The Scarlet Anniversary

by Lubowa M. Planet

  The car travelled along the road at a slow and steady pace and as they reached the exit to the main road Katie swore.

  ‘What the fuck is that?’

  The headlights were illuminating a large pair of heavy wooden gates that were too tall to climb over and were set so that access to the main road was barred. ‘We value our privacy as you can imagine.’ Maddy said, almost laughing.

  ‘Well, we’ll have to go and open them then.’

  ‘Yes, that sounds like an idea,’ Maddy paused. ‘We’ll have to go back to the cottage though – that’s where they keys are.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘There was never any chance that you would have managed to climb over them even if you had got this far,’ Maddy smiled again. ‘We’re not completely stupid.’

  ‘Shit!’ Katie pulled the knife back a little and Maddy could feel the edge digging dangerously into her flesh. ‘Right then – we go back and get the keys.’

  ‘That seems to be your only option,’ Maddy agreed and felt the knife tighten again, a sharp pain flared through her synapses and she realised that she had been cut a little bit. It would perhaps be wiser not to antagonise this woman any more. She turned the car around and started driving towards the cottage.

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ Katie asked her and Maddy shrugged.

  ‘Because I like it,’ she said. ‘I hope that you were not expecting a deeper answer?’

  ‘You kidnap women and bring them here because you like it?’

  ‘Can you think of a better reason?’

  ‘You’re sick in the fucking head!’

  ‘Like I said, I’m not stupid – I know that I’m sick in the fucking head as you put it.’ Maddy paused. ‘You won’t get away you know. He’ll stop you from getting the keys and then I’ll punish you.’

  ‘Shut up,’ Katie hissed.

  ‘The things that I’ll do to you will make you wish that you had never left Australia,’ Maddy continued. ‘In fact they’ll make you wish you were never fucking born.’

  ‘I said shut up!’

  Maddy pressed her foot to the accelerator, it was not a huge increase in speed but it was enough that if she had her throat cut that the car would crash. ‘I’m sorry, what I should say is that I will punish you by cutting your stupid fucking name into the blonde ones stomach, I’ll make you watch. Then I’ll start peeling the skin from her face and then he will make you eat it.’

  ‘Shut the fuck up!’

  ‘Make me, but if you cut my throat then the car will crash and he will search for your family!’

  ‘They’re in Australia.’

  ‘Your Aunt Sheena and Uncle Frank aren’t though are they?’ Maddy smiled. ‘They’re in Edinburgh!’

  ‘What? How did you know?’

  ‘You think this has been an entirely random process you stupid bitch?’

  Ahead of them the road widened and then there was the small collection of buildings that included the cottage and the shed. Maddy slowed down and pulled the car to a halt.

  ‘Now what are you going to do?’ She asked.

  ‘Get the keys.’

  ‘The blonde one will be tied up again,’ Maddy chuckled. ‘Do you think you can handle both of us?’

  ‘I’ll have the knife at your throat!’

  ‘I know you will but that doesn’t answer the question does it?’

  ‘Just shut up and get out of the car!’

  Maddy nodded and opened the door. The knife stayed at her throat until the last minute but Katie was fast enough to get it back in position before Maddy could have done anything, if that had been her intention which it wasn’t. Not at this time.

  ‘Where are the keys?’

  ‘In the shed!’ Maddy nodded ahead.

  ‘You said they were in the cottage,’ Katie pulled the knife back and Maddy could feel the blade slice a bit further.

  ‘I know what I said but he will have taken then to the shed in case this happened!’ Maddy laughed a little. ‘David, we’re back!’ she called out in a loud voice.

  ‘Shut the fuck up!’ Katie hissed but of course it was too late – David had heard them.

  ‘Fuck,’ Katie thought about what to do. The thing was it was clear that these two were married and the chances were that he would do anything to make sure that his wife wasn’t harmed. Even if it went wrong then she would still be able to kill this bitch and hopefully do him some damage. They had kept her here tied up and they had taken her when she wasn’t expecting it and this would have caused them to underestimate what she was capable of. Katie felt like a cornered animal at this time and there was no way they would take her so easily again. ‘Right, move forwards and remember this knife!’

