Chapter 11

5 DAYS EARLIER

Jack's eyes fluttered open, all he could see was darkness. He shifted in the darkness as a groan escaped his lips, a migraine was attempting to split his head in two.

He lifted his damp hands to make shapes in front of his eyes but he couldn't decipher it. He touched his face, it felt wet. The strong smell of chemicals hit his nose, he rolled on his back and covered his nose and grimaced.

He tried to get up but the sudden move made his head ache even more. He laid on the floor as he tried to stabilize his system. The steady dripping sound probably from a leaking pipe was like a hypnosis to him.

He breathed in and out preparing himself, he screamed for help. The only reply he got was his voice bouncing off the vacuum as echoes.

"Hello!?" He screamed disregarding the splitting headache. "Is anyone there!?"

Steadily, he flipped himself on his stomach, he placed his hand on the wet floor and pushed himself up slowly. He tried to move forward but the rattles of chains stopped him.

He crouched and touched his feet, there were chains around his feet. With his right leg, he yanked at it with force, his ankle snapped, he fell face forward.

Searing pain shot up from his feet, he screamed in agony as he manoeuvred to clutch his ankles with his wet hands. The rattles of chains accompanied his screams in a horrific symphony.

As the pain from his ankles died down to a dull throb, so did his sobs. He heard patters on the puddle of water as something scurried across. His head turned sharply in the direction of the noise, straining against the darkness to see.

"Who's there?" He squinted but all his eyes could see was darkness. It became quiet, the only sound heard was his rapid breathing and the drips of water.

The chains around his feet were pulled, he screamed as his bones were twisted, immense pain washed over him, ignoring the fact that he was being dragged.

He bent forward, wrapped the chains around his arms and yanked it forward. The chain was tugged back in aggression causing him to fall back, hitting his head on the wet floor. The back of his head throbbed in pain coupled with his awakened migraine.

The pulling stopped. Tears filled Jack's eyes as he tried to stabilize his breathing. Placing his hands on his chest, he took rapid breaths.

Breaking Jack's mirage of hope, the pulling started again, a grinder was turned on. Jack screamed in fear, begging for release. As the chains were pulled, the sound of the grinder became louder in Jack's ears.

As his feet kissed the metal tip of the grinder, it stopped. Jack's struggled against his broken ankle to free his feet but the pain and the fear fought against themselves.

"I..I..I b...b..beg y..youu, p..p..please". Jack's voice quivered in fear, the helplessness he felt slowly seeping into his voice. The length of the chain had been reduced leaving his feet slightly suspended.

"Jack" an eerie voice called out. The voice was as light as the wind but had a whistle in it like a boiling kettle.

"Wh..o..os...whose there?" Jack stuttered, rotating his head in the direction of the voice as his body couldn't.

"Be quiet, I need you to listen" the voice ever so calm spoke. The soothing nature of the voice could send anyone into a deep sleep filled with tranquility. But in this case, Jack was full of fear.

His eyes widened in the darkness as his hands shot up to his lips, they were sewed shut. He screamed but it was muffled by his lips.

A snap of a finger brought light flooding into the room. Jack's frantic hands shielded his eyes from the rage of the florescent bulbs. When his Irises had dilated and contracted the right span to allow enough light to flow in without blinding, he dropped his hands.

He looked up from his position on the floor as a shadow was casted over his figure. His eyes bulged, the man flicked his wrists and his feet fell to the floor.

His scream was muffled as his left leg hit his broken ankle on the right. He rotated and crawled in the floor towards an available corner.

His teary eyes roamed the place he was in, an abandoned laboratory, darkened tiles with smoke and charcoal suggestions of a burned building or an explosion. Portions of the walls had broken off exposing the burst pipes.

He tugged at the seams on his lips to scream, the hooded man flicked his wrist again and Jack went still. He couldn't move.

The pounding in his chest amplified, his rib cage if loose could shake due to the rapid rate of his heartbeat. The hooded man raised his gloved hands to his hood and removed it .

More tears poured from Jack's eyes, the decibels his heartbeat produced echoed in the room.

The hooded man had no facial hair; no eyebrows, no beards, no moustache, no hair on his head. The burn marks on his face had eaten deep showing part of his bones on his left cheek. He had sparce holes on his face oozing with pus. His right eye had melted shut leaving only his left eye half open.

"Listen" Jack now knew why his voice had a whistle sound to it. There was a hole in his wind pipe where air escaped when he talked.

"You're not dead yet because you're a mistake that is going to serve a greater purpose. As you can see..." The man gesticulated towards his body "...this vessel has served a greater purpose but I need a new host, hence, you".

Jack visibly tensed at the mention of using his body as a vessel. That suggested possession. As if reading his mind, the man spoke

"You can call it possession but I like to think of it as a symbiotic relationship. I use you to execute the bidding of whom summoned me and in return, you live for a while". The man laughed, the hole in his throat sprayed pus.

"But to 'use' you, you have to hold a grudge against my next victim, your friend, Vivian".

Jack's eyes were moving to and fro, desperately trying to speak meanings to the man. The man chuckled.

"I know you don't hold a grudge against her... Yet...but trust me, you will".

The man smiled, the wicked smile tore the burned skin on his face and as his smile relapse into a thin like, the torn skin gave him a maniacal look, even Joker would be jealous.

The man walked towards Jack who struggled against his immobility to move away but couldn't, he touched Jack's head and the room transformed.

Still crouched on the floor but in a different setting, Jack stared ahead. The familiarity of the room bringing back memories. It hit Jack as the door to the room opened, it was his dad's room.

"Don't worry, they won't see us" the man chuckled sinisterly

The confusion that was in Jack's mind was erased when he saw his dad and Vivian dry humping as they made their way to the bed.

He struggled to tear his eyes off the scene before him but his muscles didn't comply, he tried to shut his eyes but his eyelids weren't cooperating. He watched as the scenes unveiled before him, the moans of Vivian forever stuck in his head.

The room transformed again. He was back at his corner in the abandoned laboratory. Jack still stared ahead, replaying the scene before him. All he could do was cry.

"Give it five days, you'll hold a grudge so strong that the purpose for which I was summoned will be fulfilled". He laughed his whistle filled laugh as he snapped his fingers again. Darkness embraced Jack.

Forgetting about the pain his ankles gave him, forgetting the seams on his lips, forgetting the migraine, but he couldn't forget the moans, he couldn't forget Vivian's face nor his dad's neither could he forgive them.

He closed his eyes as his body's mobility came back to him and let the darkness engulf him, his thirst for vengeance overcoming his pain.