50. Noah
NOAH
FOUR YEARS AGO
I’ve been slowly circling his chair. Each step in rhythm with my slow, steady heartbeat.
Thump – Step – Thump – Step.
Each time my foot connects with the concrete, I can see his body tense. His head is slumped forward against his chest. Blood trickles down the back of his neck where I’ve let my blade barely kiss his flesh.
“So, tell me, Parker…Where have you been all these years?”
“Why does it fucking matter?” he snarls, still trying to maintain a grasp of control.
“Everything about what you’ve done matters to me, Parker. So, enlighten me…What happened that night? Where did you take Willow?”
His head snaps up, eyes wide with fear and confusion.
“Willow? I didn’t take Willow. I thought…”
His voice trails off as he begins to shake his head again, then stops from the wave of dizziness.
“What, James? What did you think?”
“I thought she was dead…The sirens…” His voice is shaky, and his breathing is becoming rapid. “When I heard those sirens, everything came back into focus. I looked down and saw my blood-soaked hands. I saw Deb, lying there, shielding our little girl with her body. There…was so much blood.”
His voice cracks as he pinches his eyes closed, trying to forget the nightmare he created.
“You thought you killed her, too?”
“There was just so much blood. Deb wasn’t breathing, and Willow…Fuck! Willow wasn’t moving. I could hear the sirens getting closer to me, so I fucking ran.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not. I swear to God. I thought I killed them both, until about a month later when I saw the news. There was a manhunt out for me. They said I had her. They were searching for her too…I don’t know what happened. I don’t know who took my baby girl.”
*Smack*
“You don’t get to call her that. Now tell me the fucking truth. What happened to Willow!?”
“I don’t know!”
“Where. Is. She?” I seethe, and it’s then that I can see it in his face.
“I don’t know. I searched after that to try to find her. I never…I never meant to kill Deb. I…I was just so…”
“Drunk. You were a fucking drunk, James. An abusive, worthless, piece of shit human who would beat his wife and child, then go on smiling the next day as if nothing happened.”
“Yes,” he cries out, letting his head fall forward again. “Yes.”
“Who took her then?”
“I don’t know. I told you. I tried to find her, but I could barely keep a roof over my head and the cops off my back, so I gave up.”
“After how long?”
“A year. I searched for a year, but I figured they threw her in the system and she was either adopted by a new family or…”
“Or?”
“Or she was lost in the system…”
No. There’s no way she was put in the system. I would’ve found a trail, some sort of fucking paperwork leading to her.
“Fuck!”
A scream, raw and feral, rips from my chest, shattering every remaining shard of hope I had in finding her. He was my last hope. My last fucking hope. He cowers, trying to lean his body and the chair as far away from me as possible.
I let my eyes fall closed as I take a few deep breaths.
No. He’s lying. He has to be lying.
He took her…Hid her away from the world…
He took her from me.
My head slowly tilts back and forth as my shoulders roll, letting my bones crack and release the built-up tension. On the last exhale, I finally move toward the table with all the toys I’ve brought down here.
“Wha…What are you doing?” he stammers as he watches me blindly trail my fingers along the instruments.
Knives, tasers, and blowtorches. Needles, different vials of poisons, and guns. I have chisels, hammers, an axe, and even a few things I’ve had imported from overseas.
My finger grazes a leather handle, and a shiver runs down my spine. My eyes open to find my fingers wrapped around the six-inch-long handle wrapped in black leather with gold stitching. Attached are four cords of braided leather with small, silver barbs woven into the braids.
“What the fuck is that?” Parker asks as I lift the fun little toy.
“This? Nothing good, I can tell you that. I got it from a friend of a friend. I think his name is Luca…He got it from Saudi Arabia…I think.”
I let the leather braids rest against my other palm as I slowly look at him in the eye. I want him to see the hellfire burning from inside me from behind the mask.
“Why?”
One word from his lips. One fucking syllable and it’s like the world is threatening to suffocate me.
“Why? Why?! Why did you constantly beat your wife and daughter, James?”
*Snap*
The braids lash out, gripping his upper bicep before ripping free, tearing holes into his shirt and gouging into his flesh.
His screams fill the air as I take another deep inhale of the cool, damp air now filled with his pain. Tremors run down my spine causing my entire body to shudder from the pleasure. Fuck, it’s never felt this good.
“What the fuck…What…”
“Why did you kill your wife?”
*Snap*
Another hit, but this one against his thigh. The barbs dig in, their shape perfectly designed to embed into the flesh then rip it free from his body as I pull back.
I don’t give him a second to breathe before I strike again, this one in his side.
*Snap*
“Where is she?”
*Rip*
Blood splatters as I rip the blades free from his body. The droplets land on the mask, my shirt, and the floor. His clothes are staining a dark red like the dark stain I found that night I went to find her.
*Snap*
“Pl…please?” he whimpers as the next lashing to his other arm gets stuck for a millisecond before ripping free causing his body to slump forward.
He sobs as blood continues to flow from his body puddling on the floor. If I’m not careful, this won’t last long. I need to keep him alive.
Alive for her.
I toss the whip back onto the table. Chunks of mangled flesh are still clinging to the barbs. The putrid stench of his vomit hits me as the sound of it hitting the floor echoes. I need to clean him off then cauterize the wounds.
I grab the nearest knife to me. It’s not my sharpest, but it’ll do.
“Please…No more…”
“Shut up!”
*Smack*
His head snaps to the side as I backhand him across the face to shut him up.
“Pl…”
“I said shut the fuck up!”
I grip his shirt, forcing him to stare into the face that will haunt his nightmares for as long as it takes to get her back.
He won’t be able to shut his eyes without hearing my voice, seeing the glowing eyes of my mask, and being consumed by the fear I’m going to make sure he feels every fucking day until I have her back in my arms.
I take the knife and shred his remaining clothes, revealing the mutilated flesh underneath. Blood oozes from the wounds with each strangled breath he takes.
“You can’t die on me yet, Parker. Not with all the fun I have planned for us.”
I let the hose sputter, then spray him down with the icy cold stream. His breaths are rapid and stuttered as the water flows over him washing his blood and vomit down the drain.
The wounds still trickle blood as I turn the water off leaving him half-naked, shivering, and stuttering.
“Pl…Pl…Please. Stop.”
“Stop?”
I tilt my head to the side as I stare at him. I reach and grab the cautery iron and blowtorch off the table beside me without taking my eyes off him.
“Did you ever stop when Deb screamed, or when Willow cried?”
“I was…”
“I asked, did you ever fucking stop when they begged you?”
His head hangs in shame as his body continues to shiver from the cold.
“I didn’t think so,” I say calmly as I take another step toward him.
He doesn’t look up, hardly even moves other than the chattering of his teeth. The teeth that I’m going to enjoy ripping from his mouth each time he lies to me.
“I’m never going to stop, Parker. Not until I find what I’ve been searching for.”
His gaze slowly lifts, eyes widening as he sees the glowing, heated metal.
“What are you searching for?” he manages to ask through his shudders.
“Something you stole from me a long time ago. Now hold still…This might hurt a bit.”