Torment (6 page)

“Who are you?” Markus whispered. The beings were
somehow familiar. This whole situation was giving him a sensation of déjà vu.

Despite the sensations creeping into his head, the
sense of having experienced this before did nothing to stop the scream of
terror as the six creatures threw back their hoods. The two taller beings had
almond shaped black eyes, no nose. A thin slit was in place of a mouth.

The smaller beings were squat, neckless, and fat
faced. They resembled trolls from a fairy tale book. Their eyes were pure
white. Oddest of all, the dwarfs had navy colored skin. The smashed shape of
their faces gave them a grimacing smile.

A long, narrow finger caressed the side of Markus’
face. He jerked his head to center, looking directly into the eyes of one of
the tall beings. It was speaking to him without moving its mouth.

“Why did you take out your implant?” It asked, voice
gently disapproving. “Now we must perform a more aggressive tagging procedure.
This will be very unpleasant. Please brace yourself.”

“What? What do you mean, tagging?” Markus screamed.
“Please! Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t do it!”

Involuntarily, his head moved so that his gaze
returned to the immobile agents. He could see one of the tall figures take an
ivory colored wand, rounded at the tip, from the offered tray. A moment later,
something cold touched behind his ear.

There was bearable pressure at first, followed by a
sharp pinch. The instrument beeped once, then the real pain began. Sharp
crunching, the racket of a potato chip addict indulging without closing his
mouth, accompanied a deep burning sensation. It snaked out to the entire side
of his face, bursting blood vessels in his eyes and loosening teeth from his
gums.

Markus bellowed in sheer agony. This seemed to upset
the beings. Rather than stop the procedure, the tall being took a second instrument
from the tray. After touching it to his throat, it completely muted Markus
without diminishing the torture.

The wand was withdrawn after an eternity. Slowly, the
injury’s intensity diminished to a dull throb. He was still unable to move, but
this was moot. Exhaustion permeated every inch of his body. Had a perfect
chance to escape presented itself, the most he could’ve accomplished was a
boneless flop onto the floor.

Unkind hands gripped Markus’ ankle. The tall being was
now at his calf, which was held up by one of the smaller creatures. A new
instrument, ending in a small, sharp scoop, was used to remove a chunk of
flesh. This was surprisingly painless.

What came next was not.

Extending from the cylindrical handle of the tool was
a metal straw. The creature was none too delicately ramming it into the
bleeding wound. The device whirred loudly. Something burrowed deep into the
muscle, drilling down until it hit the bone.

Markus screamed silently. Tidal waves of pain crashed
from toe to temple. Tears and snot ran in rivers. Sour sweat flowed out his
forehead. Bile kicked up from his stomach. The mark behind his ear gushed
blood.

“Done,” The tall being said at last. “Attempt removal
of these and we will be forced to end you.”

In extreme agony, racked with cramps and the pain of
two implants buzzing through his body, Markus could not reply. He wanted to
promise to be a good patient. To swear that he would live happily tagged. If
they wanted him to be an experiment, that would be just fine.

“Wipe and return.” The creature commanded. “Make sure
evidence of the fallen hybrid is completely erased.”

As the stumpy beasts went to their tasks, the slender
being walked over to a control panel. It touched a glowing yellow button. On a
screen that shimmered in midair, a sleeping young woman’s face appeared.

On to the next.

At first sight, Stoddard School looked a dream. It was
a medium sized, bright red brick building, surrounded by a white picket fence. A
brightly colored playground stood in the neatly mulched enclosure. There was a paved
area with a basketball hoop at the far end. The happy sound of children singing
filtered out through the open windows.

Megan turned and smiled at the pigtailed brunette kid
sitting sourly in her pink princess car seat. “See how pretty it is, Georgia?”

“I don’t care,” her daughter replied sullenly, arms
folded across her chest. “I hate it. I want to go back to my old school.”

“We’ve discussed this already. Mommy’s job moved, so
we had to move with it. Now get your lunch. You don’t want to be late on your
first day.”

Grumpily, the child complied, trudging a good ten feet
behind her mother. A new lunchbox, in the shape of a fat grey cartoon cat,
banged against her hip. She kicked at a rock. It skittered off the concrete
sidewalk, landing at the work booted feet of a tall, broad shouldered
groundskeeper. He looked disapprovingly at the little girl. Georgia sped up a
bit, moving closer to Megan.

The double glass doors opened as the duo walked up. A
middle aged woman, pleasantly plump with a neat, stylish short haircut, held
them open. Her smile was infectious. Even the thunderclouds hovering around
Georgia began to disappear.

“Megan and Georgia Summers?” She asked, extending a
chubby hand. Bright charms on her bracelet jingled. “I’m Miss Aurora. Welcome
to Stoddard. We’re so happy to have you!”

“Hi,” Georgia said shyly, clinging to her mother’s
slacks. “Are you my teacher?”

“Sometimes. You’ll have arts with me, main class with
Miss Courtney, and life skills with Mr. Pete. We’ll have lots of fun.”

