Sneak Peek

Jelena was still suspended in the air. How long has it been, I’m so sore, it feels like days. I don’t think my toes can stand anymore. I have to relax; I have to get off my toes. Jelena is turned, so that she is looking at the 5 ladies in the eyes. All these lives were lost, they were mothers and daughters. She sobs trying to work her aching toes to turn herself so she is not staring at the horror in the face. She freezes as she hears footsteps, then the door creaks open and she hears the footsteps down the stairs. They are slow and deliberate to extract the most fear out of her. She knew this and still could not stop the pure terror coursing through her bones.

“Hello Jelena, have you had time to think about your behavior.” I walk around her inspecting as much as I can. I haven’t turned on the light. The dark is a necessity. She is still standing on her toes but they are a mixture of black, blue, and purple. Looks like they will fall off. The poor thing is lasting longer than my other ones.

“Even more fun for me.” I walked over to my table and clanked all my tools to ensure they made a noise and then peeked and watched her squirm. I picked up my favorite tool and walked over to her, sliding my feet along the way. She is sucking in deep breaths trying to stop herself from crying.

“Aww, you’re going to be strong and not cry,” I say as I scrape the pointed hook along her skin, digging just enough to make a cut. Then I insert the hook and separate the skin from the muscle underneath. She cringes and sends out a piercing scream and then stops when she realizes she can’t do it without losing the balance on her toes. This makes me laugh out loud and hard.

He’s laughing, why is this so funny to him? I am trying to be brave and not give him anything to feed off of but he likes this just as much as when I cry and scream. It feels like he is trying to separate my skin from my body. I cannot move or scream without losing the balance on my toes. My toes hurt so much I should just end my misery. There is no way for me to survive this, I should just give up. I let my feet relax and feel the shooting pain coming up from my toes all the way through to my fingertips. My airways constrict but I am not choking. This must be a sign, a sign from God, that it’s my time. As soon as I close my eyes welcoming what’s next. I heard the loud crank and I began dropping to the floor.

My eyes pop open and, in my mind, I say “What’s happening” but the words don’t turn into the sound to come out. The ground is freezing and shoots needles through my body. But I collapse and savor the feeling of being on solid ground and not suspended into the air. My chain gets yanked. I jerked to the side startled by the sudden movement and terrified I forgot he was in the room.

“You thought we were done?” he asked me. His voice was raspy, like he was trying to make it sound that way but it was not normal.

“Come here Jelena,” he says as he yanks my hair so hard the chunk that was in his hand was no longer attached to my head. I let out a loud yelp and grabbed for the now bald spot on my head. He took whichever tool he had and sliced the backside of my palm and I shrieked. I brought my hand, bleeding, to my shirt, or what was left of my shirt.

“Put pressure and that would stop the bleeding.” I thought to myself. He grabbed my arm and tied something around it and the same to the other one. Now my hands were sprawled out to either side of me like I was reaching outwards.

“Time to have fun,” He says. He then cranks my neck lever back up and ties each ankle to something I can’t quite see. Next thing I know I sprawled in the air spread eagle.

I go back towards my table and grab another tool. I walk to her and put the long blade in her face so even in the dark light she can see what it is and then I watch the pure terror as recognition splashes across her face. I chuckle and then poke and prod my way around until I am satisfied. An hour later I go back up the stairs to make a snack, all that work has left me famished. I walked into the kitchen and heard my phone ring from another room. I went in search of it and picked it up just in time.

Hello

Is it done?

Almost

Hurry, stop playing around and finish the job.

These things take time Sup-

Don’t say my name! Just do what I’m paying you to do.

With that, the caller hung up. ‘Who does he think he is talking to me like that? I will take just as much time as I please. This work takes patience and mastery of skills, which I have both’. I go back into the kitchen to finish my snack and realize I haven’t brought the sweet Jelena any water or food in a few days. I grab a cup of water and a sleeve of saltine crackers and head back downstairs. I forgot I suspended her in the air. I release her arms and neck chains and levers so she is hanging upside down and I place the water and crackers at her head just in reach for her to grab them, but have to struggle to do so. Satisfied I turn and head back upstairs. When I reach the top of the stairs, I turn back and look at her and see her fingertips trying to grasp the crackers, I grin and close the door.