13 – The Devil’s Den

Anxiously Billy waits after the scraping sounds stopped. It is awfully quiet. His heart is racing and he is giddy from fear. What now? He comforts himself that the book must be so important that they will have to keep him alive. They cannot torture him until he gets in such a state that he can’t return it. They don’t know where it is.

Something yowls through the air and connects with his back and Billy’s yelling reverberates through the empty warehouse as the shock and intense pain overwhelm him. A terrible burning pain bites into his back and his muscles contract involuntarily and painfully. The ropes cut into his wrists and he realizes that his calves aren’t supporting him anymore and that he hangs on the rope. He tries again to balance himself on the front cushions of his feet while he gasps for air and he feels his shoulder muscles and those around his ribs are stretched to their limit. It’s like a cat o' nine tails, a multi-tailed whip, with hard knobs that tortured him all over his back. The pain is intense and it makes him feel queasy.

“Your last chance to come clean or else it’s going to get much worse.”

Billy struggles to get the words out: “Just give me the opportunity to get the thing for you, please ...”

Again this yowling thing cuts through the air and slashes into his back and this time it is much worse. Wildly and severely shocked he plucks on the ropes and his screams of pain echoes through his ears while a burning fire overwhelms him. He realizes that it will get algorithmically more severe because this thing doesn’t only injure new flesh but also the already injured flesh on his back. How is he going to cope if this continues? He prays the man would talk again. The pain is unbearable.

Again this sickening yowl and the thing torture him more severely this time and then again and again. It doesn’t stop. Billy jerks from side to side from shock and the hellish pains that are unbearable. It feels like red hot irons burning his flesh. His shoulders are paining and the tightness on his wrists bites deeper and deeper. The torture continues unabated and the yowls come with monotonous regularity and the pain increases with every slash. He feels dizzy and is hovering near unconsciousness. He wishes that he can just pass into oblivion so that it becomes dark and his misery ends. His bowels turn and his intestines contract and also his bladder and excretion and urine flow freely down his legs. Now he knows what the function of the plastic is. He tries to get balance on the front of his feet cushions but slips and the mess of blood, shit and urine.

Eventually, he passes out.

“Billy ...”

Billy hears his name and a blurry image in front of him stays out of focus. The pain is strangely different from before as if it was decreased by a strange trance. Billy realizes it is adrenaline, his body’s own drug that always let him feel on top of the world after a strenuous squash match. His body must have been pumped full of adrenaline as a natural drug against this brutal torture.

“Billy, wake up ... “

The person in front of him slowly comes into focus and Billy is shocked and looks away. It is the wizard. He was unconscious.

“It is so unnecessary, Billy, you only have to look into my eyes and I will spare you all the pain and suffering. You are caring much about her?”

Billy hears his own voice and it sounds unnaturally slow: “I really want to give the damn thing back. Why don’t you just give me the chance to fetch it and return it? I don’t want you in my life and when I’ve returned it, you can leave me and my family alone.”

Suddenly the wizard’s hand comes in sight with a bunch of keys and Billy feels again how fear clamps around his heart when the wizard remarks: “24 Park Drive, Billy Shaw. We are going to make sure it’s not at your home. In the meantime, think about this: your back is cut open and when we return, you’d better tell us everything because that thing is going to cut away at your flesh up to the bone and you will not survive, Billy. We now are going to throw salt on the wounds to curb infection, but also to let you experience the severity of the damage to your back. Does that girl mean so much to you? Enjoy it, you wanted it so badly. Billy Shaw’s own little hell …”

The wizard walks away and disappears and anxiously Billy waits for the next torture. Why did he forget that his mother had written his name and address on the front pages of his school books for if he had lost his school bag people were able to find him? Now they are going to visit his home and the alarm’s remote is attached to the keys.

Why hasn’t he thought about this? They are totally in control now! He is just thankful that his mother is in England for the next two weeks for marketing but even then she is not out of danger. His fear becomes even greater when he thinks about another problem. Kadin will be worried about his whereabouts. What if she goes to his home searching for him and walks right into these devils?

Something like sand hits his back but it is clearly not sand but salt. Billy’s outcries again reverberate around the warehouse while the salt like fire burns into his flesh. The pain is excruciating and he jerks wildly before he passes out again.

~*~*~

Kadin pushes the button on the front door of 24 Park Avenue and hears its crow like a rooster on the inside. The place is dead quiet and her heart sinks into her shoes. Where is Billy? She tries again and again but only silence follows. Why did they become so casual because it seems that he landed in wrongs hands! What now? She is dispirited.

The sun is setting and dawn is stalking the city like evil. This is symbolic of the evil that exponentially encroached on them. Kadin decides the best to do is to run home and tell her father everything because she needs help desperately. Billy’s life could now be in her hands and she needs her father’s wisdom.

She turns around and starts to walk down the path to the gate but stop dead in her tracks. She now sees this strange man who blocks her way. He must have entered while she was at the front door and closed the gate quietly behind him. For how long has he been standing there and watching her? The sunset is behind him and she only sees the strange figure and dark form in the smart suit. Then she notices the heap on his head and his wild grey beard and her heart races. She remembers Vyasa’s warning and his description of the wizard. She freezes while the man is coming closer slowly.

He stops right in front of her and she now realizes how distinctly Vyasa’s description was. The longer the hair; the stronger the magical power! There must be a lot of hair hidden in that cloth. It will easily reach his feet. Cold shivers run down her spine and she remembers the warning in Sanskrit: ‘Put me back immediately where you found me before the world comes to its end and when the devil visits you, don’t look him in his eyes.”

Could this be the devil?

He starts to speak with a strange, foreign accent so that she has to concentrate to understand him. His voice sounds unworldly. It is a coarse, hoarse voice that gives her goosebumps.

“I recognize you, you are Billy’s friend. What is your name? He refused to tell me your name.”

She feels her chest contracts when all her suspicions are instantly confirmed. The devils caught him. Her brain scrambles for the right answer. She realizes that any wrong action she takes now can endanger Billy. She just hopes that they didn’t torture him for not telling them her name. She answers quickly but carefully: “Kadin, my name is Kadin, where is Billy?”

“Does Billy mean a lot to you, Kadin? How eager are you to see him again?”

It feels as if a heavy weight is pressing on her. She remembers how they just earlier today looked in each other’s eyes passionately and looked forward to an enjoyable time at the fort with the beautiful view across the bay. “What do you mean: do I want to see him again? Where is he?”

“Turn around and walk to the front door.”

“Where is Billy?”

“Walk to the front door or you’ll never see him again.”

The wizard is blocking her way to freedom. She knows she will be fast enough to avoid him. The gate is low and she can jump over easily. The wizard looks like an old man with his grey beard and she is young. That’s the only option because the rest of the premises have high fences. But is it wise to try it? What will become of Billy then? Eventually, she listens and turns around and walks towards the front door with the wizard right behind her.

She becomes ice cold and horrified when the front door opens and a dark entrance awaits her. His accomplices have been inside all the time! She was surrounded and didn’t know it! She realizes they work subtly. They could have opened the door and overpowered her but instead, the wizard stalked her and manipulated her so that she willingly walked into danger. She finds a strong association with Michael’s words to Billy. The marionette master is right behind her and she is the willing puppet on invisible psychological strings. She only hopes that Billy is inside the house.

Terrified she enters the dark house. Is she entering a lion’s den? Or far worse: a devil’s den?

She now knows for sure that she will give her life to save Billy.