Chapter Seven

Kevin turns up the torture

 

Morning quietly passed through afternoon into evening quietly.  Kevin sat in his study, sagging in his chair.  A hulking man, he had almost grown too big for it.  Slightly balding, with square rimmed glasses and a look that portrayed an air of intelligence, he methodically scrawled notes into a journal.  Soft, contemporary jazz emanated from small speakers built into the walls.  To ensure that he made no mistakes with Giulia, he notated his every move, every thought and every action on paper.  He decided that it would be a while longer before her imprisonment could be considered effective. 

 

He knew that at this late hour, Giulia would have already exerted herself enough to be spinning slowly from her bonds and lost in the arms of sleep.  He wondered if depriving her of that simple luxury would be too torturous, even for her.  Throughout her captivity, Giulia had remained obedient, but displayed an inner strength and determination that he had not expected.  She was a strong one, he had to give her that much.  Somehow, he needed to find a way to break her down completely, to sap every ounce of mettle she had left in her.

 

Kevin decided to proceed with the sleep deprivation.  He didn’t want it to seem intentional though, at least not yet, so he purposefully would not enter the basement.  The small monitor he had hidden beneath the end table would be enough to pick up whether or not she had awakened.  He needed to make sure that she did.

 

Giulia’s basement prison could be accessed from two different points, the stairwell leading from the hall inside the house, or the door leading directly from the garage.  Needing to do some work anyway, he decided that the noise that would travel through the doorway and into the basement would be sufficient to keep her awake, and he headed out the front door and around the outside of the house to the garage.

 

In his garage, Kevin kept his most cherished possession, a 1968 Dodge Coronet Super Bee.  The car had a 383 cubic inch, big block V-8 and was built like a Sherman tank.  This car could survive anything.  It had taken him years to restore it, hunting down parts and even getting his hands on some original seats for the completely redone interior.  He put on his safety glasses and dust mask and started to work. 

 

The body of the Coronet still required some attention, so he plugged in his orbital sander and began to grind the paint off of the fenders.  The grinding, scraping hum was enough to wake the dead.  It was exactly what he was looking for.  After about ten minutes, he paused, turned off the sander and grabbed the handheld monitor, listening for Giulia.  The painful sounds of moaning were clearly audible through the monitor.  She was definitely awake.  Kevin got back to work with the sander and kept at it well into the night.

 

In order to maximize the effect lack of sleep would have on Giulia; he occasionally stopped sanding and just listened.  Kevin waited a few minutes after he was satisfied she had fallen asleep, and then started sanding again, jarring her awake.  He continued allowing her brief intervals of rest, knowing that the interruptions in her sleep patterns would prove to be most effective.  Two or three times throughout the night, he had accidentally dozed off for short periods of time.  These intervals lasted anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour.  He cursed himself for his lack of concentration.  While considering Giulia’s additional torment he had failed to factor in his own need for sleep.  He needed to stay up all night as well in order to enact his plan. 

 

By morning, he had become too tired to think clearly.  His body ached, completely fatigued, and screamed for rest.  The sun was starting to rise when he realized he needed to head to the basement, as normal, in order to continue the ruse.  He counted on Giulia’s perception being compromised as well and was confident she wouldn’t be able to sense his exhaustion.  Through his clouded mind, fighting through bouts of delusion and hallucination, Kevin managed to dream up another new way to turn up the volume on Giulia’s suffering.  Heading back around the house, reentering the same way he had left, he experienced a brief surge of adrenalin.  He became more alert and his pulse started to race, anticipating her reaction to the additional torments he had planned for her.

       

       

Reviews

[J.K. (Not Rowling)]

"Make no mistakes"? "make her imprisonment effective"? What is going on here? This guy is insane! The only thing I'm glad about in here is that he has to stay up all night too, miserable wretch. Seriously, this is some strong writing. I'm still a bit confused following two seemingly separate tracks, but I am deeply immersed in both stories. I hope Kevin pays for this, though...

[Alexander W. Quinn]

Such a fasinating character here...he isn't just torturing her...he's studying her. Evil, but brilliant.
I was caught by one line: >>>in order to continue the ruse

[AlleyCat34]

PRICK! Oh I love to hate Kevin! Nice job! I wonder what he is up to. You are doing a nice job drawing your reader on. You do leave things hanging for another day sort to speak. Well done!

[Misa]

oh man this guys' evil, isn't he? have to admit his methods are well thought out, though. l hope you'll be showing us a bit more of what his motives are soon, it sounds like he has some sort of plan beyond simple torment. l am tempted to say this seems too short, even though it's not too much shorter then all the rest. l think that's because what it reveals is both limited and extensive - you reveal a lot of his character traits, but nothing that moves the story onwards. when l reread this one l'll take another look, but as it it is it's well written, but *does* feel like it could use expansion.