Tears ran down Pamela’s cheeks. “Oh God, yeah. How could we have been so blind?”
Katie sighed. It wasn’t as simple as that and they all knew that. It was a simple thing to look back at the half-truths and total lies the town elders, parents and teacher told them while they were growing up, and see them as they really were, but from what they were told last night, they could have told them any old crap and they would have believed it.
The town owned them from birth to death. They were cattle for the hidden owners, each one marked and branded. Each one conditioned to perform their allotted tasks. Free will was something they thought they possessed but in reality, their lives followed a path already laid down before conception.
Her teachers told Katie that the Richmond Point Hospice at the edge of the town took in people with terminal diseases. When their patients died, all their possessions were donated to the town. Her parents told her the hotel owners stole the gear from their guests and sold it to the shops. There were many other story variations but Katie, like the others before her, never thought to question any of them. The hotel and its stories slipped to the back of her memory and stayed there until she started work.
She had stood in the Jack’s living room, dressed in her smartest clothes, feeling so proud of herself, looking at the three assembled adults, Jack, his wife and her mother. This was to be her first ever job. Her new boss stood up and walked up to Katie. He was such an imposing figure, twice her size, with thick muscles stretching his suit material. She used to have such a crush on this man a few years ago, a crush she’d shared with many other girls in town. Katie used to fantasise about this handsome man sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her across the field behind her house and laying her beneath a large tree before kneeling beside her and… Katie had felt the colour rise in her cheeks, as the man stopped directly in front of her. He took her hand, shook it and welcomed her to the café. Looking back to that moment, if she could have stopped time, she would have halted it right there. His warm hand pressed against hers while she gazed into those beautiful eyes while he smiled that heart melting smile.
Jack’s other hand found her left breast. He leaned forward while squeezing her hand and her breast. The two other women were now beside Katie, their hands trailing up her bare legs and sliding under her blouse. Tears ran down her cheeks. She tried to flinch from their touch only to feel a hard slap across her cheek. Katie had no idea who had done that, she was in total shock, what was going on?
The café owner grabbed her shoulders and pulled the sobbing girl’s body hard against his. The man’s teeth nibbled Katie’s ear while she felt those hands pulling down her skirt and panties.
The man’s teeth gripped Katie’s teeth while his big hands travelled down her back until they reached her bottom. He gripped the flesh and pulled her hips closer. Katie knew what he was about to do next and it terrified her. She sobbed when she felt his solid penis brush against her clitoris. The man then let go of her ear, he drew back and glared at the girl.
“I can do this anytime I choose, Katie. You belong to me now.”
The man had then told her to get dressed before explaining she would be working in a public environment, meaning possible contact with people who don’t live in the town. His demeanour changed once more. Jack nodded at the two women who both dropped to their knees; they both wrapped their fingers around his shaft and gently massaged it. She looked on in horrified silence, not believing this was happening to her. While her mother and Jack’s wife took turns in putting that monster in their mouths, the man told her that the hotel is town business only, and she was not to breathe a word to any stranger or the consequences for her would be dire.
Katie kissed the top of her sister’s head. “There was nothing we could do, Pamela.”
The pain in her stomach had finally begun to ease off. Even so, if nothing else happened to her tonight, she’d still need a few days of bed-rest to recover from what that old bastard had done to her body.
The only respite was she had the feeling that the monster who’d done this to her was unlikely to be doing it again, meaning he’d now be residing in the place where their visitor had come from.
Katie knew their weekly girl’s night in would be a little different, thanks to Maddie managing to swipe a full bottle of scotch from out of her father’s drinks cabinet. He and the rest of the town elders were having an impromptu meeting at the school. Not that Katie or her friends had any idea what it could be about, nor did they care. It just meant the chances of interruption would be cut down to almost nothing. After the last few days, none of them wanted any of those bastards to break up their chill out time.
Maddie had brought her collection of LP’s to play on Pamela’s record player. She had even brought a couple of CD’s too. Not that any of the girls possessed a CD player as far as Katie knew, there were only two in town and both of those were under lock and key. It would be a while before those trickled down.
Their friend had also brought along something else but none of them found out until half of that bottle was gone and Katie had lost her favourite red walking boots and her watch to Pamela in their card game.
Both Maddie and Pamela helped her over to the only chair in the shed and made her sit down. Katie so wished they were back in her tiny bedroom, sipping scotch from their chipped cups and listening to the Bay City Rollers blasting out from the record player, when she’d been happier, before those veils of ignorance were lifted. Katie then felt guilty for wishing away the hurtful truth of their situation.
“Are you going to be able to do this?” asked Maddie.
“I don't have any choice, do I? None of us do.” Katie lifted her top. The ugly dark patches of bruising over her stomach made her want to weep. Greg James might be out of the picture but the others were still around and each and every one of them had hurt her in some way. Those bastards had hurt all of them in the past.
“Yeah well, it looks like Maddie's plan of lying in wait for them wins after all,” muttered Pamela. “There's no chance of doing hit and run now, not with you in that state. You'll just slow us down. I'm not going to split up either, so if any of you were thinking of that idea, you can forget it.”
