Thou Shall Not: A Dark Ten Commandments Anthology

by Michelle Brown

  “What the fuck?” he lets out harshly, quickly looking around until his eyes find me. “What the hell is this?” he demands. Attempting to kick out his legs, the nails locked in his joints protest, keeping his knees in a bent position. He cries out in pain as he tries again to move.

  “What did you do?” he cries out. “Where is she?” His voice grows panicked as he tries to lift his head and look around. “Erin!” he shouts her name loudly, over and over.

  Grabbing his calves, I start pulling to straighten his legs. He stops yelling her name and starts yelling out in pain again.

  “You need to be quiet!” I scold him in a hushed voice. “If you keep acting like that, you’re not going to like how this ends.”

  He narrows his eyes at me, yelping as I let go of his legs. He’s smart, he knows his place right now, but I can see it in his eyes that he’s trying to come up with his own plan.

  Sorry, Miles, but His plan overrides yours.

  “Okay,” he says, hesitantly. “Why don’t you tell me how this is supposed to end?”

  Taking a deep breath, I shrug just as Erin begins to stir in her chair. Her head rolls around heavily as she struggles to lift it up. She lets it hang for a few moments before finally mustering the strength to hold it up. She glances around quickly with her eyes, her head slowly following behind. Her body wiggles as she tries to move her arms and legs before realizing she’s tied up.

  “What the hell?” she mutters as she continues to wiggle and glances around the room until her eyes find Miles on the table.

  “Oh my God, Miles!” she screams as all color drains from her face.

  The Lord’s name should never be said in vain.

  Strike one.

  Miles shushes her from across the table. “Calm down, Erin. It’s not good for you or the baby.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she scoffs. “We’re in some type of a hostage situation here and you’re telling me to calm down?”

  Stepping into her line of sight, her eyes find me. “He is right, you know,” I interject. “The last thing you want to do is harm the baby.”

  “Who are you?” she questions me loudly. “What do you want with us?” Her eyes grow wide, filling with tears and she lets out a small gasp. “Is this because of the accident? We weren’t at fault and you have no idea how sorry we are for that!”

  Liar. Liar. Liar.

  They were all liars, every last one of them.

  It was their fault; they did cause the accident.

  Strike two.

  “Erin,” Miles scolds her in a hushed voice. “Please, just stop talking for once and give her a chance to explain.”

  I smile, picking up on his tactic. “Miles, I need you two to understand that this is not a hostage situation, so you can stop with your different ideas of how to negotiate and be on my good side. I have no bad side to show you.”

  Miles clenches his jaw while Erin nervously chews on her bottom lip.

  “This is God’s plan,” I explain. “There’s no way out for any of us, unless we cooperate and follow under His command.”

  I watch as Miles looks around, taking in Erin and his current position and their reality right now. His eyes fall to Erin’s swollen belly for a moment and his eyes soften.

  That baby is why we’re all here.

  And I know they will both do whatever they have to do to keep her safe.

  Miles looks back up at me as a look of understanding passes over his face. “We will do whatever it is that God intends on having us do.” He glances at his wife, who stares at him wide-eyed. “Right, Erin?” he questions her, but she remains frozen and silent.

  “ERIN!” he yells, snapping her out of her shocked state. Her eyes instantly fill with tears as she stares at him and gives a small nod in agreement.

  “Okay!” I exclaim, clapping my hands once. “Now that we’re all on the same page, we can finally talk about the plan!” I pause, taking a deep breath. “So, we need this baby to be as healthy as possible before she is born,” I tell Erin, staring into her tear-filled, frightened eyes.

  “Very good,” my father says from across the room. “She believes you, now’s your chance to test her.”

  Looking over at Miles, I find him staring at me, his eyes hard as if he’s trying to threaten me. “God has a very important job for you right now.” I smile down at him, leaving out any other details.

  Miles’ eyes are troubled as he looks over at Erin.

  “What do you need from me?” Miles asks, his eyes never leaving Erin’s.

