He wondered how long a body could last.
In the beginning they hadn’t been too original. There had been the expected beatings. Punches to the gut, slaps to the face. If it went on too long, in his weakened state he would fall to the ground and curl up to protect as much of himself as he could. Then they would go to town, kicking him like strikers practicing for the big match.
It’s not like they hadn’t been fair, given him a sporting chance. When they had put a sack over his head so that he couldn’t see and taped it up around his neck, they had generously put a tiny breathing hole somewhere near his mouth and left his hands free. He still got the crap beaten out of him and even though he swung around wildly hoping to strike it lucky, he never did. Sick bastards.
He’d been stronger than he thought he could be. The physical stuff got a little bit easier after he went numb. Or blacked out as he mercifully had a couple of times.
The electricity was a different story.
Electricity, what a brilliant invention! It was wonderful when it provided light, warmth and a source of power to all the gadgets that make life easy or fun. It wasn’t so wonderful after he’d been stripped, oiled up and then had it applied to the delicate, private areas of his body. Then it was a curse. Twisted freaks.
When they opened the door of the cell they callously tossed him into, he tried to guess what the next course was in this unending smorgasbord of pain. He quickly noted, just before the door shut behind him leaving him in utter black, that the cell was bare but for a flash of movement. He had seen the four-legged creature with coarse black hair and the long-corded tail following behind it as it swiftly streaked as far away from the door as possible. Then, as the door clanged shut behind him, he crouched in one of the corners closest to the door and strained his eyes to try and locate the foul creature. It was pointless. Not one speck of light fell in the cell. His eyes felt like they would burst out of his head as they strained to locate the vermin.
He didn’t know how long he had been in there. In the utter darkness, time did not mean anything. Sometimes if felt like he had only been in there for a few minutes, sometimes it felt like days. He didn’t want to give in, he didn’t want his mind to break. He didn’t want to give them the victory that would be theirs if he broke down and told them everything. Depraved animals.
It was hard to remember that though, when he could hear the creature scuttling around the cell. He wondered where it was. He wondered if they had starved it, so that his warm blood and the smell of his flesh would drive the creature into a feeding frenzy. He pictured someone ringing the dinner bell, like in the old movies when they called the farm hands in for tea, “Ring a ding ding, come and get it!”
He thought of the things’ claws clinging to his skin as it crawled up his body to find some exposed flesh to sink its sharp, fetid teeth into. That and thought of the long, stiff tail sliding behind it made him simultaneously sick and terrified. He felt exhausted from having to strain his eyes and constantly search out for the shape of the thing. He scrunched his eyes shut to try to relax and gather his mind up before it ran off into the sunset, never to return.
Like an explosion in his mind’s eye, a movie began to play.
He was in a room with very dim lighting, and her face was inches from his. What unconventional beauty! She would never win a beauty pageant, but that was only because she wasn’t one of those cookie-cutter bimbos with blond hair and big tits. She was striking, you just couldn’t help but stare into those green eyes. They reminded him of emeralds. The Wizard of Oz, the Emerald City. “We’re off to see the Wizard!” Haha! Green eyes and dark hair, almost black. He’d always loved that combination. Green, hard eyes and black-brown hair coming down in thick waves over her shoulders and halfway down her back. And that skin! Flawless, smooth with just a touch of bronze like she’d just come back from a holiday somewhere exotic. She shone. Shone from the inside out. She looked so vibrant, so alive, so….ripe. Like the strawberry you would pick first from the garden because it looked the healthiest, the juiciest and the sweetest.
Her face was right there, inches from his. He knew her moves. They were familiar, but never failed to excite him. She smiled her slow smile. Leaned in just a fraction, looking into his eyes, hooking him in with those hard, green eyes. Teasing him. Getting him ready. She leaned in a little more so their mouths were only separated by a paper thin space of air. The feel of her breath going into his mouth drove him nuts. He hadn’t tipped over the edge yet, into that space where lust and instinct take over. He was still aware enough to remember he had feelings for her and to again appreciate that unusual beauty.
As she finally connected them and gently brought her lips to his, he felt himself going over. Giving over to feeling and physicality and switching off all coherent thought. As their connection grew deeper and he felt her tongue touch his, he fell and instinct took over. His last vaguely clear thought was how wonderful those waves of dark hair felt between his fingers as he ran them through the length of it. He grabbed the hair close to her head as their kiss grew stronger. He could feel her hair in his hands. He was there.
As the movie in his head abruptly stopped he realised he could feel hair in his hands. Not her hair, but coarse, dank bristles. His eyes bulged out of his head as he tried to see the creature that was now crawling from his hand and up his arm. He felt claws digging in to grip his skin and the long, corded tail slithering behind as it tried to make its way up his body towards his face.
He lost it. He panicked. He frantically felt around and even though it repulsed him, when he felt the plump body in his hands he immediately tightened his grip and squeezed. The vermin, a disgusting sewer dweller, thrashed around trying to break free. He did not let go or loosen his grip. This was his chance. If he killed the creature, he could at least have some peace before they came back for him. The trapped animal that was being squeezed in his vice-like grip, shrieked and squealed and he joined in. He screamed and the creature screamed. As he screamed, it gave him more courage to keep squeezing and it partially drowned out the panicked screeching of the thing. Finally, he felt its bones crunch and snap and the noise stopped.
He didn’t let up his grip for a long time. Until he was sure it was dead. He didn’t want to put the thing on the ground only to hear it scuttle off to the far end of the cell so the game would have to start from the beginning again. He fell asleep with the creature still in his hands.
He woke up when they opened the door of the cell and light poured in. In the time it took for his eyes to adjust, he stood up on shaky legs and held the animal up in victory, looking like a bizarre version of the Statue of Liberty.
They began to laugh and when his eyes had fully adjusted he saw them, one bending over to hold his knees, others slapping each other on the back. He couldn’t understand what they were saying, but he imagined it was something like “He is one tough nut to crack. We’re going to have to bring out the big guns for this one”.
They dragged him out of the cell to the familiar interrogation room. He had survived another round. He would not tell them anything.
But he wondered, how long a body could last.
