Blade

24 - The Whisperer

I was completely frozen where I lay in my metallic prison. I wasn't free before, but now I was even more caged, and a part of me wished for some partition from the monster that stood bearing down on me.

His humanoid frame was layered with so much muscle I was sure he could crush me in one fist. His eyes were empty soggy sockets, oozing some black liquid as he looked down on me. There was no nose either, making ninety-percent of his face all ‘mouth’. His mouth was his most terrifying feature.

About a dozen tentacle-like tongues slithered out of the great teeth-deficient gap, reaching far across the room. There were no sharp features about him, nothing damage-inducing except…

Two of his slimy tentacles reached out to frame my face, and my eyes widened. Instead of the gooey feeling I expected, it felt like swords were right next to my face.

The demon widened his blackened lips in his best impression of a grin. My heart caved in on itself at the sight. The blades that framed my face suddenly tightened around my tender skin, and I let loose a scream so agonizing it stripped me of my voice.

“See Rachel?" His voice was a thousand voices at once, searing into my soul. “I don't need a sword, a whip or claws to hurt you. These blades are far more fatal.” I felt warm liquid cascade across my face, mixing in with my unending tears.

As he spoke, his words pierced through me…literally. I could feel the slices across my skin, shedding even more blood.

In the terror of the moment, I suddenly understood, his words were literally as sharp as blades. That was why he had been able to hurt me so much without physically touching me. This voice alone had been enough to launch me into so much depression that I became suicidal. His voice was what made him so powerful.

“You understand now, don't you?" He snarled in that multiple-layered voice. “My words are blade enough."

He launched into manic laughter as I wheezed on the table, unable to scream, unable to do anything as even more cuts penetrated my already battered skin.

I wanted to yell for him to kill me already, for him to end it all, but my voice had been stolen. He stopped laughing all of a sudden, leaning towards me like a predator taunts its prey.

“Know my name now, Rachel. I am called ‘Whisperer’. The one whose blade is far more fatal than any human invention…”

***
“Rachel, wake up. Please…” I didn’t recognize the voice. Someone was shaking my shoulders.

“Leave me alone,” I pleaded, staring up at the monster that had me wrapped in the grip of his tentacles.

“Rachel!” The voice calling out to me was not from my tormentor. It sounded familiar…

Suddenly, I realized something. My voice was back!

“Help!” I screamed with all the energy I could summon. “Someone please help!”

Cruel laughter rang harshly in my ears. He was taunting me, enjoying my predicament.

“Rachel, I’m here. Just open your eyes, baby…”

I suddenly recognised the voice, parting my eyelids. I stared up into brown eyes swimming with tears.

“Dad,” I said, a little bit of relief flooding my veins. My eyes filled up with tears of mine. “Dad!” I wailed, trembling ominously. My father wrapped his arms around me. I was vaguely aware of the doctor and nurses standing in the room.

“It’s okay,” Dad whispered in his soothing voice. But it was not okay. The image of the ‘Whisperer’ was imprinted behind my eyelids. I still remembered the feel of his bladed tentacles around me, wrapping me, squeezing…I forgot how to breathe. Dad felt it. “Hey, hey. Rachel, breathe.”