Scream

I sat across the room from him, my body completely rigid and my fingers digging into the cushions of the couch. My jaw was frozen shut with fear and my cheeks were pale, the blood drained into my pumping heart. He just looked at me. His expression was no different from any other day. He just looked. I think that’s what was most unsettling about it all. We sat there for God knows how long… maybe an hour, maybe a minute. All I knew was that I somehow wrestled down the fear threatening to escape through my throat and unlocked my jaw. Somehow I gathered my thoughts and spoke.

“Nathan…” My voice withered away, his name buzzing on my lips. Still his expression remained stoic. Nothing changed; nothing moved. His blank face should have worried me more and would have, if I’d known what was to come. Instead, he silence empowered me. Since he did not move to stop me, I assumed he was willing to hear my confession.

“Nathan, I’m sorry,” I pleaded, my voice shaking with emotion. “Please, let me explain. You don’t understand what he said to me, what he threatened to do…”

“Who?” That one word resonated in my mind. There was no malice behind it, no ulterior motive. He simply wanted to know. He was curious. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to calm my racing heart before I pressed on.

“C-C-Cary. Cary Issacs.” Nathan nodded in understanding and fell silent again. I took this as an invitation to go on. “Cary came to me when you were away. He told me you’d been taken by them, that you weren’t coming home.” My face suddenly heated up and I felt the prick of tears in my eyes. I looked away for a moment, blinking desperately to stem the oncoming flow. Once I felt it was under control I looked back across the room. He was the same as he had been before, unphased by my sudden loss of control. I took a breath and continued, my voice calmer than it had been before. “He told me about the debts you owed and how I would be expected to pay them off. I didn’t have the money, Nathan, and I didn’t think you were coming back. What else was I supposed to do? They would have taken that money from my hide! A sum that great… they would have killed me.”

His silence permeated everything. It bore down on my soul and encased my brain. It severed my spirit from my being and I felt I would cry out. Just as I couldn’t bear it anymore, he steadily stood from his seat and walked over to me. I stood as well, though I paled in comparison to his six and a half foot stature. He came up to me and put his hand on my cheek, gently stroking it before carefully taking my chin in his hand. In is other hand he held up a large flashlight, showing it to me and letting my eyes take in its appearance. It was an industrial flashlight, the kind carried by police officers, the handle of which gleamed like new steel.

“Do you know what this is, my darling?” he asked, his face still blank. I nodded.

“A flashlight.” For the first time, he smiled, a sad smile that conveyed a depth of regret I couldn’t understand.

“It’s much more than a flashlight,” he whispered, bringing my face closer to his. I though he meant to kiss me but he paused just as there were mere inches between us. “It’s called a kill-light.”

I was dizzy from the proximity of his body. I couldn’t think, I could only ask, “What’s a kill-light?” His smile widened and changed in nature; it was no longer sad. It was a smile far different from any I’d ever seen. It was something I couldn’t classify. Then he let my chin go abruptly and took a step back.

“It’s exactly what it sounds like.”

Realization suddenly rocked my body.

The last thing I saw was the massive flashlight swinging straight for my head.

The last thing I heard was its deafening crunch when it met with my skull.

It was the perfect footnote to my scream.