Pamela joined Maddie by the shed door, who had opened it a crack to peek outside. It must show testament to their resolve that none of them had opted for the safer option of going home after the beating Katie just received. After all, the very ideas of three girls, who'd spent their whole lives playing the victim, were contemplating taking on all those psychos up in the main building.
The knives the girls carried wouldn't fair too well against those guns. Like that was the underestimation of the decade. She silently wished they'd been given a bit more time to find something a little deadlier than her own weapon. For crying out loud, the knife she used, the knife now in her sock, was last used to peel carrots and potatoes for dinner two nights ago. Then again, if they had been given more time, perhaps none of them would have opted for this insane mission, despite the ordeals they'd all endured. Katie glanced at her watch, not believing it had only been a couple of hours since the three of them had been 'visited'.
Katie had only just realised something was seriously wrong when the playing cards slipped out of Maddie's fingers and fell onto the carpet. The single thought that swirled around Katie's mind at the time wasn't concern over her best friend, it was her friend only had a pair, meaning that Katie wasn't going to lose her beloved electronic calculator.
As the Bay City Rollers said goodbye to their baby, her bedroom walls crumbled away, leaving the three girls inside a dark brick built cavern.
She felt her fingers squeeze the cards in her hand when a naked man appeared on one of the walls. Thick rusted metal clamps held his arms tight against the bricks. Katie shook her head in denial, not wanting to believe this was happening. It had to be a dream or nightmare! Katie had given that dishy man a free bun only this morning. The man's eyes snapped open and he let out a heart-wrenching scream t
hat sent every hair on her back standing upright.
Katie choked back her own scream when she took her eyes off his pained face and looked down his naked body to discover another woman on the floor, under the man, methodically cutting through his left ankle with a hacksaw.
The man's shrieks faded away, leaving that woman sawing through the man's leg to the tune of Abba. She looked at her sister who, in turn, was gaping at Maddie. The girl lifted her head but the face did not belong to Katie's best friend.
“Those playing cards once belonged to me, you know.”
Katie found herself staring at a twenty-something man with intense blue eyes and a thin moustache.
“Not that I need them anymore, with me being dead, you see.”
Maddie's head turned around and Katie saw another naked figure wearing that man's face shackled to that wall. There was no sign of that female torturer here, but just by the state of that man's bloodied body, she knew he'd received the same fate.
Katie turned away and looked down at the carpet, not wanting to watch any more of this horror. The gesture was pointless as the image continued to pummel her anyway. Katie watched a beautiful teen red-head holding hands with a boy of a similar age. The pair of them were playing in the snow. The girl wore Katie's red boots. The next image showed a large man jointing a blood-stained torso. The red boots were piled up in the corner of the room on top of the clothes worn by the couple.
The horror didn't stop there. Every single item of clothing she'd worn and every item in her possession once belonged to another murdered individual and Katie was forced to witness the fate of all the ones who checked into that hotel.
Her bedroom had reformed but the images never stopped assaulting her mind. She had no idea how long the torment lasted. Her first coherent thought when they did finally stop was lifting her head, finding a playing card stuck to her cheek and that she'd pissed herself.
“Can you see anything?” she asked. The other two girls had not moved from that door. “Pam, have you gone deaf or something? Will you answer me!”
Her sister slowly backed away from the door, not moving her gaze from that crack. Maddie hadn't moved an inch, all Katie could hear now were her friend's quiet sobs. The door opened a little wider, but it wasn't the girls pushing open the door. Katie's heart jumped into her throat at the sight of Jack Williams grinning at all of them. He held a pistol in his left hand. The cafe owner flicked the gun to the left and Maddie stumbled back. Pamela ran over to Katie and stood behind her chair.
“Hello there, Katie. Fancy meeting up with you again.” He looked down at Maddie. “I'm surprised to see you here, girl. I don't know what your father will think of you being involved with a pair of dirty Overtons. He'll be disappointed, that much I do know.”
“Leave now,” Katie growled. “Go on, fuck off before you get hurt, Jack.”
“God, ain't you the ballsy one! Where did this streak of guts appear from, honey? I mean, you didn't have this yesterday when I fucked you on one of the cafe tables.” He stood above Maddie. “I seem to recall you panting and asking me to push more of me inside you.” Jack laughed out loud. “I'm so going to miss you, Katie. You know you're going to die here?” He raised his pistol. “Pamela, you can go home. I have no beef with you.” The man paused, he ran his tongue over his lips. “Wait, scratch that, No, you'd better stay. Thing is, if I do your older sister, I'll be short of waitress at the cafe. There's also the annoying problem of having nothing to plough while I'm at work either.”
“What about me?”
Jack looked down at the girl between his legs. “What about you?”
“Well, don't you want to plough me as well?”
Jack lowered his gun arm. “I never really gave that any thought. I mean I.”
