Ruthless Games

Copyright 2012 Gareth Parker

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  Ruthless Games

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  Chapter 1

  Edward Grace walks through his front door to an horrific smell that burns the back of his throat, immediately rushing around the house leaving his suitcases at the door he stumbles upon Toni, lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood in the kitchen. Ed, taking deep breaths, rushes over to her and turns her naked body. Trying to hold back the vomit reflex and the emotional stress that rapidly fills his soul, Ed struggles at the sight, forcing him to scream out loud. He turns to rush out of the kitchen causing him to slip on the pool of blood, cracking his forehead on the cold hard tiled kitchen floor.

  Ed awakes to the alarm bells from his mobile phone ring tone. He lies there gathering his thoughts with no attempt to take the call. Slowing turning with blood dripping from his head and sitting up, Ed stares at his dead girlfriend; Toni was the type of girl who would do anything for anyone and would never hurt a fly. She was a passionate devoted girlfriend who planned to spend the rest of her life with him. She was a beautiful 25-year-old woman, long blonde hair, nice slim physique and a smile that could stop traffic. Ed’s mind is baffled as to why someone would not only murder her but also mutilate her face beyond recognition.

  Finding this obscene sight too much, he covers her body with a blanket and pulls out his mobile phone. Just as he is about to call the police his phone rings again, causing him to jump with fear. After about three rings Ed answers the call, slowly moving it towards his ear.

  ‘Hello.’

  ‘Edward Grace, by my estimations you would have discovered the body in your kitchen.’ The voice is firm, dry and monotone.

  ‘Who are you?’ trying to disguise his fear.

  ‘There’s a phone box on the corner of Stacey Road, Newport Road end. Be there in exactly one hour.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Ed if you’re not there, or phone the police, your mother will be next, understand?’ Before Ed has a chance to respond the caller cuts off. Dramatically falling to the floor in a heap Ed feels completely helpless, scared, with no idea as to why he, or his family, is caught up in this catastrophe.

  Checking his watch the time is 09.20, meaning he needs to make it to the other end of Cardiff on foot within an hour, which may prove difficult. He runs up to the bathroom and stares at himself in the mirror. His beige suit is covered in blood, a mixture of his own and Toni’s. Also, his face has dark flakes of blood from the gash on his forehead and needs to clean himself up quickly, not wanting to bring too much attention to himself. Stripping off and washing his face, in his mind Ed can only see the sight of Toni, mutilated, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He tries hard to block the images and focuses on what he needs to do, but this proves somewhat difficult.

  Once again standing in front of the mirror he looks himself up and down, brushes back his slick black hair and washes the blood from his toned olive skin. He brushes his pearl whites, dashes into the bedroom and pulls on a pair of blue jeans and dark t-shirt. Checking his watch again, he realises he only now has 45 minutes.

  Slamming the front door and double locking it behind him, Ed charges to the fateful phone box. En route, his phone rings, he answers whilst briskly walking and taking deep breaths.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Hi Edward, it’s me.’

  ‘Hi mum,’ enjoying the soft comforting tone of her voice.

  ‘Are you ok, sound out of breath?’

  ‘Just in a hurry mum, that’s all.’

  ‘Ok I’ll take the hint, call me later, tell me about your trip away ok?’

  ‘Ok mum, love you.’

  ‘Love you too.’

  Ed places the phone back in his pocket and ups his pace.

  About a mile and a half to go in only 15 minutes, Ed breaks into a brisk jog, not the fittest bloke in the world, he runs out of breath pretty quickly but pushes through, fighting to get to the phone box. Many things fly through his mind whilst en route, the biggest question is why? Why would someone do this? There’s no explanation or any reason that he can think of. He also wonders how his life will be now Toni is dead. Sudden horror strikes him like a blow to the back of the head; the worrying thought that he might be framed for Toni’s murder.

  Sweat quickly penetrates Ed’s t-shirt creating patches on his back, under his neck and arms. He looks at his watch and appears to be just under a minute late causing him to break into a sprint. The phone box is now in sight, a pain aching two hundred metres away, his feet pound the pavement hard. Onlookers are staring at him, wondering what on earth he's doing?

  Finally he makes it there, as he does, his mobile rings. Ed answers abruptly. Sweat drips from his brow, causing the cut on his forehead to sting.

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’re late!’

  It was the same voice as before and the phone coldly gets cut off. He leans up against the phone box with his arms raised behind his head gasping for breath, at the same time wondering what on earth will happen next. He gets that cold shivery feeling most get when it's said that someone has just walked over your grave.

