Seven, eight ... Gonna stay up late (Rebekka Franck #4) (11 page)

Camilla was
screaming.
As soon as the man revealed what was in the
jar, she began screaming and she couldn't stop. She pleaded, she begged.

"Please don't, please don't hurt us,"
she screamed. But nothing seemed to help. It was as if the man enjoyed
listening to them scream and cry for help. It was like he enjoyed it, fed from
their fear.

In the jar in his hand the Tarantula was
crawling up the sides. Camilla looked at it and began hyperventilating as the
man walked closer to their boxes. He stood between them, then pointed at
Amalie.

"No, please, no," she pleaded.

The man smiled viciously, then turned and
pointed at Camilla. She shook her head fast.

"No. No," she said. Then she cried.

The man laughed. "Now, who will it
be?" he asked. He turned and pointed at Amalie. Then he started counting:
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe ... Catch a tiger by the toe. If
she
hollers, let
her
go ... Eeny, meeny, miny, moe."

Saying his last word his finger landed on
Camilla's box. She whimpered and whined. Her jaw was shivering in fear. "
Pleeease
," she pleaded.

The man looked at Camilla. "You won!"
He said. "Lucky you!" His eyes were shining as he looked at her
inside of the box, smiling like a child on Christmas day. Camilla was
hyperventilating. She focused on keeping calm as the man moved closer to her
box. She saw him approach the tube that she now realized was closed with a lid
that was screwed on and could only be opened from the outside. The lid had
several air-holes in it. The man took a screwdriver and began opening it
slowly, one screw at a time. Camilla was whimpering while staring at the
Tarantula in the jar. It was moving up the sides now. She shivered in fear.
Camilla had always been terrified of spiders and this one was bigger than any
she had ever seen.

Once the lid was off he picked up the jar, then
took off the lid and helped the spider into the tube. Then he closed the lid.

Camilla stared at the Tarantula in the tube,
while sobbing and trembling. She watched it come closer, slowly approaching the
end of the tube. With its long hairy legs it crawled along the sides and into
the box. It was above Camilla's head now, sitting on the plastic, so close
Camilla could feel the hair from its back tickle her skin. She was breathing
heavily, while Amalie was screaming from across the room.

"Stop it! Stop it!" she yelled.
"My dad will pay anything. I'll do anything. Just get it ooout!!"

 Camilla stared at the huge spider as it
crawled across the ceiling and came closer to her hair. She could barely see it
anymore but suddenly felt it in her hair. Then she screamed again.

"Please stop this,
pleeeeeease
. What do you want from
me?!"

The man was dancing around the box, watching the
show while clapping his hands and licking his lips. "Careful not to scare
it with your screaming," he said sounding like he wanted her to scream
even louder. "It might bite you in fear," he hissed. "We can't
have that now, can we?"

The Tarantula was in Camilla's hair now, she
felt its legs moving across her scalp. She closed her eyes and tried to find
her happy place. Whimpering, moaning to keep from screaming she imagined being
with Amalie, kissing her, swimming with her in the ocean, laughing and sharing
their thoughts and worries. She imagined Amalie standing naked in front of her,
she imagined touching her soft breasts. She imagined their bodies close
together, the warmth, the pleasure. While her body was shaking and shivering
with fear Camilla left the box for a moment, left the Tarantula, left the
strange man with the blond hair and evil eyes standing outside the box,
cheering for the spider. She hardly felt it in her hair anymore, and when it
moved closer to her face, she remained calm when she felt the legs wandering on
her nose. She breathed heavily, concentrating on not panicking and that was
when it happened. Apparently it aggravated the man that she had stopped
screaming. He kept cheering the spider on and soon he was the one banging on
the side of the box, telling her to open her eyes, telling her what the spider
was doing and that it would soon be biting her, then describing just how
dangerous its bite was.

"It'll feel like a bee sting, but soon
you'll know it's much more dangerous. You'll feel like you are suffocating,
like you can't breathe as the throat swells. Your heart will begin to race and
you'll begin to swell all over your body. Maybe your heart will finally give up
or .. uh .. even better. Maybe you'll just slowly suffocate. Painfully having
more and more difficulty breathing, then cutting off the oxygen to the brain
and slowly die. That sounds like fun, now doesn't it?" he said giggling.

