Institutional Memory by Frank Gary

Author:Frank, Gary [Frank, Gary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: supernatural horror
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2018-03-18T21:00:00+00:00

In the Dark: Annette

She wept, but no tears came from her ruined eyes. She had tried placing them back in their sockets but they kept slipping out. Now she lay on her side feeling every cut and every slice of skin the cables inflicted on her. Her clothes were useless ribbons that stuck to her from the numerous trails of blood that covered her body.

The cables were controlled by something intelligent. She was sure of it. Whatever it was playing with her, terrorizing her until her throat was shredded from screaming, and then disappearing, only to come back hours later and start again.

The cuts, as bloody as she knew they were, weren’t deep, which meant the thing wasn’t trying to kill her. It was torturing her, carving her body methodically to cause the most pain. The cables came out of nowhere and each time scared her so badly she cried.

How much longer could she endure this nightmare? She would bleed to death sooner than later, which was a mixed blessing. Not that she wanted to die, but she didn’t think she could endure the pain or the fear of never knowing when the cables would strike. In the dark, it was impossible to know where she was, though she’d surmised she was up in the air ducts somewhere in the building. It was narrow and hot and made of metal from the sound of it when she knocked.

Annette heard them coming, though she couldn’t guess how many. Four, maybe five? They scraped along the metal of the duct, the rasping sound echoing around her so it was impossible to tell which direction they came from. This time she could not fight them as she had tried to do before. The cuts on her hands stung from the last time she tried to protect herself. But while one cable had sliced her hands open, the other cables cut the rest of her flesh. She would die from the next round of attacks. That was her fate and she accepted it. Better to die than to live in this nightmare until the cables decided it was time to kill her. No one would rescue her as she first prayed someone would. But no one knew where she was, and even if they tried to find her, who would look in the air ducts? No one.

As the first cable danced on her skin, brushing up her leg, she lay back. God, I am sorry but I can’t fight anymore. I have no fight left in me. I have no hope that someone will save me. If this is my time, please, I beg for mercy to make it quick. The pain … She cried as cold, jagged metal edges sliced into her skin. Warm blood flowed down her calves, down her thighs, pooled on her stomach, trickled down her arms. And still the cables continued ripping her apart until there was nothing left of her.

Jon

Times Square was bathed in electric daylight as billboard-sized video screens played commercials and neon signs dazzled and illuminated the night.

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