The Darkness - Jason Pinter [4]
all of a sudden, out of nowhere, someone throws a grenade
at us. I was out of harm's way, but the grenade went off right
beside this man I cared about. I remember looking at him
after the smoke cleared. He blinked his eyes, looked around
like he was just confused. The only thing I remember more
than his eyes was the splash of blood beneath him. Right
where his legs had been blown clean off."
Then, in one fluid motion, Chester held the right side
of the photo with his thumb and forefinger, tore off a
piece and let it flutter to the ground. It landed in front of
Paulina, speckled by rain and mud.
"This is what your daughter will look like when I cut
off her legs."
Paulina felt her stomach heave, her mouth opening, her
eyes burning as she cried. She reached out for the photo,
but was too weak to do anything.
"Blood has its own smell. It makes you want to vomit.
And imagine what happens when you see that much
blood coming from someone you love."
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Jason Pinter
He gripped the picture, and ripped off another piece.
Again the shred fell, twisting in the rain.
"This is what your daughter will look like when I cut
off her right arm."
"Please," Paulina whispered, her throat so constricted
she could barely talk. She closed her eyes. "Stop. Just stop."
The man stood there, holding the mutilated picture out
for Paulina to see. "Open your eyes," he said. Paulina
shook her head. "Open them!"
She did.
"I have something for you," the man said. "I want you
to take it home with you and I want you to read it."
"What?" she said, blinking away the tears.
"When you've read it, I want you to write an article for
your newspaper based on the information contained
within. Your article will run this Thursday. If it does not,
for any reason whatsoever..." The man took the photo and
ripped off a piece. Then he dropped the tattered photo into
the mud.
"I will cut off your daughter's head and send it to
you in a box."
He walked over to Paulina, and before she could react
he grabbed her by the hair and thrust the Taser into her
side. Again Paulina shrieked, and again she fell into the
mud, panting.
"If you don't do what I say, before I rip your daughter
apart I will burn her in places only her mother knows about."
The man took an envelope from inside his jacket. It
was sealed in plastic. He gave it to Paulina.
"This is the last you'll hear from me if you do what I
say. If you tell anyone, I will tear Abigail apart limb by
limb. If you go to the police, I will know you did and I
will burn her body after I kill her. I will know. I'll burn it
The Darkness
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so thoroughly they won't be able to identify a single piece
of her flesh, and the last time you will ever see your
daughter whole is in photographs. I will save her severed
limbs and leave them on your doorstep." The man paused,
watched the blood drain from Paulina's face. "If you live
up to your end, your daughter will be able to live the rest
of her life like a normal girl. She will be blissfully ignorant of what happened tonight. Otherwise, she will know
a pain of which you've only felt a fraction of tonight."
"Please," Paulina mewled.
Chester looked at the remains of the photograph of
Abigail on the beach, her smile wide like a small child. "If
not, the only bliss she'll know is whatever happens to her
soul after she dies."
Paulina took the plastic, turned it over in her hands.
Then she looked at him, confused.
"In there is everything you need to know. And make
sure you don't lose the piece at the bottom."
Paulina looked at the bottom of the clear folder and
saw what appeared to be a small, black rock, no bigger
than a pebble.
Paulina sat there, crying, sniveling and drenched. Chester
stared down at her, rain dripping off the tip of his nose.
"For your sake, I hope your daughter doesn't have to die.
Terrible thing to lose one's family. But that's up to you."
By the time she looked up, the driver was back in his
car. Then the engine revved, and he was gone. Paulina sat
in the rain, mud staining her