Camilla didn't answer. She didn't even open her
eyes to look at him. She didn't want to give him the pleasure of seeing the
fear in her eyes. Instead she stayed in her happy place. She stayed where she
really wanted to be. She stayed with Amalie.

It didn't take long before the man became bored.
Camilla thought she had won a small victory. But the joy didn't last long. A
few seconds later the man disappeared up the stairs, turned off the light and
shut the door.

After that Camilla opened her eyes wide and
didn't close them again for many hours.

Officer
Brandenburg told
us we were free to go back to
Karrebaeksminde. He would be in touch if they needed anything else from us. I
gave him Camilla's phone for their investigation. It felt good to get rid of
it, I thought. I really didn't want to have to pick it up once again and hear
his creepy voice.

I knew I had done what I could for the two
girls, as we left Roskilde and drove towards Karrebaeksminde. Still, I couldn't
help but feel guilty somehow. Guilty for leaving them like this, for abandoning
them and putting their lives in the hands of that strange man on the phone. I
didn't like it one bit. There was something about him that was extremely
frightening. I sighed and looked out the window. I asked Sune to drive since I
was too upset by the whole thing and I needed to rest, and think. I had bought
a chocolate cake for us to share on the way, but so far I had eaten the most of
it myself.

"Are you okay?" Sune asked as we
reached the main road.

I stared at the scenery. It was no more than an
hour drive away, but it was through countryside and I loved watching the hills
and blooming yellow canola fields. "I'm fine," I said without looking
at him. "I'm looking forward to getting back and especially seeing Julie
again. I've missed her."

I felt Sune's hand on my thigh. "Me
too," he said. "I've missed Tobias a lot."

I scoffed. "It didn't become quite the trip
we had hoped for," I said.

Sune chuckled. "It never does with
you."

I turned and looked at him. He was smiling at
me. "So are you ready to try again once we get back?" he asked.

I turned my head and looked outside again. Sune
kept talking about making another child, one of our own. I had told him I
wanted it too, and we tried for a couple of months, but nothing had happened. I
was beginning to see it as a sign that it maybe wasn't quite meant to be. I
couldn't figure what I really wanted.

"I don't know, Sune," I said.

He removed his hand from my thigh. "Why?
What are you saying?"

I sighed. I wasn't in the mood to discuss this
right now. "Nothing," I said. "I didn't mean anything. I'm just
tired."

"So you are ready to try again once we come
back?"

I looked at him and saw the desperation in his
eyes. He wanted this child so bad. I guess I did too, I just didn't care for
all the disappointments. I wasn't sure it was worth it. I was afraid it was
going to come between us. Seeing his face every month when I took the test, was
a little more than I could take. I was beginning to feel like some kind of a
breeding animal that didn't live up to its owner's expectations. It wasn't
great.

"Let's wait and see, okay?"

Sune growled. The road took a turn. After a few
seconds he spoke again. "I don't think I like the way this is going,"
he said. "I thought we agreed on this?"

"We did. It's not like I don't want to have
a baby with you. I would really love to. Believe me, Sune."

"Then what is it? Why are you all of a
sudden reluctant?" he asked.

I exhaled. "It's just that ..."

"What? Just tell me goddammit," he
said and hit his palm in the steering wheel.

"I miss being with you without it being
about making a baby. I miss just being close and making love, not speculating
if we are doing it in the proper position where I'm most likely to conceive.
 Maybe it's just not ... You know meant to be."

Sune snorted angrily. He shook his head a lot
and grunted. "That's ... well that's just bogus if you ask me." Sune
sniffed. Then he sighed. "Of course it's meant to be. We just need to work
at it a little more, a little longer."

"See that's the problem," I said.
"It's become work. We never have sex just for fun. I really think it’s
something we should talk about.""

Sune was biting his lip. We passed a sign
letting us know we were entering Karrebaeksminde. For minutes we didn't speak.
I could tell he was furious. He parked the car in the street in front of the
apartment.

"You know what? I'm tired of talking,"
he said. "Maybe you should sleep at your dad's tonight," he said.
"I'll take you there."

