20. Zack
Zack
I ’m finally here.
The last three years have all been building to this very moment.
In the basement, Christopher is gagged and unconscious, strapped to the bed with the restraints that were already there. Looming over him, I let my hatred seep out of my every pore, my every breath.
His face is blistered from my little sinner’s vicious attack with the tea he intended to knock her out with.
I watched from the hall as he tipped the powder into the cup, a disgusting eager smile on his face as he stirred it in.
Behind me, Chloe is searching the various boxes and shelves with a new wild energy to her. I come up behind her, and grab her waist, resting my chin on the top of her head. “What are you looking for, darlin’?”
“More tapes.” She turns in my arms, a melancholic look in her eyes. “Zack, baby. Christopher knew Father Daniels.”
“I know. I heard the two of you talking.”
“Oh. You’ve not said anything about it. Why not?” She sounds hurt.
“You told me you didn’t want to go back there. I’m respecting that. Have you changed your mind? Because if you have, I’ll?—”
She places her hand on my chest. “No. I want to keep moving forward with you. But there must be something here connecting it all. Another tape maybe? There could be someone I recognize on it. We could take it to the police.”
“You think they’ll help?”
“They might if I’m the one to hand it in.”
“No!” I place my hand over her mouth, stopping her from saying anything more. “You’ve killed people, Chloe, you can’t risk getting caught.”
“But, the other girls—” she mumbles through my grip.
“I don’t give a shit about the other girls. All I care about is you. Little sinner, I’m killing Christopher, then I’m giving you my future.”
She nods and leans against me, burying her face into my neck.
Christopher starts to stir behind us. Detaching myself from Chloe, she goes back to her search, and I head to the foot of the bed.
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead!” I clap my hands, and he startles.
Blinking slowly as he looks around, Christopher spots me, and discovers he’s tied down when he tries to lunge for me. He looks terrified of me, but there’s no recognition in his eyes. He catches sight of Chloe and glares at her.
Stepping into his view, I say, “Don’t you dare look at her.”
His eyes stay on me as I slowly walk over to my bag that’s open on a table. There are plenty of options at my disposal since I didn’t get to use everything I wanted on Walter or Jackson. To start with, I settle on a screwdriver and a pair of scissors.
Christopher shouts something at me, but it’s too muffled behind the gag for me to hear, and honestly, I don’t care what he has to say. All I want is his silence. His death.
“Cat got your tongue?” I mock him. “You don’t remember who I am, but you knew my sister, Kat. She was good friends with your daughter, Ali.”
His panicked expression tells me he understands exactly why we’re here.
Ignoring his cries, I hum to myself as I cut off his clothes. Once he’s naked, I turn my nose up at his tiny dick. Taking hold of the soft flesh, I instantly regret not bringing gloves for this part. I don’t want to have to touch it, but sacrifices must be made for the greater good.
He starts bucking, trying to knock me off him as he gargles out the usual cries for help. Get off me! Let me fucking go! You’re going to regret this! I’m sorry, I won’t tell anyone! Blah fucking blah.
“If you don’t stop moving, I’m gonna miss.” I bring the screwdriver toward the head of his dick, and he freezes when he feels the metal touch the tiny slit. “That’s more like it.”
His eyes go wide and his face, which is already blistered and pink, turns bright red as I slowly insert the screwdriver.
“I doubt I’ll be able to get more than half of this in your tiny dick.”
He shrieks as I keep pushing.
“Zack, wait!” Chloe shouts, and I stop.
“What’s wrong?” I quickly turn to her, worried she’s been hurt .
In her hands is a well-worn notebook, and on the table behind her is a box full of video tapes.
“There are easily over fifty names in here, Zack. All with different dates recorded next to them.” Her voice wavers, and I know there’s worse news to come. “They go back to when his daughter was a little kid. That means…” Sad eyes meet mine.
“That means the fucker was doing this for years, hurting whoever he could get his hands on no matter their age. Isn’t that right?” I spit at Christopher. He’s too busy writhing and gawking at his blood-covered dick to reply.
“Zack, there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Your sister’s name is in here more than once.”
Taking the notebook from Chloe, I scan through until I see every repeat of the words Katherine Vaughn . The need to vomit comes on quickly, like it did the day I found out my sister’s dark truth, but I hold it back this time.
“Should we give it to the police?” Chloe asks, doubting who to trust with the information.
I look her in the eye, and hand it back to her. “I’ll leave that choice up to you.” She holds it close to her chest as she contemplates what to do.
