by Amy Cross
“How do you handle all the screaming?” he asked.
“I...” She paused, before smiling. “You know what? I actually find it almost comforting in a way. The fact that she's in so much pain reminds me that I'm not. Does that make me sound weird?” She waited for a reply, but she could see the doubt in his eyes. “You're not going to flake out on me, are you? Please, Christian, promise me you won't lose your cool. I vouched for you with the others, and we've already had Marit go bad. Stay strong, okay?”
“It's just...” He sighed. “When is exactly is Cole going to get here?”
“Tonight, I think. Or maybe the very early hours of the morning. Joe says he's on his way.”
“So we could leave as soon as he gets here, right?”
“We...” She frowned. “I don't know, maybe, but why would we want to? We've come this far, it wouldn't make much sense to suddenly run away early.”
“But Cole's bringing the money, so we could just leave Joe and Dan to clean up.”
Staring at him, she saw a hint of concern in his eyes. “Don't tell me you're getting soft on me,” she said finally. “Come on, you're better than that, you can see this through.” Putting her arms around his waist, she hugged him tight. “This time tomorrow, we'll be out of here and we'll have enough money to start new lives.”
“Sure,” he replied, pulling away, “I just... I just wish it was over already.”
She watched as he made his way into the bathroom.
“You're really surprising me,” she told him, heading over to join him before suddenly finding the door being swung shut in her face. “This is a whole new sensitive side to you that I didn't know existed!” she continued. “I'm not sure whether I like it!”
She waited for a reply, before sighing.
“Great,” she muttered, turning and heading to the stairs. “All of a sudden I have one of those sensitive boyfriends. How disappointing.”
On the other side of the door, Christian was staring at his own reflection in the mirror, trying to stay calm. He could hear Anna's screams still rising up through the house and he could feel them crawling into his mind, filling his soul with a sense of dread. He'd watched the Karen Lund video so many times, he'd started to think at one point that he was desensitized to the whole thing, but now he realized it was different when he was actually in the middle of everything. There was a part of him that wanted to run down and stop the others, to pull Anna and Marit free and get them to safety, to do the right thing. At the same time, he tried to focus on the money, and on Jennifer's advice to compartmentalize his mind.
Leaning down, he began to wash his face, hoping that some cold water might shock him back to reality. After a moment he grabbed a towel and started to dry himself, before standing up straight and tossing the towel aside.
As soon as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, he realized that Karen Lund was standing right behind him.
***
“Your turn again.”
With those two words, Joe placed a hammer in Jennifer's hand and nodded for her to go down to the basement.
“What's wrong?” he continued when she didn't immediately head over to the door. “Nervous?”
“Don't be stupid,” she replied, taking a deep breath, “I just... I have so many ideas, and I honestly don't know what to go with first. I feel like I could keep this up for a week and never get bored.”
Stepping back, Joe smiled. “You really enjoy it, don't you?”
“It's beyond enjoyment,” she told him. “It's more like the fulfillment of some primal urge. The thought of this video going around the world, of people watching as I rip out that bitch's teeth and burn her flesh and make her howl...” She paused, her eyes almost glazing over with anticipation, and finally a shiver passed through her body. “Sometimes I just want to let them see my face and hear my voice, instead of filtering it all. Sometimes I want the whole world to see me as I get to work on them.”
“Let's dial things back,” Joe replied. “Marit's hanging on by a thread, but I think Anna's tougher than she looks. To be honest, I think there's a chance Cole might even give us a bonus for this.”
“I'm so glad you were the one who finally managed to fuck her,” she told him. “When she turned Daniel and Christian down, I thought she might be one of those tight little bitches who insist on waiting for pure love. The video's going to be so much better now that we have that footage of you drunkenly seducing her.”
“With a little help from that powder you slipped into her drink,” he pointed out. “I'm pretty sure her panties would've stayed up otherwise.”
“Sshh!” she replied, putting a finger to her lips. “The people watching the video don't have to know about that, remember?”
Smiling, she turned and made her way down the stairs, finally disappearing into the darkness of the basement.
Joe waited for a few minutes, listening to the silence of the cabin before Anna suddenly let out another cry, which he knew meant that his sister was back at work. Feeling a shudder pass through his chest, he headed over to the counter and grabbed an apple from the bowl before taking a big bite. A moment later, he heard footsteps nearby and turned to see Christian standing in the doorway, with all the color having drained from his face.
“You okay?” he asked, taking another bite of the apple. When Christian didn't respond, he chewed for a few more seconds before swallowing. “You look like you've seen a ghost. Not having second thoughts, are you? Jennifer's down there at the moment, but you don't have to wait. I actually think she'd like it more if you had a session together. My sister's turning into a real freak.”
Christian stared at him for a moment, before glancing over his shoulder as if he half expected to find someone standing behind him
“What's wrong?” Joe asked, heading over to him. “You're starting to freak me out.”
“Have you ever...” Christian paused, his whole body seeming stiff and tense. “Have you ever seen something that you know can't be there, but you saw it anyway?”
Joe frowned. “Like what?”
