"There's someone I want you to meet," Cecil said, opening the garage door and pushing a wheelchair in "Grandma, this is my boyfriend, Carlos."

As always, Cecil's grandma sat silently and stared ahead, not moving an inch. How could she? She had been paralysed for years.

"Now you be nice to her, she's paralysed...see," he hit her abruptly on her arm and she made a low grunting noise as pain flashed through her eyes.

The same pain flickered across Carlos' face but he soon collected himself as he knew that showing weakness would only make matters worse. He grimaced through his gag. Maybe if he pretended to smile now, Cecil wouldn't punish him as much later….

Cecil just chuckled as if everything was as it should be; as if it was normal. But nothing was normal, no matter how much Cecil wanted it to be. Still chuckling, he moved over to Carlos to caress his taught face.

Carlos tried play along... as if he wanted it...but the coldness of Cecil's face was enough to make even the most vigilant of scientists tremble with fear. The worst part was that he knew what was to come. Carlos alwaysknew what was coming.

"Now now, my love," Cecil stroked Carlos' face as a tear managed to escape and run down his face "Don't be scared- she's lovely really... I'm sure she will love you as much as I do."

Putting on a brave face, Carlos managed to nod slightly in a way he hoped was reassuring but the tears continued to roll silently down to his gag, dampening it with salty water. Fortunately,

Cecil didn't seem to notice. Either that or he just didn't care.

Snapping into action, Cecil returned to his grandmother, wheeling her around to the operating table.

"You see, my dear Carlos, Grandma hasn't been a whole lot of fun recently , so I'm going to do a little experiment to see if we can liven her up a bit. She doesn't mind, do you?"

Cecil's Grandmother couldn't reply but she looked across the room at Carlos, with helplessness and fear in her eyes, pleading him for the help which he couldn't provide.

Seemingly oblivious to the traumatised individuals sharing his garage, Cecil continued to set out his medical equipment, humming tunelessly as he worked. Cecil's Grandmother could only have wished for him to take longer, but it was not her lucky day. And soon, all too soon, Cecil was lifting the frail woman from her chair and onto the cold metallic slab.

Carlos groaned slightly and winced as Cecil dropped her limp but heavy body on the table, landing with a sickening thud. He looked away but, this time, his captor noticed immediately.

"Come on Carlos dear, you'll miss the best bit!"

He forced himself to turn around to watch the scene unfold before his own eyes, knowing that the 'best bit' would be coming all too soon.

Cecil chuckled darkly and returned to his patient. Reaching for his scalpel, Cecil traced his blade along her face as if working out which incision to make first.

"Oh, almost forgot," Erratically dropping his scalpel to the floor with a clatter, he hurried across the room to a set of clothes hooks on the wall, he pulled a filthy, blood stained lab coat off the closest peg "Safety first."

"Now, where were we?" He picked up the scalpel, pressing it against his Grandmother's hairline with a flourish. "Hmmm what should we do to you…?"

Carlos could have sworn he had seen her finger twitch, just slightly. But he would never know. What happened next ensured that.

Cecil delicately, with practiced hands, slit his Grandmothers pale face down the middle. Scarlet blood dripped slowly down her aged face, pooling into her grey hair on the slab, turning it back to it's original red hue.

Carlos tried to scream into his gag, but nothing but a strange muffled noise came out, Cecil's head snapped up as he was momentarily distracted from his handy work.

"What was that dear?" He whined as he walked over to the helpless Carlos, whose head had jolted back in an attempt to save his sanity.

Carlos shook his head manically to try and convince the man before him that nothing was wrong, and that he saw they kind of thing everyday, though he knew it was too late.

"Sorry I couldn't hear you." Cecil knelt down to look into Carlos' eyes "You know I love you… you can tell me anything, so what did you say, love?"

Carlos just continued to shake his head frantically, knowing that even if he could speak, he wouldn't know what to say.

"You don't have a problem with this do you, my most beautiful Carlos?"

Carlos continued to shake his head.

"And…" Cecil paused and wiped the blood off the scalpel on his lab coat, taking great care that it was perfectly clean before holding it up to the light to examine "You do you love me don't you, Carlos?" he directed the question at the instrument in his hand but his hushed tone made it clear who he was really talking to.

Carlos quickly started to nod his head. Too quickly.

"I thought so" He grinned and stood up, walking back to the woman on his table, taking very slow, deliberate steps that echoed around the cold room.

Reverting back to his mindless humming, Cecil made another incision across his Grandmother's face, creating a bloody cross. Her eyes screamed in pain as blood blurred her peripheral vision, staining her irises a new colour.

A squeal escaped past Carlos' gag but Cecil didn't notice, he was too wrapped up in his Grandmother's current predicament to see anything except what was right in front of him.

And what was right in front of him was a woman slowly bleeding out from her face, growing paler with time, as her blood supply slowly pooled around her limp body, until her skin was translucent.

The blood in her hair was slowly congealing, forcing her hair together into thick, sticky clumps, more had collected in the wrinkles in her face and in the bags under her eyes. Useless skin curled up around the wounds, exposing her veins and bones to the metallic air in the room.

Cecil took a step back to admire his new masterpiece, a slight grin crept onto his face as he wiped his hands on his labcoat.

"See, she can be fun! I knew she would have her uses."

Carlos nodded- if he had upset Cecil now, it wouldn't just be his hair at stake.