Page 2 of Below The Surface
“Unless you have tracking in your clothes, no one will find you. Your vehicle has been dealt with and I’ve been scrubbed from the bar’s video feed.” I turn to him. “You’re scum, andno oneis going to mourn your death.”
“The church!”
“Has been sent a thumb drive of your transgressions. Your body will be found in a few weeks, mostly decomposed and that’sifit floats back to the surface. Personally, I’m hoping a shark eats you.”
“You’re sick!”
“What? Sharks are so fucking cool.” My voice might be a bittoogiddy.
“Casey, get on with it,” Kendra’s voice has too much of a laugh in it for the situation.
I take a deep breath and bounce on my toes a few times as I shake out my hands.
“Sorry. I love the ocean, and sharks are some of my favorites.”
“Fuck you!” Bill spits the words.
“Idoplan on getting fucked after this.”
Kendra laughs from her spot in the room next door. “You’re impossible Casey.”
“I know. I know.” I lean forward and hit the button on the laptop to start the livestream. “Hello my lovely little freaks.” The voice modulator jumbles my voice enough that no one will ever know what I really sound like.
Chats fly in and I read them all. Right now they’re all just greeting me, Nightmare. All while Bill struggles.
“As you can see behind me, I have our special guest. Father Bill Thomas Lager. Several viewers reached out to me with their stories from their childhood. I did a bit of investigating myself and took up the cause.” I upload the encrypted documents.
“As you can see, he deserves his punishment.” I walk behind Bill and hold his head towards the screen as I whisper in his ear. “Watch as they decide your fate.”
I drag my knife down his arm as I walk back around him to address our audience again. “If you’re new to my feed, I’m Nightmare and I’m your weekly torture host. While our special guests are abominations who rape or traffic, I never commit sexual violence myself. So the hard limits are anything to do with genitalia. Everything else is fair game. While you’re thinking about ways to torture Billy, also think of how you’d like to seehim die. Because at the end of the session, we’ll have one less pedo on the streets.”
“You are so theatrical,” Kendra says.
“That’s why they love me,” I say back. “Now, lovely viewers, what can I get started for you?”
2
DALLAS
“Fuck,” I whisper to my empty room. That was intense. My heart pounds and I look around as if someone might be hiding in the shadows. I hadn’t believed Hayden when he told me about Nightmare. I had to see for myself and now I can’t unsee what I witnessed.
What’s worse, is I didn’t hate it. The sight of Father Bill being tortured, then shot in the head, didn’t make my stomach turn as badly as I thought it would. Like Hayden said, it was healing.
Not thatIexperienced rape, or being trafficked, but my sister had. She wasn’t the same person when investigators found her. She’d begged for death and I’m probably a bad person for saying it, but I’m glad she’s not suffering anymore. No amount of therapy had helped and in the end, she did what she had to. Not that I’m glorifying suicide. I hate that she felt like that was her only option. I wish I could have done something for her, but I was only twelve at the time.
Watching Nightmare methodically jab pins under Bill’s nails healed something in me. Twenty pins for the twenty known victims. That man screamed and thrashed, but he’d been tied down from his head, all the way to his hands and feet. Therewas no way Bill was moving an inch, let alone leaving that room unless Nightmare wanted him too.
Nightmare is a mystery. Who are they? Is it a man or woman taking vengeance? Had someone hurt them or was it someone in their family like me?
Hayden: did u watch?
Dallas: Yeah. Fuck.
Hayden: Right?! Nightmare is amazing. I watch the show every week. It’s my therapy.
Dallas: That’s what you’d said. I didn’t believe you.
Hayden: man I always speak the truth. See u tomorrow.
