Itsy Bitsy Spider (Emma Frost #1) (21 page)

"What's
going on here,
Dan?" I said my voice slightly
shaking. "Why did you lock the door?"

Officer Dan shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm
afraid I can't let you leave."

"What are you talking about?" I felt
Victor's hand in mine. It could only mean he was afraid. Just like I was
beginning to be. I hadn't yet put all the pieces together but I was beginning
to.

"It was you?" I asked.

Officer Dan walked closer to us. Victor was
climbing behind me, whimpering in fear. I backed up slowly. "You killed my
grandmother? You killed all those people?"

Officer Dan didn't react. He kept walking closer
to us.

"She kept you in that bunker in the yard,
didn't she? Was that why she had to die? Was that why you killed her? She was
the first, she was number five. Why did you kill the rest of them? Were they in
on it?" I stared into his eyes as I spoke and all the while I was trying
to grab something, anything I could find on my way backwards to be able to
throw at him or hit him with. I walked into a lamp and almost tipped it over.
Then I grabbed it and threw it at him. He grabbed it mid-air and put it down
with a grin. "You're no match for me," he said. "I dealt with
guys twice my size growing up at the orphanage after you let me out."

"So you do remember me?" I asked
desperately searching for something to defend myself with.

"Of course I do. And I really hate to have
to kill you, since you actually saved my life. You're the reason I am
alive."

 "What were you even doing in that
bunker? Why were you locked up down there?"

Victor was clenching my hand hard now. Officer
Dan stopped. Then he walked sideways to the fireplace and grabbed a fire poker.
I gasped when he raised it in the air. I gulped when all of a sudden the last
pieces fell into place.

"You were born down there, weren't you?
Your mom is Irene Justesen's daughter who disappeared when she was sixteen. She
was pregnant. Someone locked her in that bunker where she gave birth to her
baby, didn't they?" I gasped and held a hand to my mouth. "My
grandmother? My grandmother did that to her?"

Officer Dan nodded.

"But why? Why would she do that to you and
your mother? I don't understand." Thoughts were rolling in through my head
now and I had a hard time keeping them in control. "You were really born
in that shelter?"

"Born and spent the first seven years of my
life down there. Until you came along and let me out."

I almost fell backwards thinking about the
cruelty of this truth. The gruesomeness displayed by my own grandmother. 
Officer Dan came closer and now he swung the fire poker against me. I screamed
and ducked while pushing Victor to the ground so he wouldn't be hit. Officer
Dan grunted then lifted the poker again. I was afraid now, my heart pounding
rapidly. I needed to keep talking to try and extend my time, time to figure out
what to do. I needed to keep talking.

"So tell me, what did you do with the
organs you cut out of your victims?" I asked slightly afraid of the
answer. I had an idea what he might have been doing with them, but I really
didn't like to think of it.

"The same thing I'm gonna do with yours
when I'm done with you." Officer Dan smiled widely, then swung the fire
poker once again at me. I ducked once again, but he managed to hit me on my
shoulder. I hurt like crazy. I screamed. The poker continued its way through
the air after hitting me and ended up poking a hole in the wall.

"Mommy? Are you okay?" Victor said
when he saw me throw myself to the ground, screaming and holding a hand to my
bleeding shoulder.

"I'm okay, Victor. It just hurts like
hell." I looked up and saw Officer Dan standing bent over me with the fire
poker lifted in the air. Victor shrieked.

"You ate them you filthy pig. Didn't you?
You ate them."

Officer Dan laughed. "You could say I've
developed a taste for human flesh while I was in the shelter."

I stared at him while trying to get up. Officer
Dan planted his big boot on my stomach and pressed me down.

"Your mother," I moaned. "She
wasn't there when I opened the door. You ate her too, didn't you?"

Officer Dan laughed again then swung the fire
poker towards my head. I screamed as I watched the poker come closer, when
suddenly I watched Victor out of the corner of my eye, pick up a golden Buddha
statue and throw it at Officer Dan's head. I closed my eyes hoping the Buddha
would be faster than the poker, and as I heard a thud and opened my eyes again,
I watched the poker come down from the air and Officer Dan knocking his head
against the tiles.

I jumped up and grabbed Victor by the hand. He
was staring at Officer Dan on the floor with blood running into his forehead
with open mouth. I think he was in some state of shock. Quickly I pulled him
away, but as I did I sensed resistance. I turned and saw that Officer Dan had
grabbed Victor's leg and was also pulling him. Victor looked at me for help.

