The Scarlet Anniversary

by Lubowa M. Planet

  ‘You’re gay?’

  ‘Yes, sorry, I hope that doesn’t make you hurt me more?’ Portia’s voice was breathless and helpless sounding. She was very pleased with the fact that the woman had personalised the question though.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ Maddy said.

  ‘No, I suppose it doesn’t,’ Portia sobbed a little. ‘I just wish that I had met someone that had loved me, if only for a short time.’

  She paused and caught herself, cursing her stupidity. She had told David that she was getting married soon and of course he might have told his wife but after a moment passed and the woman hadn’t picked up on it she relaxed a little and continued.

  ‘I’m sorry; it’s silly of me I know. I don’t expect you to care, I’m just someone that you’re going to torture to death and why would you care whether I was a lesbian or in a relationship. I’m just scared that’s all and when I get scared I talk too much. Do you want to gag me again?’

  ‘No, that’s alright; For the moment, just get on with it.’

  ‘Why would someone as beautiful as you need to do the things that you do?’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Maddy was staring at Portia with an intensity that was almost overpowering.

  ‘I mean – this is going to sound stupid,’ Portia adopted as innocent an expression as she could. ‘Listen, if I met you in a bar and knew that you wanted to dress me up and tie me up, then I would let you – I would enjoy it. Do you enjoy the killing? Is that why you do this?’

  Maddy sighed and brought a length of cloth from her pocket, Portia’s eyes widened as the gag was applied.

  ‘Just do what you need to do – you have one minute!’

  Maddy sat back on the edge of the bath. Was it true? Did she enjoy the torture and murder as much as she enjoyed the feeling of having someone as a prisoner? Thinking back to the first one they had taken, it seemed that they killed her as it seemed like the logical thing to do. They had kidnapped someone and subjected them to hours and hours of captivity and then they had killed her. They had decided to torture her as that had felt like it had been the appropriate thing to do, but afterwards she had vomited and the woman they had killed, her expression had haunted Maddy’s sleep for weeks. Even after they had done it again and again, it was that first victim that had lingered in the dark recesses of her mind. If she had been asked to state which of them had first suggested that the woman had to die, then she would have said that it was David that had first raised the possibility. She wasn’t blaming him as it was their only real option. Neither had wanted to go to prison and she had participated, getting a thrill as the blood had started to flow, but if she could have let the woman go without consequence, then would she have done that? It was almost impossible to tell after the relentless slaughter that had followed, but she thought that the answer was yes – she would have.

  The fact was, she had no moral ground to stand on though; Not in the slightest as she had participated in the torture and death of so many innocent women since then. She had worked out new and horrifying things to do to them. While it had provided a thrill of excitement at first, now it was just something else that they did. In essence, the rut that they had been in before they decided to spice things up had morphed slowly and surely into a rut of a different nature. That was why they had kidnapped two this time; Just to make it different and she wondered if this would be a pattern until they had to do something else – kidnap a man, or God forbid – a child.

  ‘Have you finished?’ She turned her full attention to Portia who nodded mutely in reply and Maddy indicated that she should stand up.

  Katie forced down another mouthful of porridge, wincing at the fact that it seemed to be exceptionally salted. She assumed that perhaps this was another subtle form of torture because she knew that within an hour, she would be incredibly thirsty. She had come to the conclusion that nothing either of these bastards did was by mistake. She hadn’t made eye contact with the man and he hadn’t said a word. He was just sitting in a sullen silence, mechanically raising the spoon to her mouth. She felt porridge on her chin but really didn’t care about it; Why should she? She was an object to these fuckers. So they had a responsibility to look after her appearance if they chose to. In fact, she felt that she had been tied up for so long that it had become her natural state of being and she had begun to accept that she would never be free again. Well, never free in life.

  ‘Katie, I saw a ghost once!’

  The voice was so clear that she glanced at David but he was not looking at her and the voice had been that of Delaney, her eldest brother.

