Beyond Birthday's head was pounding, screaming. Someone had hit him, most definitely, that had to be it. Felt his face, then the back of the head. Two blows, he decided; one on his jaw, most likely a warning blow, then one to his head due to an unsatisfactory answer.
He adjusted his eyes to the darkness surrounding him. It was a gray room with gray, brick walls and identical flooring. There were chains positioned at different points in the walls, four in each spot for hands and feet. His too, were chained, and he realized the noise was them clinking from moving his arms. A door lay in the very front of him, sporting a mocking presence.
His feet were bare, and therefore cold, being wrapped in cuffed metal and touching the brick flooring. Tested them to see if they were injured as well, or just numb from the exposure. He tried to walk as far as he could, test the limits of these chains. Maybe they were old, rusted as they were, and would rip out of the wall with a little force. He went forward, head spinning. Tripped. The chains reached their limit and started ripping into his skin.
The man screamed out in pain. Hit the floor. Although they were indeed rusted, the chains were very new. He crawled back to the wall. Didn't make it even halfway across the room.
The door clicked, unlocked. Revealed a figure holding a lantern. The person entered the room, turned around and closed the door. Walked towards him afterward. They slipped the key inside their white robe. Set the lantern just out of his reach on the floor. Took off the robe and laid it next to it. Revealed the figure of a woman in her early thirties.
"Do you know who I am?" she asked.
Beyond thought about it. "No." She smacked his face.
The woman, now angry, then brought out a blunt weapon. Used her left hand to hold his to the wall. Started beating his left arm with it. He screamed. She ignored him, and kept doing it.
Pause, hit. Pause, hit. Pause, hit. The woman tired easily and was not very strong by herself. She had to rely on momentum to give a satisfying blow. But that did not stop her from giving one.
His arm's color changed gruesomely. This scene was very familiar. He convulsed. The chains shook with a rough rattling sound. Was it all over? She had stopped. No, one couldn't die from internal hemorrhaging without rupturing any organs.
"My name is Backyard Bottomslash" the woman said, standing back. Observing her work. "You experimented with my arm the exact same way before ripping off my limbs."
The young man dropped to the floor. Unable to feel his arm. "My third victim" he said, looking up.
"Yes." She tilted her head to the side. Smiled. "I like you down there. You have to look up at me."
The twenty-nine-year-old woman grabbed her things. Walked out of the room. The cell was bathed in darkness again. Beyond groaned. Still on the floor. His sleeve horribly ripped. Revealing the ugly blotches of blood underneath the skin. Told himself to stop looking at it. Sighed, and leaned his head back, allowing the cold brick to touch his hair. It was so long now, he thought. Why did L like long, spiked hair?
She forgot something. He still had his arm and leg. If she truly wanted revenge, she would have killed him by rippin-
She didn't want to kill him. She was going to leave him here. Let him suffer. Feel the pain of his arm. Grow tired and weak. Then she'd return and chop them off. Making him bleed to death.
Another clink came from the door. This time, a man, also wearing a white robe and holding a lantern, entered the room. He hung the lantern on a hook in the ceiling. Why didn't Bottomslash do that? The room filled with dim light.
Of course, she didn't do that because she didn't need much light to beat his arm. The man walked over to him with a key. Grabbed his left arm roughly, causing pain to shutter down his arm. Undid the chain. Repeated with the right arm, left leg, and right leg. Then the man gestured for Beyond to come forward. He stood up. Did as told. Faced the man in the middle of the room.
"Do you know who I am?" The figure walked behind him while speaking.
"No." He felt his white shirt get lifted up. Brought over his head. The man dropped the garment on the floor.
"Do you know why I'm here?"
"No." The man swiftly kicked his exposed back, knocking him down. Sprawled on the cold floor. Just the way he wanted. Beyond turned his head, saw the man remove a knife from his robe. He didn't have to see to know where it was going. He cried as the first cut ripped through him. The man kept slashing, much more quick than the woman. His thrashing was not appreciated. The man pushed down hard on his head with his foot and kept it there.
It was much more agonizing than the last torture. It felt longer as well. Tears were silently dripping to the floor when the man was done. It was his time to talk. "My name is Believe Bridesmaid" he said, moving his foot from Beyond's head to the ground. Lifted the young man up and walked him over to the corner where a three-way mirror was waiting. Forced him to see the Roman numerals on his back. "I'm here to give you the Hell you gave me."
"My first victim as well?" He asked.
"Shut up." Believe grabbed the shirt off the floor. Tugged it back over his head. Didn't bother with the sleeves. Wasn't a minute before the back started to stick to the blood. Then the man dragged him over to the chains and re-secured him. Grabbed the lantern off the hook. Left the room.
The killer propped himself up into a sitting position. Laid his back against the brick. The cold helped this time around. He was also facing the door.
Waiting.
Knowing.
Victim number two would come through it once he started to escape into his thoughts again.
He did not wait long. A girl wearing a white robe opened the door. Let herself in. She too, carried a lantern. Held it. He could tell immediately that she was different from the other two. Instead of hiding her weapon, easing him into thinking it might be over, she dragged it beside her. A very large bat.
She laid it gently on the ground. Came up to him. Lifted the lantern to his face. "Do you know who I am?" she also asked.
He was ready for the questions. There would be one more than last time. "Quarter Queen."
"Correct. Do you know why I'm here?"
"To give me the Hell I gave you. I suppose you have tweezers as well to take out my eyes?"
She reached into a pocket of the robe. Pulled them out and showed him. They were sharper than anything he ever used. "Do you know what happens when a person dies in their dreams?"
"They die for real" he answered.
Believe and Backyard entered the room. Holding their weapons. Placed the lanterns where they did the first time. "Taste of your own medicine" the woman said. She was the most bitter, he supposed. The man had a sad look to him. The girl's face was blank.
"Go ahead" he told them. She reached forward with the tweezers.
---
Two men were playing checkers in their cell at the Los Angeles Prison. A third was unconscious on the floor. A burly, darker-skinned man grunted and jumped two black pieces. "Your turn" he said to his opponent.
A boy, seventeen exactly, charged as an adult for his crime, sighed. "You always win." He glanced over at the third man, a young man with short black hair, who had been thrown into the cell while still bald, was wincing in his sleep. His entire body was covered in old burns.
The older man caught him staring. "Don't feel pity for him."
"You hit him awfully hard."
"You heard what he said. What he did."
The boy pointed out that they were all in there for life.
"Yeah, well I have a girl outside. Real pretty, she is. About the age of the one he killed. Pisses me off that some psycho like him could torture my baby." He grunted again.
There wasn't much an argument with him in this mood. "I guess you're right."
The man on the floor let out a small gasp on the floor without warning, and grabbed his chest through his orange jumpsuit. He stilled in a moment. The burly man got up from where he was sitting and placed two fingers to his neck. He waited.
The boy's eyes asked him the question. He shook his head.
"Just l-l-like that? He's gone just like that?" The young convict was shaken, not used to this life.
"Yeah, now you know why Kira's so feared." He made a noise of disapproval. "Lucky bastard, he got him in his sleep. Probably didn't feel a thing."
"I'm not so sure" his opponent thought aloud. "I don't think he got off that easily."
"You don't think?"
"Yeah." They finished up the game and cleared the board, then set up the pieces to play again.