Island

by Richard Laymon

  ‘Well, okay then. You asked for it. Don’t blame me if you don’t like what I have to tell you.’

  ‘I won’t. I promise. Come on.’

  ‘One thing was, he used to make us strip naked and then wrestle on the floor. We’d all be naked. Me, Kimberly and Dad.’ She spoke in a quick, hushed voice, as if she were sharing a very juicy bit of gossip. ‘He’d start off by making just me and Kimberly go at it, while he watched from the side and ... like cheered us on, gave us orders. He’d try to get us to hurt each other. And do perverted things. Then, after a while, he’d join in.’

  ‘Jeez,’ I muttered. ‘How old were you?’

  She shrugged, shook her head. ‘I don’t know. It went on from the time I was nine or ten, all the way through high school.’

  ‘What about Billie? They were married for ... twenty years? She let all this ... ?’

  ‘He never did anything in front of her. But she worked, vou know. Dad found plenty of time to be alone with us.’

  ‘Wasn’t he away at sea a lot?’

  ‘Not that much. Not nearly enough, if you ask me. And when he did come back from sea tours, he was worse than ever. He had all sorts of games. The wrestling was just one of them. But it was his favorite, I think. He wanted to do it whenever he had us alone. He used to get these holds on us, and make us scream. We’d be screaming and crying, squirming around with him on the floor and he’d - you know, stick his fingers in us. And his tongue. And he’d bite us.’

  ‘Billie didn’t know any of this was going on?’

  ‘No, huh-uh. It was our dark little secret. Dad said he’d kill us if we ever told on him.’

  ‘What about Connie?’

  Thelma shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I stopped living at home when I went away to college. I mean, that’s like twelve years ago. Connie would’ve only been like ... how old?’

  ‘She’s eighteen now.’

  ‘So that would’ve made her only six when I left. I know he kept it up with Kimberly after I was gone. We never talked about it, but I knew. I mean, they weren’t about to stop. But I don’t know if they got Connie doing it. It sure wouldn’t surprise me, though.’

  “‘Weren’t about to stop”?’ You almost make it sound like Kimberly was ... a willing participant.‘

  Thelma blew a huff of air out her nose and mouth. ‘Kimberly didn’t go away to college. What does that tell you? An honor student, class president, you name it, she could’ve gone to Princeton or Yale if she’d wanted to. But what did she do instead? Enrolled at the community college and lived at home.’

  ‘You think she kept on doing things with him?’

  ‘Hell, yes. She really got into it. The whole pain thing. Delicious pain. That’s what Kimberly always called it, delicious pain.’

  ‘Really?’ I was a bit dumbfounded by all this. ‘She hasn’t got any scars. Not that I’ve seen, anyway.’

  ‘No, no. Of course not. Scars are a dead giveaway. She’s always been very careful not to let herself get hurt in any ways that show. You don’t want people knowing about your nasty little secret life. They’ll think you’re a degenerate, a sicko. You know what I mean?’

  ‘What about her and Keith?’ I asked. ‘I mean, she married the guy. If she was having this thing with Andrew ... ?’

  ‘Keith was the same way.’

  ‘He liked to hurt her?’

  ‘Sure, he did. I walked in on them, one time. This was just before I got married to Wesley. I had to go to Dad’s house to pick up ... a book. I needed Billie’s etiquette book for my wedding plans. And I walked into the house without ringing the doorbell. I thought nobody was home. But I heard noises upstairs, so I snuck up to see what was going on. I was afraid there might be a burglar, or something. It wasn’t any burglar, though - it was all three of them in Kimberly’s bedroom.’

  ‘All who?’

  ‘Kimberly, Keith, and Dad.’

  ‘Having sex? All three of them?’

  ‘Yes, having sex. And torturing her.’

  ‘Torturing Kimberly?’

  ‘She was strapped down to her bed, spread-eagled, and ...’

  ‘Never mind,’ I said.

  ‘Dad was in her mouth.’

  ‘Cut it out. I don’t wanta hear ...’

  ‘Keith was kneeling between her legs. He was reaching up with pliers in each hand, working on her nipples, while his mouth ...’

