Page 17 of Requiem & Reverie

“Are you there?” she asks.

I don’t answer her. I don’t want to give the impression that we have any connection, she and I, but something tells me he already knows. Something tells me, of all the punishments I’ve suffered at his hands, this will be the worst.

“Get up.” His muffled voice behind the mask carries the clip of a tense jaw.

“No.” The girl whimpers and breaks into a sob.

“Don’t kill her.” The words fly out of my mouth on a panic.

“Kill her?” He almost sounds amused by the question. “If I wanted to kill her, she’d be dead.”

“Why is she here, then?”

“To play with. But you … you’ve tainted her. You’ve touched her skin, and now it’s spoiled.”

“I didn’t touch her. I swear I didn’t.”

“Then, why is her blindfold off, hmmm? You’re lying. You’re a lying, little bastard. A snake.”

My mind is a tornado of thoughts, trying to decide if it’s better that he doesn’t want her. Because maybe then he’ll feed her the drugs, just like he did the others, and dump her somewhere. “I did touch her. I’m sorry. I did.”

“She’s impure. And I can’t keep her if she’s impure.”

“I’m sorry.”

Striding toward one of the shelves, he yanks a skinny chain that hangs from the ceiling along the way, before flicking on a naked light bulb in the center of the room. From behind a paint can set upon the shelf, he pulls a small vial of clear liquid, unscrews the cap of it, and draws the fluid up into a syringe, setting my stomach at ease.

I’m not sure what drug he uses on the girls, but it tends to make them sleepy, weak, kinda goofy sometimes, smiling and pawing at him. “We can take her somewhere. Drop her off.” With a quick glance at the girl, I nod toward her, encouraging her to go along with it.

With brows upturned, she nods back.

Coming to a stop beside her, Carl grips her jaw, urging her head back, and inserts the syringe into the corner of her mouth. He dispenses the entire syringe, and I flinch. He’s never given so much before. “Swallow it,” he commands, giving a harsh shake of her head. “All of it.”

“We can let her go now. She won’t remember a thing.”

The girl frowns, when he releases her, sinking back against the wall.

Twisting on the ball of his foot, Carl faces me, but I can’t see his expression behind that mask. Surely, he’s furious with me. “No. No we can’t. See, she’s not like the whores. There will be people who look for her. People who will want someone to answer for this.”

I glance toward the girl, whose eyes are squeezed shut, her lips pursed as if something is wrong, and I’m certain he’s given her too much of that drug. “Carl. Just let her go.”

He strides toward one of the shelves and nabs a can of paint thinner. Before I can react, he pops it open and hurls it across the room. The can slams into the wall beside the girl, who lets out a shriek, and the fluids pool around her. The pungent chemical odor assaults my nose, filling my lungs, until I’m practically tasting it in my mouth.

My eyes go wide, my heart damn near beating out of my chest, as his intent becomes clear. “What are you doing?”

“Tell me something, if given the choice …”

Eyes clamped, I shake my head. The last time he played this game, I watched a cat burn alive with a blowtorch. “No, no. Don’t. Please, don’t.”

“Would you fuck her? Or watch her burn?”

I snap my attention back to him, my heart in my throat now. “What?”

“She’s already tainted. So, you can fuck her, and I’ll let her go. You’ll be the one they come after, because your fluids will be inside of her.”

The sound of that leaves a cold hollow in my chest. My stomach flips over on itself, as I mentally block the visuals he’s planting in my head, both of which make me sick. “No. No, I won’t.”

“Or …” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pack of matches. As he strikes one until lit, the girl screams.