Chapter 8 A Painful Reminder

Maybe she wasn’t joining them today.

He noticed how frequently they looked in his direction, as though they were spying on him. And each time he turned to look at them, they would quickly pretend to be looking elsewhere. It was becoming quite obvious they were talking about him.

Perhaps some misfortune had befallen her, came the second thought.

Kevin berated himself not to concern himself with her, she was none of his business. Barely a minute after the resolution, he felt himself getting increasingly worried. He looked around every entrance and exit point in the park, hoping that he’d see her step in.

What if something bad had indeed happened to her?

Landry noticed how frequently he looked in their direction. “You look like you’re expecting someone.” he declared.

“There’s this girl I bumped into yesterday at school. I was unfairly rude to her.” he acknowledged, “I’d particularly like to apologize to her for something I’d said.”

“Dude, since when did you care.”

“I wonder why she isn’t with her friends today.” Kevin said, ignoring him. “Let me go find out from her friends.”

“What!” he exclaimed, clearly surprised. “Dude, are you being serious right now?”

“I’d be right back.” he said, ignoring him again.

He got off in a hurry and trotted towards them. Just couldn’t help it. He needed to apologize to her. Landry sat with mouth agape, watching him saunter towards the girls.

Madelia almost established eye contact when she turned to look at Kevin. Gasping, she twisted away. “Yikes!” she exclaimed, her voice sounding low.

“What is it?” Dreda whispered, keeping her head low. “Is he still looking?”

“He is walking in this direction, try to act normal.” Madelia warned in a whispering tone.

Dreda rubbed her palms across her face, quickly adjusting her dress.

“Hey ladies,” Kevin’s voice sounded behind, startling them. They hadn’t heard him approach.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to scare you ladies like that.” he apologized in what they thought to be the most charming voice.

“It’s ok.” Madelia immediately cracked a flirty smile at him, stretching a hand for a handshake. “You must be Kevin?”

He took her hand and forced a fake smile, answering the question with an affirmative nod.

“I’m Madelia.” she said with a glimmer in her eyes and motioned towards Dreda. “… and this is my friend, Dreda.”

Dreda turned to wave at him. She gave what she hoped was a convincing half-smile.

“Nice to meet you girls, but I was hoping I could talk to your friend for a moment, to apologize for what had happened yesterday.”

“Oh, you mean Natasha?” Madelia said, shrugging her shoulder. Gloom expression pervaded her face. “You made her look like a fool in front of everyone yesterday.”

“I know,” Kevin said, lowering his head. There was a tone of regret in his voice. “And that’s why I’m here. I was hoping I could apologize to her.”

Madelia’s smile completely vanished, and Kevin immediately sensed that something was wrong. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“She’s at De Laurel hospital.” Dreda revealed, “Some thugs had raped her last night.”

He felt a flash of dismay. “Is she alright?”

“Is she alright?” Madelia said, mimicking him. “How could she possibly be alright after being raped?”

“Six of those filthy bastards had raped her!” Dreda added, terribly upset. “They all took turns to rape her.”

“She is in critical condition right now.” Madelia cut in.

“Six of them…” he uttered breathlessly, his eyes widening. A surge of anger rushed through him and he folded his finger in a tight fist and kept them at his side. “De Laurel Hospital,” he uttered, his voice sounding dangerously low. “Can you take me there?”

“Oh, we were just about to go see her. You could join us.” Madelia reached for her bag and she pulled out her phone. “Let me call Derik, he’ll take us there.”

“Don’t bother,” Kevin said, gesturing towards the Chevrolet Impala parked outside the park. “I’ve got a ride already.”

They both stood up and started packing their things.

“Just give me a moment.” he left them to go talk to Landry.

Landry had been watching them the entire time. He watched the girls arose and began to pack up like they were going somewhere, and then noticed Kevin walking towards him.

Kevin had barely gotten to him before he asked, “Can I borrow your car?”

Landry stared wordlessly. His eyes flickered past him to glance at the girls waiting behind, then he returned his gaze to Kevin. “Going to pay ‘this girl’ a visit, I presume?”

“Natasha, that’s her name. And don’t worry, I won’t take long.” he assured.

Landry gazed at him for a long second, then let out a heavy sigh. “Want to hear an advice?”

“The only thing I want to hear right now is, ‘yes, you can borrow my car.”

