Brutality 17

Isabel and Atrese came into the living room and sat down. They both wore black coveralls. Atrese sneered at me, “How’s your ass?” She laughed, then looked to Isabel and Lenore, they remained silent and somber. I knew who was on their minds. I was anxious to see how they interacted with the Gothic Girl. Black Sally walked into the room. She wore the uniform, black sweater, long black skirt and black leather boots; a black scarf covered her head. She led Brianna in on a leash. Sally took a seat in a large arm-chair, Brianna kneeled at her feet. Brianna wore the same black paramilitary outfit that I was given.

The silence in the room was unsettling. For all I knew, they could all be communicating without speaking. I felt Lavinia’s presence before I saw her enter the room. She had changed into her black Victorian-style gown. She carried a machete. Black Sally glared at her and said, “Your boy Clarence is no longer welcome in my quarters.”

Lavinia asked, “What do you have against Clarence?”

“He’s your bitch and he shouldn’t have a seat at the table.”

“That’s a serious accusation. Are you pointing your finger at him or me?”

“I’m not pointing fingers. But I know what the fuck is going on.”

“Speak if you have something to say.”

“Clarence and Lenore are your slaves. They should not have seats at the table.”

“Then bring your concerns to the table or refrain from your slander.” Lavinia pointed the machete at Sally.

Atrese stood up, “I’m with Sally. Clarence and Lenore should be taken off the table.”

Lenore interjected, “Atrese, you don‘t even know what you‘re talking about. Don‘t speak if you can‘t comprehend…” Atrese smashed Lenore in the mouth, then kneed her in the face. I grabbed Atrese and pulled her away. She slammed the heel of her boot into my foot and elbowed me in the face. I fell back on the couch. Isabel jumped on top of me and tried to gouge out my eyes with her thumbs. I threw her to the floor. Lavinia yelled, “Enough!” Atrese charged me. I saw her fist flying toward my face. She came apart right before my eyes, she fell to the floor in pieces; her arm landed in my lap. It sounded like a large-rock had been dropped on the floor. Atrese’s headless, one-armed body stood spouting blood from the neck and shoulder before collapsing to the ground. My clothes were soaked and my face was covered in blood. Lavinia twirled the machete like a baton.

Black Sally rose from her chair, “You took it too far this time Lavinia. I will be taking this to the table at lunch.” She exited the room leading Brianna. Isabel attempted to scramble to her feet, she slipped and landed flat on her back in the expanding pool of blood on the floor. She got to her feet and hurried after Sally.

Lavinia had me drag Atrese’s body to the shed. Lenore followed with her head and arm. We retrieved towels and a mop to soak up the pool of blood in the living room. As I worked, I wondered if the Gothic Girl could see into my thoughts. I tried concentrating on her. I yelled out to her in my mind. There was no reply. I tried concentrating on Lenore. I thought, “Lenore look at me.” Lenore kept laying towels on the floor in layers without giving me a glance.

I thought about Black Sally, concentrated on her and imagined that I was her. The image came into my mind of her straddling me and pressing her lips against mine. I felt her lips, I felt her grinding her hips in my lap. Suddenly, my head was filled with screams. I heard Black Sally’s voice behind me, “You switched your loyalties Clarence. Now you have to die.” I turned around. There was no one there. Isabel’s wicked laugh came into my mind, then her voice, “You’re a sick and dirty boy Clarence. You liked it when we had you tied down and were fucking you in the ass. You got hard when I was in top of you. Don’t lie to yourself. You started fantasizing about be bound and ass-fucked shortly after you discovered masturbation.”

Shame and horror filled my heart. Sally’s voice said, “You know you’re not worthy to sit at the table. You’re a slave. You’re no more my equal than a household appliance. You’ve been a failure all your life. Too weak, too shy, too scared, too stupid.”

Isabel’s voice said, “We’re going to make you into a prostitute. We have ways to make you enjoy it.”

Lenore picked up one of the blood-soaked towels and smacked me across the face with it. She said, “You shouldn’t have done that Clarence. You just made things much worse for yourself.”

Sally’s voice said, “Don’t believe her Clarence. She made you look like a fool when you first got here. She didn’t tell you anything you needed to know. She was supposed to help you. What did she do? She led you right into slavery.”

Lenore grabbed my shoulders and shook me, “Clarence, don’t focus on what they‘re putting in your head. Focus on me, I’m right here in front of you. You fucked up. Sally couldn’t get inside your head, so she didn’t think you were telepathic. Your ability to communicate with others is increasing. You can’t just try to connect with people like you’re in a chatroom. If you connect with someone who is stronger, you leave yourself open for them to rape your mind.”

Isabel’s voice said, “You like to be raped don’t you? You’re not a man. You’re a nasty little slut boy who likes to suck cock. How do you like having a dick in your mouth Clarence? I can see your whole life. I’m watching you experiment with your little boyfriend when you were young.”

I thought, “That was experimenting. It was one time.”

Black Sally’s voice said, “You give up the information easy. We didn’t know you sucked dick Clarence. But we know now, don’t we? Did Lavinia set up Selene?”