  ‘Shut up! I don’t believe you. You’re making it all up. Kimberly wouldn’t ... She said you’re a liar. This is all a load of bullshit.’

  ‘Anyway, Wesley knew all about Dad and Keith. You see? He knew what a couple of sick degenerates they were. So when the boat blew up ... he was afraid they’d blame him and he knew how they liked to torture people. He was terrified. Not just for himself, either. He was terrified for me and Billie ... all of us. Can you imagine being stranded on an island with a couple of sadistic bastards like them? He had to kill them.’

  ‘So why did he want to kill me? I never tortured anybody.’

  A strange smile tilted up one side of Thelma’s mouth. The other side, dark and swollen from the beating Wesley had given her, didn’t move. ‘You’d like to, though, wouldn’t you?’ she said.

  Which wasn’t exactly what I’d expected her to say. ‘Like to what?’ I asked.

  ‘Torture somebody.’

  ‘You’re nuts!’

  ‘Somebody like Kimberly,’ she said.

  ‘No!’

  She smirked at me. ‘Who are you trying to kid? It makes you hot, just thinking about it. You’d just love to take her nipples and pinch them till she wept and squirmed and begged for mercy.’

  ‘You’re nuts.’

  ‘Or bite them.’

  ‘It’s time for you to go,’ I said. I set the ax aside, picked up the rope again, and shuffled over to her on my knees. ‘Put out your hands.’

  ‘Look at you,’ she said.

  She was looking at the front of my shorts.

  ‘So what. Hold out your hands.’

  Instead of holding them out, she started to unbutton her blouse.

  ‘Stop that,’ I said.

  ‘You can pretend I’m Kimberly,’ she said, and pulled her blouse open. The firelight shimmered on her huge breasts. ‘Here. Feel. I know you want to. You’re aching to.’

  ‘No. Stop it.’

  She reached under her breasts and lifted them, raised them toward me. ‘Here,’ she said. ‘They’re all yours. You want to squeeze them, don’t you? And slap them around? Make them swing and bounce? Wouldn’t you love to take my nipples and twist them till I cry out for mercy?’

  ‘No.’

  She lowered her breasts, but only to free her hands. Then she started to finger her nipples. She pinched them, pulled at them, twisted them. While she did it, she clamped her lower lip between her teeth. She breathed through her nose, air hissing in and out her nostrils.

  I watched.

  ‘You do it,’ she gasped. ‘I know you want to. You’d love to.’

  I had to admit, I was tempted. This was sort of like the kind of thing I’d been hoping for. But only sort of. Thelma was the only woman on the island who’d never figured in my fantasies.

  I couldn’t help being aroused, though. She’d been talking dirty, getting me all turned on with that stuff about Kimberly, and now she was showing me her breasts. They were huge, covered with bruises and welts and scabs. They excited me, anyway.

  Frankly, I was pretty disgusted with myself. And with Thelma.

  I felt like, if I took her up on the offer, I’d feel very guilty and very dirty. I’d want to wash my hands afterward.

  ‘Come on,’ she gasped. ‘Come on.’

  ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’

  ‘I’m Kimberly. Just shut your eyes, and I’ll be Kimberly for you. Come on. Take my tits, and I’ll unzip you and ...’

  ‘Forget it,’ I said. ‘Now stop it. Button up and hold out your hands.’

  ‘Okay, okay. Just a minute.’

  She started t
o get up.

  ‘Wait. What are you doing?’

  ‘I just want to be on my knees, that’s all. I don’t wanta be sitting down. It’s too hard to get up once your hands are tied.’

  That made sense. I waited until she was kneeling in front of me, then said, ‘Give me your hands, now.’

  Instead of obeying, she smiled at me, rubbed her hands down her thick belly and started to unbuckle her belt.

  ‘Don’t.’

  She didn’t stop. ‘I’ll show you what else Wesley did to me.’

  ‘I don’t want to see.’

  ‘Sure, you do.’

  She was right, of course.