“Like...” He took a deep breath. “Like you saw something in the mirror, maybe, standing right behind you... And it was totally real and totally there, you could feel it in the room with you. And then when you turned around to look at it directly, it was... gone.”
“What the hell are you on about?” Joe asked with a nervous smile.
Muttering something under his breath, Christian hurried over to the sink and poured himself a glass of water, downing it quickly as Anna's screams continued in the basement.
“What do you think you saw?” Joe asked, watching him closely. “Please, tell me you're not going to pull a Marit on us and start claiming that Karen Lund -”
“Don't say that name!” Christian hissed, turning to him with panic in his eyes.
“Why? Worried I might accidentally summon her?” He smiled, before leaning out into the hallway and looking up the stairs. “Karen! Karen Lund, are you around? Hey Karen, we're sorry about how we tortured and killed you three years ago and then sold the video for a lot of money! I hope we're all still cool, yeah? I hope you're not gonna come back and start haunting our asses!” Laughing, he turned to see the expression of pure horror in Christian's eyes. “Relax,” he added. “It was a joke.”
He waited for a reply, before realizing that Christian's hands were trembling.
“No,” he continued, heading over to her, “don't do this. I've known you for a while now, you're tough and you're not the kind of person to get all wobbly.” Putting his hands on Christian's shoulders, he looked into his eyes. “Whatever brief hallucination flitted across your field of vision, you need to get a grip and remind yourself that it was just an illusion.” Again he waited for a reply. “Is it that fake grave stunt we pulled during the hike? Come on, I told you, that wasn't Karen's real grave. We buried her miles away, where no-one'll ever find her. That pit was just for Anna's benefit, it was part of the plan to slowly creep her out and make her wo
rry about the cabin. Don't let it freak you out too.”
“I know,” Christian replied, but -”
Before he could finish, Anna's scream became more pained than ever, sounding barely human.
“Aren't you just a little proud of Jennifer right now?” Joe asked. “I know I am. She's really getting into it, she's obviously learned a lot from the time with Karen Lund. I guess we were all more nervous back then, but this time we can really let go and make the best goddamn video ever.” He paused, waiting for an answer. “Are you in, or are you out? Are you a man or are you a fucking wimp?”
Christian stared at the doorway for a moment, before turning back to Joe. “I... I'm in.”
“Then get down there,” Joe continued, patting him on the shoulder before steering him toward the door in the corner, “and give your girlfriend a hand, because there's no half measures in a situation like this. Everyone has to get their hands dirty. Trust me, when it's over you'll look back and be proud.” He paused, waiting for Christian to head down the stairs. “Plus you want your share of the money when Cole arrives, don't you?” he added, checking his watch. “He should only be a couple more hours, and he'll have a big old case of cash with him, ready for us to divide it up. We're talking life-changing money, and all you have to do is whack a couple of sluts around in a video. I fucked Anna last night, so it's your turn today.”
Stepping back, he watched as Christian began to make his way down into the basement.
“Finally,” he muttered, turning and heading back across the kitchen. “I was starting to think he -”
Stopping suddenly, he realized he could hear something moving upstairs. He looked at the ceiling, but the sound was already gone and although it had sounded like footsteps, he was certain no-one else could be up there. Figuring that he was just mistaken, he took another bite of his apple as Anna's screams intensified below. For a moment, the walls of the cabin actually seemed to be shaking.
Chapter Thirteen
Left unattended by the door, the camera hummed slightly as its lens remained focused on Anna and Marit. The two girls were still bound to their chairs, still in the center of the room, with blood drying all over their ravaged bodies. The camera's red light continued to burn in the gloom as every nightmarish moment was recorded onto the HDD and then automatically backed up in real time to Daniel's laptop.
“Why did you do it?” Anna asked finally, her voice trembling with shock and fear.
With her head drooping to one side, Marit offered no answer. She'd barely moved ever since their tormentors had gone upstairs, with Jennifer and Christian having finished the latest session a few minutes ago. Marit's right eye was a bloody, pulpy mess, with the razor blade having been left buried in the eyeball with only one sharp, glinting edge poking out.
“I told you I'd broken up with my boyfriend,” Anna continued, with a hint of anger in her tone now, “and you told me I should come visit you in Norway. You said it had been too long since we'd last seen each other, and that you wanted to show me your home country. You said it'd be good for me, you promised to show me a good time. All those hours when we talked, when you told me I should have slept with Max if I wanted to keep him... You made me think I needed to be a different person.”
She waited for a reply, but Marit remained completely still. The only sign of life was the fact that her chest was still rising and falling in time with her ragged breaths.
“So at what point did you decide to lure me to this place?” Anna asked, with tears in her eyes. “Was it the plan all along? Did you just see me as some easy victim, someone who'd walk straight into your trap? People are going to come looking for me, they're not just going to accept that I've disappeared and that I'm never coming home! Please, you have to get them to let me go. Please... This is all a joke, isn't it? It's all a sick, sick...”
Her voice trailed off as she saw the glistening mess that had once been Marit's right eye.
