Things hopefully get a little interesting now. And as always, feedback appreciated.
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Your eyes opened slowly, the tiredness in them still evident as you blinked a few times. The first thing you recognized was the dull light of a single lamp that sat in the corner. Slowly, you made an attempt to move, noticing only then the chains that connected your hands to a hook in the wall. Speaking of the wall, it was filthy. There were dark stains scattered all over it, a strange, gooey substance oozed a little away from your head. Recoiling in disgust, you scooted away from it, regretting it as soon as you felt something wet underneath you.
Slowly your senses began to adjust, and you couldn`t help but gag as an awful smell made itself known. You felt like puking, it was worse then anything you could imagine, rotting, decaying, disgusting.
"Awake at last."
The memories that came with that raspy voice sent a shiver down your spine.
You turned your head away as Jeff squatted down in front of you, the faint light of the lamp illuminated his features in the worst way. For a second he was silent, simply staring before inhaling sharply. Forcefully his fingers dug into your jaw as he lifted it up, forcing you to stare into his eyes.
"Remember me?" his voice was low, dangerously so.
You swallowed your fear, breathing shakily before searching around the room, trying to figure out a plan of sorts. You had to do something, anything to get away. There were so many questions whirling around your head. Where were you? Who was he? What did he want? Not knowing if you`d get a better opportunity, you decided to take a risk.
"Where-" in a flash your head swung around, pain spreading through your face as you gasped. Did he just slap you again? Bastard.
"Did I say you could fucking talk?" he sneered.
Your situation began to become clear now. You were at the mercy of this psychopath, it didn`t matter what he wanted; it couldn`t be anything good. If one word was enough to provoke his temper, then there was no way you would get out of this unscathed. That is if you even got out of it. No, don`t think like that. Of course, you`ll get out of this, whatever this was. You weren`t going to abandon hope, not now, not ever. By tomorrow this should be nothing but a memory. By next year this should be nothing but a story. That`s right, a simple, silly story to tell your friends.
"I`m going to ask you a few questions." You shivered as you felt something cold press against your lower stomach. Hesitantly you glanced down to see him holding his knife against the thin layer of fabric that covered your stomach. It was that same knife from before, he had gotten it back. The simple sight of it was enough to make you shrink back in fear. "And you`ll give me honest answers." You couldn`t help but squirm a little as he pressed the blade in deeper, tearing through the fabric. You could now feel the metal on your skin, the sensation filling your body with dread. "And if you lie, you`re going to fucking wish I had killed you before." his free hand came to grip your waist, holding you still. "Understand?"
You nodded.
"That`s a good girl." His attention went from your face to his knife, "So, where`s Claire?"
Claire? Your roommate? Why were they looking for her? Quickly you tried to recall everything you could about her, anything that could link her to these psychos. Unfortunately nothing came to mind, Claire was as normal as normal could be. She had moved out two months ago, leaving you a rather cryptic note about business issues. All of her stuff was gone, it almost seemed as if she never existed. When you texted or called, she wouldn`t answer, and eventually you had given up. If she wanted to be left alone, then who were you to care?
"Fucking answer me." In a matter of seconds the man`s patience disappeared into nothing, his fingers tangling into your hair as he slammed your head into the wall with enough strength to leave a dent. In both the wall and your head.
"She was my roommate!" you gasped at the throbbing in your head.
"No shit. Where is she?"
The pain in your head was nothing compared to the pure agony you felt as he harshly pulled his knife away from your stomach, only to growl as he dug it into your thigh. Screaming you jolted up, worsening the pain as you tried to get a handle on your senses, as you tried so desperately to bare it.
"I-I don`t know!" you practically cried the words out, your eyes widening at the sight of the blade in your thigh. Your blood was gushing all around it, dark and thick as it trickled down your skin. The gash seemed huge, you could practically see your torn muscles.
"What did I say about lying?" he growled, pushing the knife further until it went through the wooden floor; nailing you down. "Do you think I`m fucking stupid? That bitch tried the same tactic, thinking she could fool me.Listen closely princess, it didn`t work out for her, and it sure in hell ain`t gonna work out for you."
Was he talking about Claire? Oh god was she here too, had this monster hurt her?
"I swear I don`t know." You insisted, your voice a feign whisper.
He only glared at you, twisting the knife inside your flesh and forcing another scream out of you. He didn`t believe you. It was as simple as that, he thought you knew something you didn`t, and he was going to kill you to get what he wanted. Why was this happening to you? What had you done to deserve any of this? You were a nice person, you tried your best to be good, to be civil. Sure, you act out sometimes, but everyone does. You remembered what Claire used to say, insisting that the hardships of life were god's tests. She was quite religious, not that you minded. For a moment you wondered if she was right, if this was some sick, twisted test.
"Jeff."
The madman before you tensed, sighing loudly before standing up, pushing his knife into his hoodies pocket.
"She`s fine…" he sneered, his attention no longer on you, but at the newcomer. Hesitantly you opened your eyes to see an approaching figure, followed by the noise of a door closing. A door? So there was an exit, that`s comforting.
You heard soft footsteps before the figure stepped into the lamp light. You recognized him as the man in your living room, the one with the axes... Nervously you glanced at him, meeting his eyes before he turned away with a slight twitch. While the two of them had their hushed conversation you slowly began to feel the pain in your leg intensifying. Slowly your eyes wandered to the gushing wound in your thigh. You could barely recognize the limb; most of the skin hidden behind dark layers of blood.