  I knew I should stop her. In some ways, though, I didn’t really want to. Also, I didn’t know how. If I tried anything Thelma didn’t like, she might yell. The last thing I wanted right then, was for one of the other women to wake up and find us like this.

  So I just knelt there, watching while she unbuckled her belt, un-fastened the waist button of her shorts, and pulled her zipper down.

  The shorts dropped to her knees.

  I expected to see panties, but didn’t.

  She had no pubic hair, to speak of. Just a bulging triangle with dark whiskers like a guy might get on his jaw if he goes a day or two without shaving.

  Is that what she’d wanted to show me - where Wesley’d shaved her?

  Maybe there were injuries to see, but I didn’t keep looking. I turned away fast. Off beyond the fire, there was no sign of movement at the sleeping area. I thought, Thank God.

  Somehow, I had to make Thelma stop all this.

  I had to do it on my own.

  Things had gone way too far. I never should’ve untied her hands. One thing had led to another, and now I couldn’t see how to end it. Not without shouting for help.

  What would they think, if they found us like this?

  What I ought to do, I thought, is back off, get away from her, grab the ax and stand up and order her, point blank, to pull her shorts up and ...

  Something tipped me off..

  I still had my head turned and was staring toward the sleeping area. I had no intention of looking in Thelma’s direction again until I’d backed away. But something happened. I don’t know what. Maybe I’d heard a quiet sound that didn’t belong. Maybe I’d caught a movement in my peripheral vision. Sensed a change in the air. Something.

  I turned my head.

  Glimpsed Thelma’s hand lurching up toward my belly with a straight razor.

  No fooling, a straight razor. The kind with a blade that folds into its handle - the kind of thing that nobody in his right mind would even own, except a barber. Because they’re so damn nasty, and it’s too easy to cut yourself by accident if you try to shave with one, and you can’t help but think about the sort of damage a crazy woman might do to you if she got her hands on it.

  I don’t know where the hell Thelma got it.

  All I know is that all of a sudden I found her with the damn thing in her hand, and she was about to run it up my belly and split me open.

  I let out a yelp and threw myself backward off my knees.

  She missed.

  I didn’t feel anything, but saw her razor-wielding hand sweep up past my face as if she still had hopes of dividing my nose in half.

  Then I flopped against the sand.

  I shoved myself up with my elbows, not sure whether to kick at her or try scurrying away on my back.

  For the moment, she wasn’t coming at me. Her head was turned aside.

  Was Kimberly getting up?

  I didn’t waste time trying to find out what Thelma was looking at. She was distracted, at least for a moment. That’s what counted.

  An extra second to put some distance between me and that blade.

  I dug in my elbows and heels and started scooting myself across the sand on my back.

  Right away, she noticed.

  The instant her eyes shifted in my direction, I cried out, ‘Help! Help!’

  She came waddling toward me like someone whose legs had been chopped off at the knees. Her shorts were still down. They had her trapped, so she couldn’t move very fast. Not fast enough to catch me as I kept scooting away.

  She was a real vision.

  Lurching and flopping flesh, too well lit by a long shot, in spite of the shadows - her bruised, swollen face grinning. She waved both arms overhead as she kneed her way after me. The razor in her right hand flashed firelight.

  ‘You stay put!’ she gasped. ‘Stay put, you little cocksucker!’

  I kept shouting for help.

  Then I spotted the ax in the sand, not far from my left elbow. I hauled it toward me by its haft.

  ‘Thelma!’

  Kimberly’s voice, an angry shout.

  Thelma glanced in the direction it had come from. Gasped. Then flung herself at me.

  I swung the ax as hard and fast as I could.

  The flat side of its steel head struck her in the forearm.

  The right forearm.

  She cried out and the razor leaped from her hand.

  She landed on me. Her head knocked me in the crotch. A second later, though, she rolled off. Making grunty noises, she rolled over a few times and got to her hands and knees. As she staggered to her feet, she snatched up her shorts. Holding them up with both hands, she ran for the inlet.

  Kimberly went sprinting after her.

  Lean and quick, dark except for the white of her bikini.

  At the water’s edge, she leaped and reached with both hands for Thelma’s shoulders.

  A great flying tackle.