“Good. You’re nice.”

Internally, Megan sighed with relief. She’d fully
anticipated Georgia to throw a tantrum or to get a report after school that the
child had sat crankily at a desk by herself, refusing to participate. The
mention of time for art and the teacher’s sunny disposition probably saved her
a migraine.

“Follow me girls,” Miss Aurora began walking briskly
down the hall. “I’ll get Georgia settled, then I’ll show you to the main
office. Lots of fun paperwork to do.”

“Great,” Megan groaned dramatically. “First day and
Mom already has to go to the office.”

“Oh Mommy!” Georgia admonished. “You’re silly!”

Miss Courtney, the teacher, was every bit as kind as Miss
Aurora. Megan was happy to see the kid walk eagerly into the classroom. She was
even happier to see that the other children had decorated a seat with balloons
and a colorful “Welcome!” sign. It was a good place.

After her shift ended at the local pharmacy, Megan
drove back over to the school, feeling quite anxious. She’d checked her cell
phone at every opportunity. The worry that Georgia’s good mood hadn’t lasted
was very much on her mind.

The phone had not shown a single call, email, or text.
Maybe Georgia had destroyed the entire school in a critical meltdown. Some
might laugh at this. They’d never seen the little girl turn into a raging
supernova when in a particularly foul mood.

All her fears were groundless. Georgia emerged from
the school chatty and tired. The daycare seemed to have worn her out. Her
stories of new friends and all the fun activities were frequently interrupted
by wide yawns. She was so sleepy during dinner that Megan expected a nose dive
into her mashed potatoes.

“Was there anything you didn’t like about school?”
Megan asked, half-smiling.

“Yeah,” Georgia winkled up her freckled nose. “The
juice tasted bad. It was sour.”

“Maybe it’ll be a different flavor tomorrow.”

“I hope so.”

After dinner, Georgia requested to go to bed rather than
watch TV or play with her extensive collection of dolls. It was a little odd,
but Megan chalked it up to the emotional stress of the day. God knew she was
always exhausted after the first day of a new job.

“Is it okay if I look at your pictures from class,
hon?” Megan asked as she tucked her daughter in. “You wanted me to see them,
remember?”

“Oh yeah!” Georgia sat up in bed. “I do!”

“Don’t get up. I’ll get them out of your bag when I
head back to the living room.”

“Okay,” Sleepy disappointment. “I just wish I wasn’t
so tired.”

“It’s fine. You had a big day.” Megan kissed the
little girl’s forehead. “Sleep well. Want the night light?”

“No, that’s okay.”

“Really? Are you sure?” This was a huge surprise.
Georgia was totally terrified of the dark.

“Yeah. We talked about it at school. Miss Courtney
said that nighttime is just a normal thing that happens,” Georgia explained.
“That lots of good things happen in the dark. The class made a list of them. I
thought of fireworks.”

“Well, she’s right,” Megan smiled. “If you change your
mind, just holler.”

“I want to give it my best try.”

“Sure. Love you.”

“Love you too, Mommy.”

Megan blew her daughter a kiss and exited. She felt
proud of herself. Sending Georgia to Stoddard was already showing benefits.
Absolutely worth the extra hours she’d worked to pay tuition.

She settled in the living room with a beer, retrieving
Georgia’s artwork on the way. A pair of crayon pictures depicted a big orange
cat wearing an impossibly tall crown and a house surrounded by giant flowers.
The third picture was a bit odd. It faded the small grin on Megan’s face,
furrowing her brow instead.

It depicted a girl with brown pigtails sitting on a
large black throne. There was a silver tiara on her head. At least, Megan
thought it was a tiara. It was drawn in thick lines. Small figures were
surrounding the chair on both sides. Blue tears ran down the girl’s cheeks. A
massive frown was drawn on the pink circle of her face.

This was disturbing. She couldn’t remember reading
stories with Georgia about sad princesses. What were those little creatures
around the seat? Why did the silver circlet seem more like a restraint than a
crown?   

Her eye wondered over to a small stack of DVDs piled
on the entertainment center.
Star Wars
looked back, case open. That
might explain the small monsters in the picture. Georgia had voiced a
frightened fascination with the Jawas. It would make sense that the princess
would be scared of them.  

Still, it made Megan uneasy. She would keep an eye out
for more artwork like this. It could mean some underlying problem. Finishing
her beer up, she went to bed.

The next two weeks passed without incident. Georgia
had explained the strange drawing was of “bad guys kidnapping a princess.” This
confirmed Megan’s
Star Wars
theory. She still came home sleepy, and her
appetite seemed off, but the little girl wasn’t losing any weight, so Megan
didn’t worry about it too much. Kids went through phases.

Supper at the beginning of the third week brought an escalation
to the pickiness; absolute refusal to eat meat. Georgia ate all her vegetables
and dinner roll. When Megan urged her to eat the cheeseburger that remained,
she was met with a stony silence. This was another new behavior. Usually, even
minor disagreements ended in tears.

