Sweet Oblivion

by Rhiana Ramsey

  She looked around the kitchen trying to think of a solution to her problem when she noticed a light switch on the wall leading out to the corridor. Surely the house wasn’t still connected to the national grid? Confident she already knew the answer, Mina tried the light switch anyway.

  To her amazement and delight the kitchen light came one. She shook her head in wonderment a broad smile spreading across her face, a cackle of glee escaping her. Someone was looking out for her. One of the previous squatters must have tapped into the neighbouring power supply, effectively abstracting electricity. The neighbours would probably never know their electricity source had been compromised because the squatters wouldn’t have used a lot of power, just enough to illuminate a few light bulbs, maybe an electric kettle. The increase in their electricity consumption would have been minimal and probably not even shown up on their bills. And it wasn’t like there was someone here all the time. Mina briefly wondered why the squatters had left?

  The house was surrounded by trees and as such was relatively private, the lights shouldn’t attract the attention of the neighbouring houses, but Mina wasn’t taking any chances. Now that she had artificial light she no longer needed the natural light coming through the windows and so could now cover these up to keep out of sight of prying eyes. She dashed upstairs and pulled down more curtains so that she could use them to cover the kitchen windows. Once this was done, Mina nipped outside the house to see what the view was like from the driveway. The house still appeared unoccupied.

  Bloody marvellous. You are awesome!

  About ten minutes had passed since she had knocked out the male pig so he should be waking any moment now, although his head hanging lower than his body would most likely delay the waking up process slightly.

  She skipped back into the kitchen and stood next to Greg’s head, looking down at his face, the kitchen knife in her right hand held above his left eye. Mina used her left hand to rub his body, running her hand across his chest, across his stomach, across his penis which she could feel through the soft fabric of his trousers. She felt an almost overwhelming urge to sit astride him but was doubtful the table would take both their weights.

  She unfastened his belt and unbuttoned his trousers; ideally he should be naked because that was how she liked them before she killed them. Naked, exposed and vulnerable. Derek had been fully clothed, but that kill had been exceptional. This one would be different.

  She lay the knife between Greg’s legs and using both hands, ripped open his shirt, sending buttons flying in all directions. She admired his muscular body for a moment, running her finger nails down his torso, and then pulled his trousers down his thighs. She couldn’t pull them any further because Greg’s legs were spread apart by the restraints she had fashioned from the curtains.

  She picked up the knife and put her hand inside Greg’s pants grabbing hold of his penis; she was prepared to change the order of her ritual for this male pig. She would begin with the mutilation, the pain from the jagged blunt blade might help wake him up.

  Mina’s peace was then shattered. The basement door was being struck from the other side as the female pig tried to break her way out.

  Oh no you fucking don’t!

  Mina ran to the basement door shouted through it.

  ‘You do that again you fucking whore I’ll tear your fucking eyes out!’

  There was silence on the other side. Mina found the light switch for the basement and turned it on. She heard feet running down the basement stairs and saw a sliver of light beneath the door, clearly the lights were working down there too. Mina looked at the male pig, sprawled out on the table. He wasn’t going anywhere. She wanted to be able to take her time killing him, to enjoy it, and she wasn’t going to be able to do that with the female pig interrupting her every few minutes.

  It was time to deal with the demons in the basement.

  ************************************************

  Elizabeth had never been so frightened in her life. The darkness in the basement was impenetrable and the air was dank and cold. She was worried she was going into shock, her heart was pounding, she was sweating profusely and was totally disoriented. Her body was shivering violently, making her teeth chatter.

  She told herself to calm down, repeating soothing phrases in her head, and eventually managed to slow her breathing; she needed to stay focused if she was going to get out of here.

  After a few minutes, Elizabeth managed to calm her mind sufficiently to allow her to take stock of her situation; there was nothing she could do, however, to calm the pain.

  She pulled her mobile phone out of her pocket to try and call for help; her heart sank when she realized that she didn’t have a signal. The phone did, however, provide a dim light source. She heard movement overhead, the sound of furniture being dragged around. She wondered what had happened to Greg. She hoped he was still alive.