  Except that Thelma twisted around and smashed her elbow into the side of Kimberly’s face. The blow deflected Kimberly. And dropped her. She smacked down on the water, and Thelma kept going.

  I was on my knees by then, in spite of the bash to my nuts. I turned to look for the others.

  Back at the sleeping area, Connie was sitting up and staring in my direction. Of course, she was too battered to come running to the rescue. And Billie didn’t dare leave her behind. Billie, on her feet, a spear in her hands, was standing ready to fight in case Wesley should spring an attack on her and Connie.

  I got to my feet and hurried toward the inlet.

  Thelma was lunging through thigh-deep, black water. I couldn’t see her very well. Suddenly, I thought she was coming back. Which scared the hell out of me. I stopped short. I fought with an urge to turn around and make a run for it.

  If I ran, she would finish off Kimberly.

  I had just decided to go back for the ax and fight to save Kimberly when I realized that Thelma was smaller than before. Nothing showed below her waist-because she was in deeper water. She wasn’t returning. She’d been wading away, the whole time.

  I hurried to help Kimberly.

  She was on her hands and knees, head hanging, her face a few inches above the surface of the water. When I reached her, she didn’t look up.

  ‘Are you okay?’ I asked.

  She didn’t answer.

  ‘Kimberly?’

  ‘Go and get her,’ she muttered. ‘Don’t let her get away.’

  I looked for Thelma. At first, I couldn’t find her. Then

  I spotted a dim shape way out near the point.

  ‘She’s awfully far away,’ I said.

  Kimberly muttered, ‘Damn it, Rupert.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be able to catch her.’

  She groaned.

  ‘Can I help you up?’ I asked.

  ‘Don’t touch me.’

  She sounded disgusted.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said.

  ‘You’re sorry, all right. Jesus H. Christ.’

  ‘I almost got killed.’

  ‘That would’ve been a big loss.’

  Man. I was beginning to wish Thelma had killed me.

  ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I’ll go after her. If that’s really what you want. What do you want me to do if I catch up to her? Am I supposed to try and bring her back? Or do you want me to try
and kill her? Maybe I’d better take along a knife, or something. Can I have your knife?’

  Head still hanging, Kimberly said, ‘Forget it. Just forget it. Go to bed, or something. Shit.’

  I’d never felt so low. I mean, you could tell she was completely disgusted with me and thought I was a waste and a loser.

  Which is true. I am.

  I decided to follow her advice, and go to bed. The problem with that, though, was Billie and Connie. They were there waiting for me, and I was crying pretty good by then. I just couldn’t help it.

  ‘What happened?’ Billie asked. She didn’t sound disgusted with me. She sounded like she cared.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘Thelma got away. I let her get away.’

  ‘Neat play,’ Connie said.

  ‘Hush up,’ Billie said. Then she poked her spear into the sand and came over to where I was standing and put her arms around me.

  It was one of the nicest things anyone has ever done.

  She was all soft and warm and gentle, stroking my hair with one hand and my back with the other while I cried against the side of her neck. She kept murmuring, ‘It’s all right, honey. It’s okay. Everything’s fine.’

  She’s the best woman I’ve ever known.

  I calmed down pretty soon, thanks to Billie. Then Kimberly came along, so I got out of Billie’s arms and turned around to face the music.

  ‘Are you okay, Rupert?’ she asked.

  ‘No. I really screwed up.’

  ‘You’re not hurt, though?’ I shook my head.

  ‘How the hell did she get loose?’ Connie asked.

  ‘I ... I untied her hands.’

  ‘You outa your fucking mind?’

  Billie put a hand on the back of my neck, and rubbed me.

  ‘We’ll talk about it in the morning,’ Kimberly said.

  ‘Everybody go back to sleep, now. I’ll keep watch.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I told her.

  ‘What’s done is done,’ she said. Then she turned away and walked back to the fire.

  That’s about it for last night.

  More than enough, if you ask me. Aside from the fact that so much happened - good stuff and bad stuff and some very weird stuff - it’s taken me most of the morning to write it down.

  And I’m not even caught up yet.

  The Inquisition