  “Your liver,” I say with a small smile as both of their heads turn toward me.

  Chapter Eight

  ERIN GASPS AS MILES stares at me with wide eyes. “Wha-at?” he stutters as Erin begins to shake her head.

  “You can’t tell them why,” my father interrupts. I stare at him, cocking my head to the side. “It’s a test.”

  “No, no, no,” Erin chants. “Please, there has to be something, anything else that we can do. Money.” Her face lights up. “We can give you money if that’s what you really want.”

  Crossing my arms, I shake my head. “You can’t buy your way into Heaven.”

  Erin sits with her arms secured tightly behind the chair as she bites on her quivering lip, swallowing her tears. Miles lies there silently, unable to move, watching me with curiosity.

  He narrows his eyes. “What do you need my liver for?”

  “You can’t tell him,” my mother whispers into my ear. “For it to be a true test, they have to go in blindly. But whatever you do, always remember all of the Commandments.”

  Lying is not an option, it has never been an option my entire life. They don’t need to know all of the details, but they need enough information for this to work.

  “Erin needs it,” I tell the two of them.

  “No!” she shrieks. “I do NOT need his liver!”

  Miles looks at his wife, shaking his head. “You do need it, but not for you,” he pauses, closing his eyes before focusing back on me. “It’s for the baby.”

  I smile as Miles connects the dots, although he’s not connecting them in the right pattern. He’s missing the point of this all, but if God wanted him to know, he would.

  Erin stares at Miles in disbelief with her mouth slightly agape. “No,” she insists, dropping her gaze to the floor. “No. This is not happening.”

  Miles looks at me, his expression consumed by defeat.

  It’s time.

  “Erin, I need you to look at me,” Miles urges her. She glances up at him with her eyes filled with tears. “She’s going to cut me open, whether we like it or not,” Miles tells her quietly as she chokes on a sob. “The liver is one of the most nutrient-rich organs in the body. You’re going to have to eat it... for the baby at least.”

  Erin lets out a loud cry as her body begins to shake with every sob. Shaking her head frantically, she mumbles incoherently to herself or Miles, I can’t be sure of who exactly.

  As they continue to go back and forth, I search in my bag, finding my scalpel and a small bottle with a dropper. Setting them on the table, they remember my presence and both turn their heads to look at me. Picking up the bottle, I slowly undo the lid and squeeze the end of the dropper, drawing up some of the solution into the tube.

  Looking at Miles, I show him what I have. “This is liquid morphine that goes underneath your tongue for a quicker absorption time.” Their fearful, confused eyes follow me as I walk around the table to his head. “I wasn’t sure that I would be giving you any, but I’m offering you this relief for the sacrifice you are making.”

  “Sacrifice?” Erin yells at me, her eyes wild. “You’re forcing him to do this!”

  Such ignorance.

  I shake my head, giving her a knowing look. “I am simply following His plan and your cooperation and sacrifices will be kept in mind when it comes time for Judgment Day.”

  “Give me the morphine,” Miles demands, interrupting our conversation.

&nb
sp; Dropping my gaze, I look down at him, into his pleading eyes. “The amount I have to give you for the pain is a dangerous amount. It should knock you out, but there’s always a chance that you might not wake up.”

  Miles’ eyelids fall shut for a moment, taking a deep breath as Erin stares at him, waiting. Slowly, he opens his eyes, staring at me with a clear understanding.

  “Give me the morphine,” he quietly resigns as Erin lets out a cry.

  “Very well.” I nod, bringing the dropper down to his mouth and he opens it wide, allowing me to drop the liquid beneath his tongue. For his own sake, I drop the tube back into the bottle and draw up more and give it to him. He lies still after I finish, turning to look at Erin. “I love you so much, Erin. You’re the best person I’ve ever known and I’m so proud to be able to call you my best friend and my wife.”

  “You stop it, Miles Joshua Talbot!” Erin’s voice is loud and shrill. “You stop that right now!”

