A Tortured Soul

Chapter 16
Chapter 16

Chapter Description: WARNING: This chapter is hard to read due to disturbing content.

The creak of the wooden stairs, and Eddy’s subdued sobbing were the only things heard as they made their way into the basement. Jim did odd jobs down here, painting furniture, fixing Eddy’s bike, and others that required space and tools. It was one long rectangular room, about half the length of the house. The smooth cement floor showed chips from misaimed hammers, and dropped tools. The drywall was bare, an occasional cobweb occupying a corner where the fluorescent light was not so bright.

The three adults moved to the center of the room and turned, awaiting the next command from the demented girl.

Katie pointed to a stack of old metal chairs in the far corner and said, “Everyone grab a chair and bring it to the center of the room.” When the chairs were set down, she added, “Line them up facing that way,” pointing the weapon to the right.

Jim saw that she was going to keep the stairway and the window on the opposite wall in view. He had no idea what the hell had gotten into her, but was watching for the opportunity to take her down.

“Get the box of wire ties,” she told him.

Walking over to the workbench, Jim had no idea how she knew the ties were there, but grabbed the clear plastic cylinder and returned to the group.

Katie told the officer, “Dump them on the floor in front of the chairs.” When it was done, she instructed, now you two sit down,” motioning to Eddy’s parents. As soon as they were seated, she told the cop, “Make a loop with one tie around the leg of the chair, and feed another through it, looping it around their ankles.”

Jim watched Eddy standing there, tears still streaming. He wanted nothing better than to hold his son, and tell him it would be alright. It had come as a shock to him that Eddy wasn’t behaving like a toddler because he wanted to. He felt bad for the boy, knowing it had to have been hard being taken outside dressed like he was today. The fear in his eyes right now, told Jim why he had gone along with it.

“Tighten them up,” Katie instructed. A second later, she pushed the barrel of the gun harder against Eddy’s head, making him squeal in fear and screamed, “Tighter!”

Jim saw Laura wince in pain as the police officer pulled the ties tight. A second later, he understood as the plastic constricted around his own ankles.

“Do the same with the knees, wrists, and elbows,” Katie demanded.

It took several minutes, but he stood back up once the two were restrained.

“Grab some ties, sit down and put them on yourself the same way,” Katie barked. When the cop got the legs done, she told him, “Do the right arm, and then put the loops on the arm of the chair so you can slip your left arm in them.”

A minute later, his right arm was secured at the wrist and elbow, and his left rested in two loops on the arm of the chair. Katie moved behind him, reached out and pulled the tie on his elbow tight. He immediately attempted to grab her arm, but didn’t have enough leeway, and she cinched the last tie down.

Jim saw Eddy whimper when Katie glared at the cop. A second later, she smiled a terrifying smile and said, “You’re going to help me teach Eddy a lesson he’ll never forget,” and turned, dragging Eddy toward the stairs.

He watched his son toddle up the stairs ahead of her, his hands trembling on the railings. A moment later, heavy foot falls could be heard coming down the stairs. When they came into view, Katie was carrying the chair from the kitchen with the booster seat attached to it. Eddy was already strapped in.

She set him down facing them, and preceded to use the plastic ties to secure his ankles to the chair legs. When she was done, a smile crept across her face and she made her way to the work bench.

Pulling a large roll of duct tape from a hook on the wall, she tore three pieces from it, about a foot and a half long, and stuck them to her forearm. She pulled three rags from a box on the floor, and started back. Jim saw the grip of the pistol sticking out of her pocket as she moved to stand in front of the cop.

“Open your mouth,” she demanded as she held a rag in front of him. When he didn’t cooperate, she took her knee and slammed it hard in between his legs. The man tried to pull his legs together, but the ties prevented him, and she did it again. With a groan, the cop opened his mouth and Katie filled it with the rag before applying the duct tape all the way around his head.

She moved to Jim, and he sat looking at her, hatred in his eyes.

“I see you’re not going to cooperate. I guess I’ll just have to give Eddy the same treatment I just gave him,” and started to move away.

“No!” Jim shouted, before opening his mouth wide.

When Katie had him taped up, she moved to Laura, and had no trouble getting the tape in place. “See how much easier it is when you cooperate?” she asked in a mocking tone.

