Page 136 of Of Flesh & Bone

I turn, moving back to the table, shaking my head as I grab the rolled-up leather."Paul, I don't want you to lie to me again, Okay?"I wait for a response that doesn’t come."Now...I have to show you the consequences of lying.I would say that it pains me to do it, but, unlike you, I'm not a liar."Unrolling the thin leather, it reveals a set of small blades.Paul's eyes go wide as he looks at the shining metal.

"No, man.No way, man.Come on.You can't be serious.You're not gonna-" his words are cut off by a Myers movie-worthy scream when I slowly push one of the blades into his shoulder.For a moment, I meet resistance and hear an audiblePOPas I push through.Paul is crying now.His entire body is shaking with his sobs.

"Paul?"He doesn't respond.Instead, he mewls with pain."Come on, Paul.Man up.It's not like you're getting raped here.I mean...can you even imagine?"I lean in to speak quietly into his ear."Soon...you won't have to imagine, but we're not quite there yet."His sobs become quieter and his body heaves more violently.There it is.The fear I've needed him to feel ever since Eve told me what he'd done to her.This panic in his eyes is exactly what I've been looking for.I take my first real breath of air since the moment I initially heard the name Paul Hastings, and it feels so good.

"Paul, you're not doing a very good job of keeping your eyes open so we're going to have to help you with that, okay?"Cal moves to stand behind the petrified hostage.He grips Paul on both sides of his head, pulling him back so that his face is directed at me.

The rapist piece of shit looks at me through teary eyes seeing the needle and thread for the first time."No.No.No!!Please, no!You guys are fuckin crazy.No, PLEASE!"

Using my fingers, I massage my temples."Paul, I asked you nicely to man up.It's become clear to me that you are incapable of doing so.Luckily, I already have the tools to shush you."He breaks out into quiet sobs again.I put my finger to my lips."Shhhh."Cal holds his head still while I make the first pass through his eyelid and into his thick brow.The screams are giving me a headache and I almost abandon my plan to start with his eyes, but I really want him to see this part, so I power through.

"There.Now, would you look at that?No one would believe that I've never done stitches before."

Sitting back in my seat, watching the blood stream from his face, I'm feeling thoroughly proud of my work."Can you guess what comes next?"Cotton comes up beside me, handing me a leather strap with a buckle and a split in the middle.I position the split securely under Paul's chin and run the ends up the straps to the top of his head.Pulling them tight to close Paul's mouth all the way, I buckle the strap on top of his head.

Suddenly, this asshole wants to talk.Apparently, the strap on his head has given him pause from his weeping.Through his clenched teeth he says "Wh wh what now?Please.Please."His words are so muffled that I can barely make them out.

"Oh, the strap?This is to keep your mouth closed while I sew it shut."You would have thought that I cut the man's dick off with the way that he came all the way unwound.Fortunately, the man holding his head still is a Godzilla of a thing, so Paul's head doesn't move an inch and I'm able to get started.When I pierce the bottom lip, not so bright Paul attempts to part his lips as much as possible in an effort to prevent me from pulling them together.He quickly realizes that this causes him more pain when I pull on the thread to bring his lips together and he abruptly ceases his foolish resistance.

"Damn, that's some fine seamstressing.Seamstressing.Seamstressing?"I repeat the words aloud, mulling them over.Directing my question at Paul, "Is it seamstressing or is there a male equivalent to seamstress?"I bark out a laugh."That's right, man.My fault."I say this knowing he can't respond but wanting to drive the point home for dear Paul here."Cal, do you know?Is there a male equivalent to seamstress, or is it already a gender-neutral term?"

"Men are called seamsters."

He says this with such confidence that I just believe him.He has absolutely sold me on Seamster."Seamster.I am one hell of a seamster.I don't know if it's a beginner's luck type of thing or if I'll always be this awesome, but damn, this is some fine seamstering."

Paul is a mess.The tears have mixed with the blood, his eyes are sewn open, his mouth is sewn shut, and there's a fucking blade protruding from his shoulder.This guy just does not have his shit together."So."I clap my hands together, causing Paul to jerk in his seat."Paul, on to the next task.Can you guess what it is?"I bust out another laugh."I am on a roll today, Paul.I'm just messing with you.I know you can't talk."

I turn back to the table and look until I see it.The pyrography pen."Have you ever seen one of these?"I pause, waiting for the mute to respond."You know you can at least nod or shake your head, Paul.Speech is not the only form of communication.Damn.Rude ass.Anyway, this is a pyrography pen.Break it down.Pyro means fire.Graphy means drawing or, in this case, writing."Paul looks to the sky, appearing to call on God.Little does he know but God's vengeance is already being handed down.

I lean forward, using a pair of meat scissors from the table to cut Paul's shirt up the front.I attempt to open it up, but the blade in his shoulder prevents me from pulling it all the way back."Be still, Paul.This might hurt a smidge."I remove the knife long enough to pull the shirt back and then I reinsert it into the same hole it came from.This does not seem to feel good because Paul goes a little apeshit.

