T he realization opened the door to a new wave of determination. Rose planted her feet on the ground and heaved up towards the ceiling as hard as she could but the bolts held fast. She pulled again, curling her toes underneath her and strained as hard as she could. The bolts shifted but it would take time to get anywhere at this rate, and time didn’t appear to be on her side. Her calves burned as she gave the chair one more tug, her entire body stretching upwards, neck feeling like it was going to tear from her shoulders. The welcoming sound of hairline fractures in the wood opening up were an all too welcome sound but it was too late. She could hear Ham Hands approaching again. He strolled into the room, closing the door and locking it behind him.
“Ehh, you can see again. Congratulations.”
“Looking at you almost makes me want to be blind again.”
He brought a hand to his heart in a showing of mocked pain.
“And talk again too.”
It was true. All that yanking had distracted her from the fact her jaw was setting itself again. It still hurt to speak, and her tongue felt fat in her mouth, but the words came when she told them to.
“What am I doing here?” she asked.
“Well honey, that all depends on you. You’re here to talk.”
He grabbed a crowbar that was leaning against the wall and let it dangle at his side.
“And I’m here to make sure that you do.”
Rose’s eyes moved back and forth between the crowbar and the menacing eyes glaring back at her.
“What do you want to talk about?”
The man crossed the room before leaning down until they were eye to eye.
“You’re going to tell me about Frank.”
Him? She barely knew him. Hell, if he’d said a last name too she wouldn’t even know if it was the same guy. Ham Hands seemed to catch the confusion in her eyes.
“Now is not the time to play dumb. We saw you talking to him on the church steps this morning.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her like, “See, not so stupid afterall”. The fact she knew nothing about Frank only reinforced the fact that if she wanted to leave here alive, the man standing in front of her had to die.
“We were just discussing the service. You really should think about going yourself.”
The man leaned back and chuckled then backhanded her across the cheek. Her cheekbone buzzed as blood flowed to the point of impact. She shook it off and brought her head back up to meet his.
“Big man.”
“Honey, this isn’t supposed to be a fair fight. This is a demolition.”
He clasped a hand over her shoulder in a false gesture of sympathy. Rose fought every instinct in her body not to yelp in pain. The burning in her shoulder blades had steadily risen and his hand had brought it to a raging inferno. His eyes widened.
“What the fuck is that?”
He walked around to her side and ran his hand along her upper back. His fingers ran over the bump where her wing bones had been butchered and subsequently sprouted once more. He tugged the back of her collar and slid his fingers underneath. They glid over her skin before reaching the gauze dressing her wound. His forefinger and thumb dug into the gauze, a shot of pain, and then he pulled them back out, a small white feather the size of a nail head gripped between them.
“What. The fuck?”
He circled behind her and pulled her shirt up to her neck.
“Two of them? What are you, some kind of bird bitch?”
A buzzer interrupted his train of thought. He looked over to the exit door and gave Rose all she needed. She lunged back in her chair and the wood splintered at the base of the legs sending them both flying into the mirror behind them. The man caught a heel and crashed to the ground. Rose’s momentum took her with him and she landed on her back. Hard. Shattered glass braced their fall. Rose watched him wheeze and slowly regain his breath as she did hers. Her fingers searched for a shard she could use to cut her ties free. The man’s eyes met hers and his face split into a gold toothed grin. Rose’s chest tightened and sped up her actions. She found a piece and flipped it around, sawing at the ties just as he rolled onto all fours. He’s on top of her in a flash.
“You freak fuckin’ bitch!”
He slammed his fists down onto her face and unloaded a flurry of blows. Rose’s eyes flooded with tears turning her world into a wet tapestry of pain. All she could do was saw at the ties and hope she didn’t black out before then. Just need. To not. Black…out….She sawed away at the ties underneath her. The door buzzer was going crazy now. Someone was beating on the door.
The room was so dark. Had the lightbulb blown out?
Were her eyes swollen shut again?
It was just…
So dark.
So dark…
and quiet…
Why was it quiet?
And suddenly it wasn’t.
There were screams. Lots of screams.
From all directions including above and below.
Rose felt a crushing weight she hadn’t felt since The Dark Well had had its claws in her. An unwavering pull that did everything it could to drag you below the surface of the ground, never to be seen again. She spent a moment to register where her body was. It was the pull that had thrown her off, but now it was unmistakable; she was floating. In a sea of black with nothing but the sound of endless suffering around her. Through the darkness and the shrieks came one single thought, piercing her like an arrow.
Is this where Angels go to die?
TO BE CONTINUED…
Joe Shields