Pins and Needles

Chapter 30

I didn't dare rush the process as I cut down Maeve's flesh. I made sure to cut deep enough so the skin wouldn't be too thin, even if that required scraping bone. I didn't saw at her skin either in fear of damaging it, so producing a clean slice was extremely tedious. It also didn't help that I had to wipe away blood almost every second. Seeing as I was going agonizingly slow, the blood kept spewing out over the places I was working on, so handling that took up just as much time as actually cutting. I wished multiple times that I had a cauterizing or suction device of some sorts, but that was obviously impractical and unattainable.

I was only halfway done with the outline when Maeve woke up. She wasted no time screaming and moving about, so I pulled my hands away from her and cursed slightly.

Maeve rolled her head around, the side of face flipping up as she did so, "What did I do? I don't deserve this. I did nothing wrong, please. Please.."

She kept muttering 'please' over and over again, so I sighed, "Please be quiet and cooperate, it'll be easier for both of us."

Maeve's head hung on the back of the chair with her lips slightly parted. Her wrists were relaxed, but the skin underneath the duct tape was extremely red and had dried blood shaped around the bindings. I wiped the incision clean of fresh blood once more, then went right back to where I left off. I pressed into the cut, steadily coming around the chin and hitting bone. I dragged the scalpel against said bone, using it as a guide for how deep I should go.

Maeve cried out in agony, "STOP, STOP, STOP!!"

She dropped her head and attempted to face it away from me. I could tell she was low on energy as she refrained from moving a lot as I pierced her skin.

Since I was done with the right side of her face, I brought my chair around and sat it next to her on her left side. Maeve's dropped chin left me with no access to her untouched skin, so I cupped it and angled it away from me. Maeve met my eyes with hers the second I turned her face and even though her eyes were barely open, they still showed me the one powerful emotion Maeve was feeling: betrayal. I looked down, not wanting to see or acknowledge her scorn. I knew what I was doing to her, but I couldn't bring myself to feel bad. It's a dog eat dog world; you either do what you can to get what you want, or you get trampled.

I jerked my head and refocused on the task at hand. I brought the scalpel up to where the chin incision wrapped around and continued it to the left side. Maeve cried and tried to raise her head, but I still had an iron grip on the bottom of her chin. I pressed on with the laceration, being extra careful when I got to the cheek because I could easily slip off of the jaw bone and dig into the mouth. Once I finally reached the top of the forehead, Maeve was in bad shape. My work was obvious as it led to a sloppy and blood streaked ring around the outer edge of her face. Her screaming had ceased when I got to her temple, so I assumed her lungs weren't strong enough to carry the tune. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly and she was choking out hiccups. Her eyes were closed and puffy, the trail of tears she left becoming evident on her red cheeks.

"I really wish you hadn't cried, you make my face look terribly ugly when you cry," I tutted.

Maeve's bloodshot eyes met mine as she rapsed, "Please... stop."

I dragged my finger along the circle and exhaled, "I'm in too deep to back out now."

I retracted my hand and wiped the blood I picked up off of my gloved finger. Maeve's breathing became really shallow all of a sudden, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she closed them. She wasn't dead, but that didn't mean she wouldn't anytime soon, so I wanted to pick up the pace to keep everything fresh.

I retrieved a spoon and some tweezers from the workbench to start the second stage: loosening. I lifted the skin with the tweezers and used the spoon to dig under it, evidently loosening up the muscles below the layer. Doing this would make the skin easier to peel off and would prevent any potential damage from being done.