My mind automatically answered, “Yes.”

I heard Isabel laughing and Sally’s voice said, “You just betrayed Lavinia. What do you think she’s gonna do? She’s going to kill you now. She can’t trust you with her secrets.”

Lenore said, “Listen to me Clarence. Your friends aren’t talking to you right now. Do you understand? Say it, ‘My friends aren’t talking to me right now.’”

I said, “My friends aren’t talking to me right now.”

Sally’s voice said, “You don’t have any fucking friends Clarence. A person has to respect you to be your friend. Nobody respects you.”

Lenore said, “That’s right Clarence, your friends aren’t talking to you. Just do what’s in front of you. They will try to use fear, self-doubt and shame to make you destroy yourself. Don’t believe anything you hear in your mind.”

We carried piles of bloody towels out of the room and came back with clean ones to soak up the rest of the blood. Lavinia returned. She had washed the blood off her face and changed into a blue gown. She said, “Clarence, go use the bathroom in my office to get cleaned up. There are new clothes up there for you. You can’t go to the table looking like that.”

I stood staring at her, hoping for some sort of answer. She smacked me across the face and yelled, “GO NOW!”

Sally and Isabel’s voices terrorized me as I ascended the stairs. “You’re a dead motherfucker Clarence. As soon as you get to the top of the stairs I’m going to cut your stomach open.” They threatened me with danger at every closed door I passed and every corner I turned

Isabel’s voice said, “Don’t you think it’s strange that she wants you to clean up in her office? What do you think is going to be waiting for you when you get there. She’s going to torture you, cut off your dick and kill you Clarence. She’s a serial killer and you’re a loose end.”

I stood outside Lavinia’s office. I took a breath and opened the door. The Gothic Girl sat at Lavinia’s desk. She said, “Come in and sit down Clarence. You and I need to talk.”

I sat before her covered in Atrese’s blood from head to toe. The man with the facial tick was still bound to the chair. He had been moved to the corner of the room, a ball-gag was in his mouth, he trembled and sobbed.

The Gothic Girl looked at me and casually asked, “So how have things been going?”

I had a breakdown, “How have things been going? Look at me! How does it look like things have been going? You left me at a house with a bunch of psychotic and sadistic cannibals. These people are fucking cannibals! There is a man across the hall lying in piss and shit. His arms, legs, dick, nose, everything; they cut everything off except his head.”

“You mean Alfred?”

“Your sister is a serial killer.”

“Let’s not go casting judgments, okay Clarence. We all have skeletons we keep hidden in the closet.”

“I’m not talking about skeletons in the closet. I’m talking about chopped up bodies on the living room floor.” I whispered, “Do you know they have telepathy?”

The Gothic Girl gave me a wearied look, she let out a deep sigh, “Do they? If that’s the case, I guess whispering won’t do you much good. Please, continue so you can get it all out your system. Then I’ll address some of the issues you brought up.”

“Lavinia made me her slave and now Sally wants to get me kicked off the table and kill me…”

“Alright, enough Clarence. First, you should have figured out by now that I sent you here to learn. It seems to me that you’ve learned alot in a very short period of time. You just haven’t had the opportunity to reflect. That, of course, is by design. Second, I left you in Lavinia’s care. Were you so excited about being in a house full of women that you lost all ability to think clearly?”

“Think clearly? I’ve been mind-fucked since I walked in the door.”

“What’s your point? You’ve also learned that you have little control over your thoughts, feelings and emotions. A mind-fuck is not about someone shoving their dick in your ear. It’s about someone making you react so that you use your own mind to fuck yourself. The responsibility for keeping that from happening lies with you. You are the only one to blame for allowing someone to manipulate you. If you shift all the blame to the manipulator, you won’t see your own weakness. You must let the manipulator be your educator, that way you won’t fall for the same tricks again.”

“So what? Is this supposed to be some kind of training school for psychos?”

“I realize that you’ve had a rough past couple days Clarence.”

“Look at me. My hand is broken, half my ear is cut off, I have burns on my chest and stomach from your sister using a hot iron on me, they tied me to a bed and gang-raped me with strap-ons causing so much bleeding that I collapsed and they had to get me a doctor. Oh and I almost forgot, your sister suffocated me with a plastic bag until I was dead, then she resuscitated me and said that I didn’t have permission to die.”

“From what I’ve heard, you’ve been doing a good job and have been handling yourself well.”

“I’m losing touch with reality. I can’t tell what’s real.”

“Just stay calm. You’ll be fine.”

“I can’t handle having them in my head.”

“Clarence, all I can say about that right now is that you have to learn to function under that kind of stress. You will be much more disturbed when you find out the truth, but you’ll be grateful for your experience.”

“So what happens now? Are you just going to leave me here for a few years like you did the others?”

“No Clarence, I won’t be leaving for awhile. This house needs to be put in order. There is a bathroom behind that door, there are clothes for you on the counter. Clean yourself up before we go downstairs.” She pulled out a pistol, put a bullet in the chamber and slid the gun back into the pocket of her skirt.