The Mindf*ck Series

Chapter 6

𝘛𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘥𝘰 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨.
- 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦

𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗔𝗡

We can barely stay in the cellar, because the air is perfumed with the scent of two rotting corpses.

“He’s getting bolder by killing them two at a time,” Elise says, gagging even as she soaks in the clean air from above. “Escalating his torture by making them watch each other.”

The bodies are already gone, since they cut them down from the chains once we arrived and saw the scene. But it’s still toxic down there. Hadley is with the coroner, possibly carrying around a garbage can to puke in.

The stench is overwhelming.

“All the other’s he’s left in their homes to be discovered quickly. Why the shift? It’s a risk to kidnap one and drive them all the way from New York to West Virginia,” Leonard says, battling his own nausea.

It’s hard to take in the scene down there, considering it needs to air out for several days before it’s tolerable.

“He’s chasing his endgame, but it’s obvious these two really pissed him off. Yet there were still no signs of rage,” I say absently.

Hadley’s name flashes on my screen, and I answer the phone, putting it on speaker.

“What do you have?” I ask her.

“Well, their mouths were sewed shut, as you know, but when we opened them, we found the missing penises.”

Leonard gags and turns away, and my stomach roils as well.

“That’s…definitely an escalation,” Elise says, her leg in a brace and her arm in a sling as she struggles with the crutches, still refusing a wheelchair.

“That’s not the worst part,” Hadley goes on. “I took blood samples from their mouths, and…Tyler was O positive. Lawrence was AB positive. I found O positive blood in Lawrence’s mouth, and AB positive blood in Tyler’s.”

“Wait, hold up, are you telling me he sewed Tyler’s dick into Lawrence’s mouth, and vice versa?” Donny asks, turning an alarming shade of pale.

“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“I can’t tell if he’s evolving or devolving,” Elise gripes.

“He’s definitely suffering a psychotic break if he’s getting more stuck on the torture,” Leonard says with a grimace.

“No,” I say thoughtfully. “These two did something together that pissed the unsub off recently. We couldn’t find any footage of the unsub, but Tyler’s credit card showed a trip to New York recently. Maybe they met to discuss the deaths of the others, even though it hadn’t made the news. If the unsub followed them, maybe heard their conversation, it could have led to this double kill and extra layer of torture.”

“That’s still a psychotic break,” Donny argues.

“No, it’s not. There has yet to be any rage found with the overkill. The torture is punishment. It’s to prolong the deaths. This unsub is targeting the ones who wronged him, and he’s punishing them accordingly, at least in his mind. If they crossed a line, he’d punish them more severely than he’s been punishing the others.”