  Using her phone as a pitiful flashlight Elizabeth slowly managed to crawl to the foot of the stairs where she sat for a few more minutes until she felt ready to try and stand up. Using the wall for support, Elizabeth stood, her legs slightly wobbly, pain searing through her side and wrist. Now she just had to get up the stairs.

  The ascent was slow and painful but eventually, Elizabeth made it to the top. She pushed against the door and was not surprised to find it was barricaded shut. There was no key in the lock, so Mina must have placed something in front of the door to secure it shut. Elizabeth started banging on the door with her left forearm, putting as much force behind it as she could, hoping to either dislodge whatever was barricading the door or to alert someone to her presence.

  She heard Mina scream at her and then suddenly the basement lights flashed on. Elizabeth ran down the stairs, a fresh jolt of adrenaline energizing her and making her forget the pain in her ribs and wrist. Mina would be coming after her soon.

  Now that she could see, Elizabeth took in her surroundings from the foot of the stairs. The room had been made into a small bedroom. There was an old, dirty double bed in the middle of the room and a sofa and two chairs to the left of it, pressed up against the back wall. In places, beige foam was protruding out of the sofa cushions where the fabric had become worn with age, and one of the chairs was broken, laying on its side, two of its legs snapped off. Anyone sitting on those seats would have been looking straight at the bed.

  On the other side of the room was a large child’s play mat with a couple of broken children’s toys abandoned upon it. She couldn’t imagine any child wanting to come down here to play. The room was windowless and had no ventilation; it would have been stifling down here in the summer and freezing in the winter. And it was spooky too.

  The whole place was covered in dirt, dust and grime, years of neglect taking their toll. Vegetation was beginning to sprout in the corners of the room where the damp proofing had eroded away and mould was setting in, contributing to the dank odour. Girl’s clothing was also strewn about the place, littering most of the floor.

  There was nowhere for Elizabeth to hide and nothing she could use as a weapon. She had dropped her baton during her tumble and didn’t know where it had rolled to.

  She heard the basement door open slowly behind her so she moved quickly away from the stairs, pressing herself against the back wall instead, putting as much distance as she could between herself and whoever was coming down the stairs.

  Mina’s first steps into the basement were tentative, as if she didn’t really want to come down. She held a kitchen knife down by her right side, the forefinger on her right hand nervously tapping the handle, her eyes wide with fear and excitement.

  Elizabeth watched her as she descended; it was clear that Mina wasn’t interested in her at that moment, she was revisiting a time and place in her own mind. Elizabeth was temporarily forgotten.

  ‘This is the place, this is the place…’ Mina spoke quietly, and continued to descend.

  When she reached the bottom step, Mina slowly surveyed the basement; her eyes pas
sed over Elizabeth but she didn’t see her standing there, she was so immersed in her own world. Suddenly, Mina screamed, an ear piercing, blood-curdling sound, which made Elizabeth jump.

  ‘Don’t hurt me daddy, no! I’ll do what you want.’

  ‘Stupid fucking creature. Get on you knees.’

  ‘No, I’ll be good. Please don’t hurt me.’

  ‘I said quiet bitch. Open wide.’

  ‘No!’ Mina shouted, striking herself in the face with her left hand. ‘No!’ she hit herself again.

  Elizabeth froze, she didn’t know what to do, how to react. She tried to make sense of what she was witnessing and understood that Mina’s personality was also split. The voice Mina was speaking in was now that of a child, the second voice was deeper and more masculine as she replicated the voice of a man.

  ‘I don’t want to ride anymore. Those men hurt me. Can’t I just go and play? Please daddy?’

  ‘You’ll do as you’re fucking told cunt! Stop wriggling! You’ll only make it hurt more.’

  ‘It hurts! Stop! Please stop!’ Mina began to cry as she moved further into the basement, heading towards the bed.