  ‘I’m hardly likely to forget it.’

  They started moving towards the shed and Katie felt her heart thumping in her chest.

  YYY

  CHAPTER TEN

  ‘David, we’re back!’

  The tone in Maddy’s voice and the fact that she had called out had alerted David to the fact that all was not well. He knew what to do and hobbled as quickly as he could to a shelf. He picked up a bottle that was made from brown glass and unscrewed the cap as he moved back towards Portia. She watched as he held it at an angle over her face. For the first time since she had been brought here, she felt fear worm its way into her heart. The bottle had a label that proclaimed that it contained ‘Nitric Acid’ and the pungent, chemical aroma that assailed her nostrils confirmed the labels truth. She moaned into the tape that was placed over her mouth – she tried to control the panic but she knew what the acid would do to her face and her eyes if he spilled it on her. This was the first time that she had no control over anything and it was being exacerbated by the fact that David was obviously concerned about his wife and about being caught. She wriggled as much as the chains that fastened her to the table would allow but the movement that she was allowed was negligible.

  They waited for a moment and then the door opened and Maddy walked in with Katie behind her, a knife held in her blood-stained hand and a look of determined hatred in her eyes.

  ‘I want the keys to those gates!’

  ‘Let my wife go,’ he replied in a calm, reasonable sounding voice.

  ‘Give me the damned keys you bastard!’ Katie yelled and to Portia’s horror she saw that the sudden change in tone almost made him jump a little. She kept her attention fixed on the bottle and twisted her head away so that if any did fall, it would get the side of her head rather than her face.

  ‘Let my wife go or I will drop this acid onto her face!’

  ‘Do that and I’ll slit this fucker’s throat!’

  ‘Put the knife down Katie!’

  ‘Don’t say my name you bastard!’

  ‘Put the knife down,’ he tipped the bottle over a little and some acid dropped from the open neck. Portia screamed into her gag as the acid landed on the table in front of her face, her eyes screwed shut as it sizzled and hissed against the metal. A few tiny droplets landed on her forehead and even from these, the pain was excruciating. ‘I will use this.’

  Katie watched as the acid bottle was held slightly to the left, directly over Portia’s head and she knew that he would do it. Even if Katie slit his wife’s throat, this bastard would pour the bottle over the bound girls head. Her survival instinct screamed at her not to care. She didn’t know anything about Portia and the girl didn’t matter. Only her survival mattered. Her logic told her that to drop the knife would mean that they were both doomed and that she should kill the wife, and then as the acid was dropped, take a chance and attack the husband. She glanced at Portia, bound from ankle to neck with iron black chains and then she looked at David, his face stony and impassive, the hand holding the bottle wavering a little.

  ‘Put the knife down!’ He said again.

  ‘Put the acid down and give me the keys!’

  ‘Sorry, but that simply is not going to happen,’ he cocked his head to the side. ‘If you hurt my wife I will pour this over
her face and then down her throat and then over her body. You will watch as she thrashes in agony as the acid burns through her skin, the smell will make you sick to your stomach and her screams will stay with you forever.’

  Katie looked at Portia and then back at David.

  ‘Can you live without this bitch?’ She hissed.

  ‘If I give you the keys then you get people to come here and we will both go to prison and I will have to live without her anyway. What would be the difference?’

  ‘You’re going to kill us?’

  ‘Yes, quite right, we are.’

  ‘Give me the fucking keys!’

  The bottle tipped a little and Portia screamed frantically into her gag and Katie knew that she couldn’t watch him pour the acid. Her mind frantically went from scenario to scenario and she had absolutely no idea of what to do. The bottle tipped a little further, still not enough to release the acid and Katie dropped the knife. She wasn’t even sure that she had done it until she felt a hard balled fist being jabbed into his stomach. She sank to her knees and looked up to see the wife smiling at her and pulling a fist back.

