Second Sight

Prologue

With her arms tied down tight to those of the chair on which she sat, the woman opened her eyes and the whole room seemed to be a blur of dull, flickering light. She blinked a few times, trying to shake the cobwebs from her vision but the dull throbbing in her head made it difficult. Just as her vision cleared the intruder's fist pounded into her temple and everything went hazy again. Blood trickled down her face covering her eyes and clouding her vision again.

"Stop it you MONSTER!" screeched the voice in the background.

"Shut up! You're next." said the dead and empty voice of the intruder.

Something glinted in the dim light. Even with her blurred vision she could see the razor sharp blade held by the stranger behind the clown mask. With one quick movement the knife sliced through the thin material of her T-shirt fully exposing her torso to the clowns gaze.

The tip of the blade touched the smooth, faultless flesh of her stomach and she cried into her gag.

"Shall we play a game?" asked the dead voice

The young woman sucked in her tummy, it was the only thing she could do to back away from the knife.

"Not quite the game I was thinking of but it'll do I suppose."

The intruder moved the knife slowly towards the woman's stomach again until it came into contact for a second time. The woman drew in another breath in a desperate attempt to get away from the cold, sharp steel. Yet again the metal connected without piercing the skin.

"For god's sake, why are you doing this?" the man called from the floor where he lay, his hands tied behind his back and ankles fixed to his wrists with wire that cut into his flesh.

"Wait your turn, I'll be with you shortly." the voice was calm and measured but the clown face never looked away from knife's point.

The woman was not sure how much longer she could hold her breath. The white hot pain was building up in her lungs. She released a little air, felt the sharp metal bite into her tummy and tried to pull away again but it was no use.

"There, I win!" said the intruder.

The blade of the knife was dragged through the skin carving patterns deep into the flesh.

"Take anything you want, just leave us alone." shouted the hogtied man.

"I have what I want right here but maybe you're right," said the intruder taking the knife out skin of the woman's left breast. "I'm tired of this game now anyway so let's just draw it to a close shall we?"

With lightning speed the clown face stabbed the knife into the woman's eyes leaving the punctured orbs to deflate in their sockets and the insides to ooze down her cheeks. The blade had gone in so deep and with such force that the bone at the back of the socket was pierced clean through. If the woman was not dead then she soon would be.

The intruder lifted the mask slightly and licked the blade clean of all the vile mess that covered it, then turned to the man who was franticly trying to free himself. The wire bit deeper with every movement but that did not stop him from his struggles.

"Okay, shall we play a game?" asked the measured voice of the clown as the mask was pulled back down into place.