The Guard dog: In accordance with PTRR
He found me on the streets. I had been homeless, drug addicted and disease ridden. He was dressed so well when he came up to me. The most noticeable thing about him was his smile, it still is to this day. No matter what dark thing he was doing, his smile could ease the pain, the fear, any bad feeling was magically gone. He helped me up and brought me to an extravagant manor hidden by a beautiful forest and along a cliff side overlooking crashing waves of the Atlantic. He bathed and fed me then had a doctor give me shots and medicine and even gave me new clothes. He sat me down near a fireplace in two large chairs. It was so warm and inviting, the light made him look so sweet and soft.
“What is your name?” he spoke.
I hadn’t been asked that in years, nobody cared, I forgot it to be honest. He seemed to pick up on this.
“May I name you?” he asked, I agreeing with a nod.
“I want to name you Belladonna. You remind me of the flower, so sweet and dangerous.”
I didn’t know what to think, I never thought of myself as dangerous. I simply agreed. He went on to tell me his name, Nicholas, Nicholas Rukhat. It was from here when my relationship with Sir Rukhat began. He hired me as a guard dog of sorts, not in the literal sense of course. I made sure nobody left this manor and none entered without an e****t. You’re wondering, why did he spare me? Sir Rukhat said I reminded him of his grandmother, such a sweet woman he told me. Disturbingly, his grandmother went insane and murdered his grandfather after finding out about an affair when he was only 6. Sir Rukhat said he could see the same fire he once saw in his grandmother’s eyes in my own. He told me I was to deliver anyone caught trying to leave to him personally, so that’s what I do.
I don’t sleep. I get horrible night terrors if I do. The nightmares are filled with the screams and pleas of the people Sir Rukhat keeps here, they echo throughout the manor almost all the time. At first, it was very hard for me to deny the people who managed to escape, the sweet taste of freedom. I messed up once, nearly letting a young girl escape out of pity. Sir Rukhat wasn’t pleased with me at all. I tried begging him to let her go. He sewed my mouth shut and dragged her back warning me that I would end up like her if I did that again. I remember the burning pain in my face as the silver needle was shoved through the skin, the hot tears rolling down my cheeks mixing with the blood. That memory was seared into my mind as a reminder to never go against his word again.
I remember when he brought Miss Veronica here. She was unconscious in his arms as he came in. A frown went onto my face, she looked just like Sir Rukhat’s late mother, Penelope.
“Belladonna, go tell Artie to leave the black room, I’m putting on a show for her there,” he instructed to me.
I sadly looked at the girl then quickly rushed off to do as ordered. I know Sir Rukhat misses his mother deeply. She passed from Lung cancer when he was only 7, then he was stuck with that monster of a father. It’s his fault Sir Rukhat is like this after all.
Later that evening I heard yelling, Miss Veronica must be awake. I watched her run towards me trying to leave.
“Belladonna! Do not harm her!” I heard him shout.
Pesky girl, causing him all this stress. I came from behind her and hit the back of her head with my crowbar. She went down, Sir Rukhat right behind her. He grabbed her by her hair and began to drag her off.
“I haven’t had one get away and you won’t be the first,” he whispered to her.
I watched him look over his shoulder at me before saying,
“I know what you’re thinking, I won’t kill her. I love her, Bella. She’s the perfect one for my roses.”
From that day, I heard him as he cut her, stitched her up, cut her again, etc. I heard her cry at night, I heard her refusing the pills only to be forced to take them. I watched her weakly walk around the manor, quickly losing her sanity day by day. I saw her answer to him like a damn dog. I can’t really talk, I am his guard dog after all. Miss Veronica was so full of energy and life when she first came. But I assume after watching your family get skinned and having been cut badly and force-fed pills every day by a mad man really messes with your mind.
Miss Veronica hates it here yet she loves Sir Rukhat deeply now, he’s practically got her trained. She once asked-no, begged me to murder her. Sir Rukhat would kill me in a heartbeat if I hurt her at all. That’s why it was so confusing when he let her go. He dumped her many, many miles away in the dead of night. He came back to the manor and hugged me as he cried.
“My dearest Belladonna, I love her so much,” he whimpered.
I creased my eyebrows at him in confusion.
“You ask why I let her go then? If I kept her here any longer, I would’ve killed her. We need to leave and restart,” he went on letting go and sighing.
“Belladonna, my loyal guard, once I and Artie are out of the manor I want you to burn it! Burn it to ashes!” he pleaded, grabbing me by the shoulders.
I nodded fastly. This was my home, this was his home. But this was a place of suffering and sadness. This place has created so many tortured souls, it’s only right that we burn it. The three of us stood out on the road as the flames grew higher. Suddenly screams erupted, my body going cold, the people strapped in the study. Their haunting cries pierced throughout the night sky as the embers went into the air. I heard Sir Rukhat begin to cackle at the sight.
“Oh my dearest friends! We can now start over!” he cheered hugging myself and Artie.
He let go and continued to laugh and cheer at the burning manor and screams of the people. I looked up at Artie. He slowly put his butcher’s knife behind his head and cut the lace on his mask so he was able to remove it. I’ve never seen his face before, all I’ve ever seen was his demented mask. Artie, better known as Arsenic Lawdaem was our Butcher. He cut up the bodies and sorted the organs for our sale on the black-market. He was really tall and spoke slowly due to all the pills Nicholas fed him to keep him from having his psychotic episodes.
“From here I think I’d like to visit the States, if I stay here any longer I may be tempted to get Veronica back” Sir Rukhat told us.
I couldn’t focus, I just stared at the fire as the screams grew louder. My ears began to ring as I blocked out everything being said. Memories of myself slaughtering people daring to escape, dragging them back to the study and into the arms of that mad man. Their cries, their begs began to flood my mind. The screams as he ripped people limb from limb, the sound made after he threw a toaster into a water filled bathtub with someone inside, or the sound as he sawed off arms to a fully awake person. Their cries only got louder and louder, I needed it to stop, it was driving me insane! I couldn’t escape this gut wrenching feeling. I tried so hard not to cry for my sewed mouth would rip open but I couldn’t help it. I began to sob, the skin was tearing, it burned, it stung so bad which only added to my pain. I felt the hot icy pain going through my face as the skin torn open, the hot blood running down my chin with my hot tears as it hit my apron. I fell to my knees as I sobbed. I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked up and saw Sir Rukhat.
“I know, it’s exciting to be able to restart this in a whole other country my dearest Belladonna, but please don’t cry. This is just the beginning!” he said happily.
I looked up and saw that damn sadistic smile of his and all my pain was magically eased. All I needed was his smile.