  She remembered the conversation like it had taken place yesterday when in reality it had been when she was young, maybe ten, maybe younger. Delaney was fourteen and took a great degree in pleasure from torturing her as much as he could and she took great pleasure in letting him. It was fun because he spent all his time trying to frighten her and she loved it.

  ‘No you didn’t – you’re a big smelly liar!’ Katie said, not taking her attention away from Lucy, her doll.

  ‘I did,’ Delaney insisted. ‘When I went to the big school, we were all told to go into a room beneath the art department and it was there we saw the ghost.’

  ‘Liar!’

  ‘He was horrible. He only had one eye and his throat had been slit open so far that his head flapped about when he walked.’

  ‘I’m telling dad if you don’t shut up,’ she squealed, desperate to hear the end of the story but wanting him to stop at the same time.

  ‘He was a boy that had gone to the school twenty years ago and he was annoying. He annoyed a teacher called Mad Jim; So much that one day, Mad Jim caught him, took him to the basement.’

  ‘Delaney, stop.’

  ‘Mad Jim had a thumbnail that he never, ever cut – he just sharpened it and let it grow until it was the size of a knife. He took the boy down to the basement and then with his big, sharp, dirty thumbnail, he poked his eye out and then made him eat it – right off of his nail. It was horrible and then, as soon as the boy had swallowed his own eye, Mad Jim cut his bloody throat from ear to bloody ear.’

  ‘I’m telling dad you swore.’

  ‘I didn’t swear.’

  ‘You did, you said bloody – you said it two times.’

  ‘Yeah, that’s not swearing – that just means there was lots of blood, that’s all.’

  Katie stared at him, her doll forgotten and the thrill of fear overriding everything. ‘What happened to Mad Jim?’

  ‘He disappeared,’ Delaney leaned forward, smiling ghoulishly. ‘Nobody knows where he went. The police and army couldn’t find him but he’s still there, waiting for some other kid to start being annoying; He waits to get them.’

  ‘Why hasn’t he got you then? You’re annoying.’

  ‘No I’m not, he also says the next time it’ll be an annoying little girl that he’ll get. Someone like you.’

  ‘This is stupid, it’s a stupid made up bloody story!’

  ‘It’s not, if it was made up then how would I know what the boy looked like when he died? That’s what happens – when you die you stay that way forever! Forever and ever!’

  Katie had been scared at that idea more than any talk of ghosts. She had held onto that thought through most of her childhood and when her Grandmother had died, wasted and broken by Alzheimer’s, she had worried that she would go to eternity as a drooling, incoherent, incontinent shell of a human being. As she had grown older, she had begun to suspect that there was no afterlife and had developed a cheerful nihilism, but now she wondered if she would remain bound and gagged throughout eternity; Helpless and silent forever and cursed to watch the world unfold and never be able to escape from the eternal ropes or chains that held her tightly.

  Portia was brought back to the room. She glanced at Katie and managed a weak smile, as much as her gag would allow before she was placed on the chair. Maddy bound her ankles to one of the chair legs and then moved over and began to untie the ropes that held K
atie to the chair. David still remained silent throughout these procedures and Katie noticed that every so often, his wife shot him a glance that was as sharp as the knives and tools that hung up in the shed. He seemed oblivious to them but as he was mostly staring at the table, it almost seemed as though he was oblivious to everything that was happening.

  YYY

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Maddy sat in the kitchen gazing into her cup of coffee. Both the women were safely back in the shed, both bound and gagged again. Her and David had retired to the cottage. The screen of the open laptop showed that the women weren’t going anywhere. They had been tied to supporting beams that ran from the floor to the ceiling, with rope that wound the entire length of them. This time, they had been gagged with rope that was wrapped in their mouths and tied around the beams. They had bound them in separate rooms that had been built on to the main shed. Once they had been tied elaborately to the posts, they had blindfolded them with long black silk scarves that were also tied around the poles. They weren’t going anywhere and Maddy had told David that she wanted to leave them that way for an hour. He had quietly agreed and they had come back to the cottage,

  ‘She gave you an erection?’ She said after a pause that seemed like a weeks’ worth of silence, there was no point in being tactful or less than blunt.

