Educating Callie

by Emma Jayne Mills

  I banged as loudly as I could but, as I feared, I received no response and since I had no way of knowing how long he had been gone, I knew I couldn’t keep it up indefinitely. I also knew that my voice could no longer gain enough volume to shout for help effectively, so I sank back down on the bed, hammering on the walls and pipes as I went for good measure. It was a half hearted attempt, I knew, but I had done something. I lay down and cried myself into oblivion.

  *****

  Ah, this ought to be interesting. The ex boyfriend is here. I watched the two of them grow together. Young and believing themselves in love. The two were once sweet innocent souls who reminded me of my wife and me in our beginnings. He used to worship her, but somewhere along the line he lost his way and became unworthy. He hurt my sweet lady with his infidelities. I have already given him a beating, but I didn’t feel he learned anything from it. And he didn’t know it was me, he thought it to be the mutt. I would quite enjoy it if he knew I was his punisher. Particularly if I were to reveal that I had also in fact left my previous students close to his workplace on purpose, encouraging the police to look at him and leading them away from me. Not that they had ever gotten close to me.

  He thunders into the pub all guns blazing, “What the fuck are you doing in here when you should be out looking for her?” he yells accusingly at the police mutt who is hunched at the bar. The mutt stands, slowly, to his full height and gives him his undivided attention. These two have had dealings before and despite the mutt not being worthy of my lady, he can most certainly handle himself. My money would be on him if it were to become physical between the two.

  “Not now Jase.” The biker comes between them, always the peace maker.

  “What the fuck do you mean not now Nick? She’s been gone for days and he is just sitting there feeling sorry for himself. Has he been looking? Because I fucking have. Non fucking stop!”

  The mutt takes a step towards him, his voice low and deliberate, as usual. “I haven’t stopped looking for her Jase. Not since the second I knew she was gone. Cam, Greg, Nick, Nate, Luke, Vinnie, Mick and Jared have all been looking too. Along with as many police officers as I could get, many of them volunteering to give up their free time. Greg and Cam are out there now, as are Vinnie, Jared and Nate. So you can be sure that I will find her and I will bring her home.”

  The thug intervenes. “Come on now Jase, we’re all a mess over this. We all care about her and we’re doing everything we can. Adam hasn’t stopped and you can bet your arse he’ll be straight back out there searching the second he leaves here.”

  The ex turns to him, “I fucking love her Mick, that’s the difference.”

  “And you think I don’t?” The mutt explodes, grabbing the throat of the ex and bending him backwards over the bar. His shouts command the room around him to silence. I don’t believe I have ever seen a truly angry reaction from him in the past. It’s nice to see he has emotions as he tightens his hold on the ex’s collar. “I thought you and I had gone over this Jase? She is everything to me. Do you understand me? EVERYTHING! You can be angry Jase, angry that she’s missing and angry that you fucked up and lost her. And you can look for her along with the rest of us. But I am telling you again, just to be clear, Callie is mine. You had your chance and you fucked up. And when I bring her home I will be the one spending the rest of my life keeping her safe. I will be the one making her happy!”

  The ex turns to leave when the mutt roughly lets go of his collar. “We’ll fucking see about that.” He snarls on his way out.

  If there is one thing the mutt and I agree on, it is that the ex boyfriend is not worthy of my sweet lady. And so I decide to take her a gift. One that will show her just how much she means to me.

  *****

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Did you know that I am a teacher my Callie?” He said and I shook my head, looking at him vacantly across the table as we ate breakfast like normal people, rather than captor and hostage. Why would I have known that he was a teacher? Earlier he had woken me with the hunting knife on my face. Just a tiny warning mark he had said, apparently he didn’t want to mark his future wife permanently. And that just made me think of Nick and all our crazy wedding talk.

