Note – I'm sure people who read this story are tired of these notes but anyway, would like to thank The Jackal for his / her comments the last one I think inflated my writers ego to the size juggernaut, anyway you know the drill R & R , onto the story.

Bittersweet Freedom

The ghosts had been restless, some talked to each other, some would pace around their cells, and some would just stare off into space. The Juggernaut had long since given up on trying to break the glass and would look around glaring threatening the other ghosts.

The Hammer would sit in his cell and space out , thinking of his dead wife and children who where unjustly killed unjustly, the man would run a hand over his precious blacksmithing hammer that now replaced his left hand, occasionally the man would go into fits of rage from his thoughts and wildly attack the glass with his hammer, sending sparks flying.

The Jackal did many things depending on what state he was in, he would occasionally pace around his cell, sometimes he would just in there and laugh, he would usually stay close to the glass facing Dana and throw cruel and dirty comments out to her sometimes targeting the Bound Woman instead. Ryan's current activity and most rare was sleep in the corner of his cell, the other ghosts enjoyed this quite a lot, it just meant they could say whatever to whoever and not worry about setting the psychotic sadist off, though they had to be more quite so not to wake the man up.

The Pilgrimess, the poor woman couldn't do much since her head and arms where stuck in stocks but the woman so she contented herself by talking to the others, Jean in particular, since the Withered Lover could relate more to her instead of the stuck up youthful ghosts.

The Dire mother would sit on her sons lap and continually feed him baby food, The Great Child would eat everything his little mother would feed him, occasionally throwing it back up on his bib, causing some of the other ghosts to heave and gag themselves.

The Torn Prince would take a swing at the glass occasionally or just search through his trashed car just for something to do, every once in awhile he would try to flirt with Susan or Dana, and the Bound Woman would on most occasions flirt back with vigor Dana on the other hand would violently strike at the glass that faced him with her butcher knife.

Jean, the Withered Lover would try to keep peace between the ghosts, play simple childish games with Billy, or try to comfort some of the ghosts in their suffering. Jean was just as loving and kind in death as she was in life. Now the poor woman tried to act as a comfort and mother to the other suffering spirits.

The Angry Princess had since the arrival of the Jackal tried to keep her back to him and tried to cover her naked body up so it wouldn't fuel the sadists needs and lust, she even tried to keep from making any kind of contact at all with the man but somehow he always seemed to figure a way to force her to expose herself, either by pissing her off to the point she would attack the glass between the two of them so she would fully expose herself to him, she had eventually given up on trying to hide herself and taken the approach to ignore him the best she could, she couldn't have been more thankful for the time she had at this moment as the man was resting in his corner. Dana just wondered around her cell occasionally making a fresh slash mark across her flesh ignoring the intrigued gaze of Royce.

The Bound Woman had taken up the hobby of heavily flirting with the Torn Prince, trying to seduce him and attempting to play with what was left of his emotions. Susan had also taken up a nasty habit of taunting and the Angry Princess, more than likely out of jealously of the other woman's beauty, these taunts usually cause a fight between the two, which usually ended in Jean chiding the younger of the two, telling her to leave Dana alone.

The Torso, poor Jimmy he would crawl around his cell on his hands as his decapitated cellophane wrapped head watched. He would say something but it would be muffled by the cellophane so no one could understand what the man was saying. For the most part the Torso kept to himself occasionally picking at the cellophane that covered his body or touch and beat on the glass walls of his cell.

Billy, the first Born Son annoyed most of the other ghosts, he would beat his play tomahawk against the glass walls, frequently throwing temper tantrums and yelling and screaming when none of the other ghosts would play with him. Jean tried to give the little boy solace and a friend to play with. The other ghosts praised the woman for she had to have the patience of a saint to put up with the constant yells and tantrums of the wannabe cowboy brat.

Today was one of those days where not much happened the basement was quite the ghosts minded their own business an occasional conversation staring here or there but for the most part, it was a quite somewhat calming night, then it happened, the sound of gears turning and mechanical parts grinding echoed throughout the house, then a bright light flooded the upstairs living quarter of the house causing several of the ghosts to look up as well as waking the sleeping ghosts up.

Voices echoed up from the top and a woman could be heard says "Just so we are all clear, Ms. Maggie does not do windows," a few more comments from others reached the ghosts and the footsteps wondered up above them, The Jackal who had by now awakened and was looking up above seemed to follow the steps with his head, grinning madly.

"Seems we have guests, from the sounds of it there are two whores, three men, and a brat," the Jackal let lose an insane cackle as thoughts of what he could do the two new pieces of meat upstairs began to make their way through the recesses of his mind. Dana looked at the beast across from her as he seemed to continue following the foot steps up above. Jean placed a hand over her mouth and fell to her knees when she recognized one of the male voices, her husband. If Arthur was here then she could guess that one of the whores Ryan was referring to was her daughter and the brat her son, Jean almost went into a blind panic, If these ghosts where to somehow get out, her family would be in dire trouble. The Withered Lover looked down the hall of cubes and looked at Ryan and cringed, if he got free then the things he would do to her daughter where unimaginable. Jean had to get out and try to warn her family, try to get them out before the others could get a chance to attempt anything with her family.

