"Nhh…" Kael groaned. He remembered clearly the disappointment when both him and his father were walking away from the office, that had so brutally shattered their dreams of a new life. Now, slumped back on a chair, he felt the weight of the world crashing down on him.
Except, why was he suddenly in a chair? Making this realization, Kael snapped open his eyes.
Sitting right there, in front of him, was his father, who was currently passed out.
"!!!"
He remembered now. Back then, he had felt a knock to the back of his head which caused his unconsciousness. Someone had deliberately targeted them.
He looked to the left, where there was a small door, with windows above. Looking through the windows, he could see trees going by. He felt the vibrations of the floor, and realised that he was in a moving vehicle, presumably a truck.
He moved his hands to get a better look through the windows… except he didn't move his hands. Or rather he couldn't. He felt that his hands were obstructed behind his back. Turning his head back to try and see past, he found out that they were restrained. Looking down, he also found out that his legs were also restrained by thick, harsh chains. Looking forward, he saw that his father received the same treatment.
Clap, clap, clap.
Kael, alarmed, sharply turned his head to the right. A short man who wore a thick black coat that covered his mouth was clapping quietly in the corner.
"Congratulations." He said. His voice was soft and whispery, but it felt as if knives were pressing on Kael's skin.
"You got past the troops, so I figured I'd commend you on that." He walked closer. Each stride was deathly silent, as if he never walked at all. "But unfortunately, it was all for naught. Because in the end, you fell back in our hands."
Kael didn't respond. His mind raced with panic. How could he get out of this situation? He looked around. Then, as he looked at the restraints, it dawned on him. He couldn't do anything.
"Are you done? Playtime's over. It's time for the real fun."
The man sauntered over to his father and …took off his hand restraints. Instead, he navigated his father's hands on the armrests, where thick leather straps wrapped around his arms, chaining them there.
Observing that the father was still passed out, the man said in a playful tone: "Nono, that's not good, you need to wake up."
Using two of his fingers, he pinched the father's left pinky. Then, grabbing the man's arm with his other hand as a fulcrum, he played around with his father's pinky, rotating it in circular motion. He gently curled up the finger and massaged it, as if it was the most precious thing in the world.
"Wakey, wakey, wake up from your sweet dreams…" He whispered soothingly into the father's ears while caressing the pinky. He then unfurled the finger.
Kael gulped in fear, horrifyingly anticipating the man's next set of actions.
Using the stable arm as an axis of rotation to pivot off of, the man lifted the pinky up, and rearranged his fingers to the tip of the pinky. Slowly, he applied pressure onto it, as the pinky gradually moved up to rest at a 90 degree angle perpendicular to the hand. By then, a force from his bones resisted any further attempts to push it any further up.
"Ugh…" His father moaned in his sleep.
Kael could only stare.
The man's face had a subtle but visible smile.
A weight of tension hung in the air.
Then, in one, big, burst of strength, his fingers drove forward on the pinkie.
And it snapped in half.
"Ugh… Ahh… Nnghh—aaAAHHH!!!!!"
His father sprang awake. And he screamed.
The piercing sound filled the room, of horrifying pain.
Kael's breath hitched, his mind screaming at him to act. Finally unable to keep the silent act together, he shouted at the man in a panic.
"Wh.. wh… wait, wait, stop, stop, stop, stop, please, please, What are you doing!?!?" Kael's words tumbled out in a frantic rush. "No, no, no, no, no, youfuckingpieceofshitwhatthefuckdoyouwantwhateveryouaregoingtodoIbegofyoupleasestopdontdoitpleasepleasepleeeaaaassee!!!"
By now, his father's painful screams had died down, replaced by heavy breathing as he bit his lips, trying to endure the pain. Gazing at his left hand, he saw that his pinkie had snapped 180 degrees. Any attempts to move it were yielded ineffective. His eyes darted from left to right processing the situation. Then, as his eyes landed on the man, a wave of realisation dawned on his face.
"Have you slept well?" The man asked him. "I was, until you so rudely woke me up." The father mustered out through clenched teeth, remaining calm having regained clarity after the crystal incident. "What do you want?"