  “I believe every young woman should have the opportunity to learn how to be a lady. That is what I teach. That is what the others before you failed to learn. And that failure is why they had to die. That is what you will learn my Callie.” He smiled at me, “You are the special one. I see a wife in you. Your parents began your teachings well, their involvement gave my path a focus, an end to aspire to. I will help you to complete what they began. Eventually you will see what I can offer you and you will choose not to return to your previous existence, but to stay with me and together we will have a happy life.”

  “Why?” I whispered. I wasn’t sure he had heard me, until he laid down his cutlery and stood from his seat opposite me. He rounded the table slowly and pulled out the chair beside me and sat down.

  “Now Callie, I fully intend to tell you my story. As a matter of fact my intension is to do so over dinner this evening. Unfortunately my dear girl, you questioned me. I cannot have that kind of behaviour. A lady never questions her man. Come.” He gently took my arm, his calm demeanour making me nervous, and led me up the stairs to the bedroom. How could he handle me so softly now when we both knew what was coming? Once in the bedroom he ripped my shirt from my body, discarding it on the floor and arranged me in front of the mirror, wearing just a plain white bra and a pair of black trousers. He held my chin in place and took out the serrated hunting knife from the back of his trousers.

  “Now this can all stop Callie, just as soon as you learn the lesson. Eyes on your reflection.” I did as I was told and cried out as the knife point dug in and scratched my shoulder. He dragged the blade, drawing blood, in a long line all the way to my elbow. “You remember how this works don’t you now? All the marks I put on you will fade in time. I will never mark you so deeply that it will remain visible for long, just enough to drive your lessons home. Tell me why we are here Callie.”

  “I don’t know.” I whimpered and the knife went back in at the top of my shoulder making me wince with the pain.

  “Yes you do Callie. What is your lesson?” He demanded, the gentleness of his tone becoming harsher, more forceful. The knife drew another line directly parallel to the first and my arm burned as I felt my skin tearing open all the way down. I didn’t remember that feeling last time, thinking back I’m not sure I was conscious enough from all the chloroform he fed me to really feel the pain.

  “Why are we here Callie?” He repeated angrily and I noticed that he dropped the sweet from my name when he was angry with me. He hadn’t used it since I had questioned him in the kitchen.

  “Because I questioned you.” I told him, without emotion, what I thought he wanted to hear. I had known for so long that this was coming, that he would come back for me and I would once again stand in front of the mirror with him, so I’d surrendered myself to what was happening. Yet that tiny voice was still trying to be heard and so my mind was flipping from numb to terrified and back again at a rate of knots.

  “Good. And why shouldn’t you question me Callie?” I felt the knife at my shoulder again.

  “I’m sorry, I just wanted to know why you’re doing this. I thought you wanted to tell me.” I began to ramble.

  “Concentrate! Why shouldn’t you question me?” He punctuated each word with a short scratch of the knife on my arm and I screamed, my legs becoming weak beneath me. His grip on my chin tightened in a bid to hold me upright and I knew his fingers would leave bruises. “Think now Callie, you know this. Why shouldn’t you question me?”

  “Be...because a...a lady never qu...questions her m...m...man.” I finally got the words out between sobs.

  “There it is. I knew you would learn fast my sweet girl. I picked well in you. Irene always said you were a good girl.” He relaxed his grip on my chin and turned me to face him. “
Now, you may take some time to reflect on your lessons. Stay in your room until I say otherwise.” His words were cold and methodical. He turned and left the room, the key turned in the lock on the other side of the door and I sunk to the floor, my back against the mirror and sobbed.

  *****

  I must have cried myself to sleep because when I woke I was on the bed in the cellar. I wondered how he was managing to move me around like this in my sleep, I wasn’t a heavy sleeper and normally woke at the slightest noise or movement. He must have been drugging me somehow, perhaps in my food or water? Because all I knew was that I constantly felt exhausted. A grunt in the corner of the cellar startled me from my thoughts and I looked over to see a hunched figure in the darkness. Fumbling around for the lamp I knew to be there, I switched it on. A low glow lit the dank and gloomy greyness of the room.

