It's up to Me to Make You Bleed

Some of you may think that it’s boring being the cameraman and just watching a majority of the events unfold instead of participating in them. Well you’re wrong. Sitting in this position makes me nearly the most valuable team member here. I capture every single thing that takes place here…every single moment of violence, every sadistic expression, every scream.

And best of all, I get to sit back and relax while watching such an entertaining sight. Take for example what was happening right now. Courtney decided to open her big mouth in an attempt to save her mom. And now, I bet Matt has a nasty surprise for her. I leaned in closer and watched through the lens.

Matt didn’t waste any time turning his attention toward Courtney after her little comment. He subtly looked around the room for a specific weapon to use. And he settled on a hammer. For a moment, he stared at it, probably imagining all the damage he could cause with such a small instrument.

“Ready for your turn?” he asked rhetorically.

He held the hammer back over his head and it was in that moment that Courtney finally caught on to what he was going to do. I was expecting Julianne to start screaming, perhaps even begging for Matt to stop, but as it turns out, she had passed out from her pain.

Courtney began squirming in the chair once Matt was directly in her range. I, as most people probably would, thought that Matt was going to take a swing to her head. But he took an alternate route.

“You better show me some really good fluids,” he said, right before he brought the hammer swinging down into her gut.

He had swung the hammer sideways, almost like a baseball bat, at a pretty rapid speed, making direct contact with her stomach. Her eyes widened as her head lunged forward, her mouth spewing out a stream of bile and blood. She began wheezing slightly and coughing every now and then as she gave Matt a scornful look.

“Do whatever you want with me,” she mumbled, trying her best to speak through her pain, “just leave my mom alone.”

I had nearly fallen off the edge of my seat watching this…seeing her facial expressions, watching everything spill out of her mouth, and noticing her unbroken determination. But even in this moment of beauty, I couldn’t help but notice something else.

My dad is dead…my stepmom is practically my prisoner…this house is mine! I put the recorder on pause as I called the guys into the camera booth. “What’s the matter?” Brian asked.

“I just realized that I own the entire house now…we aren’t confined to this tiny part of the basement!”

“Dude, we could set up so many torture devices,” Matt suggested.

“And traps for those who try to escape,” Brian added.

“Boys,” I smiled, “what do you say we knock those bitches out for the night and work on some home improvement?”

I opened a drawer that held all sorts of pills and medication, selecting the sleeping darts. “Poke both of them with these and they should be out for a good 8 hours,” I instructed, turning the camera back on as soon as they re-entered the room. And for once, the room was silent.

Since it was too risky to leave the house at this point, we decided to just use all of the things we had around the house…namely a large unused fish tank, a chainsaw, lots of knives, sharp weaponry, rope, chains, springs, tools, nails/tacks, and a lot of love.

Using our excitement and resolve, we were able to finish within 7 hours of straight work. This gave us exactly one hour to take a nap before a whole new level of fun was set to begin. And I wonder – which of the girls will set off more of these traps, Courtney or Julianne?

*Normal POV*

My head felt nearly too heavy for my shoulders to support. I groaned as consciousness returned to me after a long period of forced sleep. Perhaps one of the first things I noticed, besides how disgusting it felt to have dried throw up all over my face and hair, was that my wrists were bound by something other than the metal cuffs from the chair downstairs.

I forced my heavy eyelids open to find that I was strapped down to one of the kitchen chairs, same with my mom. Why would they suddenly take us up here? Are they so stupid that they didn’t even notice that it’s much easier to escape up here than it would’ve been down there? I think I’ll keep that little detail to myself.

I heard some movement to my right and glanced over to see that my mom had regained consciousness as well. “A-are you ok?” I whispered, glancing down at her broken, swollen arm.

She nodded, and somehow managed to smile. “As long as we are both alive, Court, I’ll always be ok. We both need to stay strong so that we can make it out of here. But will you promise me something?”

“Sure, Mom, what is it?”

“Promise me that no matter what happens to me that you will always stay strong and keep fighting for your life. I’ve never been one to encourage vengeance, but damn do these boys deserve it. If you find an opportunity to let justice prevail, then Courtney, you better take it.”

I was a little surprised by my mom’s words…but I promised her nevertheless. “There’s only one thing that I have to add to that…we are both going to make it out of here, ok?”

She smiled in response, although there seemed to be a hint of sadness entwined inside of the action. I shook off this feeling of uneasiness. My mom and I were both going to survive this. No questions asked.

The dreaded sound of footsteps coming up from the basement filled my ears. All three demons emerged from the staircase, Jimmy with his camera in hand. “Like the new setting?” Matt asked with a grin.

“It would be better without you in it,” I smiled sweetly.

Brian stepped in between my mom and I as he shook his head disappointedly. “Didn’t you ever teach your daughter manners, Julianne?” he asked my mom.

“Of course I did. Although I find it hard to believe that your parents would ever encourage you to act on your insanity.”

I couldn’t help but let a laugh slip out at that. My mom was getting feisty. Brian ignored my mom’s comment and walked over so that he was standing in front of me.

“Allow me to make up for lost time,” he said.

My head whipped to the side after a simultaneous burning sensation consumed the right side of my face after his hand’s single assault. But, his slap was actually beneficial. The force that caused my body to turn to one side really loosened up the rope binding my wrists. And I think my mom noticed this as well because she nodded in my direction.

Luckily, my ankles weren’t even bound, so this could be nice and easy. “Allow me to show you my gratitude,” I muttered just before I pulled my arms back, freeing myself.

I lunged forward, knocking him off balance and into the kitchen table, which easily collapsed under his weight. I made as best of a dash as I could running out of the kitchen, but I stopped soon after noticing something strange…they weren’t chasing after me. What the hell was going on here?

Cautiously, I walked into the living room and noticed a rather large fish tank there, filled to the top with water. That’s strange. As I was walking toward the foyer, tiny little nails began pouring down from the ceiling. I ran forward, but still somehow managed to get a few of the little pests stuck in my skin, causing a tiny amount of bleeding.

I continued to run forward, only to trip over a small string, sending my body sprawling forward until I hit the wall. I reached up, feeling the door knob in my grasp. I immediately jumped up to my feet and clutched the doorknob, only to pull my hand back just as quickly after feeling my hand burn. What was this, a bad version of Home Alone?

I decided to head for the stairs because I knew there was a two story deck up there that attached to the first story deck. I ran up the stairs without even thinking twice, and that ended up being a huge mistake.

A huge board covered in knives and other assorted sharp objects slammed right into me from around the corner, digging into every inch of my body. I screamed as the knives made contact through my flesh, holding me in place. I couldn’t move…trust me, I tried, and besides, moving only made it much worse.

Unfortunately, the guys were able to find me in record time. “Looks like our trap was a success,” Matt grinned. “And to reward you for testing out our work, we’ll let you cool down for a little bit.”