Eddie Gluskin was a man of habit. He also liked to think of himself as an opportunist; an optimist even; someone who happily made use of everything available to him. And he was obviously nothing less than a gentleman.
Which was why he was currently finishing up his work of locking up the gate to the male ward, whilst singing to the air in an attempt to make himself less threatening to the patient he was currently trapping in. After all, what use was his brain if he didn't use it? Of course the best idea would be to lock up the entire bloc! But in a very specific way...He had done it strategically, of course. Left a few hidden ways in...but once you were in, well...there were no ways out. The only person who could ever leave the vocational bloc at will was Eddie himself, who carried around most of the bloc keys, in case he ever needed to move or even leave. In fact, he locked doors in a strategically advantageous way so as too...cattle his future brides. He'd lock a specific set of doors, and leave the rest open. And they would always run from him, so his presence was like the cattle prod. They'd run the path he had made, straight to the table. And that's where they'd end.
Most of them anyway.
The ones that did survive usually died off from blood loss soon after. And Eddie didn't want to think about the infection that might come if the wounds were not to be taken care of properly. He shuddered as he turned and walked toward the gymnasium, pushing the doors open with ease and wrinkling his nose at the stench the bodies above had begun to create. The smell of death and decay was a small price to pay to keep them hanging, put he made a mental note in the back of his mind to next time check and see if the removal of internal organs does anything to ease the foul smell. He thought that maybe he had tried doing that once before, but couldn't remember what results it had yielded. A familiar feeling washed over him as shrugged and entered the wedding room, the large stretch of white carpet splayed out before him and the stage he had set up dutifully at the front. His eyebrows lowered as he spotted the latest bride, strung up at the altar as he had left her. She had been the strongest of all of them, had even survived the surgery! But she had turned on him before he could marry her, and much to his dismay she had had to leave him.
But he hadn't loved her.
He knew that now, as he looked back on it.
Mere infatuation he guessed. He knew he needed to be careful with doing that, but, he just could not control his emotions sometimes. He chuckled to himself dryly as he hummed the tune to his favorite song. He'd given her more of a use now than she ever had in life. He slipped the key onto her outstretched had gently, before admiring his handiwork with a smile and turning away. That would do it. She could hold the key he would likely never use again. Eddie was not a stupid man. He knew that it was nothing but chaos outside of his sanctuary. And so he saw no need to leave it; he was not morbid, and was not eager to rush to his own death. After all, his brides always came to him.
In the beginning, when he had first set up his home, he had gone hunting. And he admitted he had maybe even enjoyed it a little. But he soon realized that it was much easier, and safer, to lie in wait for his prey to walk unwittingly into his web. And once they entered, there was no escape. He smiled dryly as the tune to his song got just a little bit louder, and at points he'd whistle a little bit, and listen as the sound echoed in his mostly empty halls. It was lonely, and at times he would feel rather depressed...but he didn't have the time to feel sorry for himself right now.
He had two potential brides waiting for him in his workshop, hogtied and screaming for help, and a third that had escaped and was lurking somewhere in the dark of his halls. He sighed, and squared his shoulders, opting to find the one that was missing and deal with it now, rather than later. And then, once he had all three tied up and ready, he'd begin the long process of surgery. He had a feeling in his gut that the two he had waiting were doomed to be failures. And as much as he tried to look past outward appearances, the one was rather ugly and unattractive, and Eddie did not find her very much appealing at all. But a gentleman looks past that. So Eddie would try her anyway.
He hummed his tune with a skip to his step as he headed up the stairwell, listening to the sound of his heavy footsteps echo through the empty bloc. It made loneliness all the more apparent to Eddie, but he paid it no mind as he entered the second floor. He shut the stair well door behind him, meticulous in making sure it was properly blocked off, before walking the same route he had many times over, and the familiar smell of copper hit his nose as he entered his workshop. That's what he liked to think of it as...a workshop. Blood layered the tables and floors, fresh over new, layer upon layer, and he had, much to his dismay, let a small pile of bodies gather by the side of the table, dropped and forgotten, as he had left them. He made it a point to come back later and either get rid of the corpses or hang them up, but by now he figured they were too old to string up.