  ‘Don’t…’ the man said somewhere in the distance and then the punch landed on her face. Numb agony spread across her cheek like a cloud and Katie fell backwards onto the cold stone floor. She looked up in time to see a kick being aimed at her stomach and as a rain of hard kicks and punches were levelled at her, she found herself drifting towards an unconsciousness that showed her images of the farm that she had grown up on and her mother and father standing, hand in hand, and looking at her with tears in their eyes.

  In what seemed to be a succession of images that were happening to someone else, she felt herself being hauled to her feet as her underwear was cut from her body. She was then bound to a metal pole outside, behind the shed, her hands above her as the woman sprayed freezing water from a hose all over her; The man was beside her, mopping the blood from her face, arms and body. He then dried her off with a towel. It was quite a gentle motion he was using. Then she was tied to a chair as the woman used a needle and clear thread to stitch her cheek together. She was then dressed in a black dress, black gloves and black stockings. Then she was chained to a table with the top of her head next to the top of Portia’s head. Then she saw herself, chained and helpless and waiting to die.

  The lights surrounding her went off and she saw her mum and dad again, they turned away from her and walked back to the white farmhouse that she knew she would never see again. She began to weep.

  YYY

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Maddy looked at herself in the bedroom mirror, the wound on her throat had been superficial but had bled like a bitch. She had washed off the scabbed blood and had tried to cover it with a flesh coloured plaster.

  ‘Christ,’ David lay on the bed looking at his knee; it was enormous and covered in purple, green and blue bruising. ‘That bloody bitch nearly did for us tonight Maddy!’

  ‘You chose her David,’ Maddy said and turned to face him. ‘You know what though?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘That was brilliant! That was real.’

  ‘What are you talking about darling? It’s always real!’

  ‘No, not when they just lie there and take it,’ Maddy moved to the bed and lay beside her husband. ‘She fought back and it was amazing!’

  ‘She nearly got away!’

  ‘No she didn’t, she got as far as the gates and then she was stuck!’

  ‘She could have killed you!’

  ‘I know she could have,’ Maddy smiled and kissed his neck. ‘She didn’t though – you saved me!’

  ‘It’s a mess Maddy!’

  ‘No, it’s not, it’s like the first time only better because she wants to live and what we’re going to take from her will be something wonderful.’ She moved so that she was above him and looking into his eyes. ‘She could have slit my throat tonight David, I have never felt so alive. I want you – I want you now!’

  ‘Maddy…’

  ‘Shut up and fuck me David.’ She leaned forwards and kissed him on the mouth and from his reaction she knew that he wouldn’t take much persuasion. She moved so that she was on her back and he shifted his weight and position, wincing as the weight change caused his swollen knee to screech in discordant pain. He moved his head down and started kissing her neck and as he did so, she turned her head to the left and looked at the open laptop. As he kissed her, she saw the image that was being directed to the computer by the web cameras that were in the shed. They were both chained to their tables and as David mounted her, she wanted the brunette to be able to see this. She wanted her to know that what she had done tonight had not scared her at all.

  She closed her eyes and imaged that the brunette was chained to the wall, her eyelids cut off and her head in a clamp so that she was forced to watch her being screwed by her husband. As the thoughts surged through her she found that her body was becoming frighteningly aroused and sensitive to her husband’s earnest but usually uninspired grinding. She moaned as he thrust and twisted and in her mind, she saw Katie watching them.

  Portia lay in the room, chained to the table and gazed at her reflection – She was furious, angry that the bitch next to her had tried to escape, but ultimately the brunt of her fury was effectively being directed towards herself. She hated the fact that she had allowed that useless middle aged prick to scare her and she swore that he would pay dearly for doing that to her. She was not a vain woman, though the idea of her face being damaged by acid was more terrifying than the thought of any of the other things that they could do to her. She reasoned that her life was only as easy as it was because she had looks that could carry her through the harder portions of it. People were attracted to her and that made them easier to bend to her every will; To try and imagine what life would be like, with some hideous scarring, was almost impossible for her to do. As she gazed into the mirror above, she tried to draw comfort from her long, shapely legs, her round but proportionate hips and a waist that lead to a pair of magnificent breasts. But all she could see was a face that was red, wasted and raw from the acid that could have been dropped into it.