"Mommy?"

"Let go of him you bastard!" I cried.

But Officer Dan was quickly back up and now he
managed to grab Victor and lift him up and out of my hands.

"Put him down. He has done nothing to you.
He has nothing to do with all this."

Officer Dan grinned while Victor tried to kick
and hit him to get loose, but Officer Dan was too strong. I stormed against him
and managed to push him backwards into the couch where he hurt his back. Victor
fell to the ground, but Officer Dan moved quickly. He leaned forward and
grabbed him, then he lifted his leg and kicked me in my stomach so I flew
backwards into the wall where I hurt my head and neck badly. I slid to the
ground while in the distance could hear Victor yell for me.

"Mommy!!" Mommy!!!"

"Mommy's coming," I mumbled but
somehow I couldn't get my eyes to open. They felt so heavy and everything
inside of my head was spinning so fast. I realized I was losing grip on what
was real and what was a dream as I dozed off and suddenly found myself floating
in a sea of nothing but darkness and stars.

"Mommy's coming now."

 But I didn't. I couldn't.

My head hurt
insanely
when I woke up. I tried to move, but
couldn't. I looked around me and realized I was tied up to a radiator with a
pair of police handcuffs.

"What a cliché," I said and tried to
move my hands but in vain. I scanned the room I was in. It seemed to be his
bedroom. I realized there was someone on the bed. I saw a pair of sneakers and
jeans and realized it was Victor's.

"Victor?"

"Mom?" he said and lifted his head.
His hands were tried to the end of the bed.

"Are you alright, Victor? Has he hurt
you?"

Victor shook his head fast. "No. No he
hasn't but I'm scared Mommy. I'm so scared."

"I understand buddy. But we need to stay
calm now, okay? It's important not to panic. We need to be able to think
clearly. Can you help me do that?"

I could tell he was breathing heavily. I tried
to smile to calm him down. I didn't know if he could see it. Outside the window
it was still snowing heavily and I could hear the strong winds squeak.

The door opened and Officer Dan entered. He was
smiling widely. "Oh you're awake. Good. Just in time."

"Just let us go now Dan. I understand why
you're mad at all these people who hurt you and your mother, I really do, but
please just let me and my son go. There is no need for all this."

"Well why would I do that now? And ruin all
the fun?" Dan said and closed the door behind him. "I have so much
prepared for us."

"At some point they will start looking for
me."

"Oh I didn't tell you? I used your phone
and called your dad. Told him it was snowing too badly for you to drive home
now and that you and little Victor here would spend the night. I'd sleep on the
couch naturally once I got back from my nightshift."

"How noble."

"Well I am after all a gentleman."

Officer Dan walked towards Victor and sat on the
edge of the bed. He stroked his hair a few times and touched his cheek gently.
Victor's body froze completely.

"He doesn't liked to be touched," I
said. "Please get away from him. He doesn't like it when you're this close
to him."

But Officer Dan didn't move, he kept looking at
my son and touching his face. "Oh but no one likes it at first, do they
Victor? I didn't either when they came to me at night in the orphanage. But you
get used to it eventually. See it makes you popular among the right people so
when you need something, cigarettes, a pocket knife, they will be able to
provide it for you. It's all about using what you've got, what this world offers
you. If you get lemons ... well you know. I was forced to eat my dead mother
but it was the only way I could have survived. I was forced to be with these
old men night after night at the orphanage but in the end it was the best for
me, since they ended up protecting me, when I killed one of the older boys who
was harassing me. They stood up for me, they told the police they hadn't seen
anything, when in reality they had. It is all about having the right friends in
the right places. And you'll enjoy this too, Victor. I know you will. Because
you know it is going to be the last thing you'll ever get to do."

"You leave him alone you sick sick
bastard!" I pulled and pulled my hands trying hard to get free. It cut the
skin off several places, but I didn't care. "Touch him and I'll make sure
to kill you."

Officer Dan kept looking at Victor. Victor
wasn't moving. He was whimpering, his body shaking heavily. "Don't you
listen to her, Victor. It's all about you and me now. I'll make your death as
pleasurable as humanly possible."

Then Officer Dan opened Victor's belt and
started pulling his pants down. I was screaming in anger by now, yelling,
spitting, but he paid no attention to me. It was as if the angrier I was the
more he enjoyed it.

I watched him pull down Victor's underwear and
then I started crying. "Please, please! Take me instead. I'll do anything!
ANYTHING! Just not that. Just don't touch my son!"