  ‘What?’

  ‘She said that when you were tying her up she could feel your erection.’

  David looked at her and removed his glasses to give them a clean. She knew that this was his reaction whenever he had been caught lying; He thought that it bought him some time to think, but she was not prepared to let him do that.

  ‘Is it true David?’

  ‘Yes,’ he nodded as he wiped imaginary dust from his spectacles. ‘I had an erection.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I’m sorry?’ He looked at her, truly baffled by what she had asked.

  ‘Why would she make you horny?’

  ‘She moved herself against me, she’s dangerous – she knows what she’s doing.’

  ‘Is that why you punched her?’

  David put his glasses back on. ‘No, I punched her because she tried to manipulate me.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘She suggested that we kill the brunette, all three of us and then she would stay with us, she’d be our slave and do whatever we wanted her to do.’

  Maddy’s heart twisted at this suggestion. She had wanted someone to take on that role for longer than she had known David, but to hear that someone had almost volunteered to take on the role almost took her breath away.

  ‘What did you say?’

  ‘I punched her Maddy; She’s dangerous and we need to kill her.’

  ‘Yes, we do,’ Maddy paused and stared at her husband for a moment. ‘This weekend isn’t working, is it?’

  ‘So far it’s not been ideal,’ he smiled at her and that made her laugh. ‘I’m sorry Maddy; I know how much this meant to you.’

  ‘It’s not your fault David – we just brought the wrong women with us.’

  He looked at her and nodded thoughtfully. ‘You’ve been referring to them as people Maddy, that’s not like you.’

  She thought about it and then sat back. He was right – She had started thinking of them as women and not objects and that disturbed her. It showed her that what they were doing couldn’t be ignored as a game, not any more. ‘Maybe we need to stop doing this David?’

  ‘We just made a mistake this time,’ he shrugged. ‘We’ll make sure the next two are quieter, more docile – the way we like them.’

  ‘David, I don’t want to keep doing this, it’s gone on for too long.’ She paused and looked at him. ‘Don’t you agree?’

  ‘Maddy, it’s what we do.’ He stood up, his face creasing with discomfort as his leg straightened. ‘Can you really give this all up?’

  ‘The killings, yes, I could give them up tomorrow.’

  ‘What about the other stuff, what we do together, the thrill of having them at our mercy?’

  ‘Couldn’t we look online for someone that enjoys being tied up? I’m sure that there are lots of women that want to be submissive. Someone who’d love to be held captive by us.’

  ‘And that would fulfil you? Would it?’

  ‘Yes, I think it would darling.’

  ‘I don’t think it would Maddy. I mean we can tie someone up as tightly and as securely as we want but deep down if we know they enjoy it, then it won’t be the same as having those things tied up against their will.’ He indicated the video that was streaming through the open laptop. ‘Look at them, they are immobile, silent and blind and completely terrified because they both understand that their time on this world is coming to an end. We are the ones that will decide how and when they leave it – we are their gods at the moment and having some stupid bitch writhing about and enjoying it more than we are isn’t a fucking acceptable substitute! And you know it isn’t!’

  ‘David – please, calm down.’

  ‘No Maddy, you’re threatening everything that we love, what we’ve worked to build.’ He looked around helplessly. ‘Why do you want to take that away? Why are you being so selfish?’

  ‘Jesus Christ David, I’m not being selfish – I just don’t want to kill any more.’

  There was a moment of loaded silence. He sat heavily in the chair, glaring at her with eyes that were dark and filled with rage. ‘Why was the blonde gagged when you brought it back from the toilet?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It wasn’t gagged when you took it away.’

  ‘She was talking too much.’

  ‘I see. So, what did she say to you?’

  ‘Nothing that I hadn’t already been thinking David.’ Maddy sighed. ‘Listen, we could find something else, something that we both enjoy that won’t end up sending us to prison.’

