Mandy- Part 12

I crept downstairs to the basement; my heart pounded a staccato beat so loudly I feared it would wake the neighbors. The light was on and it filled me with dread. I never left the light on. Grandma had ingrained that into my head as boy. I could almost hear her telling me, “Turn off the lights when you leave a room. I don’t have stock in the electric company”.  The door to the root cellar was wide open. I wanted to run and hide. I knew she’d discovered my dirty secret.

            “Sherry? Is that you?”

I didn’t hear a reply, at least not right away. The answer that followed was a blood-curdling scream of agony.

            “Sherry?”

I ran into the root cellar and there she was. Sherry was chained to the walls and Mandy was torturing her. He had shattered her shapely legs with a sledgehammer and ripped off her fingernails until all that remained was bloody stumps. Mandy turned to face me, a bloody knife clenched in his hand, and he laughed.

            “She’s so serious, isn’t she? Let’s see if I can make her smile.”

His blade ripped through the side of her mouth and I screamed.

            “NO! Sherry!”

Drenched in sweat, Sherry was shaking me awake. I was in my bedroom with her and she was safe. Panting, I pulled her close and held her. 

            “Shh, it’s okay. It was just a dream. You’re with me and we’re safe.”

I silently repeated her words over and over. It was just a dream and we are safe. I didn’t feel safe. As long as Mandy was alive there was no guarantee that either of us would ever be safe. Yet, the soft tone of her voice and the gentle caress of Sherry’s hands soothed my jagged nerves.

            “Do you want to talk about it? Sometimes it helps to diffuse the fear if you can tell someone what it was that scared you.”

            “I don’t really remember.”

I lied and even though I figured she could tell; she didn’t push me. Instead, she curled up next to me and rested her head on my chest. She hummed softly as her fingertips lightly traced the curve of my cheek and brushed my hair back from my face.

    When I next opened my eyes, sunlight was streaming through the blinds and casting a halo effect around my sleeping angel. I slipped quietly down to the kitchen, hoping not to wake her. At some point in the middle of the night, Ruby had hopped up onto the bed and she was purring like crazy, all snuggled up next to Sherry. The coffee was still percolating in Grandma’s ancient glass stovetop coffee pot. The thing took an eternity to brew but the coffee is outstanding so I kept it. I was just toasting some pop-tarts and frozen waffles when Sherry padded across the floor and wrapped her arms around me.          

         “I was trying to make you breakfast in bed.”

Without saying a word, she turned and ran from the kitchen. I could hear her racing up the stairs and I laughed so hard I nearly spilled the coffee.  I loaded everything onto a tray and carried it upstairs. She was nestled under the covers, pretending to be asleep, complete with fake snoring.

    It hardly seemed possible that I could be this happy yet a part of me yearned to go back to the basement. I’d developed a taste for my work and I wanted to complete my masterpiece. I resisted the urge to squeal for joy when Sherry said she needed to go back home. She expressed her dread for going back to work on Monday and I had to play along. It was so hard to withhold my secret and it filled me with anger that needed to be vented on the vile piece of dung in my root cellar. 

    Once I kissed Sherry goodbye, I locked the door and raced to the basement.  I tugged the duct tape off, making sure to tug at his torn mouth. Mandy looked at me but appeared too weak to manage a snide remark.

            “Are you pretending to be asleep? Do you think I care if I’ve interrupted your beauty sleep?”

            “Screw you.”

Mandy’s words were weak and lacked conviction. I decided that meant he needed more incentive.  

**Be sure to return  Monday, June 23rd for the next installment of Mandy**

Mandy- Part 11

Sherry was eyeing me suspiciously, something was up and she wanted to know what was going on. I put my arms around her gently and kissed her cheek.

            “Okay, the truth is, I didn’t come down here to do the laundry. I heard a strange noise so I came down here to see what it was. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather hear about this upstairs? Suit yourself but don’t say I didn’t warn you…there’s a bat in the root cellar.”

Sherry screeched and ran upstairs. She’s always been terrified of bats. I knew if I told her there was a bat in the root cellar she would never, ever, set foot in my basement again. My problem was solved.

    She was standing in my kitchen doing what I’ve always called, “The Creepy-Crawly Dance”. Most girls have this strange sort of shuffle/hop/wildly flailing arm thing that they do when they encounter bugs or spiders or whatever it is that they consider creepy-crawlies. She was doing that and it was absolutely adorable.

            “I warned you.”

She glowered at me and playfully swatted my shoulder. Once she stopped hopping around like a deranged frog, I gathered her in my arms.

            “Don’t worry; I’ll protect you from the bats and anything else that threatens your happiness.”