  She would make David pay for that. There was no doubt in her mind, but she would also make sure that the brunette fuck wit chained on the other table would learn the folly of not listening to her first.

  There was a movement on the other table and she flicked her eyes up to look at Katie’s reflection. Sure enough, she had started to regain consciousness. She looked good in bondage too – her legs were perhaps a little more muscle-bound that Portia’s and her hips slightly wider but her breasts were fairly spectacular and now that she had a chance to look impassively, Portia thought that it was possible that Katie was as attractive as she was in a more accessible way. It would be nice to see acid being taken to her face. It might make her think twice about disobeying Portia’s will.

  ‘Katie? Are you awake?’ She said softly.

  ‘What? Yeah, yeah I’m okay,’ Katie mumbled as she dragged herself awake. ‘Shit, what happened?’

  ‘They caught you and the woman gave you a terrible beating,’ Portia whimpered. ‘I think I heard something break. How do you feel?’

  ‘Like I’ve been dropped from a plane onto a pile of bricks,’ Katie tried to move into a more comfortable position but the chains were too tight and ubiquitous to allow any movement. ‘Fuck, I can’t move!’

  ‘They have us chained up,’ Portia looked into the mirror. ‘We’re trapped.’

  ‘Yeah, Christ I can’t move anything!’

  Portia was not surprised because if they had used a lot of chains on her, it seemed that they had used twice as many on Katie. She was wrapped from ankle to neck in the black chains and Portia knew that these would be painful against her body. She knew from experience. At least she had some areas on her body that were free from the hard metal links.

  ‘We’re not going to get out of this; Are we?’ Portia said in a voice that she knew was pitiful and weak so
unding.

  ‘It’s not over yet,’ Katie replied. ‘I’ll be damned if I am going to let these freaks kill me and if it starts looking too bad then I’m taking one of them with me.’

  ‘I don’t think that they’ll take any chances with you – I don’t know if they’ll let you free again.’

  ‘They can’t keep me here.’

  ‘Why else would they free you?’ Portia felt a grim sense of satisfaction welling within her. It would be easier for her in the long run if her fellow captive had a sense of helplessness and futility instilled within her. ‘I think that we’re both on these tables until we die. Oh God, we’re going to die here and no-one will even know what happened to us, will they?’

  ‘Listen Portia, we need to stay calm.’

  ‘What’s the point? Neither of us can move and nobody knows where we are so what’s the point?’

  ‘If we panic, then we will definitely die here. Keeping calm will give us an edge.’ Katie paused and stared at her reflection. Portia was right, the chains were tight and even if she managed to get her hands free from the leather cuffs, there was no way that she would get free from them. However, there was no way that she was going to go quietly to her death and there was no way that she was going to give up – it wasn’t just her life at stake, it was that of her twin brothers because Katie knew that if she died here, then he would never fully recover and that it might end up being the thing that finished him. ‘These people that have kidnapped us – we need to work out what we can do against them.’

  ‘There’s nothing we can do Katie, we’re helpless and tied up – what can we do?’

  ‘We need to think. If we just accept this, then we might as well be dead now!’

  ‘We are dead!’

  ‘No, we’re not – Not yet!’

  They lay in silence and Katie tried to work out exactly what was happening. She knew that the couple were married and from this set up, she knew that she and Portia were far from their first victims. Why had they left them alone tonight? Was it so that they could both feed on each other’s fear? That seemed likely but was it going to help them? Were the chains not enough? There were so many questions rattling through her mind but the trauma of the beating she had received from that bitch was taking its toll. She didn’t want to sleep but by the same token, she knew that she had to get some rest otherwise she would have absolutely no chance whatsoever of escaping. The chains were hurting like a bastard. Each link seemed to be directly above a nerve cluster and she was in utter agony. Her face was stinging from the abrasion she received when she had ripped the gag free, though she was aware that they had cleaned up the wound and stitched it together. This too was weird. Why would they go to that trouble if they were going to kill her anyway? Why had they dressed them both up – Portia in white and her in black? It was all very, very specific and that worried her because it meant that they had planned this to a high degree. This reduced on the she may have to escape.