Chapter 6

Vanessa tumbled out of the torture rack, leaving her fingers behind in the the thumbscrews. She looked at her bleeding fingerstumps wearily. She knew where it would go, into making finger chops for the next guy crazy enough to push someone into suicide. She decided that if she survived, she would marry that her father's political colleague. Just to prevent someone else from committing suicide,and turning into a zemri. Say clock in the room chimed a quarter to twelve. It was time for item seven. The thought of it sent Vanessa retching. The door swung open on its own. A tray full of human parts floated into the room. Vanessa, with no strength remaining even for a weak sound of dissent dashed for the door. It started swinging shut. She was barely our the door when it banged shut, catching the hem of her dress.

She tripped and fell. She was trapped. She tried crawling forward. But she had no fingers to give her a grip on the floor. Her forward motion barely tugged on her dress. She saw the tray float out through the door, as if the door was not there. It lowereditself to the floor and slid to just before her mouth. The kitchen door swung open. The hanged zemri dangled at the door. It smiled. Vanessa shut her eyes. But it did not stop her from hearing the peculiar scraping sound. It was one if the things that had haunted her throughout the night. The sound of the jute ropes scraping on the ceiling overhead. It was the least of the things that had haunted her though. A knife had also been chasing her throughout the night. Doors had closed in her face and zemri's shadows had beckoned her into traps.

Once, a bald man had tried to stuff sleeping pills into her mouth. It was the only time Vanessa had felt thankful her lips were sealed. A man with a strong smell of cordite and a head more like pulp than a head had shot at her. Every bullet missed her by inches, scalding her. Thean had laughed crazily. And now, the hanged zemri was coming to strangle her.

Vanessa struggled harder against the door. The zemri now hung directly above her. Vanessa closed her eyes and swallowed. Everything in her mouth slid down her throat, for the first time since the piece of cake went into her mouth. Her eyes widened in horror.

A liver. I swallowed a liver! She thought in horror.

Vanessa turned to the tray and retched. The liver did not come out, but her innards did. First he intestines, then the others.

The door opened just then and an invisible hand dragged her into the room and unto the torture rack. Vanessa could not even scream. She had no tongue. The door opened and the zemri that was once Mike stood there, in all his wormy, pus-sy, maggoty glory. It smiled wickedly.

It walked into the room. It leaned over Vanessa. Only the whites of its eyes showed. Candles cast eerie light in the room. A drop of pus dripped into Vanessa's eyes. Wind was bowling in the room, toppling everything. Everything except the torture rack and Mike's zemri. And the candle.

Zemris crawled out from behind the curtains and under the rack. They toppled out from the wardropes and fell from the ceiling.

"Remember your last thought about me on the bridge that day?" The zemri asked.

I will miss your kiss. Vanessa thought before she could stop herself.

"Not anymore."

The zemri leaned towards Vanessa. The clock chimed midnight. The pus filled lips dripping with brown liquid came down on hers. Vanessa saw the last reality of the house.

...all windows were open. Black curtains were drawn over them and no lights shine through any... It seemed as if someone has taken care not to leave any lights on.

Vanessa heard the other zemris singing.

Happy deathday to you...

Happy deathday to you...