“Please,” Anna continued, closing her eyes. “God, I've never believed in you before, but I swear I'll change if you get me out of here. I'll do anything, I'll be the best person in the history of the world but you have to get me out of here.” Her voice was cracking now as tears returned to her eyes. “I don't want to die. Please, you have to get me out of this place.” She began to sob again, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. “I don't want to die.”
Opposite, Marit remained motionless.
After a few minutes, Anna looked over at the camera by the door. She stared at the red light for a moment, and she found herself imagining how horrific the scene must appear.
“Go to hell,” she whispered finally, before her anger overflowed and she screamed: “Go to hell! If you're watching this, go to hell!”
Pulling on the chains, she tried once again to get out of the chair. She tensed every muscle in her body, holding her breath as she strained to find some weak spot that might let her wriggle loose. For several seconds she kept trying, even as the chains started digging into her flesh, but finally she let out a gasp of pain as she slumped back, gasping for air. Her body was trembling with the hopelessness of the situation, and with the realization that she could pull on the chains for the rest of time and still never get them loose.
“I tried to change it,” Marit said suddenly, her remaining eye still turned toward the floor. “I was too late, but I tried. Joe told me he understood, he told me he'd help get you away, he said I just had to write that note so that the others would believe I'd gone and then... Then he knocked me out and brought me down here.” She paused, before letting her head droop a little further. “I never knew I was so stupid. I never knew I could let someone trick me like that. I don't even know how I got involved in all of this, I just needed money a few years ago and then Joe and Jennifer said I could earn a lot if I helped them with...”
Anna stared at her, waiting for her to continue.
“So stupid,” Marit whispered, as tears trickled down from one eye and blood from the other. “So evil. I'm not a bad person, I swear, I just slowly let it happen. I never joined in with the torture, never, not once, my job was just to be friendly and...” Her voice trailed off again. “I was scared they'd hurt me if I didn't find someone new for them. There's something wrong with me, Anna. I can act so nice and happy on the outside, even while I'm screaming on the inside. What does that make me? Some kind of monster?”
She paused, before slowly turning to look at Anna, only to let out a gasp of shock and turn away again.
“Do I look that bad?” Anna asked.
She waited for a reply.
“There has to be a way out of here,” she continued. “Come on, you know these people, there has to be a way. Maybe they'll make a mistake, or they'll get sloppy, or someone'll come and save us. Or maybe they won't actually go through with it, maybe their consciences will -”
“They killed Karen Lund,” Marit replied.
“I know, but -”
“They slaughtered her!” Marit hissed. “You can't say they won't do it, because they've done it to someone else already!” She paused as the camera continued to hum nearby, recording everything. “There's no way out,” she whispered, closing her remaining eye. “There's no -”
“Help!” Anna screamed as loud as she could manage, as she looked up at the ceiling. “Somebody help me!”
“There's no-one around for miles,” Marit told her.
“Please help me!” Anna shouted.
“The only people who can hear you are the monsters upstairs,” Marit said firmly, “and they're probably loving every second.”
“You have to let me out of here!” Anna screamed, on the verge of breaking into sobs again. “You have to -”
Suddenly she stopped as she heard footsteps in the next room, coming down to the basement.
“Please,” Marit whispered, “let me die.”
Before Anna could say anything, she saw Jennifer stepping into the room, with Joe right behind. Stopping for a moment, Jennifer smiled as she stared at th
e two girls, as if she found the whole situation highly amusing.
“That's the spirit,” she said finally. “The people who watch this video are going to really get off on your desperate cries for help. It makes everything more real, more visceral.”
Heading over to the counter, she picked up a small gun-like metal device and examined one end, before pulling the trigger and causing a white-hot flame to start burning from the nozzle.
“I'll give you anything,” Anna stammered, watching in horror as Jennifer walked up behind Marit. “Anything you want, it's yours. I'll be your slave, I'll do anything you want for the rest of my life but please don't -”
Suddenly Jennifer held the flame against the side of Marit's neck, causing her to cry out in agony as her flesh began to burn.
“You were saying?” Jennifer asked innocently, smiling at Anna as Marit continued to scream.
“Why are you doing this?” Anna sobbed. “You actually enjoy it, don't you?”
“I'm doing it for the money,” Jennifer replied.
“The others are, maybe,” Anna continued, “but not you. I can see it in your eyes, you're loving every second.”
Jennifer paused, as Marit's screams continued and the girl's flesh blackened in the heat of the flame.
“Oh, you're next,” Jennifer told Anna. “Believe me, for daring to try your bullshit psycho-analysis on me, you're going to suffer. By the time Cole gets here in a few hours' time, you're going to look like you belong in a fucking butcher's shop. You'll be barely recognizable as human.”
“Leave her alone!” Anna shouted, watching as Marit desperately tried to pull away from the flame. “Stop!”
“No,” Jennifer said calmly.
“Please stop,” Anna whimpered. “Please...”
Marit's scream continued to ring out, filling the basement, before suddenly it became more of a guttural, halting cry from the back of her throat. Her remaining eye seemed to be widening a little, and she let out a series of gasps before slumping forward against the chains. The flame continued to burn the flesh on her neck, causing patches of skin to start blackening, but her head remained bowed and still.