The two he had captured earlier lay unconscious still, whimpering in their sleep, and tied up on the table next to the one he used for surgery. He rolled his eyes at them, turning away and gazing around the room for clues. The third whore had escaped from here a little while ago, and he scanned the room for anything out of place. And then he realized with a bit of shock, that the door to the room had been open when he had arrived. And Eddie Gluskin most certainly does not leave his surgery room door open.
He whipped himself around abruptly, snorting and stalking back out the door from which he came, trying his best to keep the rage that boiled in his veins at bay. His fingers were clenched into fists and he could feel the fabric of his gloves straining with the force as he moved forwards, traversing his ground with speed. He wouldn't run, but he definitely wasn't taking a Sunday stroll. Just as he rounded the corner, he halted to a stop, tilting his head so that his ear was facing the ceiling. He had heard something. Had he?
He lowered his eyebrows in concentration as he stilled and hoped that maybe he would hear the sound again. It had sounded like something had bounced off the roof. A piece of wood maybe?
And that's when he heard it. The crash was thunderous, and it was almost impossible not to hear it as Eddie's eyes widened and straightened his head and he looked up at the ceiling with icy eyes. "What the hell was that?" It sounded like something had fallen through the roof! His eyebrows came together in a look of confusion, as his face contorted and he changed direction and headed for the stairway instead. Something wasn't right, and he wanted to check out what the hell had made such a loud noise; the vocational bloc was almost certainly a quiet place, and Eddie himself was rarely noisy. The thought that the escaped slut had done something or broken something in his home infuriated him as he struggled with the padlock that held the stairway gate shut for a moment. After he had stepped through, he turned around and fixed the padlock back in place, dropping heavy footsteps as he climbed to the third floor. The light that shone bright behind him cast a menacing shadow on the wall in front of him as he entered the third floor.
That's when he heard a series of running footfalls, and then the sounds of something toppling over. Eddie's head snapped in the direction of the sound, eying the dark hallway agitatedly. He sighed heavily, irritated, his humming having stopped long ago. He walked toward the sounds, quieting his footsteps as he rounded a corner, slowing just long enough to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He had never been fond of the dark, and he avoided spending too much time in it, but a lot of the lights no longer worked, so it was rather difficult to keep everything lit. His eyes scanned the entire hallway as he walked down it, and when he saw no movements in the dark he frowned, swinging open a door and closing it behind him, using the side room to get around the barricade he had set up.
He exited the other door, once again back in the hallway. It was here that he stopped, staring at the floor and listening for any other sounds. And that's when he heard it. His ears pricked at the sound, and he recognized it immediately. Someone had bumped against one of the sewing tables in the dark, and Eddie heard the legs of the table scratch against the wooden floor and a tin roll across the room, and then soft footsteps as they shuffled along.
He smiled widely, walking with a more determined pace. He'd catch that bitch. She thought she give him the slip, did she? He chuckled to himself, trying to stop the smirk that etched his face, moving to the side to avoid a mannequin that held one of his first designs. He had put that dress on the first one. But of course she had been a failure, like every other one that had followed her, and he had pulled the dress off of her and had displayed it instead. Even though it reminded him of a failure, he still liked to look at it. And it was then that he heard it. The door a few feet in front of him jiggled on it's hinges as he approached, and the knob turned repeatedly.
Eddie could contain his smile no more as it stretched across his face, fully expecting to find the one he had lost as he turned to look through the glass menacingly, but all rage disappeared instantly as he laid his eyes upon the body in front of him. And it was as if all time stopped for a moment as the cogs in Eddie's head spun out of control, images rushing through his head until he pinpointed the face he was looking for and pinned it on the body that jiggled the doorknob in front of him in the hopes that it was unlocked. He had seen her before, yes! Eddie tried but failed and he could not contain the feeling that burst open in his chest.
"Darling!" He pressed his face to the glass to get a better look at her.
But the reaction he received was not the one he was hoping for. She screamed face contorting in fear, throwing herself away from the door and back into a sewing table, before she looked at him with a camcorder raised in her hand. Her eyes met his, and he wished that it wasn't so dark so that he could see the color of her beautiful wide eyes as they bore into him with a look of horror. He took her in as he breathed heavily at the glass in his excitement, his eyes blown wide at her beauty as the glass fogged slightly from his heavy breathing.