  Suddenly realising his mum could be at risk, he pulls out his phone and calls her; the phone rings and rings and eventually goes to voicemail. Strange, she always answers the phone. He tries again, the same thing happens. Breaking into an instant sprint he darts towards her house, a painful three miles away.

  After a gruelling twenty-five minute run, Ed's lungs are burning, he wheezes with every breath, and he can feel the sweat dripping from every part of his body. He bangs the front door hard causing the glass to shake. There’s no answer. He panics and once again calls her mobile which can be heard from inside the house; she always takes her mobile everywhere she goes. Wasting no more time, he takes a few steps back then charges at the door. Unfortunately the large solid oak door stops him dead in his tracks, causing him to bounce back and sending a shooting pain through his spine.

  He steps back again and gives it another go. The same thing happens. Then to his surprise she opens it, all red-faced looking furious.

  ‘Edward, what on earth are you doing?’

  ‘Sorry mum thought you were in trouble.’

  ‘What on earth is wrong with you? You look an absolute mess! You’d better come in!'

  ‘No, no, it’s fine, I'd rather not’

  ‘Charming, you come round here scare me half to death then refuse to come in, what has gotten into you?’

  'Look, its nothing ok, I'll call you later.' He turns his back to her and walks away listening to her calling out his name, which he arrogantly ignores.

  Slowly walking home, with is head down to the ground, Ed cant stop thinking about Toni. He has so many questions he needs to ask. He needs answers. Who killed her? And most importantly, why? Whilst these thoughts are whirling around his mind his phone rings, the number is listed as “unknown”, he hesitates, then abruptly answers.

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘Edward Grace.’ He recognises the voice; it’s the same dry, monotone voice as before.

  ‘Yes!’ still abrupt.

  ‘I need you to do something for me, if you comply then all your fears will be eliminated and no one else will get hurt.’

  ‘Did you kill Toni?’

  ‘Do not ask me questions!’ shouts the caller.

  ‘Ok, ok, sorry.’
Ed’s bottom lip quivers in fear, scared of what is about to come next.

  ‘Under the pillow of your bed there’s a brown envelope, do exactly as the instructions say or you will be receiving your mum’s head through the post.’

  As expected the caller hangs up. Ed pauses, looking up at the sky and screams out at the top of his voice with pure frustration.

  Arriving home, panting like a dog on a beach, Ed feels reluctant to open the door and anxiously hesitates knowing that the dead body of his girlfriend is only a matter of feet away. Slowly opening the front door, he creeps in; shutting and quickly locking it behind him. Ed peers into the kitchen hoping the body of Toni is gone and all this was just a bad dream. But there it is; the tangible evidence that this nightmare is a reality. He can see the blanket soaked in blood and the thick air smells of month old rotten chicken. He remembers the envelope the caller told him about and dashes up the stairs straight into his bedroom.

  He lies on his back holding the brown envelope tight in his grip, not wanting to open it, knowing whatever is inside will cause nothing but misery. Looking around his modern-looking bedroom, things start to penetrate his mind. Decorating the room with Toni was fun, installing the white fitted wardrobes that caused a blazing row, painting the walls, throwing it all over each other and then making love in the shower. All these memories bring tears to his eyes. This is the first opportunity he’s had to gather thoughts; he counts to three, letting the thoughts in, then blocks them out, putting his focus on getting himself out of this horrific mess.

  Finally building up the courage to open the envelope he discovers that it reveals the most horrific request, completely beyond his imagination. He freezes with disbelief. There are instructions that detail exactly what he needs to do to dispose of his dead girlfriend. At the bottom of the list there’s a note in big bold red letters. “If this is not completed within two hours of reading, the deal is off and your mum dies.”

  His mind caught in a whirlwind, the red mist falls, causing Ed to glow with rage, hating that someone has put him in this awful situation and of course he's not going to let his mum die. There's also another envelope; it clearly states not to be opened until the first task is complete. His mind still filled with the red mist causes Ed to fly into a frenzy and begins to smash up his bedroom. After ripping the 42” LCD TV off the wall and smashing it to pieces with a cricket bat, he proceeds into the spare room, destroying everything in sight.

  Crying out loud with frustration, Ed flops to the floor, screaming for this to be over, wanting his life back. The room is covered with debris, splinters and dust with a glimmer of light shining through a gap in the curtains causing the broken glass to sparkle like glitter. Suddenly there’s a knock at the door. Ed’s heart skips a beat then sinks into his stomach. He freezes on the spot, hoping that whoever it is will go away. Another knock, this time harder!

  Ed pulls himself together and slowly creeps down the stairs and opens the door leaving only a four-inch gap.

