he knew she would do it to as he simply laughed while watching her struggle against the hook before he cruelly wrenched the unseen cord again and ratcheted her hands from in front of her to above her head with her body dangling just far enough to tip toe herself to relieve the pressure on her shoulders and elbows that her full weight on them had caused.

                Now he walked away from her and into the darkness, again whistling, out of place as it seemed her brain in the middle of this situation raced to place the song he was whistling as if it would change the whole path of the events she knew were coming her way.  Just as the name hit her mind the lights against the wall flicked on to reveal a table full of tools that looked like they had been transported straight from a horror film and into her field of view.  Now the fact that he was whistling Yankee Doodle didn’t seem as important as the fact that he was slowly caressing each item on that table as if they were long lost lovers and he was yearning to hold each one again.  The instruments of her destruction seemed to gleam at her and whisper that this would not be quick or painless as Laurent seemed to settle on one and look at her for her reaction.

                Apparently he liked what he saw because he picked up the thin blade and walked over to Talia while turning it to glint at her in the light from the now swinging bulb in the ceiling.  The blade reminded her of the boning knives her father had used when they had gone on the countless fishing trips as a child.  At the time they had seemed so boring but now she would give anything to have them back and not be here.  Seeing the spike in her fear Laurent slowly walked behind Talia making sure to trail the tip of the blade across her ribcage, just under the line of her underwire.  He was toying with her, not allowing the blade to slice into her but rather scrape across the material of her shirt and snag here and there slitting little holes in the material and showing just how sharp the instrument was truly kept.  He laughed then as he slid the knife into the collar of her shirt and in one swift motion split the material as if it had never existed, exposing her back in one long stroke.

                She felt the tears start to spill from her eyes as he slowly dragged his fingertips down her spine and watched her skin shiver in response.  He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, just barely a whisper as she felt his moist breath tickle the hair that had fallen from her ponytail. “Don’t worry; we are going to have so much fun before this is all over, I promise.”  With those words crawling through her mind and placing new images of horror and all that might be about to happen to her, Talia screamed as she felt the tip of the knife slide under the skin of her back next to her bra strap and seem to slip between her skin and the muscles there.

                “I won’t be offended if you choose to scream for me, it will happen eventually.”  “I can promise you that I will make this last though, you may even enjoy it before this all ends my love.”  The term of endearment made her shudder and as she did Laurent peeled the thinnest strip of flesh from her body and with that Talia screamed.  She screamed for all she was worth and in the background she could hear his satisfied sigh like some twisted horror sound track before he slipped the knife in for another round.