Page 89 of Tyrant

“Shut the fuck up, Calvin,” I say. “You yell, you get hurt.”

He screams again.

I have a small screw in my left hand and I place it just above his knee. I put the drill to the screw and treat him like a piece of cheap wood. Having the screw drilled into his leg makes him scream more. I then take the drill and smash it down onto his mouth, battery end first. Teeth crunch, some breaking, others moving, and blood sprays into the air.

I reach for another screw and hold it just in front of his right eye.

“One more fucking yell and I’m going to drill this into your eye,” I warn.

He finally finds the strength to shut the fuck up. His mouth is a bloody mess.

“Can you talk?” I ask. “Say something.”

“I can talk,” his voice is weak, terrified.

“Listen, teeth can be fixed and replaced. But you dead? That can’t be fixed. You die and that’s it. Do you want to fucking die, Calvin?”

“No,” he says. “Who are you?”

“I’m a nightmare that crawled out of your head and came to life. Fucking sucks, I know. But you did something bad, Calvin. Something really bad.”

“Oh, fuck, are you here about the port report I made? It’s my job, man.”

I chuckle. “You’ve pissed off a lot of people with your job. Good news, I don’t give a fuck about your career. I don’t give a fuck if you save ten trees or burn down a forest. Okay?”

“Okay,” he says. “Then… oh, God, it hurts. My leg. My mouth… oh, God…”

He starts to cry. This man is now weeping. This is the guy who popped Serafina’s cherry?

“You threatened someone in a letter, Calvin,” I say.

“I wr-write a lot of letters.”

“A long time ago.” I get closer to him. “Serafina.”

“W-what? Her? You’re here about h-her? That was high school.”

“I don’t give a fuck, Calvin. Don’t get mouthy with me either.”

I toss the drill to the floor and grab for a knife. His body jumps and he wants to scream but doesn’t. Instead, he pisses himself. All over his pants and his bed. I shake my head.

“I need proof of where you were a few nights ago, Calvin. I need to know the last time you spoke to Serafina. The last time you saw her. I need all of it.”

“Serafina Lockart? That’s what this is about?”

I grab at his well-kept hair and slash the knife through the air, taking off a nice chunk of hair.

“Next slice I make is your dick getting cut off,” I warn. “Now tell me!”

My voice booms throughout the room.

“I’ve been away for the last month,” Calvin says. “On vacation! You can look at my… I don’t know. My phone. My laptop. Anything you want.”

“I plan on it. So you were talking to other women while you were on vacation with Lisa?”

“Jesus, man, please. Not Lisa. Please don’t hurt her.”

“You’re already hurting her, Calvin. Time to set her free. Or else it’ll end up like Serafina. Right? You cheated on her. And then when she broke up with you, you made it seem like she was a whore. Didn’t you?”

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