Chapter iv: Sleepless Beauty

She was Matthew's girlfriend. She had short dark hair and blue eyes. Keiren met her on Matthew's funeral a few days ago. The girl looked so different now. She was so beautiful before but now, she became a mess. Her beautiful dark hair became tattered and she had eyebags.

Keiren remained silent. She knows what would happen if she made a sound. Her ankles and wrists are already chaffed from the shackles made of rough leather that binds her from the steel chair that she's sitting on. She looked around in the dark room where she have stayed in for a few hours, yet it felt like years to her. It was a room with a table where different tools were laid. Hammer, scissors, injections, flasks that seems to contain some sort of chemicals, screw drivers of different sizes, a big pin cushion with tons of big and small pins, pliers, a notebook, remote control and a small drill. On the floor was her left ear that Keiren tore a few moments ago. She could still feel the pain from it being tore apart.

Cezille's blue eyes met Keiren's. Cezille smiled. It was her normal friendly smile. But her eyes were like that of a dead fish's. "Are you hungry? You haven't eaten since this morning. That's what Vincent told me though. Tell me if he's stealing food from you, okay?" She caressed Keiren's hair. And then, her index finger met the scar of Cezille's face that she carved a few minutes ago with a scalpel. From Keiren's left eye to her chin, Cezille opened the scar with her black nails. Blood slowly dripped from the open wound. Keiren tried her best not to make a sound. "I like your pretty face." She smiled. "Alexandria is also pretty. Having those blonde strands of hair. I hate her." Cezille licked the blood that's dripping from Keiren's cheek. "Having all the good qualities. Like you. Which is why I hate both of you. But I can't do this to her. She's my blood. So you'll have to take her place, is that alright? I mean, you have to endure more pain." She whispered. "You have to be tough."

She walked towards the table and took a scalpel. "I forgot to tell Vincent to buy gloves today. I'm sorry." Cezille giggled like the high school girl she was. "I'm gonna get dirty today, I hope you don't mind. I want to hear you scream like the whore you are." Cezille gently placed the edge of the scalpel on her cheeks. The blade was giving her skin a cold kiss. Keiren felt the scalpel slowly cutting the flesh of her cheeks.

It hurts. Keiren thought. She closed her eyes due to the pain. She also hate seeing Cezille's smile. It was a very scary smile. Her pretty face with eyes cold as Mercury and dead like Mars. Keiren didn't made a sound.

"Eh? No reaction?" Cezille's voice was soft and low. "Okay. I guess you're tired with this? Well yeah, I mean, I've cut you with this all over your body already." She walked towards the table again. She took the pin cushion. "This would be fun. Like the one I saw on TV where they would put pins on your body. I forgot what's that called though." She took a small pin and pinned it to Keiren's thumb using her thumb's nail. Keiren screamed. "That's the spirit!" She laughed softly. "This kinda ruins my nails but if this is the game you want to play..." Cezille frowned.

The last thing that Keiren remembers was that she was going home when the same guy that told her to break up with Matthew or her little brother will die if not. And then, she woke up in the room that she was.

"You know, if you weren't that of a bitch, this wouldn't have to happen."

"This wouldn't bring Matthew back." Keiren said with her hoarse voice. Her throat was dry due to lack of water. "If you kill me, it wouldn't revive Matthew."

"The cat gave your tongue back, huh? A small pin was all it took to make you talk again." She smiled. "I know it won't revive Matthew. But I find this fun. Seeing you suffer is tastier than any cake I've ever eaten." She pierced another pin on the same thumb. Keiren's left hand was shaking as blood slowly buds to where the pins were. She screamed loud again. "If you didn't played fire with that June this wouldn't happen."

Keiren's tears were wetting her cheeks. "June was just a friend!" She remembered June. He was Matthew's friend who likes her.

"That's what they all say." She whispered to her ear. Cezille stabbed her right hand with athe knife that she produced from her skirt pocket. Keiren screamed louder. She tried to get off from her binds. But she failed. As everytime she has tried. "Matthew hanged himself because of you and your June." Her whispers were cold gusts of wind in her ears.