  The closer Mina moved to the bed, the more space she opened up behind her. Elizabeth wondered if she could sprint past her and dash up the stairs before Mina realized what was happening.

  Mina was now standing at the foot of the bed, her head bowed as she looked at the floor, so Elizabeth seized her chance.

  She didn’t get very far, her movement catching Mina’s eye. Mina turned on her almost immediately and pointed the knife at her throat.

  ‘Fucking stop right there pig. I haven’t forgotten about you,’ Mina’s voice had returned to normal, the child was gone. Elizabeth took several steps back and raised her hands to show she wasn’t armed and wasn’t going to fight.

  ‘Where’s my partner? Is he ok?’ Elizabeth asked, her voice crackling from the dryness of her mouth and throat.

  Mina looked at her, eyes full of menace and madness.

  ‘This is where I was born you know,’ Mina said, ignoring the question. ‘Down here in this very room. Louise couldn’t take the pain anymore so she conjured me up. I’m stronger than her you see. I protect her from people that want to harm her. People like you!’ Mina spat.

  ‘I don’t want to harm her. I want to protect her too. I want to get her the help she needs,’ Elizabeth said, her tone conciliatory.

  ‘You want to arrest her, put her in prison! How will she survive in a place like that?’

  ‘Louise needs professional help, psychiatric help.’

  ‘I am not letting her go into a mental institute! That would be the end of her and it would be the end of me. I will not let you do that to her, you hear me?’

  Mina was moving closer to Elizabeth, her eye blazing with rage, the knife still raised at Elizabeth’s throat. Elizabeth slowly moved to Mina’s right hoping to eventually circle round her.

  ‘Do you know what they did to her? Those filthy fucking animals? They abused her for fun. He pimped her out like a fucking whore, her own father. How could anyone do that to another person, let alone their own child?’ Mina was crying, tears of hate staining her dusty cheeks.

  ‘I don’t know, Mina. I don’t know how someone can do that to a child. It’s despicable. Let me help you.’

  Elizabeth reached out towards the knife.

  For a moment Elizabeth saw something else in Mina’s eyes, a flicker of hope that she could be saved, a yearning for human compassion and love. Then it was replaced with something malign.

  ‘No! Keep away from me!’ Mina slashed at Elizabeth’s hand.

  Elizabeth circled round Mina a little bit more and Mina followed her movement unconsciously. There was now a clear route between Elizabeth and the basement stairs.

  ‘She didn’t kill him you know. Our mother, she didn’t do it. On no. That was me. I fucking did it. I stabbed him in the eye over and over and over. I loved every second of it because he fucking deserved it. That’s why I killed those other men and that’s why I’m going to kill your partner, upstairs. Men are evil – look at the pain they cause.’

  Elizabeth didn’t say anything, she just wanted to get a little closer to the stairs before she made another run for it. There wasn’t that much space between her and Mina and she didn’t want to give Mina an opportunity to stab her with the blunt, rusty knife she was holding menacingly in her hand.

  ‘I’m not going to stop. I love to kill – I need to kill. You’ll be the first woman I’ve had the pleasure of murdering.’

  Mina lunged forward but Elizabeth was ready. She dashed past Mina and started to run up the stairs. She was about half way up when Mina grabbed her ankle and brought her crashing down onto the stairs. Elizabeth was winded and felt another rib crack on impact, followed by a searing pain in her right shoulder as Mina stabbed her in the back, causing her to cry out in agony.

  She felt Mina withdraw the blade, its jagged, rusty edges, ripping through her flesh. Elizabeth managed to roll onto her back so she could face her assailant, who was coming at her again, the knife raised. Elizabeth kicked out, her booted foot connecting with Mina’s jaw, her raised position on the stairs giving her the extra height she needed.

  Mina recoiled and screamed in pain and anger. She reached forward and managed to grab hold of one of Elizabeth’s ankles, successfully avoiding her flailing legs. She dragged Elizabeth down the stairs, the back of Elizabeth’s head connecting with every step. White stars flashed before Elizabeth’s eyes and she struggled to focus; she squinted her eyes to try and narrow her field of vision.