  He turned and walked from the room. As far as he was concerned, there wasn’t any middle ground and she knew that in her heart. She also knew that they would one day explode apart and the marriage would be over. The kidnappings and the torture and murder of innocent women was the only thing that had been holding them together and once that was gone, then they would be polar opposites and the fall out would be disastrous.

  YYYYYY

  ‘What are we going to do now?’ Maddy had said as she pulled her clothes back on, glancing at the woman that was bound to the wooden post, her eyes were red with tears and her makeup had ran down her cheeks. ‘Can we let her go? We can’t, can we?’

  David had fastened his trousers and looked at the girl with cool, calm eyes. He told her later that as he looked at the bound girl, he had felt like a real man and while he knew that was a stupid, shallow way to feel, he hadn’t been able to help it. Their lovemaking had been turned from something nice into something magical as the woman had been forced to watch. He had moved over and stroked her hair, she had tried to twist away from his touch but the rope that had been tied around her forehead had prevented any significant movement.

  ‘Will you tell anyone what happened?’ He had whispered to her and she had shaken her head as much as the bindings would let her. He had gazed at the woman for a while and although Maddy hadn’t known this at the time, in fact she never quite understood the depths of his darkest thoughts, the fact that this woman had no longer been a random Eastern European student to him but had been Samantha. His first love and his biggest regret had really sealed their victim’s fate. He smiled at her and then had pulled the knotted cloth from her mouth.

  ‘Will you tell anyone what happened here today?’ He asked again, his voice surprisingly gentle and compassionate sounding and she had looked directly into his eyes.

  ‘No, I promise that I will tell no-one, please will you let me go home please?’ Maddy had found that she wanted to let this girl go because she didn’t know who they were and neither of them was distinctive enough looking that she would be able to describe them in any great detail.

  ‘Should we let her go darli
ng?’ He had asked without looking at her.

  ‘We can’t, can we?’ She realised now that there had been a sliver of hope in the question, but at the time it had seemed like the answer would be inevitable, which of course it had been. He had shaken his head and as the girl had realised that she was close to death, she had opened her mouth and wailed. It had been a sound unlike any Maddy had heard before – or in fact had heard since, even with all the things they had done, but it had almost torn her apart. David quickly stuffed the gag back in her mouth and tightened it but that initial cry of despair had seemingly flown across the world and embedded itself in the collective misery of the world.

  ‘If we’re going to do this we should take our time with it,’ he had said. ‘Honour her passing by making it epic.’

  Maddy had nodded, numb with the thought of what was going to transpire and then he had held her close and kissed her forehead.

  ‘It’s fun.’ He had said and for years Maddy had convinced herself that he had said ‘It’ll be fun’ but she had always known that he hadn’t said that.

  Forty minutes later, the pretty Latvian girl was dead. Her eyes stared into eternity and her body was a ruined mess. Maddy had wanted to vomit but David had stopped her. He told her that she would have to wait; Any vomit could be DNA tested. In fact he arranged for the disposal of the body with an almost practised ease and although she had assumed that this was just his cool, level headed nature at work, there was a part of her that had whispered in her ear.

  ‘He has done this before.’

  And to be honest, the voice had never stopped whispering to her.

  YYY

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  Portia was in agony. The ropes that held her to the wooden post had been applied with such fury that she felt as though each one was made of solid steel. Her body and legs seemed like they would be sliced through by each strand. Her head, yanked back and held fast against the hard wood was throbbing. She had thought that the chains had been bad, but this was the most uncomfortable, painful experience that she had suffered at the hands of these bastards. She began to actually believe that perhaps she was not going to escape and although she had reasoned that her captors had planned to keep this going for an entire weekend, she wondered if that was still the plan. All she needed was some time with either of them. She had begun to discount the husband as the weak link, he had chinks in his armour. Portia had realised that in life very few people didn’t, but she was beginning to think she would need longer to exploit them than she had imagined.