Brian had his hands raised to his face, his posture stable, and his gaze piercing. Long gone was the pathetic man I had found shivering and whimpering; in his place stood my brother. Brian might not be the strongest person in the room, but what he lacked in skill, he made up for in resilience and quick thinking. However, while he had exercised, I had trained. I had trained with an intensity that scared Claire, and she would often beg me to take a break. At the time, I was trying to discipline my body in the hope that it would help me control my mind. I had fallen off the wagon since Claire died, but all that skill did not evaporate, and I kept fit by swimming and running along the beach every time I had a chance.
I lifted my hands and squared off to my brother. My throat was still smarting with pain every time I swallowed, so I kept pushing saliva down my bruised appendage and gave gratitude for the clarity from the pain. He lunged at me, dragging his chains with him, trying to use them as weapons, but now on my feet, I was not only quicker, I had a wider range of motion, given that I had no chains on me. I side-stepped his lunge, moving a few inches towards the wall. He steadied himself before lunging at me, The first lunge had him at the edge of the allowance of his chain. He was so focused on taking me down with them that he forgot their original purpose. The second lunge had his head snapping back as the chain on his neck ran out of inches.
He fell back, clutching at his throat, trying to put pressure, probably as a way for him to relieve the pain. I took advantage of his distracted state and double kicked him in the nuts and the stomach. It was overkill; he was already on the floor and in pain, but that didn't count. I needed the pain I caused him to register above the pain that he caused himself. There were no screams following my attack, just a pained sound as my feet came into contact with his body and the silence. The stupid idiot was unconscious again. He had nearly choked me out with his chain, but dared to faint over a few kicks.
His being unconscious was a blessing in disguise and saved us from having to use our limited supply of chloroform on him. Beating him did not have the desired effect I craved. Maybe because he also managed to hurt him, but something about the encounter lacked the depth of misery I wanted to impart. Sunshine and Mercy helped me tie him to the bed before fawning over me as soon as the door was closed behind us. I pushed away their concerns and opted to go for a walk down the beach.
Torturing the three piggies had some flair and creativity to it. I wanted my brother's revenge to be direct and to the point because I wanted to truly participate in meting out justice. There was no creativity to my plan, to simply beat him until he stopped moving. It offered me no comfort, no reprieve from my anger that was only mounting with his proximity. I want to see him destroyed inside out. That train of thought gave birth to an idea that had me practically beaming as I trod back to the house.
My brother cared about his life as much as any other person, but growing up under my parents had a way of making you prioritize reputation over life itself. I wanted to destroy my parents' reputation as their punishment; however, they had the opportunity to get a little appetizer before the main dish arrived. The idea of causing a ripple in the calm shark pond that was my family started to thaw at the icicles that had been digging into my heart from the moment I saw my brother drive down the dirt road.
I made some online purchases that were to be delivered the next day. I went hunting for Mercy, who I found curled up near her window, peering at the beach with half her body hanging out the window. She was so engrossed with whatever she was doing, she did not hear me come into her room and shut the door. My house had seven bedrooms in total, not counting the two rooms I had converted into a study room and a home gym. It was very typical that for Mercy to select the all black room. I had been experimenting with home décor, and that room was supposed to be my depression room, but now Mercy had claimed it as her own.
She was the least fussy person I knew, but there were rare incidents when she became the craziest person in the room. An unstoppable force of nature. Her window overlooked the patch I typically took along the beach, and given various past incidences, I was almost sure that she was trying to catch a glimpse of me at the beach. I gave her a small tap, causing her to jump back, obviously startled by my presence.
"What are we looking for?" I asked, trying to look out the window, causing her to become flustered.
"Nothing, I was just enjoying the cool breeze. Why are you the fun police?"
"Of course not, Baby, I was just curious."
"Are you feeling better? You seemed out of it when we left the basement. If your throat is up for it, maybe we can have some lunch."
She asked me with the same tone as somebody handling a difficult child. There was exasperation mingled with love and care. She and Sunshine disapprove of the way I originally intended to handle my brother, with them mostly participating as witnesses. I wanted to believe that their disapproval stemmed from the fact that they cared for me deeply, but I was not born yesterday. There was no doubt in my mind that, should a war erupt, the two would lay down their lives for me if they had to, but their eagerness did not stem from their desire to keep me safe. I may have had skin in the game, and the revenge was personal, but my companions had gone above and beyond for simple friendship or sexual attraction. They enjoyed violence, and I decided to withhold it from them, although not for long.
"I was thinking that maybe we should change the plans for my brother," I used the word loosely, given that I was simply doing what felt right to me, without taking any suggestions.
"What did you have in mind?" she asked, her face quickly brightening with a smile.
I went through my plans with her. I needed her specific skill set to bring down my brother's reputation while his body rested. When he woke, not only was he going to be jobless, but he would also be a wanted fugitive. I had more than enough ammunition on his phone to bring him down. With Mercy on our side, he would be lucky if only the Kenyan citizens were the ones on his case. He traveled far and wide and left a trail of destruction in his wake. The videos I had seen of various women across various cities getting sexually assaulted by my brother and a myriad of friends had been weighing deeply on my mind, and then getting justice during my revenge would only add to my joy.
Finally given the chance to let her freak fly, Mercy was out of the room and halfway to the study by the time he looked up from the floor. I let her do her thing while I went to hunt down Sunshine. She was busy making dinner, so I silently sat down, knowing I would be more of a bother to her if I tried helping. It took her a good while before she noticed my presence, or so I thought, until it caught my reflection behind her when she finally decided to face me.
I offered her a warm smile knowing how truly awful what I was going to ask of her was. Sunshine, lore ran deep, and made my pain feel like an overreaction to an average situation. She had given me bits and pieces of her life story, and each random statement made me want to forget. While I had endured my fair share of trauma, and some situations that deserved to be frowned upon did not even register in my mind as bad, nothing came close to what Sunshine went through.
Before her accident, which she had gotten into as he attempted to escape her captors, she had been a practicing nurse. I rarely brought up that part of her life because, although the accident that left her with damaged vocal cords should have been the worst thing to happen to her, her life while fully abled had been nothing but a torturous chore. It had never been her choice to pursue medicine, and her accident had given her a way out
"Can we talk? I signed to her"
"In a minute, let me finish this, or it will stick and burn." She signed back.
Once she had finished, she turned off the stove and pulled up a chair. A few strands of her hair had fallen out of the bonnet, and without much thought, I raised my hands and curled the hair around my finger. She was a bit taken aback by the gesture, but I needed to soften the blow before asking her to do something atrocious.
"How do you feel about helping blind my brother?" I paused studying her blank face that morphed into the most terrifying grin I had ever seen on anyone's face. Even though her lips were stretched from ear to ear, her brows were furrowed so deeply that they partly closed her eyes. Half her face showed anger, the other half displayed glee.
It would be my pleasure, she signed back to me.
All my fears and reservations about causing her renewed trauma evaporated into thin air. It seemed I was more concerned about her state of mind than she was. I pulled her into my arms and was rewarded with warmth, and her scent mingled with the aroma of spices. My body was acting much faster than my mind could keep up because the next thing I knew was, was pulling her down to me while attacking her lips with mine. I deepened the kiss, moaning as Sunshine drew me closer to her, almost lifting off my chair.
My body was already humming with want, and I could have allowed her to have her way with me, but she broke the kiss and quickly got to her feet. I said nothing after catching her gaze stray to Mercy's room. They had reached some sort of agreement. One that I was not privy to, and although I was more than happy that there was no drama in the house, my curiosity was piqued