Scene iv
The elevator was completely still and the '2nd' button on the panel continued to shine red. Kevin held the rail behind him nervously. It had been nearly a minute and the doors had not yet opened.
"Hey!" the detective shouted. "What's going on?"
He let go of the railing and searched around the elevator. There were no recorders or notes to be found.
"Damn it," Kevin muttered as he pressed the second floor button on the panel several times.
The elevator shook up and down for a second and Kevin instinctively grabbed the railing. The doors to the elevator slid open and a crackling sound emerged from the speaker attached to a top corner in the elevator.
"Hello Kevin," came Jigsaw's voice from the speaker. "How does it feel knowing that the man you've been wanting to put in jail now has you captured?" he chuckled at his joke.
Kevin gave not a scowl or a curse to Jigsaw's remark. He simply stared up at the speaker and listened to the man's words.
"Listen carefully Kevin, I'm going to tell you how to win your freedom. The doors in the elevator have opened and there is a latter leading up to the next floor. However, take a look at the latter steps…" Jigsaw urged as Kevin walked up to the opened doors.
Looking up, there was another floor above him that he could easily get to by climbing the latter. But upon closer inspection of the steps, they were covered with small spikes and barbs.
"…you will see that this course is not exactly the most desirable," he said as Kevin walked away from the opened elevator doors. "In an hour the elevator will rise up to the next floor all by itself; or you could climb up the steps and get to the next floor faster. Why would you risk bodily harm to get to finish my game faster, you may ask? Because I am in this building with you, Kevin." Immediately Kevin's eyes shot back to the speaker. He could feel adrenaline rushing through his veins.
"But I won't be in an hour. So you may wait here until you are safely placed on the second floor…or follow your obsessive desires to capture me and climb the ladder. I guarantee you will meet up with me if you choose the latter," Jigsaw chuckled at his pun. "Make your choice Kevin—but it's a safe bet I'll see you on the other side."
He grabbed a handful of his light brown hair and moved toward the opened doors. "Shit, shit, shit," Kevin muttered as he placed his pistol into his back pocket.
Was it really worth the pain to go after Jigsaw…?
Kevin took off his thin padding and his vest. He tore off the sleeves and wrapped them around his hands like gloves. He put his boot down on a step; the spikes could not be felt through the thickness of his boots.
…Of course it was.
The detective grabbed a bar with one hand and reached up with his other hand to grab another step. He gave a slight grunt. The spikes could just barely be felt underneath the protection of the vest sleeves.
Suddenly, the sound of cloth ripping could be heard. Kevin looked down at his hand and saw that the spikes had ripped a large hole in his custom-made gloves. "Damn it," Kevin said as he grabbed the next bar with unprotected hand.
"Aaah!" he screamed in pain as he climbed up a few more steps and removed his other hand from the bar. The sound of cloth ripping occurred once again.
He groaned as he felt the sharp spikes dig into his hand. "Aaah!" Kevin cried out in pain as he removed his hand from the bar. A line of crimson blood trailed from his hand to the spikes as small patches of skin pulled away from his palm.
"Son of a bitch!" he shouted, reaching up to grab the next barbed step. The sharp points irritated Kevin's bloody hand. They made small cuts and peeled away skin as he climbed his way up to the next floor.
Kevin groaned again as the spikes tore away the skin and was now poking at his flesh. Streams of blood ran down the detective's arms as he looked down at the bars below him. Every other step had blotches of blood attached to it.
His breathing increased as he managed to place his arm into the open doorway of the second floor. "Aaaah!" Kevin screamed, ripping his other hand away from the bar as dozens of drops of blood fell onto the elevator below. "Come on!!" he screamed again as he pulled himself up to the second floor. His pants were ripping from the sharp barbs. Soon blood was spilling from his legs as he fully arrived to the second floor.
The detective lay on the floor for a few moments. He groaned in pain as he slowly pushed himself up onto his knees. "You bastard," Kevin whispered as he shook his head. "I'm gonna get you, you bastard!"
He took off what was left off his vest and tore of large parts of it. "Err!" Kevin closed his eyes and moaned from the pain of ripping his vest with his wounded hands.
