Page 42 of Kalix
KALIX
Once I’msure Lainey is as settled as possible with the guys up front, I make my way into the room that I found him in. Mother fucker doesn’t even deserve to be called by his name, doesn’t deserve to even be the ash that he’ll turn into when I’m done with the carcass. This god-forsaken Earth doesn’t need the remnants of the disgusting excuse of a living thing to be blown around it.
He’s still lying there, as expected. Blood oozes from his temple, it’s not enough. Every drop will be drained by the time I’m done with him.
I drag the chair that was conveniently already in the space in front of a small mirror before throwing Alex’s body into it. The chair creaks with his weight as he slumps to the side, groaning from the motion.
I make quick work of binding his arms to each side of the chair, doing the same to his legs.
I shove some toilet paper from the bathroom intohis mouth before ripping a strip of cloth from the drapes and tying it around as a make-shift gag.
Perfect, now that he’s not going anywhere I pull out my pack of cigarettes and zippo lighter before sparking one up. I inhale deeply, allowing the nicotine to flow through my veins before exhaling. Is it weird that I don’t feel any sort of apprehension about doing this? I feel like killing a person for the first time is a big deal, but all I feel is calm. Like this is what I’m meant to do, protect Lainey, no matter how that’s done.
I couldn’t protect her before, my own stupidity making that choice for me, so now I must make him pay.
An eye for an eye, I guess.
My lighter opens and closes, the ping of metal as it does, sending me into a sort of trance.
There are many ways to torture someone, but the only thing I can think of right now is fire. Maybe it’s the quick accessibility to it at the moment, or how my original thought was to set the entire town on fire, but that’s neither here nor there.
Letting the flame glow, I lean forward enough to get the blaze to lick his skin.
It takes a moment, but eventually the smell of singed flesh permeates my senses, causing me to wrinkle my nose. The act makes me think of my little rabbit, which just causes me to hold it closer.
His body starts to react, trying to pull away from the danger before his mind has even woken up. An internal struggle of flight or fight, the self-preservationthat bodies are supposed to have. Whatever the reason, this is kind of comical to watch.
More groaning from the motherfucker, as if he deserves any sympathy, the vapor from the skin is starting to release, damn this has got to hurt.
Suddenly, a muffled scream echoes in the room as the guy in question wakes, his body jerking. A manic laugh leaves my throat as his face turns red and tears track his cheeks. He doesn’t even realize it’s me yet.
Like I called it into existence, his eyes meet mine and a look of worry paints across his features. Perfect. Be fucking scared.
I close the lighter, letting the flame extinguish, but I know his skin still burns, and on a fingertip too? Ouch.
There’s more mumbling behind the gag, and I put a stop to it abruptly.
“Okay, I can’t hear a word you’re fucking saying. Don’t try. Let me be frank with you—” I walk around the chair he’s currently seated in, his head trying to follow me but unable to. “You touched what’s mine. You took what’s mine. You fucking breathed in her direction, looked at her, and if it were up to me we’d be here for days. Till you’re nothing but a heap of flesh for me to burn with the rest of this place. But, lucky for you, I only have, hmmm—” looking at my watch I check the time, “maybe fifteen or so minutes. See, you hurt my girl, my beautiful little rabbit, and I’m nothing but the big bad wolf. Butmygirl needsme.So, withthat,” I round his front again, my knife now in my hand as I cut a finger off his right hand.
Blood spurts as the digit drops to the ground, his eyes roll into the back of his head as his body jerks while he rattles something off behind the cloth.
“What? What was that? Another? Okay!”
I swing, taking off another digit, and watch as more sweat beads across his brows. His eyebrows are basically sitting in his hairline as he stares down at the hand, now missing two fingers.
“Oh yeah, you didn’t just touch her, you looked at her, too.” I grip his hair at the roots and hold it back as I use the tip of my blade to work behind his right eye. Once I feel it’s far enough back, a quick flick of my wrist has the whole thing popping out. I sever the nerve and watch as the damn thing rolls onto the ground.
Okay, that may be my line. That’s fucking disgusting. I take a few deep breaths, trying to calm my rolling stomach before setting back into motion. Revenge.
Blood now coats almost the entire right side of his body, but I have one more thing in mind.
“My girl says you headbutted her, is that true?” I ask while tracing my knife over the smooth skin covering his face. Smearing blood and whatever other contents that are now oozing from the socket that once contained his eye.
He shakes his head, his breathing labored, clearly not taking this all that well.
I tut at him though, knowing Lainey would never lie to me and seeing the marks for myself.
I grip his head again, tilting it back as I dig my knife into the flesh along his hairline with a sawing motion.