Officer Dan glanced at me. At the bedside table
next to Victor he had placed two knives. One of them was a scalpel. I had a
vague idea what his plan was with my son and it made me feel sick.

"Don't hurt him. Don't hurt him!"

Officer Dan moved towards Victor's crotch while
glaring at me like my anger and desperation was feeding him, nourishing his
cruelty.

"Now just close your eyes and enjoy
this," Officer Dan said to Victor as he opened his mouth and leaned in
over his crotch.

"NO!!!"
I was screaming
from the fullness of my lungs. I
whimpered and sobbed hysterical feeling hopeless, helpless and abandoned.

Officer Dan suddenly stopped. His body froze and
he lifted his head and stared at Victor. It took me a few seconds to realize
what was wrong. Victor's body was shaking heavily and now he started screaming.
A high pitched bone piercing scream, that I knew all too well.

Victor was having one of his seizures!

"What the hell?" Officer Dan said and
moved away. Victor's body was moving in spasms, his upper body looking like a
bow above the bed. Officer Dan turned to look at me. "What's wrong with
him?"

"He's having a seizure. I told you he
doesn't like to be touched. Let me free and I'll help him."

Officer Dan looked at Victor then back at me.

"Please let me help him. He might swallow
his tongue. At least turn him so he is no longer on his back. Please?"

"No. No. I can't." I could tell
Officer Dan was freaking out now. Then he looked at me with a grin. "Well
I guess I'll just leave him like this. You can watch him die then. It's not
quite what I planned but it might turn out to be even better."

"No. You have to help him. You can't do
this! Why are you so cruel towards me and my son? What have we ever done to
you?"

Officer Dan walked closer to me, then bend down
towards me. I groaned and tried to kick him, but had no luck.

"You stole my childhood. You had the life I
should have had," he said. "Now you have to excuse me I have
somewhere to be. Hope you'll enjoy the show while I'm gone. I can't wait to
hear the details on how your son died when I come back. My favorite moment
watching someone die is when they take that last breath, do they scream, or do
they pass on quietly. It's never quite the same. Each person has his or hers
own way to go. It's quite fascinating."

"You're sick."

Officer Dan walked towards the door and opened
it. He looked at me one last time before he left. "You kids be good,"
he said and waved moving all of his fingers.

Then he was gone.

"Victor?" I said. "Victor are you
alright?"

The entire bed was still shaking heavily, while
Victor's body was moving in spasms. I was crying in desperation, not knowing
what to do. I pulled and pulled on the handcuffs, but it was no use. Victor was
making choking noises now.

"Victor. Sweet poor Victor. I'll help you
right away. I just need to figure out how to ... how to get out of these
handcuffs. For crying out loud!! There has to be a way."

I was yelling the last words when suddenly I
realized Victor had become quiet on the bed. The silence was unbearable and
suddenly I wished for any kind of sound coming from up there, even if it was of
him choking.

"Victor?" I cried. "Victor?"

No answer.

"VICTOOOR!"

But still nothing. He was lying lifeless on the
bed.

Oh no. Not that. Not that dear
God. Please, please help him, please help me, please don't take him away from
me!

I was crying hard now, screaming from the top of
my lungs, when suddenly I was interrupted by the sound of glass breaking. Right
in front of me on the wooden floors landed a concrete birdbath with a loud
crash. Glass shattered all over the floor and I turned away from it to not get
hit in the face.

I heard a thud behind me and turned to see
someone jump into the room through the broken window.

"My God! What is going on here!"

I felt a pinch of hope. It was Jack. He turned
to look at me.

"Victor," I said my voice shaking in
despair. "Take care of Victor. He is not breathing."

Jack jumped towards the bed and I saw him feel
for the pulse on Victor's throat. He looked at me and shook his head.

"NO!" I yelled.

Jack pulled Victor's head backwards and started
giving him mouth to mouth while pressing on his heart. I was screaming and
sulking while pulling my bloody hands against the handcuffs. Suddenly I
realized the water pipe I was tied to was moving and was about to get loose
from the wall. While Jack worked on my lifeless son, I pulled and pulled and
suddenly it came loose from the wall. Hot water spurted out into the room, but
I was free to move and ran towards Victor. As I hit the bed and started shaking
him, screaming his name, he suddenly coughed. Jack turned him to the side and
soon after he was breathing again.

"Victor? Victor, my dear boy," I
yelled and tried to hug him with my handcuffed hands around his neck.

"Mommy," he said and looked at me with
a wonderful smile. "I think I'd like to go home now."