With the two vest pieces in hand, Kevin wrapped one around each of his palms. He stood up from the wooden floor and walked towards the simple door in front of him. "If he thinks this is going to slow me down…" he chuckled as he shook his head.
"No! No!" Jade continued to scream; she refused to look at Isaac's mangled corpse.
She stayed like this for a minute. The slow dripping of blood from Isaac's mashed head could clearly be heard. "I'm sorry," Jade muttered as she banged her head against the tiled wall. "I'm so sorry."
Her eyes dared to move to the dead Isaac when a glimmer of light caught her attention. On the top of one of the weights was a key. It was right on the edge and ready to fall off.
The widow stood up and moved over to the three bloody weights. She cringed as her eyes glanced to the flesh hanging off of the sides of Isaac's 'death bed'. Jade quickly swiped the key off of the top of the weight and moved away from the horrific scene.
"I'm sorry God…please forgive me," she prayed as she walked to the wooden door at the end of the room. She inserted the key unlocked it.
Jade pushed the door open and walked into the room. It was dimly lit and her eyes needed no adjustment.
A man stood against the wall, a metallic cuff gripped his neck and kept him pinned to the wall. His gray eyes lit up as he saw Jade enter the room. "J-Jade?" he whispered; his thin wrinkles moved in his cheeks as he spoke softly.
"Harold?" she said with disbelief. "Is that you?"
Jade came closer to man but her foot hit a recorder. She stopped and looked down at it. Bending over to pick up, a note could be found on the back of the recorder.
The faint light granted Jade the ability to see the note. It read, 'Harold—Roy's harsh, unloving father.'
Kevin opened the door and made his way into the next room. He squinted, for the fluorescent lights on the ceiling were abnormally bright. When his eyes had fully adjusted to the light, Kevin realized he could see every dirty detail of the room.
A woman was pinned against the wall, a metal cuff on each wrist, ankle, and her neck. She looked up at Kevin who entered the room. "Help me!" she screamed.
The detective was startled by her sudden action. "Hold on; I'll help you. Don't worry," he assured her as she moved toward her.
He looked down and a recorder with a note strapped to the back of it. Kevin bent over and picked up the recorder, looking at the note first.
The note read, 'Michael's mother—the same Michael who was killed one night and the only suspect was Kaden Jester, a man who had been suspected several times before but the evidence could never be found. His mother has been searching for her son's supposed murderer ever since. Her obsession is quite similar to yours.'
The SWAT truck came to a slow stop in front of the police station. Grace looked into the windows and found that most of the lights had been shut off.
She sighed as she reached over to grab her SWAT helmet placed onto the seat next to her. Grace gazed into the glassy material that covered the front of the helmet.
"Two more, John," Grace said as she placed two sheets of paper on a desk. "David and Harold."
The man known as Jigsaw sat behind the desk in a chair. He held a pencil in his hand as he worked on a sketch of some sort of device.
"Hmm," he hummed as he glanced down at their pictures. "And what crimes have they been convicted of?"
"Well, David's a priest who has had his fair share of sins at bars and clubs. Harold is the father of that officer, Roy. Steven had told me about David and how Harold was neglectful and very inconsiderate of Roy's—"
"I'm beginning to worry…" John interrupted, "…about your obsession over killing every single person involved with Steven. You're running out of people to throw into traps so your getting people who were hardly involved in Steven's life. How much of an influence was Steven's step father and his priest in his life?"
"John!" Grace gasped as she shook her head. "I'm not obsessing at all! These are not good people and they deserve to be put through your games. And I'm not running of people to kill…I have something planned for the people in Steven's life who harmed him the most."
"You are thinking of my games as a way to murder those whom you detest…that is not what they are for. They are used as means of therapy to help them overcome their problems. Steven is gone, Grace; you're not doing yourself any good by hunting down every person who he was involved with in hopes that it will bring you satisfaction. I am starting to wonder if you truly understand the logic behind my work…our work. If you wish to continue in being my apprentice, then you better think a bit harder about what I offer to the people in my games," John looked at Grace with a stern glare as the girl quickly looked and to the floor.
"Yes, John," Grace whispered. Grace gave a scowl as she opened the door to the SWAT truck and stepped out. She placed the helmet over her head and re-assumed the role as the only female member of the SWAT team.
To be continued…