  Miles’ breathing has begun to grow shallower and his eyelids are delayed when he blinks. A grin falls upon his lips as he struggles to look at her and he chuckles.

  “This isn’t funny, nor is it the time to smile!” she cries.

  Miles’ eyelids fall shut. “I love you, Erin,” he slurs. “Promise me you’ll never forget that.”

  The smile slowly falls from his lips and his breathing grows even and shallow as he finally slips into a deep, drug-induced sleep.

  “I promise.” Erin’s hushed voice cracks as tears run faster down the sides of her face. “I promise.”

  Chapter Nine

  WALKING BACK AROUND the table, I throw the morphine back into my bag. I gave him enough to keep him asleep for a while and he shouldn’t feel any pain during this. He made a huge sacrifice, one that will help determine his wife’s fate.

  Erin watches me as I start at the top of his shirt and begin unbuttoning it, one by one. I move quickly as the night is growing old and we’re nearing the new year fast. After the last button, I peel open his shirt revealing his pale, naked torso. Closing my eyes, I visualize the anatomy of the human body, finding the accurate placement of the liver. Using my hands, I feel his stomach, coming to a stop near the top of his abdomen.

  “You can’t do this to him,” Erin pleads as I run my hand across her husband’s skin. “He’s a good man.”

  Ignoring her, I grab my scalpel off the table and position it against his skin above the area where is liver is.

  “He is a good man,” I admit, looking her directly in the eye. “That is exactly why he is agreeing to play his part in the plan. He understands how vital this is.”

  Her chin quivers as she bites her bottom lip, begging me with her sad, petrified eyes.

  “It’s time,” I declare, pressing the scalpel into his skin, making my first incision. I glance over at Erin as she lets out a loud howl and begins shaking while she sobs uncontrollably. Shaking my head, I turn my attention back to my surgical field and resume opening Miles’ abdomen up. It doesn’t take long to cut through the layers of tissue to locate his liver. Blood steadily pools in his abdomen, spilling out onto the table.

  Reaching inside the incision, I find his liver and cut the connected veins and soft tissue before pulling the red solid organ from his body. I toss it down onto the table beside Erin, who continues to sob. She shrieks as his liver lands with a thud on the hardwood.

  Searching through their drawers, I find a large steak knife and a fork. I walk back over to Erin, stabbing the liver with my fork and use it to hold it still as I begin to slice the organ, cutting it into bite-size pieces.

  “He’s not breathing,” Erin says in a rush. “He isn’t breathing!”

  Glancing over at Miles, I see that his chest has stopped moving. He didn’t stop breathing during the surgery and he was breathing afterward too. Setting down the fork and knife, I go to him to fully assess him. He appears to be frozen, lying in a puddle of blood on the table, not moving.

  Placing one hand on his chest and the other against his neck, I feel for a pulse and wait for him to take a breath, but nothing happens.

  He didn’t make it.

  “What’s going on?” she shrieks. “Why isn’t he moving?”

  “Erin, I need you to focus on you and the baby right now, okay?” I reply, evading her questions.

  Instantly, her head falls and her body racks with sobs as she cries so hard that she’s silent. All that can be heard are her struggled breaths as her lungs and heart are at war with each other.

  This wasn’t part of the plan.

  Sometimes plans change.

  Chapter Ten

  SHAKING HER HEAD ROUGHLY, she tries to jerk away from me as I press a piece of meat against her lips. She groans and grunts, twisting her head from side to side.

  Gripping the fork tightly, I keep the piece of liver against her lips as she moves.

  “Miles gave you this to ensure the health of your baby,” I coax her as her head slowly stops moving. “You don’t have to do this but think about your baby.”

  Erin sniffles, closing her eyes with a pained expression. Slowly, she parts her lips, opening her mouth for me. Slipping the fork into her mouth, she bites down, pulling the chunk of liver from the fork as I pull it back out. She looks down at her stomach as she begins to chew on the raw piece of organ. Her nose starts to run profusely as she clamps her mouth shut and gags over and over, coughing and choking as she tries to swallow.