  A postman in a nice clean blue uniform stands on the pathway, smiling in a strange way, holding a package. Ed snatches the paperwork from the postman and signs it; he grabs the shoebox size parcel and slams the door immediately, causing the glazed panes to shake. With no time wasted he rips off the brown paper. Now in front of him there's a red cardboard box. He slowly lifts the lid with a squint, dreading the contents. Expecting the worst he sighs with relief at the sight of a pistol with a note carefully placed underneath it. “You’ll need this for the second task”. He quickly closes the lid and throws the box in the cupboard under the stairs. He pauses, staring at the closed cupboard door; once again his mind is spinning with questions like a wheel of misfortune.

  With the original envelope in hand, Ed slowly makes his way into the kitchen; knowing he has to undertake a horrific process. Standing there staring at the bloodstained blanket Ed feels nothing but sorrow, but once again his phone rings.

  ‘Yes!’ he answers aggressively.

  ‘Edward the clock is ticking my friend, best get a move on!’ This time Ed hangs up before the caller has a chance.

  Without wasting any more time Ed begins by pulling the blanket off Toni, he covers his mouth at the sight of her grey body looking cold and lifeless. The note explained that the best way to get rid of this body would be to chop it up into pieces and use a smoothie machine to liquidise the flesh. Ed grabs a dust mask from the conservatory to help cover the smell, picks up the smoothie maker and plugs it in. He then grabs a bread knife and slowly kneels beside Toni’s body.

  Pressing the knife into her skin forces the reality of exactly what he is doing; it’s like a car crash. He becomes paranoid that he's being watched. He quickly rushes round shutting all the blinds in the kitchen then begins to cut the rotting flesh, the smell is intense, the dust mask doesn’t do anything at all. He continues. The knife isn’t sharp enough and takes some time to cut through the bone. Once the hand is severed from the arm, he then places it into the smoothie maker. Ed hesitates switching in on but knowing he doesn’t have much time at all, goes for it. The sound of the flesh and bones being chewed up by the rotating blade is like something out of a horror movie and stimulates his vomit reflex. The plastic casing instantly goes dark red with thick cold blood. Once the contents of the smoothie maker are pure liquid Ed then pours it into a large white bucket, trying not to spill it on himself. The sound of the flesh slops into the bucket, the smell of the putrid liquid flesh is grotesque, causing him to regurgitate into his dust mask; he chokes instantly, pulls it off his face and throws it across the floor. He quickly contains himself then sips some water to wash away any leftovers and to help his burning throat.

  Almost an hour later Ed is left with the torso and head, which will take most of the time. Worried about the ramifications if he doesn’t finish on time he runs out to the garden shed and picks up an axe. He chops up Toni’s body and head into pieces and throws them bit-by-bit into the smoothie maker. The smell is now unbearable, he throws up again, this time in the bucket, and does another time check. He has now gone over with still more body parts to get rid of. The kitchen is a mess with flesh everywhere, the floor is slippery with blood and Ed is losing his mind. He manages to get through the last few bits when his mobile rings, he answers with a defeated tone.

  ‘Hello.’

  ‘Late again Edward, you’re not very good at time keeping are you?’

  He throws his phone onto the side and continues to clean up the mess. The note also indicates there’s need to mix the liquidised flesh with fluorosulfonic acid in order to dissolve all the biological matter, which will ultimately eliminate Toni’s body for good.

  Once everything is cleaned, Ed places the white bucket in the shed securely fitting the lid with a view to return to it later to add the acid with no idea where he will get it from. Once back in the house he then gathers all of his clothes and materials used during this process ready for a bonfire later, which hopefully will destroy any evidence.

  After a long hot shower, Ed decides to have a few beers in an attempt to relax, which is proving to be impossible because of the day’s events that constantly flash before his eyes. The moment he opens a bottle of beer, the dreaded sound of his mobile phone rings once again. This time he answers without saying a word.

  ‘Edward, now you’ve completed your first task so, you need to open the next envelope and carry out the second. This time however, I’m not joking; if you fail your mum will die and I will frame you for her murder. Because you failed to complete the first task on time I’ve left a present in the bin outside your front door.’

  Ed throws his phone across the room in anger; tired and filled with complete sadness he walks to the front door. Slowly opens the bin, to find a black bin liner in there, he carefully opens the bin bag and immediately recognises the head of Buster, his mum’s dog. Ed slams the lid of the bin down hard, holds out both his arms and shouts at the top of his voice, ‘Come and get me you bastards, come on!’ He falls to his knees, cr
ying, tears roll down his face, the worst thing is, he has no idea who is doing this or why.

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