Page 114 of Dreadful
“How long is this supposed to be on my face, Severino? I think I’m quite steamed now.”
“Almost ready, I just need to open you up. Your pores, I mean,” he replies with an evil grin at me in the reflection.
He watches me for a signal. I take a deep inhale and a low exhale as I position the blade just under his jugular. My other hand hovers over the judge’s wispy hair, and I mouth, “Now.”
Pure malicious delight brightens his face, and his voice lowers. “You know, speaking of ghosts and superstitions. Do you ever think about that girl you raped repeatedly? You know, the one who allegedlydiedescaping from Claudio’s house?”
“What? What girl—”
The judge screams as I yank on his hair, tugging him backward in the barber’s chair just as Sever pulls the steamy washcloth away with a flourish. The man’s pale skin is flush with the heat and his eyes are wide as I force him to look at me in the mirror.
“‘What girl,’ Judge Blunt?! Don’t tell me there were others,” I hiss and tug his hair so hard he has to use the armrests to hold on. Sever depresses the lever of the chair, dropping it down with a thud so I have a better angle on the judge’s neck. The blade cuts him as he tries to squirm, but I just dig the knife into his neck and watch the blood drip down onto the stark, white bib over the judge’s clothes.
“Hmm, can’t have you moving around so much you get cut, Judge,” Sever tsks with a mocking tone before retrieving more leather straps from a nearby cabinet.
“Severino, what’re you doing? Who is this madwoman? Let me go! Both of you!”
The judge’s eyes are locked with mine in our reflection, frozen with terror. He tries to wriggle out as Sev ties him down, but my prey quickly realizes the more movement he makes, the more likely his head will be sliced off. Sev continues to work, and in no time, the judge’s arms are secured to the armrests and his legs are tied to the metal footrest.
“Answer me! W-who are you? You’ve had your fun, now I demand you let me go this instant!”
“You don’t know who I am? Pity. I was hoping Severino’s question and the scars I got from the vicious dogs that almost killed me would tip you off. For some reason, I thought a man with a job like yours would be able to put evidence together. My mistake.”
“The dogs…you…” the judge sputters.
Sever pushes my hair over my shoulder and lovingly caresses the scars from my jaw down to the neckline of my sweatsuit. There’s a new bruise there from where he bit me that makes me smile, and that expression must scare the shit out of the judge because he begins to writhe in the chair.
“Oh, my god, it’syou! B-but you’re supposed to be dead!”
“I keep hearing that, but you know, life is a funny thing. Sometimes it takes wanting to die to realize you deserve to live. That’s what you did all those awful nights. You made me want todie. But the next morning, the boy in the room next to me helped me remember that I wanted to live.”
Sever’s face softens in my periphery, making my stomach flutter, but I keep going.
“Each day I grew more determined than ever to survive you. When I survived that night I tried to escape, revenge was what kept me going. You tried to ruin my life and helped make sure the world forgot about me, but I’ve fought for my life back every step of the way.”
“L-look, I don’t know what you think happened all those years ago—”
Sever suddenly stabs the judge with his razor in his—
“—ahh!”
“Try again, Dickie. And make sure you tell the truth this time. You only have one ball left.”
My eyes widen at the blood spurting out of the judge’s crotch.
Sever stills at my expression and gives me a semi-apologetic look as if to ask, “Is this okay?”
I nod quickly. I’ve never done it his way before. Frankly, I’m not sure I’d have the stomach to do it myself, but I sure like watching him in action.
He grins, and I do the same until the judge’s scream registers again.
“Shut up.” I slice his skin, making him swallow down the rest of his cry. “I already killed one gaslighter this week. You’re well on your way to being the second.”
“No, I never did anything to you! You’re c-confused, and this is one big misunderstanding. I-I don’t even know you! I just heard about you from one of Claudio’s friends. Whatever you think you remember, you’re wrong. You think you knew me as a child? How do you know? Children are terrible at remembering things. They make for unreliable witnesses in my world! Do you know how many cases I’ve had to throw out just because a child remembered the wrong defendant?”
As angry as I want to be at what he just said, his words needle my mind, causing me to hesitate.
What if I am confused, or even crazy? Every time I’m stressed, my mind runs a mile a minute questioning everything. I have terrible nightmares that feel real. I thought they were memories, but what if…
