“You may not know this, but I love your sister,” he continued. “The love I have for her makes me a little crazy. So,brother, in order for her to love me and not stop anytime soon, I know it wouldn’t be a good look to kill you. If I killed you and she ever found out, it wouldn’t make for a great happily ever after, right?”
Slicing me across the cheek as if he were a butcher, I cried and pleaded for him to stop. I couldn’t bear this torture, and I would much rather he kill me than continue.
"Why can’t I move?” I whimpered, giving up on trying to move off the table. “What did you do to me?”
“Ahhh, a little C5 spinal cord injury.” He smirked, walking over toward another table. My eyes ballooned once I saw all the saws, needles, and tools. “You see, I’m a doctor, and I know my way around the human body. As badly as I want you dead, Rowan, I want you to suffer more. You’ll be paralyzed for the rest of your life. Not only that?—”
“Ahhhh!” I screamed in pain as he sliced off both of my hands. “Please!”
“That’s for stealing from my father. That man has a shit load of kids and a wife with expensive habits. While I want to cut out your tongue and sew your mouth shut for the things you said to Blossom, I decided to get a little morecreative.”
“I’m paralyzed?” I screamed as I became weak from the loss of blood. “Just kill me! I can’t live like this!”
“Oh, but you can.” The one named Boko walked over and smiled down at me.
He was dressed in all white with black paint and piercings all over his face, and the darkest eyes I’d ever seen. Slash stepped back, heaving as blood dripped from his blade. I wanted to pass out, but I mentally couldn’t. Something was keeping me awake to feel all the torture.
“You see, I don’t like men who abuse and mistreat women. I feel like there’s a special place in hell for men like you. And I’ll be the one to send you there.” I watched as he lit an incense and allowed the smoke to surround us. “When you sleep at night, you will see the face of the one you’ve hurt most. You will feel her fear, hear her screams, and endure indescribable pain.” My head moved from side to side as I watched him walk around me, sprinkling the most horrendous-smelling ash all over me. It burned my skin just as badly as the hot cooking oil Blossom threw. “Physically, you’ll be here. Mentally?” A devious smirk spread across his face. “For the rest of your life, you will live in your own personal hell.”
“Please—”
Pou bagay ou te fè yo, ou dwe peye. Ou te jwe san ou sou tab peche a. Pa gen padon. Pa gen retou. Pou sa, mwen lage ou nan limit lanfè. (For the things you've done, you must pay. You gambled your blood on a table of sin. There's no forgiveness. There's no coming back. For that, I release you to the bounds of hell.)
Before I could ask him what he was saying, I felt chills run through my body as the smoke from the incense grew thicker. Even though I was paralyzed, I could still feel the pain at my wrists from losing my hands. Although I couldn’t move, I was still trying to sit up from the table. Against my skin, the metal table felt as if I were lying on a slab in the morgue. Tears ran from the corner of my eyes as I awaited my fate.
“Don’t cry now, nigga,” JJ said between mechanical laughter as I began to seize. “Were you crying when you auctioned off your sister? Chin up, chest out, fuck nigga.”
The room began to spin as the smell of rust permeated the air. The lights flickered and turned a fluorescent red as buzzing began to surround me. Flies appeared out of nowhere and landed all over my body. The table shook as the room grewhotter. It was then that I noticed what appeared to be lava seeping from the walls, as well as from the floor.
My mouth opened to scream, to cry for help, but no words came out. My eyes darted around the room for the men who had me here, but they were nowhere to be found. Their voices faded while the room around me turned the brightest red. The heat was smoldering, and I felt as if I was suffocating. Sweat poured out of my body as shadows appeared all around me, peeling themselves from what had them bound.
I am in hell.
Grabbing my arms, legs, and any piece of visible flesh, hands touched and tormented my body. The only thing I could do was lie there and take it. I tried again to scream out, but it was swallowed within.
Yo pral kondane w paske w vann nanm san w bay mechan yo. Ou pral santi menm doulè sa a. (You will be condemned for selling the soul of your blood to the wicked. You will feel that same pain.)
Hearing the ominous voice speak to me, I tried my best to pinpoint it. The flames around me grew higher and higher, hotter and hotter. The pain from the hands was agonizing, but it was nothing compared to the scorching heat I felt at my anus and soaring through my rectum. Pounding in and out of me, I screamed mentally when I realized I was somehow getting fucked raw and rough in my ass. I was screaming internally, but there was no use. I was at the mercy of the shadows.
The metal table scraped loudly against the floor as I was stretched wider than what should’ve been possible. I could feel my skin rip, but the pounding did not halt. My breathing grew tattered, and I knew I was about to have a heart attack. My eyes rolled into the back of my head as I began to lose consciousness.
“Ase!” (Enough!)
Weak and with heavy eyes, I watched as the flames and lava receded into the walls and floors. The shadows dissipated, but the feeling of the burning hands on my body and rectum was still there.
“I told you I had something better than death planned for you.” JJ walked back over to me, hands in his pockets, with a look of satisfaction on his face. “This is your life now. Your hands? Gone. Mobility? Gone. Voice? Gone. Don’t worry, I’ll take you home so your family can know you’re alive and well.” He snickered, turning to leave. “Zoo, send me the ticket. Boko, wrap this up, my boy.”
Boko stepped to me with the face of the devil. He scanned my body, nodding in approval. Leaning toward me, he whispered to me the words that I would hear nightly for the rest of my life.
W’ap peye pou peche ou yo nan lavi sa a ak nan pwochen an. Se pou nanm ou boule pou letènite. (You will pay for your sins in this life and the next. May your soul burn for eternity.)
Twirlingmy knife in one hand and binoculars in the other, I glared out the window and watched as Blossom placed an order at her favorite coffee shop. The nerve of her and Scotlyn to be in their skinning and grinning while I’m miserable out here without her. It had been a week since she left my house. Seven whole days since she screamed she hated me and called me a monster. She didn’t mean that shit, though. Even if she did, that was just too damn bad. Never in my life had I told a woman I loved them, but I meant it when I said it to her. I needed Blossom like I needed my next breath, and my mind wasn’t going to be right until she was back with me, where she belonged.
I often wondered how I knew it was love that I felt. The answer was simple: I didn’t kill her brother when given plenty of opportunities. Before I snatched Rowan, I went to Uno and let him know that there would be a high-profile murder in his city. Being that it was the governor’s son, he all but begged me to let him help with an alternative. When he introduced me to Rosier and Jules Boudreaux, I had no idea what they could possibly do for me. I knew of them niggas, and I’d heard the whispers. After visiting their homes and learning of their dealings in South Florida, I knew I had to utilize their services. I would have never guessed them niggas were on their Harry Potter shit. Dropping Rowan off near Sunset Valley instead of an incinerator was enough to let me know my heart belonged to Blossom Reid. She just needed to get up to speed.
“Why are you in there acting like you’re happy without me, Bloss Baby?” I mumbled to myself as she stood to the side of the line and waited for her drink. “I should be the only reason for your smiles and happiness, mama.”
Hearing my phone vibrate, I started to ignore it until I saw it was my dad calling. Sighing heavily, I wasn’t in the mood for his shit, but if I sent him to voicemail for the third time, I’d never hear the end of it.