  “Hello? Malcolm?” I ventured, moving slowly towards the section of wall I knew the chains were attached to. The figure jumped at the sound of my voice and backed up against the wall. The chains rattled as the figure moved and I realised they were attached to whoever this was. Fear pooled in the pit of my stomach as I realised he had taken another woman. Why? When I was supposed to be the last?

  “Hello? I won’t hurt you.” I continued to move towards her and a deep masculine groan came from the figure. A man I realised with a jolt. Why would he take a man? He had never done that before, at least not that I knew of. It had always been women. I crouched low beside the form and reached over to remove the hood that was covering his face. I gasped and scampered back, crouching nearby as I uncovered the man.

  “Oh no. No, no, no, please God no. No. No. No.” I keened and rocked back and forth on my heels as I recognised Jase’s beaten and bloody face in front of me. He began mumbling incoherently and pulling on the chains, yanking hard, his eyes wide and disorientated. I moved to his side quickly snapping out of my shocked state.

  “Sshhh, Jase, it’s me, it’s CeeCee. It’s ok. I’ve got you. Sssshhhh baby please. We’re going to be ok. Jay please listen to me, hear my voice Jay, it’s me.” I cradled his face between my hands and tried to soothe him with words, tried to get him to hear my voice. I knew if there were any noise down here it would bring Malcolm down those stairs and that was never going to be a good thing. I began planting chaste kisses on his cheeks and forehead, whispering words of comfort in between, knowing that I had to calm him and fast.

  Jase’s eyes eventually focused on me and he began to calm. “CeeCee?” he croaked.

  “Yes, it’s me. Hang on...” I moved away quickly to the fridge and brought back some water. Opening the bottle I held it to his lips. “Here, drink some of this.”

  “Where are we?” he managed to whisper hoarsely after drinking some of the water.

  “In Malcolm’s cellar.” I said, knowing how ridiculous it sounded.

  “Malcolm? What? I don’t understand.” Jase pulled on the chains as he reached for me. I moved closer and took his hands in mine.

  “Tell me what you remember.” I asked him. “What happened to you?”

  He shook his head and squeezed his eyes tight shut for a second. “The last thing I remember was coming out of the pub after yelling at Mick and Adam. Nick was there too. Malcolm in his usual spot.”

  “What else?” I pushed.

  “Nothing. Nothing, Cee until I woke up here.” he moaned as he tried to move to a more comfortable position. He grimaced when he looked up at me. “Your arm Cee.”

  “It’s fine. Nothing. You know, it’s what he does, doesn’t even hurt anymore.” I rambled in an attempt to calm him.

  “Malcolm did this to you? And the last time?” Jase began to put everything together.

  “It was him all along. He took the others. He took me last time. He never went anywhere Jay, he was here the whole time. Watching. It was him that hurt you, not Adam. Him who took your phone. He told me he was purposely putting the bodies close to your work place to try and set you up too.” I sank down on the cold floor, beside his long legs.

  “Come closer Cee.” Jase pleaded and I did. I moved in as close as I could get to him and rested my head on his chest. “Tell me everything.”

  “I don’t know much. He hasn’t told me why he’s doing it. Just that I am meant to be his reward for a lifetime of teaching or something. He has some kind of obsession with women behaving like ladies. He insists I dress a certain way, picks out clothes for me to wear. Every time I do something he considers unladylike, the knife comes out. He calls the cuts my lessons. He keeps hinting at my Mum and Dad being involved somehow but he hasn’t said how yet. I think he killed them too Jay.” I explained.

  “Shit!” Jase whispered, horrified and pulled me as close to him as the chains would allow.

  “We’re definitely in his house. I’ve been upstairs and I remember it from when we used to visit with my parents. All the windows are covered, nobody can see in. He locks me down here when he leaves. I’ve banged on the window but I can’t break it like before. I’ve screamed until my throat gave out. He’s not making any mistakes this time.” Weakening, I let the tears come.

