Her Knight in White Shirt and Blue Jeans

5. The other side of him

Drip...Drip... Drip.

The sound of liquid dripping was the only thing Joshua Owens could hear, very clearly, with his eyes blindfolded and hands and legs tied to a chair. He was starting to get a little drowsy, the screaming pain in his hands the only thing keeping him from drifting off into unconsciousness. Even moving a finger seemed impossible without inflicting more agony on himself.

"What will they do to us?" the shaky, barely audible whisper of a girl reached his ears. Joshua had almost forgotten about her. The girl, looking to be around 18 years old was tied up to a chair similar to Joshua but the only difference was that there was no blindfold on her eyes. Judging by her voice, her throat seemed to have gone sore with all the crying and screaming she was doing earlier.

Joshua didn't answer. So utterly defeated, he slumped in his chair with tears streaming down his face, wishing more than anything of someone coming to save them.

Before the girl could speak, the iron door opened slowly with a creak, the sound sending chills down her spine. She looked at the person entering the room, his black and red coloured mask glinting at the edges like a knife.

His steps resonated through the damp floor, reminding Joshua of a story he'd heard in his childhood of a grimreaper, about how he waits until each grain of sand falls in the hourglass before coming to take the person's soul with his blade. A deep fear that had been buried inside rose suddenly like a flame, engulfing him from head to toe. The blood dripping down from his hands splotched on the floor, strangely resembling those grains of sand.

The next moment, the girl screamed.

Joshua gulped, going completely still as the cool edge of a blade rested against his cheek, slowly sinking into the flesh. Fresh blood instantly gushed out from beneath the blade, staining his already dirty cheek and joining the rest of the blood accumulated all over his hands.

"It seems they went quite easy on you." Although calm like the undisturbed surface of water in a pond, his voice screamed arrogance and mockery, each word of his seeming to be drawing out Joshua's soul. Where had he heard this voice before?

The blade was removed from his cheek, only for it to be pierced into the back of his bleeding hand, nailing him to the chair.

"Do you know what happens when someone wastes my time?"

Joshua couldn't hold back his agonized scream as the knife was twisted. "Please! Please! I'm sorry! I didn't-" He felt a searing pain in his nose, the sudden crack rendering him unable to speak. He felt his hair being yanked hard, almost as if it was being ripped off its roots.

"Speak." the person breathed, his barely repressed fury reaching Joshua in waves. "What did you tell them about Blake?"

'Shit.' Joshua felt his blood run cold. 'Shit. Shit. Shit.' The tears sliding down his cheeks mixed with the blood as Joshua struggled to break free like a caged animal, the overwhelming pain seemingly forgotten for the moment. The girl kept screaming and the knife seemed to be going deeper into his bones. Joshua wanted to yell at her to shut up, he wanted to scream at her to beg for mercy.

This person had just called the Ironclad Frazier by his name. There was no one in the world who could call him by his name so intimately other than Liam Knight and...

The knife was removed roughly and was thrust into Joshua's mouth, clanging painfully with his teeth. Joshua dared not to breath or move his tongue that had the well honed blade resting on it. Tasting the metallic liquid that had just gushed out from his own body made him incredibly nauseous.

"Speak!" the command echoed through the empty basement, hot anger burning away whatever little fight Joshua had left in him. The knife was removed from his mouth. Knowing it would go to places worse than his mouth, Joshua nodded hastily. "I'll speak! I'll say it! Please! No more! I'll speak-"