Picking up three of the largest wire ties, she quickly had them looped around the neck of each of the three adults. Taking three more, she secured one to the back of the officer’s chair after running it through the one around his neck. Pulling it tighter and tighter, she slowly forced him to sit straight up, or cut his air supply off. When she had all three sitting up straight, she sneered, “We wouldn’t want Eddy to miss anything now would we?”

Heading back to the bench, she pulled three clear plastic bags from a box, and tore three more pieces of tape from the roll. As she approached the police officer, she growled, “Now we can begin with the lesson.”

“I warned you little boy,” she barked, as she stuck one length of tape to each chair. “You didn’t listen though did you?” she asked.

“I thowwyyy...I thowwyyy...” he cried.

“It’s too late for sorry now, little boy!” she shouted at him.

Fear gripped Jim as he saw the wild look in Katie’s eyes.

*********

Eddy cried hard as he saw Katie’s anger. When she approached him, took his paci and his bear, he cried, “Pathiiii! Pathiiii!...Mithtew Beaw!” desperately wanting whatever comfort he could get from them.

Katie smiled at him, before saying, “Awww...does the baby want his paci?”

“Yeth! Pweathe!” Eddy sobbed, making sure he sounded like a baby.

“That’s too bad! You don’t deserve your paci, Baby!” she screamed at him. “You’ve been a very bad boy, and it’s time for you to be punished!”

“No! I thowwyyyy!...I Thowwyyyy! I be good baby!” Eddy cried, trembling in fear.

Katie walked behind the officer and picked up the plastic bag. “Don’t tell me you’re sorry Baby, tell the policeman. He’s the one that has to go bye bye because you told,” she barked.

“No! Pweathe!” Eddy screamed as Katie took the plastic bag and slipped it over the cop’s head. She quickly had the tape wrapped snugly around his neck, trapping the plastic against his skin.

“LOOK AT HIM, BABY!” she screamed. “If you look away, or close your eyes, then Daddy will go bye bye.”

Eddy started screaming “I BE GOOD! I BE GOOD!” over and over, until he ran out of air, still mouthing the words. He pushed at the baby seat, trying to get up so he could go tear the bag open, but it held him fast.

Katie, taking advantage of the silence, said, “Tell him you’re sorry, Baby. You did this. Tell him your sorry.”

“I THOWWYYYYY!!!” Eddy screamed at the top of his lungs. Repeating it again and again as he started bouncing up and down in the seat. Because he wasn’t allowed to look away, he saw the man’s terrified eyes streaming tears as the bag inflated, and deflated with every breath. The man kept throwing his head to his right, again and again as his breaths increased in frequency.

Eddy’s face was beat red as he tried desperately to tell the man he was sorry. It was all his fault. If he hadn’t told, none of this would have happened. Eddy would have given anything to get things back the way they were. He would have stood in the schoolyard, wearing nothing but a wet, messy dipey, nursing his ba-ba, crying for his Mommy while all the kids laughed at him, if it would have turned back the clock.

Approaching Eddy, Katie leaned next to him, and told him in a disappointed voice, “That man has to die because you couldn’t be a good baby boy. Look at him, he’s terrified, Baby. He’s hurting too, you know that.”

When Eddy finally got a breath, he screamed, “I BE GOOD BABYYYY!!! IBEGOODBABY!! IBEGOODBABY!!” faster and faster, hoping Katie would relent, as he thrashed in his seat. He would be a baby forever, never doing big boy things again if she would just take the bag off.

When he got a breath and started screaming again, he saw the man thrashing wildly now, his face purple. There was blood on his wrists where the plastic had cut into the skin. Eddy wanted to look away, but didn’t dare, for fear that Katie would put a bag on Daddy’s head.

Eddy lost all control when the man suddenly slumped down in the chair, his head held up by the plastic band, his eyes wide in death. He didn’t realize it when he closed his eyes as he screamed, “I THOWWYYYYY!!! I THOWWYYYYY!!!” again and again.

**********

Laura thought she would lose her mind. She strained with all her might to get her hands loose, as she screamed into the gag again and again, futilely trying to tell her little boy that it wasn’t his fault. She saw the terrified guilt in her baby’s eyes and it ripped her heart out. She wanted nothing more to get her hands on the hell spawn that stood next to him, tormenting her little boy.