"Going straight to the point are we?" The man pushed a small tray in front of him. On the tray, he could see many different assortment of tools, though there was one common trait: all of them had ominous, dried bloodstains that covered the surface.
"You can call me Rahzel." Rahzel, from the bottommost tray, pulled out a pair of surgical gloves and a mask. "I assume you know what is going to happen next."
He put them on, then fastened a surgical gown to his neck.
"But first…" He turned to the child in the other chair, who was still yelling in fear.
"I hate noisy people. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Look here, bitch. I will take on anything. But If you do anything to Kael, you're a dead bitch."
"Empty threats, seeing that you don't have the power to stop me." Rahzel looked back at the father. "But I appreciate the resolve. Don't worry, I won't torment him…yet."
He pulled out a roll of duct tape and a wad of tissues from the tray, which he rolled into a ball, and approached Kael.
Abruptly, Kael stopped screaming and clenched his jaws shut, glaring at Rahzel in pure hatred.
"No, that won't do."
Extending one of his hands, Rahzel forcefully pried open Kael's jaws and stuffed the tissue ball inside. Then, before Kael could spit the ball out, using the duct tape, he wrapped it around Kael's head, closing off his mouth and tying it to the chair.
"Only the main subject is allowed to make noise while I work. Your time will come later, after I'm done with him."
"Like I said, I will take on anything you do to me, but I swear if you touch him…" The father, still clenching his teeth, growled.
"Such great tenacity you've got there." Rahzel focused his attention back to the father without giving an answer to his demand, now that all Kael could do was produce useless muffling sounds behind his gag.
On the tray, he prepared a pair of heavy duty tweezers.
"Now tell me… what happened to the crystal?"
A moment of silence hung in the room.
"That wasn't something I was particularly trying to hide. You could have just asked me in the streets."
"Yes, I could have. But just in case, I prepared this show just for you." With the tweezers in hand, he once again grabbed ahold of the father's left pinky and pressed it firmly on the armrest. He then positioned the tweezers threateningly at the nail fold.
"The government took - ngh—AGGHHH!!!!" Without waiting for him to finish, Rahzel drove the tweezers deep into the nailbed and playfully wriggled it within. The father's screams once again filled the truck.
Without giving him a moment to breath, he took out the tweezers and positioned it on the other end of the nail fold, and plunged it in. When he dislodged the nail for both the nail folds, he now positioned the tweezers on the eponychium, looked up at the father and grinned. The father frantically shook his head, denying what was about to happen.
The tweezers were plunged deep into the root of the nail. And then it was forcefully wrenched back and forth in rotational motion, before Rahzel lifted up the tweezers at the nail root. With one forceful tug, the nail came loose. And his father kept on screaming.
"So, old man, where is this crystal?"
Rahzel took the nail with his tweezers, took out a few tissues, and laid the nail on the tray with the tissues in between.
"WHAT WE HAD WAS A FAKE! AND THE GOVERNMENT TOOK IT! WE DON'T HAVE IT! SO STOP!"
Rahzel halted for a split second. "Ah, is that so?"
The father looked expectantly at Rahzel.
But contrary to his expectations, the arc on Rahzel's eyes only grew.
"Well, that's unfortunate."
For some reason, Rahzel did not act surprised, as if he already knew this.
Rahzel approached the father yet again, and this time, he secured his left ring finger to the armrest.
"I already told you what you came here to find out, so what do you want?!"
"I did not bring you here to find out anything." Rahzel replied. The few sentences turned the father's blood cold. "I already know what happened. Its just that, when I went through all that trouble of dealing with all the government facilities, only to come up empty handed, I felt…How do you say it…" Rahzel positioned the tweezers on the nailbed. "Quite annoyed. So I thought I'd teach you a lesson."
Right as the father anticipated the removal of the next nail. Rahzel stood up and walked back to the tray.
"In all honesty, I also hate listening to your screams. It's too loud. I only bear with it because it's an interrogation, and I need to hear the confessions." He bent down to the lowest layer of the tray. "But now that the confession's over…" He, from that layer, took out a pair of noise cancelling earmuffs.
"I no longer need to listen to your distasteful pleas."
Rahzel lifted the earmuffs to his head and put it on.
All of a sudden, all the screaming in the truck disappeared, leaving only a peaceful ambience in his ears.