Façade (AHS: Hotel)

Chapter 21

When Ramona woke up, she had no sense of time nor did she have the energy to move. She was famished for blood, and the minute she opened her eyes, she felt a tightness around her neck. That same tightness was also surrounding her arms and legs snugly, but it didn't take long to realize she was actually locked in a caged iron maiden.

Groaning in pain with a feeling of dread in the vicinity, she gritted her teeth and started to shake herself the minute she felt even just a little drive to move. The iron maiden rattled, and her hands were tightly bound into position.

But the moment she heard footsteps, her already rapid heart began to pound like thunder in her chest. Her breath began to crack, and she nearly hyperventilated.

However, it was a relief to see that it was no one but Iris, walking toward the iron maidens with a look of shock in her eyes.

"Iris...p-please..."

"What the hell happened?!" the mature, afflicted woman asked.

"That son of yours, that's what," Ramona replied. "Get me o-out of here!"

"Donovan?" Iris asked with disbelief. "He put you in here?!"

"Is this ballsy enough for you?" a voice suddenly cut in.

Stepping down from the mini set of steps leading down to the ballroom-turned-torture area was Iris' worst nightmare—Donovan, who had been holding the taser used on Ramona to render her unconscious shortly after the Countess awoke from her stupor under the drugs he claimed to have put in her drink. He smirked and shrugged slightly, looking down at his mother.

"Donovan!" she exclaimed. "What the hell? I don't understand this! We're using her as bait? Did she agree to this? Is this your plan?"

"There is no plan B," he snickered evilly.

"Well, then what are we doing?" his mother asked with confusion.

"We are collecting our enemies and putting them in here," Donovan conspired. "We're going to hate-watch."

"Our enemies?" she was clearly confused, and Ramona, still stuck in the metal iron maiden, was even moreso angry. "You mean her enemies, don't you?"

What he said next confirmed everything—"her enemies are my enemies."

"You piece of shit!" Ramona spat through the cage.

"God, Donovan! Are you INSANE?!" his mother shrieked.

"She loves me, Iris!" her son cried out, throwing his arms in the air. "I never stopped loving her. Anyone who's against us is going to end up in here, so just keep that in mind!"

Iris was furious at his betrayal: "There is no us with that bitch. It's just her and surviving until she decides it's time for you to die! All five of us! It's the only chance we have to destroy her!"

"Did you really think a group as big as five people could ever be partners?" Donovan challenged. "You stupid cow! It's too big of a group!"

"Well, then why did you save me?"

"I was weak," he spat. "I should have let you die, and I should have let Angela die, too!"

SMACK!

"How dare you?!" she screeched. "You deserved to be punched in the face! You're the one who's going to die, son!"

"Wish granted!" a voice called from a distance.

BAM!

Ramona strained a neck muscle, still trapped in the body-size contraption as she watched Iris' jaw drop at the fact that Donovan was shot in the back of the head at a reasonable range away. The mature, afflicted woman went to the body and nearly had a deadly conniption at the scene.