When Katie quickly moved behind Jim, screaming, “I told you to keep your eyes open little boy!” fear gripped her like an iron clamp. A second later, she watched a plastic bag slip over the head of the man she loved.

“NOOOOO!!! DADDYYYYY!!!” Eddy screamed, the force causing his voice to screech, and the contents of his stomach to empty, pooling on his diaper. Laura sobbed uncontrollably as Eddy’s lips moved again and again, but no sound came out.

“You can’t even be a good baby boy for five minutes! You need to learn! Daddy HAS to die!” Katie screamed at him.

“I BE GOOD BABYYYY!!! DADDYYYY!!! I THOWWY DADDYYYY!!!”

********

Jim wasn’t a small man. Yet the metal chairs didn’t yield as he pulled with all his strength, trying to break free. He sobbed as he watched Eddy screaming he was sorry over and over. Jim felt more helpless than he had ever felt in his life. Here his little boy was, being tortured by this twisted individual, and he could do nothing about it. The bag slowly made it harder and harder to breathe. Knowing that increased activity would only kill him faster, he couldn’t help himself as he thrashed his head side to side, trying desperately to break the hold the tape had on the bag.

Jim heard his heart pounding in his ears as his lungs began to burn fiercely. He screamed into the gag now, begging Katie to let him free. The gleeful look she gave him, made it clear that she had no intention of sparing his life.

“Are you gonna be a good baby now?” Katie asked Eddy during a lull in his screaming.

“I BE GOOD BABY!!!” he screamed again and again.

“Well then I’ll do something nice for you then,” she said, and pulled the tape free from the bag, lifting it over Jim’s head.

He was never so glad to breathe the damp musty air of a basement in his life. His lungs pumped like bellows, forcing the air through the tear swollen tissues of his nasal passages. He watched Eddy tremble as he sobbed his promise to be a good baby over and over.

Jim didn’t know why, but he saw clearly that Katie’s goal was to get Eddy to desperately want to be a baby. From the terrified look on his face, and the sincere tone of his scream worn voice, Jim knew she had succeeded.

He sobbed in relief as Katie went to Eddy and hugged him close. “It’s all right Baby, It’s okay. You’re going to be...” and she stopped. Pulling him roughly back from her, she growled, “Are you poopy?”

Terror showed in Eddy’s eyes as Jim heard him mess his diaper. With a hard slap to Eddy’s face, Katie stormed over behind Jim’s chair, and replaced the bag over his head, taping it tightly in place.

“What did I tell you?!?” she screamed.

“NOOOO!!!! I BE GOOD BABYYYYYY!!!” Eddy screamed at the top of his lungs.

During the silence of his scream, she shouted, “Babies don’t hold it!” and Jim saw her slip the bag over Laura’s head.

“MOMMYYYY!! MOMMYYYYYYY!!!” Eddy screamed, jumping up and down in the baby seat, tearing pieces of the padding off, as he desperately tried to get to his mommy.

“Say bye bye little boy!” Katie taunted.

“NOOO!!! IBEGOODBABY!! IBEGOODBABY!! IBEGOODBABY!!”

***********

Laura thought her heart was going to explode. Katie had never had any intention of letting them go. She was tormenting that little boy for the pleasure of it, and she prayed to God to set her free so she could get him away from her.

A stream of liquid dripped from the chair Eddy sat on, as he tried in vain to get loose.

When Katie walked over to her, Laura, tears streaming, screamed into her gag, begging her to let her little boy go.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him. I’ll feed him, and cuddle him, and change his diapers. I promise.”

Laura saw the mocking in Katie’s eyes and screamed into the gag. Her lungs were hurting bad now, and her breaths came fast and difficult. Her heart pounded hard in her chest, hurting more with every beat.

Katie returned to Eddy’s side and told him, “It’s time to say bye bye now, Baby.”

Eddy never acknowledged hearing her. He kept screaming his promise like a mantra.

A second later, Katie turned toward the window, pulling the revolver from her pocket and leveling it at the glass.

The crack of a gunshot went off as black dots crept in on the edges of Laura’s vision. The last thing she saw was Katie rocketing backward, knocking Eddy over onto his back, as she did a reverse somersault, coming to a stop on her back, unmoving. As her vision faded, she could still hear her baby screaming that he’d be good.