Her blonde hair was a mess upon her head, her eyes were wide, her skin a beautiful creamy color and he felt the urge to rub his fingers over it...and then she turned and ran away. For a moment he stood there dumbly, shocked. And then it occurred to him like a light bulb going off that he had probably scared her. Of course he had! He was aware the terrible state his face was in, and it was dark and he had probably materialized out of nowhere. He had frightened her! What a stupid fool!
He shook his head at himself and swore, turning and walking down the hallway further, to where he knew there was another door, careful to leave the gate slightly ajar behind him. He pulled a key from his breast pocket, unlocking the door with ease, before opening it swiftly, trying to contain his excitement and hide his embarrassment, advancing into the room, and taking a deep breath, trying to assure that his voice was steady before he called out to her.
"Did I frighten you? I'm awfully sorry, I didn't mean too." He inhaled as he scanned the room for her, passing the rows of sewing machines and stopping, turning his body from side to side as his eyes scanned the darkness for her small form. "We've met before haven't we?" He asked, wondering if she remembered him, too. He hoped she did. "I know I've seen your face." He pondered it for a moment, before it came to him and he blurted, "Maybe, just before I woke up."
He smiled, hoping she could see him, "Though it seems like a dream now, being here with you."
He swallowed, "Let me fill you up." He wanted to reassure her, entice her. Surely he had made his voice sound calm, safe, inviting... "You don't have to be alone anymore," he paused before he continued in a slightly lowered voice, "You could make me whole," he stated, continuing his walk as he scanned the room with his eyes, "I could fill that emptiness inside you."
He received no answer in return, as he continued his search of the room. Perhaps she was shy? He almost giggled to himself in giddiness, but made it an importance to slow his pounding heart. He didn't want to overwhelm her all at once...she was so beautiful...He refocused his attention as he heard a shuffle of feet. He turned his body around swiftly, walking quietly in the direction of the sounds, but his search revealed no results. He huffed. He knew she was scared, but he still held the worry deep down still that she would turn out just like the others...just another whore...He pushed this to the back of his mind however, and turned his attention back to locating her beautiful body.
And that's when he heard it; behind him, a shuffling of feet, and as he turned his body around, there she was. She froze under Eddie's excited gaze, and for a moment they locked eyes, and he saw in the miniscule light that her eyes were hazel. They were hazel!
"Let me love you!"
She turned and ran at the sound of his voice, taking off in the direction of the door he had first seen her through. He followed after her excitedly, cursing himself for an outburst such as that, as he lost sight of her in the darkness of the room. His heart pounded hard in his chest, and the burst of adrenaline that coursed through him quickened his breathing as he forced heavy breaths, scanning the room as he walked all around it, but could not relocate her. He huffed in frustration, calling, "Darling, where are you?" But receiving no answer.
It soon occurred to Eddie that she was no longer in the room, and he turned back, when he heard running footsteps. He inhaled sharply with a smile on his face, as he headed toward his radio, which belted out his favorite song on a loop, the light streaming in from the open door...
"Wh-what? Fuck!" Eddie cursed at himself; the open door! He had been so caught up in meeting her that he had left the door open so carelessly! No wonder she had escaped. He wondered now as he he shut and locked it, turning around and heading back to the door she had been trying to open, how long she had actually been gone, and how long he had been searching the room for her like a buffoon. He rolled his eyes as he shut and locked the door behind him, catching sight of her shadow ahead of him in the hallway.
This was good.
But she looked frightened. He thought that maybe if he sung to her, she would calm down, come to him willingly, however far fetched that seemed, so he began to sing her his favorite song.
"When I was a boy, my mother often said to me, get married son and see, how happy, you will be. I have looked all over, but no girlie can I find," he approached the door he had seen her enter, "who seems to be just like the little, girl I have in mind..." He would lock her in. "I will have to look around, until the right one, I have...found," He giggled to himself as he shut the door, locking it and turning to continue his walk down the hallway. She was following his carefully constructed path, and he would cut her off soon enough. "I want a girl, just like the girl that married, dear old dad."