Wincing you tried to sit up, immediately regretting it as the pain doubled.
"D-don`t move." The goggled man was suddenly beside you. How he moved so fast without you noticing; you still weren`t sure. With another twitch, he crouched down, pressing his hand over the wound. You couldn`t help but squeak in pain, jumping up slightly as he applied a little more pressure. Was it his turn to torture you now?
Cautiously you watched him, not entirely sure how to defend yourself. He backed up slightly, grabbing at his sleeve before tearing it off harshly. He then turned to you, giving you another look before turning to your wound with a twitch. You weakly tugged on your chains, not entirely sure what new form of torture awaited you. He lifted your leg up, wrapping the sleeve around it before tying it extremely tightly.
"She`s n-no good to us dead J-Jeff." This time his stuttering was more noticeable.
"She isn`t dead, now is she?" he grumbled, glaring at you with irritation before digging his hands into his pockets, "Fuck this, I`ll be upstairs." He began to leave, heavy boots trudging against the floor when he stopped, scoffing "But don`t you dare think I`m done with you."
You only stared at the floor as the footsteps continued, not moving until you heard the door close. Now you turned your head to the newcomer. For a moment he stared at you, before backing up to push his goggles up into his hair. You now met his eyes, the colour of them brown, much like his tousled hair. The rest of him was still fairly covered, a face-mask of sorts was wrapped around his mouth, giving way to the rest of his strange attire. Even though you couldn`t see much of him; you decided he didn`t look too bad. Heck, compared to Jeff he was a supermodel. Anything beats that smile. You shuddered.
"Where am I?" you now noticed how dry your voice was, but what did you expect after screaming so much? "Is this some sort of sick torture chamber?"
"Th-this is actually the waiting room. Torture chambers across the hall."
Was that a joke?
"Who are you?" you asked a little more cautiously, at least he didn`t hit you.
"You have other th-things to worry about." He twitched yet again, this time the humorous tone gave way to something darker.
You stiffened as he leaned over you, grabbing your chained wrists with one hand. You couldn`t see what he was doing, but you heard soft, metallic clinking, and then suddenly the chains released you. With wide eyes, you pulled your hands in front of you, tenderly rubbing your wrists. They, much like the rest of you, felt sore. Without realizing it you looked up at the man, smiling gratefully.
"Thank you." You muttered, wanting to say more before he suddenly grabbed one of your hands, holding it up against the wall.
"Don`t mi-misunderstand." You watched his other hand go down towards his belt, and with horror you saw his axes hanging off the belt loops. Smoothly he lifted one up, spreading your fingers with his hand before pressing the blade of his axe to your pinky finger. You couldn`t even breathe as you stared at him. "I w-won`t kill you, but I`ll do things far worse to get you to ta-talk."
"I don`t know where Claire is!" You practically cried out, "I swear, I`m not lying."
He examined you carefully, before raising his axe into the air.
"Wa-wait! Stop!" you were screaming yet again, squirming desperately to get away as he brought the axe down. You couldn`t bare to watch, your eyes shutting tightly as you waited for the pain to hit you. Seconds passed before you risked a peak, your breath shallowing at the sight of his axe hovering against your skin. Your eyes flickered from the weapon to his expression; trying to understand what he was thinking. Did he believe you? Was he just playing with you?
Suddenly his whole body twitched, and you yelped as the axe dug into your finger. It was a stinging, metallic pain; not nearly as intense as the gash in your thigh. At least the finger wasn`t completely cut off, it was more like a little scratch; like a little accident.
"Woops." He barely whispered the word, his tone more amused then apologetic.
"Please…" you hated this, begging for mercy, it was degrading. But what choice did you have? You couldn`t escape, you couldn`t negotiate, all you could truly do was plead. "Let me go."
"Y-you need to give me a re-rea-reason to." He spoke softly, "I`m not a torture guy… I can make it hu-hurt like hell, but that`s if I can k-k-kill `em. Chopping people up into little bits, arms first, th-then legs, then slashes through the torso. Th-the-they usually last a few minutes."
You could barely hide your disgust. This man was demented, completely and utterly sick.
"But ke-keeping them alive? That`s difficult." He continued, "Jeff and I, we aren`t really g-good at the torture thing. But we know people who are. If you d-d-don`t give us answers, then getting chopped up will sound like a dream co-compared to what they`ll do to you."
"I really don`t know where she is…" you muttered, hoping that maybe this time he`d believing you, "She was my roommate, sh-she worked at a Starbucks, and went to the same university as me… she left one day, her stuff was all gone, she left a note on the fridge, said she had business to attend. I… I never got in touch with her after that. I don`t know where she went…"
He sighed, before mumbling a simple: "Okay."
What did that mean? Did he believe you? Would he let you go now, would this nightmare finally come to an end? You parted your lips to speak again when a sharp sensation filled you. Every inch of your being felt as if it had been set on fire, and with sheer shock you turned your head to see his axe buried into your finger; the blade touching the other side of the wall. You only stared, unable to scream, unable to breathe. Your body and mind were both struggling to grasp what had happened; to accept what he had just done.