[ WP ] `` Do n't even say that it hurts . ''

“ I know, ” he said, “ I know. But you need to keep quiet. ” His face was hidden by the shadows, his white teeth which seemed too sharp and perfect, were gleaming lightly. 
 
 The girl let out a muffled cry, her tear stained face crumpled in pain. She wanted to see his face, she *needed* to see his face. And even if it weren ’ t obscured by shadows she was sure that if she could see it she would go crazy. Her red ringed eyes, bloodshot and puffy, stood out bulging from their sockets. She let out a lungful of air through her nose, because her mouth was stuffed, and bloody snot flowed down her mouth and chin. She cried out again, the sounds caught behind the rag, oily and dirty, that was stuffed with great force into her mouth. 
 
 Each breath was getting harder to come by now, her nose plugging up with blood and mucous. She tried to calm herself, she was sure that she was going to die and so this was not an easy task. 
 
 He said again, “ you need to keep quiet, ” his voice was soft, low, and without any urgency. “ You don ’ t want to wake mother do you? ” His face was still cloaked in the shadows but his teeth still seemed to shine, reflecting light that wasn ’ t there. 
 
 The girl shook her head side to side, *no, I don ’ t want to wake mother. I don ’ t know who she is but I ’ m sure, I ’ m positive, I don ’ t want to wake her. * 
 
 “ Good, ” the man said. The only light was directly behind his head, a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. It illuminated this cold dank cellar with its bare concrete walls, a few wet cracks in the floor that she could see, and the metal ring that was secured to the floor through which the chain that held her here was fed through. A small padlock held the chain around her ankle. By now, all her moving, straining, and twisting had rubbed the skin bare causing it to blister and bleed. It was infected; it had to be by now. 
 
 She had lost all sense of time since waking up here. But in all the senseless time that she had spent down here she had pieced together *how* she ’ d ended up in this unfortunate, desolate, and terrifying situation. She remembered the party she was at. Her friend Nancy had landed that elusive job she ’ d dreamed of since she was a child and her parents had taken her to France. The job entailed traveling the world and writing about it, reviewing hotels, local hot spots, and everything in between. 
 
 She remembered showing up to the going away party for her friend. She only had two drinks; she wanted to be alright to drive home because she had her own job to get to in the morning. Nancy ’ s boyfriend had invited his and her friends to the shindig. That must be where this faceless man fits in to the puzzle, she thought, because she ’ d never seen him before. Even now she couldn ’ t remember what his face had looked like that night. As strange as that was, but she chalked it up to the drug he had slipped her. 
 
 Then…she was here. Where ever *this* was. This cold dark room. This cellar. 
 
 “ Now, ” the man said, “ Kelly….Kelly, Kellybobelly… ” he laughed, soft, *crazily* Kelly would say. “ Now, don ’ t even say *again* that this hurts. I can make it hurt a whole hell of a lot more than this…and I think you know that. Don ’ t you? ” 
 
 Kelly just stared up at the black empty face, at the preternaturally glowing teeth. They looked so sharp. *Yes, * she thought, *it could hurt a lot more. * 
 
 “ Well then, ” he said. “ Let ’ s get started shall we? ” 
 
 There was something in Kelly ’ s mind, something deep down, that screamed out like a shrieking wraith and filled her head with an unbearable pain. She couldn ’ t stand it anymore, she had a feeling, a premonition maybe, that this wasn ’ t going to last much longer, that soon, very soon this sick fuck was going to tire of her and then what? 
 
 *You know damn well what missy, * she thought fighting through the pain in her head, *he ’ s going to kill you and then stalk the streets for someone else to bring down here. Bring her down here, sneaking her past “ mother ”. * 
 
 The man leaned forward, his cold hand reaching out to touch her breast. Kelly ’ s skin crawled at the thought of that corpse like touch. She spat the rag out, working her jaw to get it up and out of the back of her throat. The rag hit the floor with a wet thud. The man looked down, the teeth disappearing in a scowl. He opened his mouth to say something, but Kelly decided to show him her teeth. 
 
 Kelly leaned forward and sank her teeth to the gums in his cold clammy thigh. Blood pooled readily around her mouth and she clamped her throat shut disgusted at the thought of even swallowing a drop. The man let out a startled and pained cry. 
 
 “ You bitch! ” he yelled. 
 
 Kelly groped a hand through the darkness and up his thigh. She found what she was looking for in the sweaty area between his legs and she twisted and she squeezed and she dug her nails into the hairy flesh as hard as she could and she could feel blood and maybe what is kept in those tender little plums, run down her hand. 
 
 The man shrieked in pain, screaming about the mother he was apparently so worried about waking. 
 
 Kelly ’ s teeth found him again and again and again, finally finding his jugular. The blood was salty, coppery, and it pooled all around her now flowing in a great river from the wound. Kelly searched in the dim light coming from the bulb for the key that would grant her her freedom. After a long nervous moment she found it in the back pocket of shorts that the man had discarded when he walked in. She unlocked herself from her chain, stood on wobbly legs and raced as fast as those numb legs would take her for the door to the cellar. 
 
 She came up the stairs that led to the cellar and found herself in a dark, damp, mouldy smelling house. All the curtains had been drawn. There was a reading room between her and the front door. In it was a leather chair enshrouded in shadows. A figure sat in the chair. She could tell this even in the darkness. Kelly moved slowly, her heart in her throat. 
 
 *It ’ s mother, * she thought. She shuffled her feet; the old hardwood floor creaked softly under her weight. Dust gathered between her toes. She got closer to the chair and the smell hit her like a kick in the chest. Mother was nothing more than a bloated decaying sack of flesh splitting at the seams. 
 
 Kelly started to scream. She ran to the door, the sunlight hitting her for the first time in what felt like forever. And she ran, bloody and mostly naked, she ran and ran and ran. 