Allan felt
frustrated.
He was walking around in his open kitchen
mumbling, spitting and hissing. "Little bitches," he hissed while
biting his nails frantically. Then he kicked the extremely expensive garbage
can that the Danish company Vipp had the lead singer of U2, Bono design for
them, the same garbage can that Sebastian had convinced Allan to buy at a
charity event in New York. "To help the poor children," he had
stated. Allan didn't care about any poor children or about this stupid can that
he was now kicking so hard it fell to the ground and was severely dented.

He grunted and hissed as he kicked it again and
again until all his furor was finally out and he could calm himself down. The
little bitch had ruined his game, he thought and slicked his hair back. She had
completely destroyed the fun. Now he had left her down there with the spider in
her box in complete darkness. She deserved it, the little whore. Now she could
stay down there a couple of hours with the Tarantula. Allan wasn't afraid it
would actually bite her, since the poisonous venom had been removed from it,
but he wanted her to think it would. He wanted her to suffer, to squirm in fear
and anxiety inside that tight box. Most of all he wanted to watch her as she
did. He wanted to look into her eyes and enjoy the music from her screaming.
But she had destroyed that pleasure for him by lying still, by keeping her cool
and closing her eyes. The little bitch.

Allan stared out on the ocean. It was calm and
quiet. So should he be. It was important not to lose it now. After all, the
little game with the spider had nothing to do with his plan. Nothing was ruined
yet. And nothing would be. Maybe he should just stick to the plan instead. It
was after all going to give him more pleasure than anything he had done before.
It by far excelled any of all the cruelty he had displayed. It was his
magnum opus
, a work of genius.

Now he would let her suffer a few hours longer,
then the real plan would begin. Allan massaged his neck. He felt sore.
All the stress
, he thought. It was
important he didn't let it get to him. He found a couple of painkillers in the
cabinet and swallowed them. Washed them down with a shot of whiskey. That
usually did the trick. Then he walked into the garage and stood in front of a
large object covered with a white sheet. He hit the light switch and smiled
comfortably with a deep sigh. No reason to get all worked up over some stupid
game that hadn't succeeded like he wanted it to. Not when he had something
much, much better in store for them. Something that would definitely get the
little hairs on their backs raised in fear. A wave of pleasure rushed in over
his body at the very thought of what was going to happen. A wave of almost
orgasmic proportions.

He bent down and grabbed the entire package
including the sheet, and then carried it inside the kitchen. He put it on the
kitchen table, then pulled off the sheet. He touched the metal gently,
caressing its sides. It had traveled a long way to get to him. He had ordered
it online and then kept it in the garage for months waiting to be used. Now
finally it was time. He plugged it in and saw that it worked, then began
preparing it for use.

A couple of hours later it was ready and so was
he. He opened the door to the basement, then picked the instrument up and
walked down the stairs, careful not to trip. When the light turned on, he heard
the girls moan. Allan put the instrument on the table, then looked at Camilla.
She had finally opened her eyes and was staring directly at the Tarantula that
was sitting on her face now as if it was looking back at her. None of them were
moving.

Allan smiled relieved. It had worked after all.
The look in her eyes was priceless. He knocked on the box. The Tarantula moved
a little. Camilla didn't. She was panting, whining. Her body shivering. Allan
waved. "Having fun, are we?" he asked.

"You bastard," Amalie yelled from her
box. "Get the spider out now. Leave her alone."

"Tsk, tsk. Don't be jealous now,"
Allan said. "You'll get something fun too." Then he giggled and
Amalie's eyes landed on the instrument on the table. She gasped. Allan clapped
excitedly. Then he picked up the chloroform that he had placed on the table
earlier. He walked to Amalie's box and stood in front of the tube. Then he
opened the bottle and started pouring the chloroform into the tube through the
air holes.

"Just a few drops," he said giggling.
"Careful not to use too much."

"What are you doing? You bastard!"
Amalie screamed. "You're crazy!"

Allan laughed out loud. "We all go a little
mad sometimes," he said, quoting one of his all time favorite classic
movie villains, Norman Bates in
Psycho
.