And after another long silence, Landry raised the keys at his face. “Bring back my car in one piece. I don’t care if you die or get hurt while driving.”

Kevin smiled and took the keys from him. “You’re not an asshole. You are just trying really hard to be one.”

He walked to the car and turned to the girls, tilting his head—a silent signal for them to come.

After they all got into the car, he drove away.

A nurse escorted them until they reached the room where Natasha had been admitted. The hospital room was sizable with a window the size of a biscuit tin lid. The bed sat low to the ground; the frame bearing signs of rust, and on it laid Natasha.

While Dreda and Madelia went in, Kevin waited outside, standing in front of the window which gave him a full view of the room inside. Even though they had insisted that he come in with them, he bluntly refused.

IV’s, heart monitors, and oxygen tanks were attached to Natasha. There were multiple bruises across her face, and her upper lip looked swollen. She seemed to be in a critical condition as she lay unconscious. The steady beeping from the monitor was the only indication of life.

Glancing at her swollen lip brought back painful memories of his past—a past that always seems to haunt him at every eerily similar event. A tear spilled on his cheek as his brain went over what had happened a year ago.

Kevin looked over at T-Rex, a puzzled look on his face. Loretta had been missing for two days. He wondered how she ended up here—with him. When he looked at Loretta, he saw that she was fast asleep as she stood there with both hands tied to the pole. T-Rex, clearly impressed, came and stood beside her, smiling at him. Then, he punched her face squarely, breaking her nose.

Loretta came awake with an awful groan, her lips swollen, and blood dripped slowly from her broken nose. T-Rex cupped her jaw, forcing her to look straight at his face. She whimpered as he squeezed her jaw, intensifying the pain she felt from her broken nose.

“No, no---“ T-Rex smiled, leaning forward. “We wouldn’t want that sobbing once we have begun.”

He walked to a table at the corner of the room. Placed on top were several medical tools; a scalpel, a syringe, some long needle, a knife, a bowl containing oil, and several vials. Some of them contained white colourless liquid, and the rest contained dark fluids in it. Kevin watched him pick the gloves from the corner of the table and put them on. T-Rex took a vial, examined its content under the light, and then turned to gaze at Kevin.

“Ever heard of hydrofluoric acid?” he asked, pouring a little of its content into a spoon. Faint vapour rose from the bottles as it dropped onto the spoon.

“An acid listed as a weak acid, yet can melt glass within minutes.” he dropped the bottle gently on the table. “Of course it has to be kept in a special vial for its preservation.”

T-Rex shot a glance at him while walking to where Loretta stood. “Imagine what this could do to a person’s skin.” he smirked, “Imagine what this would do to her.”

Kevin’s eyes bulged, and he was sweating. He watched T-Rex struggled to get Loretta to open her mouth. He cupped her cheek and squeezed her mouth to open, then emptied the spoonful into her mouth, forcing it down her throat.

Loretta gurgled and gasped as her throat burned, her cries were slowly fading. She coughed violently, sending a thin spray of crimson blood onto the clean white tile. Thereafter, she became choked by the endless stream of blood which gushed from her mouth, her eyes wide and wild. Huffing and puffing, she struggled to breathe. Tears flowed from her bloodshot eyes, and her breath fell short.

He turned to Kevin. “First, it will burn her tongue, then, the acid will flow down her throat and severe her windpipe. Her voice box would be damaged in the process. At this point, she would feel intense pain down her oesophagus. She’s going to have difficulty breathing, and will lose her ability to speak permanently.”

T-Rex turned to look at Loretta with so much excitement. He watched her breathe noisily, and her chest heaved rapidly. Her insipid eyes were staring down at the linoleum. Tears spilled over her cheek. His expression showed he enjoyed every bit of it.

T-Rex turned to look at him, a wide smile on his face. “Imagine feeling this much pain and yet, having no real way of expressing it. All she can do right now is spill tears until she has none left. Good thing I didn’t give her too much of that, else it could have killed her right away.”

He came too close to Kevin and spoke to his face. “…and we wouldn’t want that, right?” he muttered, smiling mischievously.

Kevin glared at him, the tears in his eyes blurring the darkroom from his sight. He had never felt this helpless in his entire life. As he forced his arms to relax, he felt the belt go slack.