It was then that I noticed an overnight bag sitting on my kitchen table. Next to it, she had the kitty-carrier and Sherry’s little fur-ball was purring away.

            “Ruby and I thought you might like a little company tonight.”

            “Ruby?”

            “Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you…I named her Ruby after your grandmother. Is that okay? Oh, what was thinking? I’m sorry. I meant it as a compliment. I always adored your grandmother and-”

            “Shh”

I gently pressed my finger to her lips and she smiled.

            “You worry too much! I think it is very sweet that you wanted to honor my grandmother. I’m sure she would have loved the idea. She was a big softie when it came to cats, you know that. There’s only one problem though…what’s your mom gonna thing about you spending the night over here? I remember one time when we were kids and all three of us fell asleep in the basement, watching movies. Your mom flipped out on you and we didn’t even do anything. Not to be too presumptuous, but I’m pretty sure if you stay the night we wouldn’t be able to say that. I mean, we’d probably…um…”

I could feel a flush creeping up from my neck until it swallowed my entire head. It felt like flames were going to shoot out of skull at any second. My brain was screaming. You’re such an idiot! Why did you say that? Over and over, the same two sentences berated me. I couldn’t even finish my train of thought, although, in hind sight it was probably a good thing I didn’t finish. After what felt like an eternity, she smiled.

            “That’s what I was counting on.”
I felt my jaw drop and Sherry burst out laughing. To me, it was still inconceivable that she had feelings for me. I was nerdy, and not in the cool-hipster way. She, on the other hand, was intelligent, caring, stunningly beautiful, and so much fun. She could be with anyone and yet she chose me. I was still in shock as she gingerly took my hand and led me upstairs.

Mandy- Part 10

    I walked Sherry to her door and kissed her goodnight. I knew she was anxious to show off her new little bundle of joy and I was anxious to exact pain on the pig in my basement.  I gathered up a few surprises for Mandy before descending the stairs. A stroke of inspiration hit me while Sherry and I were at dinner and I was excited to experiment.  

            “Wake up!”

Mandy squinted, trying to protect his eyes from the brightness of the bare light bulb. I ripped the duct tape off of his mouth, taking with it skin, hair and scabbing from the slice at the corner of his mouth. His blood-curdling scream was like music to my ears.

            “To make up for what you did to Jinx, I bought Sherry a kitten and I used the cash in your wallet to do so. To make up for her tears though, you’ll need to shed many of your own.”

I could tell the wheels were churning. He was trying to choose his words carefully because he wanted me to slip up. I had no intention of letting him off the hook easily. I had only just begun the torture.

            “Sherry is such a little-”

Before he could get the final word out, I slashed through his other cheek. This time I managed to angle the knife up, leaving him with a sarcastic smirk. One side arched in a smile and the other hung listlessly straight. I was pleased with the result. The smirk suited Mandy better than a true smile anyway.

    Each salty tear that trickled over his bloody gashes added a new dimension to Mandy’s pain. The more it hurt, the more his tears flowed. It was vicious circle and I loved every second of his agony.  I waited a few seconds, allowing the pain to seep in before moving on to the next goody in my bag of tricks. I pulled out a pair of needle-nose pliers and held them up in front of Mandy’s face. He closed his eyes and a pathetic whimper escaped through his bloodied lips.

    I clamped the end of my pliers onto Mandy’s fingernail and pulled. I wiggled it back and forth, lifting and rocking until the nail began to tear free. I curled the nail back, reminding me, oddly enough, of my grandmother’s sardine cans. I never could understand how she ate those things and just the thought made my stomach turn. No longer enjoying the moment, I ripped the nail off and dropped it on the floor. I was just reaching for the bottle of Isopropyl alcohol when I heard noises overhead. I slapped duct tape over Mandy’s bloody mouth and left to investigate.

    With my heart in my throat, I locked the root cellar door and scrambled to the stairs. I had barely reached the midway point when Sherry’s face popped around the doorway from the kitchen.

            “There you are! I was wondering what happened to you.”

            “Oh, I was just about to throw in a load of laundry. What’s up?”

The lie came out so smoothly, I even surprised myself. Subconsciously, I was berating myself for leaving the door unlocked. Stupid, careless mistakes like that were how people got caught.

            “Laundry, huh? I’ll help you.”

            “No!” My words came out harsher than I’d meant and Sherry looked confused. “Um, I mean…”

Before I could say anything more, something crashed against the root cellar door. I jumped and Sherry ran down the stairs toward me.

            “What was that?” She demanded.

            “Shh, it’s okay. Come with me upstairs and I’ll tell you.”

            “No! You tell me right now! You’re acting really weird. What is going on?”

            “Okay, you win. I’ll tell you. I didn’t want to say anything before because I like having you come over. You might not want to do that anymore.”