  Dust was whirling around them as they wrestled on the floor, filling up Elizabeth’s nostrils and caking her throat, making it hard to breathe. Mina seemed oblivious to the dirt as she sat astride Elizabeth, one hand around her throat, the other holding the knife inches from Elizabeth’s left eye.

  Using all her strength, Elizabeth grabbed Mina’s wrist with both hands, oblivious to the pain in her own broken wrist as she fought to stay alive, and locked her arms by pushing her elbows out so that Mina couldn’t get any closer to her with the blade. She was more concerned about being stabbed in the eye than being choked out by the hand on her throat.

  Elizabeth wriggled beneath Mina, twisting her body from side to side in an attempt to unbalance her, all the while keeping a firm grip on the arm that was controlling the knife. Elizabeth could feel her strength ebbing away as she bled from the stab wound in her shoulder, she wouldn’t be able to hold Mina off her for much longer.

  Mustering all her energy, Elizabeth dug her heels into the floor and raised her hips, twisting her body as she did so, relieved to feel that she had unbalanced Mina enough to cause her to fall onto the ground beside her. The momentum carried Elizabeth over so that she was now straddling Mina in a complete reversal of positions.

  ‘Elizabeth, what are you doing to me?’ Louise’s voice spoke to her. ‘Why are you attacking me?’

  Elizabeth paused for a second, momentarily confused. Her moment’s inattention gave Mina the opportunity she needed.

  She thrust the knife up towards Elizabeth’s face, aiming for her eyes. Elizabeth slammed her hands downwards defensively, clamping Mina’s hands against her own body. The knife pierced Elizabeth’s left hand, the blade passing all the way through from her palm to the back of the hand. She screamed in pain as blood exploded from the wound onto Mina, who was still struggling beneath her.

  Mina tried to pull the blade from the wound but it was stuck; it wasn’t sharp enough to cut sideways through Elizabeth’s hand and she was in the wrong position to pull it out from underneath. Elizabeth had Mina’s arms effectively pinned against her breast.

  Elizabeth leant forward, her hands and arms crushing Mina’s, and head butted Mina hard in the face, breaking her nose. Mina didn’t appear to notice the pain, she didn’t make a sound. Elizabeth head butted her again, this time dazing Mina, who released her grip on the knife. Elizabeth let go of Mina’s arms and raised her own
, the knife still wedged through her hand.

  She slammed her right fist into Mina’s face as hard as she could, before Mina had an opportunity to react, still reeling from the head butts. Then Mina’s arms shot upwards and clasped around Elizabeth’s throat, squeezing the breath out of her.

  Elizabeth struck Mina’s arms on the elbow joints to try and collapse her arms; on the third strike Mina relinquished her grip and Elizabeth was able to take hold of Mina’s arms by the wrists. Elizabeth then fell forward so that her body was lying on Mina’s, preventing her from moving, and pinioning Mina’s arms above her head.

  ‘That all you got officer?’ Mina teased, spitting a globule of phlegm into Elizabeth’s face.

  ‘That’s all I need, bitch.’

  Elizabeth head butted Mina again and this time, Mina passed out.

  Elizabeth rolled off of her adversary’s body and lay on her back in the dirt, her breath coming to her in ragged gasps, the pain in her body becoming more and more severe as the adrenaline subsided. She could hear sirens approaching so she knew help was on its way. She looked over at Mina; she was out cold, it was over. Elizabeth closed her eyes, she was exhausted and losing blood, she needed a rest. She closed her eyes.

  She heard feet running down the stairs towards her just before she slipped away.

  Chapter XXXIX

  Two weeks had passed since Louise Jackson had been arrested, two weeks since she’d been hauled off in the back of a police van and taken straight to a secure mental hospital where she was currently under heavy sedation and constant watch. The doctors at the hospital didn’t think Louise would ever be fit enough to stand trial and as such she was destined to spend the rest of her days locked up in the one place she had never wanted her to be.