His voice trailed off to subtle humming as he quickened his pace, stopping to gaze through a door window and catching a glimpse of her body running past him. A satisfied smile stretched across his face, bringing with it a twinge of pain from the injured side of his face; he was close now. He opened the second door he had come across in the hall, closing it behind him and walking slowly into the room, searching for her...Before he heard a terrible scarping across the floor, and then he knew she was moving one of the obstructions he had put into place.
He sped up his pace a little in response, vaulting himself over the table towards her. She glanced in his direction, a look of terror in her beautiful hazel eyes, as she pushed the obstacle away with new fervor. It saddened him slightly to see the look of fear in her eyes, so he called out to her, "Darling, you could be so beautiful." All he wanted to do was make her better!
But the obstacle was out of the way before he could catch her, and just as he stretched out his hand to grasp the back of her clothing, the door was slammed abruptly in his face, causing him to rear backward to avoid smashing his nose into the door. He frowned angrily. So rude. He flung the door open quickly, not caring to close it behind him as he saw her running for the elevator shaft. She needed to know that all he wanted to do was love her! "I want you, to have my vavies!" He winced as her heard himself contort the word he was trying to say, wondering if maybe blurting that out had been a little to much.
She stood at the entrance to the elevator shaft, and she glanced nervously from Eddie back to the opening, and he approached her, almost close enough to touch her...and then she jumped.
Eddie stood there shocked, unable to move for a moment. She had jumped. She had jumped! Her agonized scream tore him immediately from his paralysis, and panic took over him as he ran to the opening, gripping the gate so he wouldn't fall and leaning over the edge to look at her. The sight that greeted him caused his heart skip a beat. His darling screamed in pain as she wrenched a large sliver of wood from her lower leg. It hurt him physically to see hear her whimpers and cries, and he could almost see the tears streaming down her delicate face.
"Oh god," he cried, "oh god are you okay?" His voice shook with worry, "Tell me your okay?!" When he received no answer he called down his reason, "I hate to think of you suffering without me..." And then the question that lingered in the air dawned on him as the worry ebbed away, and he voiced his concern to her, watching her battered body turn to look up at him as she hobbled to her unsteady feet. "Why, would you do something like that to yourself?" And then the realization slowly came to him, "You'd rather...rather die, than be with me?" The hurt gripped his heart in a vice; and then there was the anger. She didn't want to be with him? Eddie's eyes narrowed at her, and his voice dripped with venom as he hissed, "Then die," and slammed the gate shut, turning to the side wall and pressed the button to call the elevator up to him. He wanted to watch her die in pain and fear.
He had been to quick to love her, to hope that she was different. She wasn't...she was just like the others. He hoped that she saw the hate in his eyes as she was brought to her death.
His heart thumped with excitement as the elevator finally came up to meet him...and she wasn't on it.
"What have you-?" His eyes searched the elevator, and then it hit him. The gate below must have been open. He had left it open! The anger within him vanished almost immediately; how smart she was! If she had tried so hard to escape the fate Eddie had carved out for her, then she must want him to work harder! She wants to keep playing. "Ha!" The laugh tore itself from his throat roughly, a rabid smile etching across his face. "Then we continue!" He'd have to catch her downstairs, and quickly.
He turned, trying his best not to break into a run as he fumbled with the stairway door, leaving it unlocked behind him as he nearly threw himself down the stairs after her, his heavy footsteps echoing loudly as he burst through the second floor door, gazing back and forth and trying determine which way she had went.
It wasn't hard for him to determine which way his darling had run off too, and he followed with fervor. He could see the small trail of fresh blood through the door's window as he reached out to open it, opening his mouth to speak to her. He knew she could hear him.
