Nick calmed down, still staring at the shattered pieces of the bowl. He opened his mouth, but paused a little wondering where he should start. "I've been locked up in this place before, about three months ago." His voice was wavering.

Katie thought hard. When she was on the internet, searching for news about him, she remembered reading some articles. What was it that happened to him three months ago? She raked her mind.

Nick could see her thinking hard. He didn't wait long to explain. "I was shot three months ago in this house by this guy, probably around my age." Before Katie's expression changed to one of surprise, Nick grabbed Katie's hand and led her out of the kitchen to a big adjoining room. "Right over there," he continued, pointing at a furnace. Unlike the one in the other room, this one was bigger. Katie looked at him confused.

"In front of the furnace?" she asked. He didn't reply. Rather he continued dragging her towards the area that he pointed at. Katie resisted a little, but followed him. Nick still didn't answer her question. As they got closer to the furnace, Katie noticed that something didn't look right. The fire that seemed to light up the place didn't radiate any heat.. At least, she couldn't feel the warmth even when she was close to it.

But there was something else. Something didn't smell right. She sniffed a little harder and looked at the furnace to see if something was burning in there. Nothing! It seemed like a fake fire. She looked to Nick whose eyes were intent on the wall. He started touching the bricks surrounding the furnace, feeling for something. His hands roamed all over until they on one brick in particular. He pushed and the wall caved in. Katie nearly jumped at the sound of the wall moving.

Immediately, a wave of heat smacked her face, forcing her a few steps back. Not only did she feel the heat, but she also smelled something awful. It was caustic and burnt her throat. She had to look away to get a breath of fresh air. Even Nick had to take a few steps back, away from the nauseating stench.

Katie finally turned back to see what the source of the foul smell was, only to see a little opening behind the wall. She turned to look at Nick whose eyes had been locked on the opening. He was just as shocked as she was by the heat and odor. Without gazing at her, regained his balance and stepped forward. Katie followed him but was stopped short right before she passed through the opening. Nick had stopped in his tracks, his whole body stiffened suddenly.

Something in that room was had stopped him dead in his tracks! She pushed Nick a little, but he didn't budge. He just stood there dumbly. He had stopped breathing.

Katie felt a wave of curiosity coarse through her veins. She pushed Nick a little more, just enough to squeeze past him. Then it hit her-the same pungent odor that had stung her nose minutes ago, but now, it was ten times as intense. She covered her nose to keep from vomiting or losing consciousness. That was when she saw it!

The blood stopped flowing in her vessels right then and there. Immediately, she fell back onto Nick, who had to hold onto her to keep her from collapsing into a heap on the floor.

In front of her, chained to the brick walls was her father, or rather, his corpse. His body had been charred, the smoke still freshly rising from his burnt flesh. And even though his whole body had turned into an ashen color, she could recognize his bulky form and moon face.

But it was the expression on his face that sent the fear rippling through her body. His eyes were open wide, his face drawn into a grimace. Yet, there was also an indescribable fear written all over. His hands were held up by the chains. His body was slightly humped forward, as if he was struggling to escape. He had been burnt alive!!!

As she looked upon his form one last time, she realized that the expression on his face was one she would never be able to erase from her consciousness.

Katie felt the tears blurring her vision. They were not tears of sadness of losing a father, but tears of disgust at the brutality of his death. She had stopped breathing because the whole room smelled of his flesh. She could still see the remnants of the smoke and flames. But how come they didn't hear him struggling? How come they were able to sleep through it all? Why did all this happen without them even realizing it?

Finally, Katie's knees buckled and she fell. It took Nick all his strength to pull her out of the room. He himself wanted to vomit all over the floor. He also felt the tears burn in his eyes. How could anything so evil happen? He could picture Roy struggling while being burnt alive. How could anyone human being do something so horrible to another?

Nick shuddered once again as the thought that it could have been him, not Roy, in that room, burnt alive three months ago. Suddenly, he realized the extent of the evil that is being unleashed in this place.

His mind drifted back to when he had also been chained to that very same wall that Roy was being chained to. His mind drifted back to three months ago. He could still see his tormentor's psychotic face, staring him down and cursing at him. Why? That was the only thought that racked Nick's brains. Why was this lunatic going around and doing this to him, to Roy and to Katie?

What was his goal? Was it to put fear in their hearts because Nick would admit it right then, he was scared out of his wits. He had experienced so much in the past 3 months. And just when he thought that he was numb to it all, this psychotic lunatic managed to pull his strings a little more and drive him out of his mind.

He had been flogged, whipped, punched, and even shot at in that very chamber-but he had yet to know what it felt like to be burnt alive. He could not even begin to fathom the extent of Roy's pain. He had despised Roy for molesting him, but that wasn't how he wanted Roy to be punished.

Nick had now managed to pull Katie to the nearby couch and eased her onto it. She was whimpering and had buried her face in his chest for comfort. She wanted all the images to be gone, thinking that if she hid her face in Nick's chest and thought hard enough, it would all go away. Nick pulled his arms around her and held onto her tightly.

And though Nick was trying as hard as he was to comfort her, he knew that he was beginning to lose his sanity. Katie had him to comfort her, but he had no one to comfort him. As much as he hated it, images of his torture became more vivid.

He remembered all too clearly as he collapsed from the fatigue after being locked in that house for three whole days. Still, he was conscious as his tormentor appeared out of the blue and grabbed his limp body and dragging it to the very chamber that Roy was in at this moment. The guy-no, he had to be a devil-stripped Nick of all his clothes and just flogged Nick wildly until Nick became lightheaded from losing too much blood.

The guy had told him that he was "purging the evil out of Nick." Nick had no idea what he meant by that, but all he wanted was for the guy to stop. But the guy never did. He kept on flogging until Nick could no longer feel the pain.

And while his tormentor kept whipping him, he mumbled a few words that were kind of incoherent. It was something about Nick being the reincarnation of the devil. Whatever it was, Nick didn't understand, but he had denied it all, making the other guy even angrier. The guy punched and slapped Nick until he was too exhausted to continue. He finally asked Nick one last time whether Nick admitted that he was the devil.

Nick knew that either way he answered, the guy would shoot him. And the guy did-twice. To most of his friends and family, it looked painful. But for him, the shooting seemed unreal. He only remembered his body being thrown back from the impact of the bullets. Then all was dark. He didn't remember anything after that.

Brian later told him that it was the father of the tormentor himself that had reported his son to the police. Before long, the police broke into the house and had arrested the son before he was able torture Nick any further. But they were a little late and found Nick's body chained to the wall, the blood oozing from almost every inch of him.

Nick's mind drifted back to the present. Somehow, though, the guy, as psychotic as he was, didn't seem to be so evil as to burn anyone alive. But then again, being flogged, beaten and shot with a shotgun wasn't any less painful. Still, call it intuition, but Nick can't really picture his tormentor, who had to be the same age as him, could actually do something so horrid.

Nick's head began to hurt from all the thinking. Nothing was making sense.. He put his palm to his forehead, hoping that if he pressed hard enough, the pain would go away. But it never did. He began to cry softly to himself. What was happening to them? He was slowly being driven to insanity. But who could possibly benefit from their torture, from their pain?

>>>>>

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