Chapter #44Methods of Torture by: imaj   “What’s going on,” whines your double.
“Just…” you say with resignation. “Just shut up.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” whines the golem. “Patterson says…” But you ignore it, putting your hands on your ears to muffle the tide of complaints. Do I really sound like that, you wonder.
The door opens several minutes later and Eric returns. He chuckles unpleasantly as his gaze roves between you and your duplicate. “You didn’t switch clothes on me did you?”
“No,” says the golem, the words bursting out. You put your head in your hands.
Eric shakes his head. “Pity,” he sighs. “Would have been a classic move. More fun for us all round,” he explains, grinning psychotically. “That’s the problem with young people today, no appreciation for style. Oh well.” He paces about the room before squatting in front of the golem. “So you're another Will Prescott. This one here…" He cocks his head at you. "He was wearing a mask that made him look like a girl. I don't think he's one of a set of twins, so if that's his real face, you must also be wearing a mask, one that makes you look like--"
"I don't know what you're talking about," your twin says bluntly.
"Oh, ho ho,” laughs Eric. He puts one hand on your double’s shoulder, resting the other on the side of its stomach “I'm so glad you said that. Say it again."
"I don't know… Gyaahhhh!" The golem convulses in agony, its face twisted up so far as to be almost unrecognisable. You watch in horror as it collapses against on of the metal walls with a ringing sound. Eric follows him, a gloating smile on his face. "I don't… Aaaiiigghhhh! Yes, okay, I'm wearing a mask!"
“Take it off for me,” grins Eric, hauling the golem back to its feet with surprising ease. He positions his hands on the golem, ready to go again. You duplicate freezes, its face white, straw like hair matted to its brow. “Take it off…”
The golem rolls away screaming again, but Eric doesn’t seem interested. He’s looking at you, grinning again. That maddening, crazy grin. He walks back to where the golem has fallen, never taking his eyes off you.
You can’t take it, watching someone that looks just like yourself having pain inflicted on them in such a way. Eric can tell it too, you’re sure. He pauses long enough to grin at you one more time and…
“He can’t,” you shout. “He can’t take it off, it’s only a golem. Monique’s under there,” you add desperately. “Straussler won’t want her hurt.”
Eric pulls his hands away from the golem and laughs. “I think you’d be surprised at what Curt Straussler wants and doesn’t want. So this Will can’t take his mask off,” says Eric, getting up and walking towards you. “But I bet you can.” He kneels beside you and places his hands on your shoulder and side, just like he did with the golem.”
“I’ll do it,” you yell at him. “I’ll gyaaaahhhh!” Every nerve in your body screams. You do too. And he doesn't let up until you've gasped out everything you know: About masks, Arnholm's Used Bookstore and the Libra. And everything about Patterson and the little team he has formed too.
*****
You dimly struggle back into consciousness, roused by the sound of the door opening. Your bones feel as if they have been pounded into jelly. It is only small, almost flopping, movements that you are able to make as Eric returns to the room. You have no idea how long it has been seen he left you here, after extracting every last piece of knowledge from you.
It is the golem that attracts his attention though. It seems in a similar state to you, and lies loosely propped up against the wall opposite. He kneels beside it and takes hold of it by the chin. Then Eric whispers something in its ear. You are too numb to muster any shock as the mask comes away from the golem. He must have learnt the word to remove a mask when he was interrogating you, though your memories of exactly what happened are fuzzy.
Monique now lies where the golem did, her eyes fluttering. You wonder if she felt the effects of Eric’s torture of the golem, or if the mask protected her from it. Either way, you’ll find out in a minute. Eric stands back up, fiddling in his pocket for something. He pulls out something that looks like a flashlight, adjusting a few dials on it as he waits.
After a minute or so, Monique wakes up. “Wh…Where am I,” she stutters in a frightened voice.
“Hush,” says Eric in a surprisingly gentle voice. “You’re safe now. I’m a friend of Jon’s dad. What’s the last thing you remember?”
Monique’s eyes flicker round the room, taking in the details. It’s clear that she doesn’t believe him. “How did I get here,” she asks in a small voice.
“Somewhere safe. What’s the last thing you remember,” he asks again, this time more insistently.
“I was…” she licks her lips nervously. “I was at Westside High School, talking to Kendra Saunders.” Her eyes go wide and her voice rises in pitch. “There was someone there who looked just like me!”
“It all sorted now,” says Eric. He makes a couple of adjustments to the flashlight like thing before offering Monique his hand to help her up. She hesitates for a moment before accepting. Your outsized pants almost fall off her as she stands up with Eric’s assistance and she has to grasp the waistband in one hand. “Tell me Monique,” asks Eric with a grin. “Have you ever seen Men in Black?”
Monique looks puzzled for a second. You were inside her head before, you remember what kinds of films she likes, and that wouldn’t be one of them. “No,” she says quietly.
“Oh,” says Eric, he turns to face you for a moment. “Well I bet Will has, haven’t you.” He winks theatrically at you. He holds up the flashlight like device and grins again. “Come with me. I’ll get you home.”
He guides a stumbling Monique through the doorway and it closes behind them. You hear a whirring noise, and then see the ghost of a flash through the crack in the bottom of the doorway.
*****
Maybe an hour passes before Eric returns. In that time you have done little more than stare at the walls, able to little more than twitch your arms and legs. Feeling is slowly returning to them as Eric walks in, carrying a tray in both hands. He sets it down beside you, revealing a sandwich and a bottle of soda.
“I flensed her, erased her memories of what you did to her” he explains to you, sitting down on the floor. “Monique is such a sweet kid, she doesn’t deserve to be mixed up in all this. She’s missing a day though, and I don’t think her folks are the kind to roll over when Curt Straussler comes brandishing his chequebook.”
You moan incoherently, it’s all you can manage.
Eric grins at you. “Still, what do you think is going to happen when they work out whose clothes she’s been found in?” You blink in confusion. Monique was wearing your clothes, she’d been put under a golem mask of you. “Sucks to be you,” he grins. “Enjoy your meal.” With that he gets up and leaves.
You take a look at what he’s left for you. It’s wrapped up in cardboard packaging. The expiration date reads two months ago. You wonder if eating it will kill you. It’s certainly a better way out than any of the other options. With Monique in your clothes, you are going to be the one catches the blame for her mysterious disappearance for a day.
You roll over onto one side, your limbs finally showing signs of wanting to respond. As you crawl slowly to a corner of the room to curl up in, something attracts you attention: Eric hasn’t closed the door properly. A slim crack at the side reveals a slice of the stockroom beyond.
You change direction, heading towards the door. You aren’t moving fast, but if you get lucky, if Eric doesn’t check on you for a few hours, you might be able to make good your escape.
But then what? Eric’s made clear that the cops are going to be looking for you sooner rather than later. Sure you could escape the comic book store, but how long would you last outside. It might be easier to just give up and let whatever Eric has planned for you happen to you.
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