  A few painful minutes pass until she finally is able to get the piece down. She looks up at me, her tears mixing with her snot and an indistinguishable look on her face. Reaching down, I scoop up the rest of the liver and walk back into the kitchen.

  “What are you doing with that?” she calls over.

  Popping open the lid, I toss the chunks of liver into the trash can. “Getting rid of it.”

  “Why would you do that?” she demands. “My husband died because you said the baby needed his liver.”

  Because you failed the test.

  Strike three, you’re out.

  I walk back over to Erin and look back and forth between her and Miles.

  She narrows her eyes at me. “You’re a murderer,” she accuses, her voice cold and harsh.

  “I didn’t murder anyone,” I admit.

  “You killed him!” She raises her voice. “That makes you a murderer.”

  I smell my mother’s perfume before I feel her breath by my ear.

  “Remember what I taught you,” she whispers. “Murdering and killing are two different things. You didn’t plan to kill him or did it maliciously. It was an accident. You’re not a murderer.”

  It was an accident.

  “He died from a complication,” I inform Erin.

  Thou shall not murder.

  “He died at your hands,” she counters, giving me a look of disgust. “You’re going to Hell.”

  Shaking my head, I give her a small smile as she turns away from me.

  The only person going to Hell here was the cannibal tied up in front of me.

  Chapter Eleven

  “YOU’RE RUNNING OUT of time,” my father sighs from the doorway.

  I look up at the clock as the hands keep ticking faster and faster.

  Ten minutes until midnight, until the New Year.

  “We need to take out the baby,” I tell Erin, grabbing her face. “It has to happen now.”

  Violently shaking her head, she chokes on a sob as her tears fall down her face.

  “It’s too soon,” she cries. “You can’t, not yet.”

  Walking behind the chair, I grab the top part of the back and start to lean it backward. Erin lets out a small yelp as I slowly tip her back and gently lower her heavy weight to the floor. This wasn’t how I planned on this happening but like my father said earlier... improvise.

  After laying her down on the floor, I stand back up and walk over to my bag. Pulling out my second scalpel, a thick washcloth, a blanket, and a clamp, I walk back to her as she watches me with a terrified
look on her face. She opens her mouth to say something as I crouch down beside her, giving me easy access. I shove the thick, balled up washcloth into the depths of her mouth, muffling any sound she’ll make.

  She coughs and gags violently on the cloth, drawing even more tears from her eyes as she continues to stare at me.

  “Sorry, but I know you’re not going to be quiet and we can’t have this messed up.” I shrug apologetically. “It’s not too soon for the baby. You’ll be forty weeks in three days, so she’s more than ready.”

  Dropping to my knees, I move down to the seat of the chair and slowly lift up her blouse, resting it just below her breasts. Her chest heaves as she cries silently to herself.

  Assessing my surgical field, there’s no way that I can do a typical lower transverse incision and safely remove the baby in a timely fashion. Vertical is our only option.

  I forgot betadine and I don’t have time to wash and shave her abdomen. Taking the tip of my blade, I hold it softly against the top of her stomach. She pinches her eyes shut, violently shaking her head back and forth, screaming against the washcloth.

  No one can hear you, Erin.

  I wait for her to calm down, but she doesn’t stop.

  “Rebecca,” my father barks. “You need to stop waiting around and get the baby out now!”

  “Just hold on!” I yell at him and I get Erin’s attention. She finally stops freaking out and looks up at me.

  Lightly touching her face, I brush a piece of hair from her forehead. “I promise this will all be worth it in the end,” I tell her honestly as her eyes widen.

  Pressing down, the scalpel breaks through her skin as I drag it from the top of her abdomen to the bottom. Erin’s whole body thrashes against me as the veins in her neck and face bulge from her screaming. Ignoring her, I move back up just beneath her breasts and begin cutting through the next layer. She continues to thrash as much as she can with being tied up before she finally grows still.