I’d be content with burning it all, but if she needs it to deal with her own monsters then I won’t take that from her.
I may not need answers, but Chloe does. Using the scissors, I cut the tape from Christopher’s mouth, slicing his lips a little in the process.
“ Oops ,” I snicker.
“Take it out! Take it out! Please, please, please!”
“This?” I twist the screwdriver in his dick, and he wails.
“Yes! Take it out! P-please. ”
“I’ll remove it… if you tell us how you know Father Daniels.”
He shakes his head, sweat flying from his brow.
At this rate we’ll be here all day. I pull the screwdriver out of his dick and hold it to his cheek. “Speak now or it goes in your eyes.”
“I-I—” he won’t stop stuttering.
His eyes start to roll back, and I’m about to slap him to stop him going into shock, but Chloe gets there first.
“How did you know him?” she snarls, smacking him twice across the face, and making my heart flutter like a damn schoolgirl.
With his attention on her, he focuses a little more. I can see the cogs coming to life in his head. He’s going to try and manipulate her onto his side.
Not a fucking chance in hell I’ll let him do that.
I inch the screwdriver up so it touches his eyeball, and he yelps.
“Breathe one word of a lie and this eye is getting fucking popped.”
“I grew up with his older brother. We were friends. They would sometimes come to our family barbecues.”
“And what? The two of you would come down here to watch some home movies? Maybe make some new ones? Did you invite Jackson and Walter as well?”
“N-no. They would only come over when my wife was away. She travels for work. She doesn’t have a clue about any of this! You can’t tell her!”
Like we’re sticking around long enough for that.
“What about Father Daniels? Is he on the tapes?” Chloe asks.
“Not exactly. H-he ended up stumbling down here after a few too many beers and discovered my collection. We found we shared a mutual interest.”
Mutual interest?
“ Are you fucking kidding me? A mutual interest is being into cars or baseball, not raping young girls.” Rage consumes me, and I push the screwdriver into his eye.
I’ve never heard such a pained scream as I have the one tearing out of Christopher’s throat right now. But it’s not enough to satisfy me.
I go to swap to another tool, and as I rummage through my bag for what to use next, Christopher begs Chloe for his life.
“Get me out of here, please. You’re a good girl, I’m sure. Probably got dragged into this by him. I’ll keep you safe if you untie me.”
I don’t intervene. Instead, I watch with quiet interest out of the corner of my eye at what she’ll do next.
Clutching her chest, she makes herself look so innocent. “You’ll save me from the big bad man? My hero!”
Christopher looks hopeful until she picks up the eyeball-matter-covered screwdriver. She wipes it off on his stomach then circles the tip around his belly button.
I lean back against the table, and watch my fallen angel release the darkness inside her heart.
She kneels on the bed and, with both hands, pushes the tip of the tool into his stomach until she breaks the skin.
More howls fill the room, but they barely register to my ears. I’m hypnotized by Chloe dragging the screwdriver over his stomach multiple times. Once she’s satisfied, she hops off the bed and beams the brightest, proudest smile at me.
Carved on Christopher’s stomach is the word RAPIST.
“Impressive. ”
“Thank you.” She curtsies.
Seeing that Christopher has passed out from the pain, I grab a hammer from my bag, and wrap an arm around my girl’s shoulders. “Shall we wake him up for some more?”
Chloe nods eagerly. I kiss the top of her head, then tap Christopher’s cheek with the hammer. He murmurs in his sleep.
“Fun’s not over yet! Time to wake up.” When he still doesn’t stir, I slam the hammer down on his stomach. That gets him moving. His eyes fly open, and his back arches.
The realization that there’s no escaping this seems to finally dawn on him and once he settles down, he quietly waits for what’s to come.
“You took away all those girls’ voices. You drugged them, and raped them with your friends. They couldn’t say no, and even when they did, you carried on. My sister is fucking dead because of what you did to her!”
“I’m sorry!”
I’ve always imagined those two words to be the ones that break me. But hearing them out loud, they do absolutely nothing. I’m not more angry with him. I don’t think that’s possible. I definitely don’t forgive him. What I am is ready for this to end.
“Little sinner, anything you want to ask, do it now.”
She takes a moment to think. “What about the convent? Did you go there as well?”
I was wrong about the anger thing. If he’s hurt her, touched her, then my anger’s about to go fucking nuclear.
“No, they keep their girls to themselves. But sometimes Tristan would come here. He’d spend time with Ali while she was knocked out, but he’s not come since she moved out. ”