Megan tried to combat this. Privileges were
endangered. Pleas to eat at least one bite were ignored. All either tactic
gained was more of the hostile quiet, complete with a dead eyed stare.

“Go to bed, Georgia!” She said at last. “I don’t want
to hear it if you get hungry later. I don’t understand why you won’t even touch
your burger. I thought they were your favorite!”

“Because the meat is bad!” The child’s voice was
condescending, nearly cruel. “It’s not good like the meat at school.”

“What meat? We pack your lunch. The school doesn’t
serve you food.”

“Miss Courtney and Miss Aurora do. You don’t know
anything, you dumb bitch!”

“I know one little girl who isn’t playing any video
games for a month!” Megan pointed sternly down the hall to the child’s bedroom.
“Now march!”

Georgia slapped her plate off the table. It clattered
noisily to the floor, spilling the contents across the faux tile. She stomped
towards her room, throwing the door open hard enough to smash into the wall.

Wanting to scream, but unwilling to acknowledge the
negative behavior and escalate it, Megan jabbed a finger out again, speaking
through clenched teeth. “
Go!”

Instead of entering her room, the kid forked two
fingers at her mother. She hissed, eyes narrowing. Her lips pursed. Georgia
spat between her digits, then spoke an incomprehensible word that ended in a
shrill growl. This done, she went in, slamming the door.

“Good God!” Megan whispered, wiping a tear away from
her eye. “What the hell was that?”

The next morning, she walked a silent Georgia to
class. Miss Courtney greeted them as usual. When Megan asked for a moment of
her time, the teacher readily agreed. She called for an aide to get things
started before taking the concerned mother to the lounge for coffee.

“I can bet you want to discuss some odd behaviors,”
Miss Courtney said, wrinkling her cute little nose in distaste. “Spitting,
making weird hand gestures, being generally disrespectful? Chanting some
oddball things?”

“Yes!” Megan was more than a little startled. “How did
you know?”

“I’ve spoken to three other parents so far today. Roy
Turner, one of the kids in Georgia’s class, was regaling the others during
recess with the gory details of some horror movie he’d seen about curses and
witches. He showed them something a character did.”

“Oh boy!”

“You’re telling me! His folks didn’t see anything
wrong with it, either. We ended up having to remove him from the school. We
can’t have disruptions like that.” Miss Courtney smiled apologetically. “Hard
enough to manage without magic spells going round.”

“Well, that takes care of one problem,” Megan said.
“But Georgia was talking about you and Miss Aurora giving them some meat. She
wouldn’t eat a hamburger last night because of it.”

“I’m sorry,” the teacher winced. “My brother makes his
own jerky. He gave me a big batch and I brought it in to share with the kids. I
didn’t intend to cause you any problems at home.”

“It’s okay. Sometimes kids get picky. It’s just odd.
She’s never been particular about food before.” Megan shrugged. “Hopefully this
phase will pass quickly.”

“I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you,” Miss Courtney
said cheerily. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No, I’ll get out of your hair so you can get to class.”

“It’s not a bother. Feel free to come to us with any
concerns.”

Miss Courtney insisted on walking her out. The young
teacher even waited for Megan to drive by so she could smile and wave. As Megan
returned the gesture, she noted a ragged looking man digging through a dumpster
behind the school.

She was about to call the school’s office when Mr.
Pete, the life skills teacher, came out the back door. He approached the
scavenger. Nodding with approval, Megan pulled away.

Waiting until the woman was out of sight, the educator
planted a quick strike against the homeless man’s face with a shot filled
drawstring bag. He caught the bum as he fell and hauled him through the back
exit.

Back in the classroom, Georgia stood stolidly before
Miss Courtney. The hood of her dark robe was thrown back. She was awaiting the
teacher’s wrath.

“Georgia,” Miss Courtney growled, fiercely white teeth
bared in the dim candlelight. “Why did you attempt to perform a destruction
ritual by yourself? Without our permission?”

“Because I hate her, priestess,” Georgia’s brown eyes
were filled with venom. “She’s bad. She made Daddy go away. She leaves me with
stupid babysitters and runs around on dates. I hate her!”

“Worthy, initiate,” Miss Aurora spoke up. “But did you
bring what was necessary to finish your ritual?”

Holding up a handful of hair collected from her
mother’s brush, Georgia gave a grim smile. “I did.”

“Good. Take it and show her what to do, Priestess.” Miss
Aurora turned to the other students. “The rest of you should follow Georgia’s
example. Do you have enough will to take justice on those who wrong you?”

“Yes, high priestess!” The children called out.

“Do you have strength to do what must be done?”

“Yes, high priestess!”

“Who will you serve?”

“You, high priestess!”

“Who is your goddess?”

“You, high priestess!”

Light knocks at the door. Mr. Pete entered. The
homeless man he’d waylaid was slung over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes,
bound hand and foot. His tattered clothing was removed. He’d been washed and
shaved. Several cuts bled freely, speaking of the brutal haste Mr. Pete had
used. A thick layer of tape covered his mouth.