Maddie's arm whipped up and the small bladed knife she'd concealed under her fingers slammed into the man's scrotum. Thick blood gushed from the man's mouth as he tumbled backwards. Pamela rushed forward and dropped to her knees. The girl slowly removed her own knife from her sock, showed the blade to Jack before she brought it down into the palm of his hand.
“Why isn't he screaming? He ought to be screaming by now.”
Maddie pulled out her blade. She stood up and looked down at him. “I think he bit the end of his tongue off.”
Katie had managed to stand up. She walked over to the fallen man. This vile man had put her through hell since she'd started at the cafe. He'd abused her body daily, treated her like his personal slave and made her want to kill herself on more than one occasion. If it hadn't been for her sister and her best friend's kind words and comfort, Katie honestly believed that she would had followed that path. She retrieved her own knife and slowly lowered herself onto his chest.
“Stick it into his eye,” said Pamela. “Then push the knife up his nose.”
“No, cut off his cock and stuff it into his mouth. Then slit the bastard's throat.” Maddie waved her blood-coated knife in front of his face. “I used to fancy you when I was a kid. I thought you were kind and generous and your smile always used to make me weak at the knees. Then I found out what you did to my friend!”
Katie leaned closer to the man. “Do you see how hatred breeds more hatred, Jack? Grab his head!”
Both the girls held the man's head tight. As Katie rested the tip of her blade against the man's eyelid. “You deserve what they suggested and more, you dirty fucking cunt!” she roared. Katie pushed the knife through the thin skin and deep into Jack's eyes socket. Katie grabbed the handle with both hands then leaned forward, feeling the metal slide all the way down until it scraped against the back of his skull.
“You deserved more, so much fucking more,” she whispered. Katie raised her head and gazed at the two girls. “We kill them clean and quick. It's what they told us to do.” She snatched the gun from Jack's dead fingers and passed it to Pamela. “You're the only one who's ever fired one of these things.” She got off the dead man's chest. “Fuck waiting for the others to show up.”
5
The seconds crawled by, each moment stretching on and on, while his executioners continued to stare at the spot where Michael shivered. He could not move his body; they had dropped him into the viper nest. All he could do now was to await the inevitable sound of gunfire.
“What did you see?”
The older man, the one whom Michael had passed over money to enter that mausoleum shrugged. Uncertainty etched over his face. The young man, still wearing his leather jacket, still sporting the bruises that Michael had given him earlier snarled.
“You daft old bastard,” he hissed. “I almost killed the fucking carpet.” He spun around. “Come on, you two,” he said, addressing the other youths. “Let’s go check in the rooms upstairs.”
The three men left the part time policeman to scratch his head as they took the stairs two at a time. Michael lifted his head, it now weighed twice as heavy as it ought to, but he was able to move it high enough to watch them disappear into one of the rooms above them. The older man was already making his way towards the reception desk. Michael didn’t bother asking himself why none of them hadn’t been able to see him, was there any point? He knew from most recent experience that asking stupid questions resulted in silence.
Somewhere in this place was his wife and he knew for a fact that until he regained his strength and to find a way to stop his body from feeling like it had been filled with lead shot, he’d be no good to her or anyone. Michael silently moaned in pain as he tried to curl his body into a tight ball. It took a good minute but after much straining, he accomplished it. Michael then rolled towards the reception desk. The older man had disappeared; he must have decided to go check out wherever that other door led to.
Even the slightest of movements sent stabs of pain through his body. This had to be the result of moving from that other place back home, it had to be. After all, the same had happened when he’d first crossed over. So, what was he supposed to do now, just wait for the feeling to pass? Considering Michael
had no other option, there was nothing else he could do. He placed his hands on the carpet and slowly dragged his limp body around the desk, gritting his teeth as his muscles complained at every jerk.
As he lay there, hoping he was right about his assumption and impatiently waiting for this fucking fugue to leave him, Michael listened to the noises around him. He heard the occasional laughter, a few disgruntled moans and the persistent ticking from the clock on the wall, opposite those two stag’s heads. There was no evidence of torture, of screaming, of people in pain. If anything, this hotel just sounded like any other hotel he’s been in.
“How long do we have to wait?”
It looked as though the reject biker boys were back.
“Why the fuck are you asking me that?”
Michael peered around the corner of the desk, relief flooding his system when he felt his muscles beginning to behave again. He still moved like a baby on weed but now he was confident this would soon pass.
“Wait, did you see something just then?
Fuck, his time for blending into the background was obviously at an end. The boy must have seen him, or at least evidence that suggested the boys weren’t alone. Michael jumped and banged his head on the bottom of the desk when a single shot rang out. A small crater appeared on the wall opposite him.
“There!” cried the boy, “did you see that? That table moved.”
“Are you fucking mental?” yelled the leader. “We’re not supposed to shoot up the furniture.”
A dark shadow passed over him.
“Remember me, fuck-face? Wanna try what you pulled on me in the bogs again? Fuck me! You really did come armed to the teeth!”
Michael moved his head and arms at the same time, his movements growing more fluid. The kid wasn’t even looking at he raised the gun and waited, knowing the longer he hesitated, the better chance he’d have to get out of here.
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