"This is h.e.l.l," says Jane with complete conviction.
"How long have you been here?" I ask, though it"s Phil who b.u.t.ts in.
"Longer than you," he says.
"Then you must have seen who"s holding us." I round on him. "Who did that?"
n.o.body says a thing.
"Oh, come on! This is ridiculous." I stand, almost putting my hands on the bars again. "You can"t just kidnap a bunch of people and then"
"Why not? Happens all the time abroad," Phil comments. "Places where his lot come from." He nods over at Kavi.
The dark skinned man smiles. "With one breath you betray your ignorance," is his only remark.
"We"re all ignorant in this place," Phil replies.
"But how did you wind up here?" It"s another question, and I expect Kavi to say something about that, but he doesn"t. This time he asks me one of his own.
"How did you?"
It suddenly strikes me I don"t know. I had thought I"d been out on the town or something, and just got completely smashed. But I couldn"t remember a thing about the previous night, the previous day (what time of day is it anyway?), let alone how I ended up in this cage. "I... I think I was drugged."
"Well, of course you were drugged!" barks Phil. "It"s how they get you here, and put you inside these things." He points at the cage.
"But why? Are they after money?"
"Looking for a ransom, that what you"re thinking?" Phil grunts. "And why exactly would anyone pay money to get you back, Chrissie-boy? Loaded, are you?"
I hang my head. "No."
"Me either. How about you, Jane? Fitness instructor"s pay suddenly gone up by a few million in the last month or so?"
"p.i.s.s off," says Jane.
Phil grins wearily. "Wish I could, sweetheart. Really wish I could."
"So what do you do?" I enquire out of mild curiosity.
"That"s for me to know and for you to find out."
"He works in an estate agents," Jane informs me.
"Thanks a bunch," Phil grumbles.
"What about you?" I ask Kavi.
"Aw, who gives a s.h.i.t," Phil breaks in before he can answer. "That was in the outside world. In here you"re just another plaything."
I look again at the empty cage. "Why did they do that? Burn that person up, I mean."
"Nick," Jane says quietly, her eyes glistening. "His name was Nicholas."
"They don"t need to give a f.u.c.king reason," Phil explains. "They"ll just come in, douse you with petrol and strike a light."
"Phil, please," begs Jane.
"Especially if you make a fuss, draw attention to yourself," he carries on, ignoring her. "Just like Nick did."
It was Jane"s turn to glare now, at Phil. "He didn"t do anything wrong. He was just"
"He asked one too many questions," Kavi points out, looking at me.
Phil nods in agreement. "Every time they came in, he was at it. What the f.u.c.k did he expect?"
"Come in? Hold on," I say, switching the subject, "so you have seen the people holding us then?"
Phil considers how to answer that one. "They don"t exactly let us get a good look at their faces."
"I don"t understand."
"You will," Kavi promises.
"Nick didn"t do anything wrong," Jane continues, as if the conversation hasn"t moved on at all. "It wasn"t because of thatthey just enjoy it." Without thinking, her hand goes to her neck and now I see the scar. It"s a fresh one, still quite raw. "They enjoy hurting us."
"But why? What could they possibly gain from this? What do they want?"
"That," says Kavi, "is precisely what Nick wanted to know."
Want to keep reading?
Check out the rest of the story here:.
PAUL KANE - PAIN CAGES.
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end.