"There was nothing between me and June! He has a girlfriend!" Keiren said while sobbing. "There was nothing! It wasn't my fault."

Cezille stabbed her other hand with the same knife. It made her scream once again. "I know." She whispered as she smiled. "I'm bored. See you tomorrow."

The next day, after Cezille got home from school, she went to Keiren's room to play. Cezille asks questions about Matthew. And everytime Keiren was wrong, she pulls a fingernail with her plier.

"Can you guess who I am?" Cezille said with her empty smile, her blue eyes deprived from sleep and three scalpels on the spaces of her fingers on her right hand. She was wearing Matthew's long sleeved shirt, and on it was the logo of his favorite band. Keiren noticed. "Clue, Matthew's favorite movie character." She giggled.

Still dizzy from loosing too much blood, Keiren, who's strained on a chair with thick leather belts could hardly speak. But she tried her best to answer. Or another fingernail will be removed. "Wolverine." Keiren said.

"Eeeeeennnnggg!!!!!" Cezille said, imitating the sound of a buzzer. She picked up the plier that's been colored red by Keiren's blood. "Freddy Krueger. He told me that you two watched it together once." Sighing, Cezille placed the plier back on her table filled with different tools. Sets of knives, scalpels, a drill, hammer, nails, a saw, scissors and a cutter. "I forgot that I pulled the last earlier." Cezille giggled. "Should I start cutting your fingers?" She placed her hand on her chin, thinking.

Just thinking of her fingers being cut, Keiren sobbed. Tears ran down on her eyes. "Why? Are you hungry? If you promise to be a good girl, I'll feed you." Cezille said, caressing the scars on the cheeks of her prisoner.

"I promise." Keiren said, looking at Keiren's blue eyes. She remembered that once, they glimmered. But now, it was tainted. Or her jailor just lack sleep.

"Good." Cezille let her go, and left the room.

The moment Cezille was gone, Keiren struggled to get off the chair she was in. Her body felt stiff. The bruises from her wrist and ankles hurts everytime she tries to escape. She looked on her fingers and toes. She cried once again. 'And tomorrow, it gets worse'. A whisper of her own voice said. 'Those fingers of yours, they'll be gone. And you'll die here.'

She tried to break free again. But her restraints won't budge. She struggled until she lost track of time and fell asleep.

Keiren lost track of time and woke up sleeping on the floor. The chair she was in was gone. And Cezille's tools were also gone. She stood up. Her knees, shaking as her heart pumped faster. She walked slowly until she felt the iron band on her neck. She was chained on the ground. "Damnit." Keiren cried.

"You don't like it?" It was Cezille. "Would you like it even better if it was made from gold? You know, like a gangsta." She laughed.

"Kevin!" She recognized the kid that Cezille was holding. He was losing an arm and blood was flowing from his shoulder. The white school uniform that his little brother was wearing turned red due to blood. "Not my brother....."

Cezille sat on the floor and so did Kevin. "I asked Kevin earlier if he wants to see his sister, so I took him with me."

"What did you do to him, you monster?!" Keiren said, crying. Tears were flowing on her eyes nonstop.

"Monster? I remember Matthew called me that after fucking his brains out." She grinned. "Anyways, I also asked him if he wants to help you. I told him that you were hungry."

"Right, so Vincent took my arm and cooked it for you." Kevin said. His eyes were blank, a smile on his face and tears flowing down his eyes.

"Good boy!" Cezille pat Kevin's head. "Now Kevin, kindly take the platter from Vincent, okay?" Kevin nodded and walked outside the room.

"What have you done to him?" Cezille said.

Cezille lied down on the tiled floor. She liked the coldness of it. "It took ten toe nails and seven toes to make him obedient. Now, he's my pet. He'd do anything for me now." She giggled.

Wordless, Keiren just cried. And after a few minutes, her brother came back with a platter, his arm on it, vegetables soaked in gravy.

"Now, Kevin. Why don't you feed your big sister? She's tired from all the fun we did the last two days." Cezille grinned.

thanks to Bakemono for the edit on the art