"The part of you the world sees, they think it's perfect. As God intended." He inhaled sharply, feeling suddenly out of breath as he continued, "Even these idiots and lunatics see it. There's something special about you...on the surface." He followed the trail of fresh blood with a smirk, enjoying the smell of her life seeping out onto the dirty floor. "But when they look deeper, when anybody with eyes to see looks to see at what you truly are. That's why they don't trust you. You're not what you're meant to be...not yet." He wanted to explain himself, what he wished to do with her. He hoped she understood, "This place can see into your mind. And the things you've done," he exhaled sadly, "Oh, there a sin, darling." He entered the room where he knew she was hiding. "But a flower is only as sweet as the soil that nourishes it. And yours needs nourishing, and pruning...and care." He wanted so much to love her. He inhaled sharply, eying the locker the blood trail had led him too as he approached, "Hmm...close I can...ah...the smell of my love's arbor...darling! You can't hide from me."
Eddie glanced into the locker to catch a glimpse of her face as he bent over, pulling the locker from the wall and guided it down to the floor as gently as he could, although he winced as it hit the floor rather loudly than he thought it would. He bent over the locker, placing a knee over the locker door as he gazed into the vent happily, "You make yourself a gift for me. A delicacy," He shuddered to think of it, as he whispered to him in a sultry voice, "to be unwrapped, and unwrapped again...and savored."
He stood up from the locker a little reluctantly, before he moved around to the top of the locker, by his love's head, bending over and warning her, "Here we go, and-" and then he began his pushing. The locker scraped across the hardwood floor as he pushed it with effort, the large metal container all the heavier with his daring inside of it. He could hear her whimper as he grunted with the effort. He thought maybe he could appease her, make her less afraid or angry with him, if maybe he apologized. He inhaled deeply, formulating just the right words to say to her, before he said in a sincere voice, "I've been a little...vulgar, I know." He admitted, "And I wanted to say, I'm sorry." He sighed, defeated. "I just..." He struggled for a way to explain, "You know how a man gets when he wants to know a woman."
Eddie swallowed before he continued, "But after the ceremony, when I've made an honest woman of you, I promise. I'll be," He grunted as he pushed the locker over a particularly rough patch of wood, "a different man."
He hoped his apology had been enough. He worried that she was still angry with him, but he pushed it to the back of his mind as he turned them around a corner, nearing the surgery room with every exhausting push. It then occurred to him that perhaps she was running because she didn't know what he wanted from her. Perhaps she thought he wished to hurt her, or use her for vulgar, vile, filthy, things. He cleared his throat before he popped his face over the vent, "I want a family," he realized he must be upside down to her, so he moved steadily around the locker, "a legacy. To be the father I never had." He swallowed and licked his lips before he said in a voice that sounded more out of breath than anything, "I'll never, let anything happen to our children. Not like..." He had almost told her. Almost confided in her. But no, instead he swallowed down the bile that rose in his throat and moved back to his previous position, and once again began the last few pushed to put the locker where he wanted it.
He would tell her. He wanted to tell her...but not now. Not here...not like this. He would do it in time. After they were married. Because there are no secrets in the relationship of man and wife. When he was finally satisfied with the position she was in, in pushed the locker upright, taking a second to catch his breath as he wiped away the sweat from his forehead with the fabric of his gloved hand. He rounded the locker so she could see him, as he bent down to look at her through the broken vent. He smiled warmly, "You'll have to wait here. I know you must be just as eager as I am to consummate our love..." He began to move away, trailing his hand across the vent in a gesture of affection, "But try to enjoy the anticipation."
He could have sworn he heard her gasp, as he crossed the room to his table, grabbing a can of chloroform and bringing it back to the locker. "Here darling, this will help you relax." He pressed his thumb into the nozzle, and the gas from the can began to fill the locker. He was careful to turn his face away and hold his breath, and he could hear her choking and gasping, and then finally she fell silent. He sighed. He hadn't really wanted to do that to her, but she was a runner, he knew, and right now he had to hurry up and dispose of the two-...
"Goddamnit." He had forgotten about the missing whore. He rolled his eyes and huffed. Oh well, nothing he could do now. He didn't want her now anyway. In reality, he had no desire to keep the other two either. He had already decided he would not operate on them to make them brides. No. They would be practice. He'd practice on those two before he got to the one he really wanted. His true darling, getting her much needed sleep as he walked over and grasped the first whore by the ropes around her wrists. He probably only had a few hours before his darling awakened, and he wouldn't want to keep her waiting on these sluts.
They were nothing in comparison.
