The Devil Plays an Evil Tune

Prologue She slowly came around, her eyelids felt heavy and her mouth tasted metallic, of some kind of chemical, she tried to move but found no reaction. At first she thought she must be paralysed, been involved in some terrible accident, but then she realised she was restrained, could feel the straps restraining her wrists and ankles. As she became accustomed to the dark she could make out shapes, a bench of some sort in the corner, something that looked like the outline of a vice protruding from one end. Pinpricks in the blackout drape sent laser beams of light down onto the floor but gave no width of beam to fully illuminate anything of substance, spirals of dust danced in their shafts. The floor felt concrete and cold beneath her feet. She tugged on the restraints but felt no give, they just dug painfully into her skin. She attempted to scream, to call out for help but her mouth was gagged and stifled her inner terror. A cold sweat was forming on her skin and it was then she realised she was naked. ‘Oh my god,’ she silently cried, realising that her fate was about to become worse than the most vivid of her nightmares. ‘Please,’ she beseeched, ‘don’t let this be happening.’ She struggled some more, her body twisting in the chair she was restrained to, the straps digging ever deeper into her flesh, panic streaming through her mind like the whirl of a flashing blue light, sirens of fear screaming in her ears. She twisted and turned until she realised the futility of it all. There was nothing she could do, so she relented, sat perfectly still, her head hung forward. She regained control of her breath and desperately wanted to wipe away the sweat that was running from her forehead, down her nose and dripping onto her breasts. As her breathing became more controlled she thought she could hear breathing behind her. At first she thought it some kind of echo of her own breath, but soon became convinced that there was someone else in the room. She turned her head as far to the right as it would go and repeated to the left, but could see nothing. It was then she felt a hand alight on her shoulder and fear ripped through her like a tornado reaping havoc across the flatlands. ‘You!’ she hissed through her gag, her eyes wide as he appeared before her.