Chapter 5
No One
“Shhh. You don’t want to leave. Do you know how much that hurts to hear?”
“P-Please. I just want to go home. I won’t t-tell anyone what happened. I promise. Please!”
I trailed down the length of the leather restraint holding the woman’s wrist. “I was sure you were different. You see, I had our life all planned out. You’d come back after all these years and see me. Really see me. This time, you’d give me your heart instead of taking mine.”
“I have a five month old son. Please!”
My head tilted at her words and I eased up, lowering to lay on the large metal table she was secured to. I stayed farther down, even with the place I now traced on her wrist. My reflection from the table, only inches away, had me slowing. The drawn in cheek bones, prominent, large nose, thin lips…now razor shaved head. There were times when I wasn’t so unattractive. Times I could barely remember anymore. Even for not being the most handsome guy, I had always had friends. Lot of friends. I did well blending into society. Until I decided I was done pretending. No. Until I couldn’t stomach the lies anymore.
“I don’t have m-much money, but—”
I pushed up, slamming my gloved fist into the woman’s mouth. The crunch had her sobs and yells turning hysterical. I lay down, waiting the minutes it took her to calm. Tears flowed freely down the side of her face, disappearing into her light blonde hair while she stared at the ceiling. From clear to crimson, I let even more time stretch out while I studied the fluids leaving her.
“Where was I? Oh yes, we were talking about how much you fucked up my life.”
Whimpers turned guttural as I moved my finger toward the bend of her elbow. Her cringe and attempt to pull away from me had me smiling. With each murder I committed, I couldn’t deny things were warping. The rapes at the beginning were rage fucks. What started out as something that only lasted a minute was becoming an act I was beginning to enjoy for longer periods of time. And it was easy to see the person I wanted to hurt. Or, at least, what I could remember of her.
“Yes, you wouldn’t expect this from me, would you? We never knew each other in this life. I’ll introduce myself. I’m No One. Now, you tell me your name.”
“What the fuck are you talking about? I don’t know you! I n-never have. God. Please!”
I turned, grabbing a meat tenderizer from the tray, and faced her.
“Your name.”
“You know my name. You called out to me. You…”
My arm lifted.
“Lori! My name is Lori!”
“Wrong.”
Every ounce of strength I had was put into the swing. Blood sprayed across my neck as the multiple tiny spikes beat down into the flesh of her forearm, shattering her bone. The crunch was like little vibrations in my fingers and it almost had me rearing back to hit again.
“Ahh! Ahh-hhh! No! Ah!”
“Your name.”
Sobs broke at her trying to suck in oxygen.
“I don’t k-know. I don—”
My lips peeled back over my teeth in a smile as I brought the mallet down just shy of where I’d hit before.
Crunch!
“Wrong answer.”
A deep inhale echoed around us in the empty, dark room and a gag instantly followed.
“Come on. We’re only just getting started. We have such a long way to go.” I laid down the mallet and reached over to trail my gloved fingers along the cratered in, mutilated flesh. Blood flowed from the crushed skin. Higher I rose, moving over her bicep, leaving a blood trail behind. My cock hardened and I closed my eyes for the smallest moment. When I reopened them, I dipped my fingers back into the wound and came to her chest.
“When you look at me, do you remember what you did? Do you recognize me? Do you think about me like I think about you?”
“S-Sick. You’re sick!”
“That’s not a very nice thing to say.”
Farther I traveled, sweeping between her breasts as I drew patterns of the daisy. Red streaks smeared and I slid over to roll her nipple under my thumb. The nub hardened and I moaned as a strangled cry left her.
“Your breasts are bigger than I imagined. I’m not sure if I like them.”
Back and forth her head turned while she cried harder.
“I suppose they’ll do for now. Although…I bet I can improve them. What do you think?”
“God, please! I want to go home. I want to go home!”
“But you are home,” I said tenderly, brushing her hair back with my other hand. “You’re finally right where you belong, love. Don’t you recognize your own home?”
Terrified eyes scanned the dark space. From the dim glow, only the white newspaper clippings were visible.
I threw my leg over her thighs as I curled into her curvy body. Sobs returned and I rested my arm over her chest, blindly drawing the flower over and over again.
“We’re going to start over like this never happened. If you don’t confess, I’ll beat into your elbow and bicep until there’s nothing left. Do you understand me?”
At the continuing cries, my arm snapped up and I nodded her head myself. We were so close. Only inches apart. I leaned in, tugging and biting against her bottom lip until I tasted her life source—her blood. “I think you’re beautiful. My name is No One. What’s your name?”