Not long after the footsteps came into the house a ray of light flashed down the steps of the basement shining in the cages of the ghosts. A man in an orange jumpsuit came walking down the stairs slowly making his way past the stairs and into the basement, once he passed the Pilgrimess's cage he seemed to jerk heavily and grabbed his head. "What the hell was that he," he said frantically, the more he walked down the isle of cells the worse his motions and jerks became until he finally slid down wall that made up Royce's cell.

The Torn Prince walked up to the wall slowly and quietly as the man put on a pair of spectral viewers and just as the wan turned his head towards the glass Royce brought his bat down on the glass. The man jerked himself up running down the aisle looking into each glass cell each ghost violently attempting to get to the man, as he ran by the Jackal's cage, Ryan was already in a fit of laughter and attacked the glass full force just as he ran by. The poor man seemed to run full force out of the basement, as though the ghosts where free and chasing him, Jean felt terrible watching the man run off in fear like that.

The Torn Prince walked around his cell acting cocky as though he had just been the only one to scare the man, he even gave a few fake swings in the cube, trying to show off. The Jackal was still laughing with a sadistic grin once again plastered on his face. "That man should be the first to go, he was the one with the old man who trapped us," his voice cracked. "And how pray tell do you know it was the same guy," The Bound Woman taunted.

"Because you little bitch, the look of pure terror was the same as when he came to take me away from the asylum, I remember every contour and line of his frightened face, not many can show that kind of pure unaltered fear," Ryan spat, staring at the teenage woman, wondering if it would be worth showing her what happens when you fuck with men to long with no drawback. The Jackal shivered at the thought of taking the bound woman into one of the many bedrooms of the house and giving her something to keep her mouth occupied.

It wasn't long before the incident with the psychic in the jumpsuit that another man made his way down the stairs, this time the man was a well dressed business type. The man passed by the Torn Prince who was now leaning against his wreaking and overturned hot rod with the good half of his face showing to the outside of the cube. The man walked by and slowed down to look at Royce, "What are you staring at," the lawyer said egotistically, then walked off with Royce following him with his head.

Then he came by Billy's cell and slowed down there as well, "Hey Kido" he says as he walks by, once he was by the cell he says "He thinks I'm going to duck." Then he came upon Dana's cell which he almost came to a complete stop, "Hey," he said lustfully, "nice tits," Dana was going to be damned if some arrogant, pompous rat was going walk by and watch her like she was an animal on display, She raised her knife and attacked the glass between them with all her might. The man jumped back in surprise.

"Geeze, you," he said pointing at her as he backed up, "What's the matter honey, bad representation," he asked arrogantly as back up and continued down the aisle of cubes as Dana moved some of her hair behind her ear. The man had disappeared into a room for a couple of minutes then the sound of gears and more mechanics began to sound throughout the house as it shifted and sealed. The man came out of the room looking slightly confused as he made his way past the ghosts towards the stairs. Then a click sounded and to the ghosts surprise the Angry Princess's cell activated and the panels slide open allowing her to have freedom from the cube.

The man walked towards the Princess's cell just as she stepped out, and a look of terror passed into his features as she approached him with her knife raised high ready to strike him. The lawyer backed up slowly. "Hey, I ugh, I was just kidding before," he stammered as he tried to back up a little faster as Dana neared him with her knife. "A little lawyer humor," he said as he tried to calm the ghosts wraith while still stepping back.

As the man reached a part of the aisle that had to braces that held glass panels, two glass panels slid out ripped through the lawyer's cloth, skin, muscle, bones, and organs as the panels met in the middle forming a single glass panel. The Angry Princess approached the man to inspect what had become of him, as she got closer the front half of the man began to slid down the glass wall, leaving a bloody trail all the way down, his inside where visible through the glass wall, giving Dana an odd feeling of satisfaction. Then the second half of the man slid down the panel giving her even more satisfaction.

The voice of a man reached down to the basement, "Bobby, Kathy," was heard and the Angry Princess looked up and then took off up to the upper levels. Jean was slipping into a blind panic a violent ghost had been released and now her husband and children were in danger and what was worse she had a feeling that Dana was not going to be the only one released. Jean looked over at Ryan who was sitting close to the glass wall of his cell, he had a very dark ominous look on his face, but his sadistic grin was in place. Jean could have cried and yelled at seeing such a look, he knew he was going to get out, and she knew it too, and from the look on his face, she could guess who he would go after first.

All Jean could do was hope and pray to whatever fate had brought them here that she would be let out before Ryan. If the Jackal got loose early then it would be pure panic and to her mind, releasing the Jackal would be like taking lambs to the slaughter. The Jackal just sat in his cell with that feral presence around him, his lust building quickly as his grin widened. Soon, very soon, he would be out and the two living whores would go first, then, he would go after the bloodied beauty that had taunted him since his arrival here, yes, very soon he would finally be able to release all his pent up need, it was just a matter of time and waiting, something he had become used to. The Jackal let a cackle fill the basement as his mind began to relish in his freedom.