  “It’s okay baby. I’m here. We’ll figure it out. You do not end this way.” Jase crooned into my hair and I let the comfort wash over me, no matter how temporary I knew it to be.

  I don’t know how long we sat in each other’s arms like that, I only knew that we wouldn’t have very long before Malcolm came back down there and hurt Jase. I had no doubt this was one of his twisted lessons for me. I would fight for Jase I decided. I couldn’t let him suffer for me. This was not his fight. It was all somehow connected to my family so I had to make sure it ended with me and didn’t involve anyone else.

  The door at the top of the stairs creaked open and a dark silhouette appeared at the top, he descended slowly.

  “Ah sweet Callie, I see you have found your gift. Hmmm, unfortunately you have un-wrapped it too early though. I wanted to see the surprise on your face when you saw my trinket for you. You should have waited for me, a lady waits for her man.” His voice had become cold and Jase’s arms tightened around me.

  “Stay the hell away from her you bastard!” Jase shouted at him.

  Malcolm laughed loudly, “And in what position are you exactly to be giving orders I wonder? Come to me Callie!” He extended a hand in my direction but his eyes never left Jase.

  With effort I pushed Jase’s arms away, he looked at me, confused and I pleaded with him with my eyes to stay quiet and let me go.

  “It’s okay. If I don’t go to him it will be worse, for both of us.” I whispered and he shook his head frantically. I kissed his cheek and looked away quickly as tears appeared in his eyes. Rising on unsteady legs, I moved towards Malcolm.

  “Good girl.” Malcolm praised, he took my hand and rested it on the banister at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes telling me to stay. He moved towards Jase, goading him as he went. “Do you see this Jason? See how she comes to me? Responds to me? Don’t you wish you had taken better care of her now? She could still be yours if only you had treated her like a real lady and not defiled her at every opportunity. You did not know how to treat her, none of you did. Not you, her brother, not the Irish thug or the biker and most certainly not that mangy police dog! You all failed her and now it is left up to me to fix her.”

  “You’re going to take a little nap now my boy, she will return to you later, when I have finished with her.” He crouched beside Jase and when I saw the tell tale rag in his hand I knew what was coming. Jase pulled at the chains and growled angrily. When Malcolm covered Jase’s face with the chloroform filled rag he struggled for a few seconds before the drug rendered him unconscious. Malcolm stood.

  “Come now my lady, it is time for your lessons.” He led me up the two flights of stairs towards the bedroom and once again I was in front of that mirror.

  *****

  The knife worked its path down my arm for the third time. I knew what he wanted to hear, but I wasn’t giving it up. This time I
was angry. Doing this to me was one thing, but hurting someone I loved to teach me one of his sick lessons? No. I would not give in to that! I held out as long as I could as he silently repeated the pattern from shoulder to wrist, over and over until I lost count of how many scars I would be left with from the wounds he ground into my skin. I could no longer see the marks he had made for the blood that covered them and I had become mesmerised by the crimson river that trailed down my arm and dripped onto the carpet, forming a pool of red against the beige material under my bare feet. That’ll be a bitch to get out, I thought to myself humourlessly. I didn’t know how long we had been standing there like this, in front of the mirror as he forced me to watch his actions, I became numb to the pain and I knew I would soon pass out.

  “Come now Callie.” He spoke at last, “Don’t make me give your lessons to your little friend downstairs instead. Tell me what you have learned.”

  My eyes had been closing but I jolted back into consciousness at his words, finding my legs and standing straighter despite the weakness I felt. I could not, would not, let him hurt anyone else because of me. Jase and I may not have been on the best of terms, but he didn’t deserve this. No, this was not happening to him. I gathered the strength I knew I had to muster in order to play this maniac at his own game.

  “I should have waited for you to open my gift.” I told him coldly, my voice was weak but I said the words without wavering. I could do this, I knew what he wanted to hear, it was easy to give him exactly what he wanted. I could play his game, I knew the rules.