With the shirt fully open, Paul's pale hairless chest is exposed, and I can begin writing.Paul jerks back at the contact of the pen and continues to squirm and whine through his stitches.After I finish writing, I lean back to survey my penmanship.It's not great.The pervert wouldn't be still.He's definitely to blame here because I have decent handwriting in normal situations.I will say that it is his cleanest wound so far since the pen essentially cauterized the cuts as it burned through the skin and flesh.Written on his chest in large print is the word 'PREDATOR'.If he were going to live past tonight, there would be no mistaking what he is.

"Have you ever heard the phrase 'death by a thousand cuts' before Paul?Damn it.I really am trying to stop asking you questions.Habits, I guess.So, I'm sure you've heard the phrase.We're going to try it out only, I'm going to attempt to prove the phrase wrong because I'm not quite ready to let you go just yet."

Using the scissors, I cut up the inseam of Paul's pants until they're only held on by the waist.This exposes Paul's legs and boxer briefs.They're black.I had really hoped for white because I enjoy seeing the fruits of my labor but, this is fine.I make my first four cuts behind his knees, cutting the ligaments on both sides of the back of each knee.Whew.He did not like that.It was quite difficult to do, actually and the deviant even passes out once.Fortunately, I have a ten-steps ahead kind of friend like Cotton who came equipped with smelling salts, so we bring him back fairly quickly.

The next two cuts are to the Achilles and from there, I focus my first fifty or so cuts in areas with sensitive skin like the interior thighs, underarms, behind the ears, etc.

This one thousand cuts thing takes a very long time and is quite a commitment on my part.Once it's finally over, I move on to the next item on the docket.Again, using the scissors.This time, to cut Paul's blood-soaked boxers from his body.Paul became pretty lifeless for the last three hundred or so cuts, but he perks back up at this.He's looking at me, shaking his head vigorously.I think right about now, he's remembering the words I whispered in his ear earlier."Yes Paul.It's time.I'm tired and I have to get home to the love of my life.Do you remember her Paul?"He starts to shake his head, but I hold a hand up to pause him."You remember what happens when you lie Paul?"The deviant just nods.He remembers her.He will never forget her.There will be no act in his miserable life that he will ever regret more than laying eyes on my Eve.

I begin cutting Paul's favorite weapon and he passes out again.I keep slicing and leave the salts to Cal.Paul comes back around but he's lost a significant amount of blood, which is impairing his ability to remain alert.I've cut all the way around the appendage and start using a sawing motion with the blade to completely sever the remaining center of his once pathetic, now useless flaccid dick.

It's a bloody mess.Cal and Cotton are fine, but my clothes are going into the fire.I use a rod with a flat, rounded tip from the plethora of torture instruments and shove it up the center of the limp, limb making it mostly erect."Well Paul, I'm sure you can guess what our almost final act will be."Paul is moaning in pain.He has no tears left to cry.The wounds on his face have almost stopped bleeding, and he no longer has the strength to hold up his head.

Cal cuts the ties binding his hands together and then the ones binding him to the chair.Paul falls to the floor, unable to reach out and protect his face from barreling straight into the concrete floor."Ouch.I didn't even plan that."Paul is already face down on the ground making his ultimate disgrace all the more easy to fulfill.I take Paul's dick in one hand and spread his ass cheeks with the other.Gloves were a necessity for the duration of this torture.In one brutal shove, I plunge the rod-filled penis straight up the un-lubed asshole of this worthless pervert.Paul screams behind his stitches and his body begins to spasm.I can't tell if he's in shock or having a seizure although I'm pretty sure he's pissing himself.I didn't think he could do that without a dick.The room echoes with his mewling cries.

Cotton opens the back door and walks back inside."It's ready."

"Ah, perfect.I'm ready to get home."I grab Paul by the foot, dragging him to the backdoor and outside to the massive rectangular hole in the ground."Paul, this is where we part ways, I'm afraid."I grip his foot hard and sling his nearly limp body eight feet down into the ground.He grunts when he hits the bottom face down and uses what appears to be his last bits of energy to roll over and look up at us."Your fate was sealed the moment you looked at her and wanted what belongs to me, Paul.Her name is Eve.Let it be the last thing you think of as you take your final breaths."Then, we shovel the dirt in on top of his weeping form.

......................

Eve is looking at me just as she has done throughout my entire recap.Indifferent.I hate that look.It means she's hiding something.She's the first to break eye contact when she looks to Cal and then to Cotton."Well, I'm tired."She looks back to me and stands, walking toward me.She bends down in front of me, kissing me on the forehead.She's never kissed me there before and I'm not sure what to make of it."Thank you guys for coming to help.I'm going to head to bed.Please stay the night.It's too late to drive home, and I would prefer you to be here.We only have one spare bed at the moment, but the couch is incredible.The bed is made up.Adam, can you get blankets and pillows for the couch?"

I'm quick to respond, wanting to please her."Yes, Love.Of course."

"Good night, everyone."She gives us a smile that doesn't reach her eyes and walks away, never looking back.The three of us are left speechless, with our mouths agape, watching her walk away.

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