Part 3 - Nemesis
Awareness came gradually. The sound of cicadas, the feel of a breeze - outdoors! Pain! Trapped! Feeling a cloth tied around the mouth - gagged!
Whimpers escaped him as the ramifications hit of what this could mean! Lecter! He had found him, ohmygod! Sheer terror had him open his eyes to see his worst nightmare standing only a few feet away watching him intently and silently. Lecter smiled - it was not a pleasant sight to see and did nothing to reassure Chilton.
"How does it feel to be helpless, at someone's mercy?" a metallic voice hissed. Lecter's head cocked slightly to the side, "Perhaps "mercy" is not the appropriate word."
Chilton felt a dampening in his trousers and smelled his own urine, Lecter did too and smiled even more, "I see you understand. Perhaps I should give you some time to reflect on why this is happening before I proceed." Lecter's maroon eyes were glowing a hot red. "Some food for thought..."
Chilton whimpered and tears began to course down his cheeks and he shook his head as much as he was able. Chilton felt sick when he remembered how, in a fit of frustration over the lack of Lecter's cooperation in being a case study for him, he had the toilet seat and paper removed from Lecter's cell for a week.
"It was so kind of you to provide the means for my escape. Bringing a ball point pen in my cell... tsk tsk, that was indeed rather clumsy of you," Lecter continued. "You thought you had the upper hand when you were trying to make a name for yourself by producing me to Senator Martin with information about Buffalo Bill making my escape possible. Does that knowledge burn? I can see that it does. The tables have indeed been turned, Freddy boy!"
Chilton felt a chill throughout his body as Lecter watched him with unblinking eyes, so still and silent with eyes that felt like a hot brand on him. The idea that he was the one who had inadvertently helped Lecter escape made it even worse which, he bitterly thought, was what Lecter had intended. Memories began to assault him like nails being added to his coffin, his doom. All his attempts to control, break and dominate the man who stood before him. All the indignities and petty torments, the mockery, punishments, abuse of his position and the misuse of his authority, he had inflicted. This went on for a long, tortuous length of time.
"I see you've been remembering the things I suffered under your "care." I am very pleased to be able to reciprocate, rather a reversal of roles, hmmm."
Chilton's eyes grew even more filled with terror as Lecter approached him with his Harpy. Hannibal sounded like he was humming as he made thin, shallow cuts on Chilton's torso. In his fear, Chilton hadn't even realized his shirt had been removed but he was painfully aware of it now as it felt like there were letters being carved into his body with the Harpy.
"These letters will be a little reminder of the letters you deprived me of." Lecter smiled showing his neat white teeth. "Now to inform you of your greatest offense. You deprived me of my daughter for an extra three years by keeping my mail from me."
Confusion and shock were written on Chilton's face.
"Three years ago, you didn't allow me to have my mail for the simple reason that I refused to be displayed as your prime subject so you would look good to those who were not even your colleagues. You thought to use me as your stepping stone, a means of gaining a reputation and making a name of yourself."
"A couple of letters were sent to me that I did not receive till three years later which I received, thanks to Barney, before leaving for Memphis. They were letters from the daughter I did not know I had. Imagine how she felt telling her daddy about herself and getting no answer. This is also for the torment you put her through as a result of your pettiness and abuse of power."
"So I thought it appropriate to carve on your body "Return to Sender," though you will end up being "lost mail" in the condition I'll be sending you in," Lecter said as he carved the last letter. Chilton closed his eyes and groaned when the Harpy slashed close to his cheek and the gag fell away from his mouth then opened in alarm when Lecter added, "Now is the time to say any last words you may have before I take away that ability."
Chilton remembered the nurse and shuddered. Desperately hoping to shame Lecter into not doing anything more to him, he said, 'What about your daughter? What would she think of you doing things like this?" When he saw Lecter's eyes, he knew he had dug the hole even deeper.
"Silence!" Lecter moved so swiftly that it took a few moments for Chilton to catch up with what Lecter did next. After that, Chilton had the worst two hours of his life! Blood, vomit and feces, along with his earlier, undignified loss of control and the pain combined had him welcome the idea of death but the nastiest surprise came when he felt like he just wanted to die, the sooner the better!
"After my escape, remember what I wrote in my letter to you? I'm referring to the part where it would make sense for the hospital to tattoo feeding instructions on your forehead to save paperwork."
Chilton's lack of tongue made it impossible to answer.
"Since I am not in the habit of lying, that will be your fate. You will be imprisoned in what is left of your body and with all the nifty, well-placed cutting I did on your body, not much will be able to move ever nor will you be identifiable. Quite a shame really, I would have liked to have had you as a warning to any who would try to take my freedom or my daughter away but since you'll hardly be in the position to do so, I guess they will have to find out for themselves the hard way." Lecter licked a trail of blood off the harpy and added, "A befitting end, don't you agree?"
Horror and realization flooded Chilton's mind before he lost consciousness....
When Chilton's disappearance was discovered, it was assumed that it involved Lecter and there was a search for his body. It was soon abandoned, since he was thought to be dead and no body had been found. Though morgues were searched, the hospitals were left virtually alone.
Chilton's body became his prison. With no means of communicating or identifying the man that was found and brought to a remote hospital north of Rio, the staff did all that they could to keep him alive which included having feeding and care instructions tacked up on the wall by his bed.