Cruel Man

“Here’s how this is going to happen, boy,” Abricci began, sitting in a simple chair near the wall across from the door and crossing his legs. The room was dark, but Sabah could make out the shape of a table and another chair, in front of Abricci’s. There were things hanging from the ceiling, but he wasn’t sure what they were. “Neither you nor your friend outside are leaving this room the way you came in. How broken, however, will be for you to decide.”

     Outside, they could hear Nailah banging on the door and screaming unintelligible things.  

     “What do you mean by that?” Sabah asked, ignoring her and jumping straight to the point.

     “You see, usually I’d just have my fun with you, and save the girl for later. But I can see that you are quite different. You don’t beg, you don’t cry, you don’t show your feelings. But you do care for the girl outside”�"Abricci’s smile flashed through the darkness�"“so you get to choose. Who will go to sleep today in a sorrier state, you or the girl?”

     Sabah looked at Abricci’s general direction, and there was no doubt in his voice. “Do whatever you want to me. Just leave her alone.”

     Abricci’s laugh came out muffled as he covered his mouth with his hand. “Ah, marvelous! I’ll be sure to thoroughly enjoy myself with you then, boy.” He extended his arm toward the wall and turned on the lights. On the table, two open cases revealed a myriad of objects that included syringes, scalpels, saws and whips. Below it stood a small, white fridge. Ropes and chains spiraled down the ceiling so that they were in arm’s reach of anyone reasonable tall.  Throwing his legs forward, Abricci jumped from the chair to the table, and began humming as he separated this or that tool from the rest. Meanwhile, Sabah watched apprehensively.

     “Right,” Abricci sang happily, suddenly grabbing Sabah by the wrist with one hand, and pulling down a chain. He produced a pair of leather shackles that could be tethered together by a removable metal link. “Raise your arms, boy,” he ordered and Sabah promptly obeyed as the now-fading bangs on the door constantly reminded him of what was at stake.

     Abricci fastened one of his wrists to the shackle and then passed the link through the ceiling chain, tethering it to the other shackle and tightening the remaining wrist. He then pulled on another chain, raising the first one until Sabah was made to stand on the tip of his toes. Abricci hooked the chain to a clasp on the wall, and pulled it a last time to make sure it wouldn’t budge.  He took the chair, placed it in front of the boy and sat down, staring at him. As tall as he was, Abricci was now almost at eye level with Sabah.

     “So…?” Sabah mumbled, already having difficulties breathing.

     “Do not speak.” Abricci said simply and intensified his gaze. “I think this might be exhilarating! For me, that is.”      

     He stood up, excitement coursing through his body, and rummaged through his cases, coming up with a small MP3 device, a pair of earplugs and some tape. He put the plugs on Sabah’s ears and taped them in place. He then touched the MP3 screen a few times, and a high-pitched sound, the kind you get after hearing to something very loud, started playing through the earbuds. Abricci then sat down and looked at Sabah with a grin in his face.

     Minute after minute went by but much like Abricci’s position, the sound remained the same. It dominated Sabah’s mind, rendering him unable to focus on anything.  The boy shook his head, trying time and again to remove the earplugs, but it was in vain. Sabah’s heartbeat was getting faster and faster, and he could draw increasingly shorter and desperate breaths as the exhaustion from his position settled like a heavy weight upon his body. The more he struggled, the more Abricci’s sadistic smile grew.

     It was only when black dots started to cloud Sabah’s vision, and he was positive he would go insane from the sound, that Abricci removed the earbuds and lowered the chain. As soon as he did it, Sabah collapsed on his knees and elbows, breathing and coughing heavily. Abricci opened the fridge and took a glass and some water. He filled the glass to the brim and got a sachet from his case, dropping the white powder on the glass.

     “Drink,” he said, offering Sabah the water.

     He looked up from the floor and wiped saliva off his lips, “What’s in it?” he asked.

     “Drink,” Abricci ordered, eyebrows raised.

     Sabah took the glass and, after finding a comfortable position, drank its contents. It had a salty taste to it, but it wasn’t very pronounced. Abricci took his glass and put it back inside the fridge.

     “Time for round two, boy,” he announced and took the earplugs, taping them back on Sabah’s ears.

     Sabah tried to maintain a neutral expression but Abricci could see the misery that settled in his face as soon as the earbuds were taped. He gulped and closed his eyes, clenching his jaw as his assailant began raising the chain once more, the effect on his breathing almost immediate. Abricci then went to the table and came back with a scalpel.

     Abricci took Sabah by the hair and as the boy resisted, he pulled harder and pressed the blunt side of the tool against his throat. The boy quieted down, looking at Abricci with a mix of anger and fear. His captor grinned and tapped him lightly on the cheek before moving his fingers down to the chin, commanding the boy to bow his head up slightly. Then, with utmost precision, Abricci used the scalpel to make two deep but short cuts above each of Sabah’s eyebrows. Blood tickled down�"slowly at first�"reaching the boy’s eyes and making him shake his head, spilling blood around the room. It soon made its way to Sabah’s mouth, causing him to choke when he tried to breathe through it.

     Between moans of the unnerving high-pitched sound and coughs of the blood constantly entering his mouth, Sabah struggled and thrashed, barely able to see. It did not take long for the boy to be splattered with his own blood, and along his eyes, the blood was mixed with tears that finally started to fall, his helplessness taking the best of him and making him gasp even more. Abricci gave him no respite though, taking a leather glove from his pocket, putting it on and hitting Sabah full force in the face. The boy’s scream came out as a gargle instead, and he swung back and forth like a bleeding pendulum.

     “Cry, you m**********r!” Abricci howled at him, high enough to be heard above the earplug’s sound, and to startle Nailah outside, for she began hitting on the door again.

     “Beg!” he blared once more, hitting Sabah’s face without mercy as he pronounced each word, all the while sporting a devilish grin, “Beg. For. Mercy!”

     And so Sabah�"or at least the bloody, teary, purple mess that he’d become�" did. Crying, almost unable to speak thanks to his ruptured lips and uneven breathing, he managed to utter his plea.

     “Stop…” he begged weakly, “please, I c-can’t take it…”

     Abricci now had the smile of a crocodile stamped on his face, and his eyes were deep rivers of malice. He went back to his tools and glued two small cotton balls to a bit of tape. He then took a tiny flask and let a few drops fall on each of the balls. Raising the tape carefully, he closed the distance to Sabah and glued it to his nose, so that each ball covered a nostril. Finally, Abricci turned and left the room, letting Sabah have a glimpse of Nailah, who paled for the one second during which she saw him. The door then closed and he was left alone bleeding, broken, exhausted, almost unable to breath and much less think. With so many parts of his body aching for attention, it took a while for him to notice the increasingly hot burning feeling that was spreading from the tape on his nose and scorching through his face.