The Nightmare Game (43 page)

“Why didn’t the authorities step in?” I asked,
appalled.

“They lived in a rural area and the shack they
called home was so far away from any neighbors that it kept them very isolated.
Illea was kept hidden after her mother disappeared and was never allowed to
attended school. Her stepfather told everyone that his wife had deserted him
without warning and that she’d taken Illea with her when she’d run away. He
claimed he had no idea of either of their whereabouts and even filed a missing
person’s report to give his claim more validity. After that, Illea became
merely one more statistic that had slipped through the cracks of an
overburdened system.

“Illea’s stepfather never allowed her outside of
the property, because he was afraid that she might accidentally meet someone,
anyone, adult or child, who might contact the police. He had frightened her out
of any attempts to hitchhike from their remote shack with stories of horrors
more terrible even than the reality she faced at home. The only other people
besides her stepfather with whom Illea had any contact were his lowlife friends,
who were as detestable as he was. Not only did they cover for him, they
actually abetted him in the abuse. When she got old enough to decide that she
would rather take her chances with hitchhiking her way out of the hellhole that
was her life, fate stepped in to conspire against her as well. On only her
first escape attempt, her father caught her. After that, he took took to
chaining her to her bed so she couldn’t run away any more. I believe, at this
point, that her story becomes self-explanatory.”

“That’s terrible,” I said, for it was the most
shocking story I’d ever heard about anyone that I’d ever actually met. “How on
earth was she able to survive?”

“She almost didn’t. To break her spirit even
further, the stepfather slowly and methodically destroyed the few possessions
left that had belonged to her mother. In the end, the only memento remaining
was the beloved music box, which, even as a very young child, she’d had the
instincts to place inside another box and bury in the woods soon after her
mother’s disappearance. Knowing she loved it so and suspecting she had stashed
it away somewhere, her stepfather looked for it often, but was never able find
it.

“The box stayed buried in those woods until the
day came that the bastard was killed in a knife fight in a bar. At last fate
stepped in on Illea’s behalf. The incident and the events surrounding his
stabbing attracted so much attention in their small town that the police went
out to search their shack for drugs. As a result, Illea was found and finally
freed. The atrocity of her situation so shocked the little community that the
investigation was furthered, finally revealing the true nature of her mother’s
disappearance. It seemed that inside of the large woods surrounding the tiny
shack that her stepfather rented, the music box was not the only thing that had
been buried. When Illea told the police the location of the box and asked them
to retrieve it, they complied, thinking perhaps that they would find more drugs
there. They found no drugs but what they found nearby, instead, was much more
interesting. Almost by accident, in digging up the area, they unearthed the
remains of her mother, who, by sheer coincidence, had been buried in a shallow
grave a few yards from the music box. She had been murdered years before by her
husband, Illea’s stepfather, and the son-of-a-bitch had gotten away with it
scott-free until a higher power revealed his crime posthumously. Ironic, isn’t
it, the survival of Illea’s music box? That monster of a stepfather of hers
never considered searching for it in that particular location because he never
wanted to get too close to the corpse of the woman he had murdered.

“However, before he was killed, her stepfather,
may he rot in hell, did such a thorough job of destroying Illea, both mentally
and physically, that instead of finding freedom at that point, she was soon
committed to an asylum, her body broken, her mind gone, her pain so intense she
blocked it out, along with everything else. After the initial rescue, once she
had the one object she cared about within her possession, she completely shut
down to the point of catatonia. She was able to do nothing but sit immobile in
a corner, staring into space as she clutched her precious music box. It was in
that state at that asylum in which Arrosha found her, took away the
disfigurations and later transformed her into the beauty she is today.

“No longer catatonic on her first evening with
Geoffrey and myself, for Arrosha had touched her, Illea still remained in one
spot completely quiet, watching and listening like a cornered animal, all eyes
and all ears. Despite our very best coaxing, she was afraid to say a word, for
it was in fear, silence and watchfulness that she’d lived her entire life.
After first essence she allowed me to show her to the room, but then locked the
door behind her. The next day she was a little less afraid, even able to speak
a bit. At her transformation ceremony, she asked Arrosha to rename her because
her old name held only memories of hate. She never wanted any reminder of her
past existence to taunt her again. To this day, she is the only one of us that
Arrosha has ever renamed.

 “Illea is perhaps the finest example of the
importance of the transformation ceremony. It restored her body and made her
beautiful once more. It restored her spirit, renewing it into that of an
innocent child, untouched by her stepfather’s evil. Illea’s mind developed here
at the mansion, as I mentioned, and she is now so outgoing that it’s hard for
me even to think of her as the frightened creature that she was that first
night. I like to think that she’s become the person she was meant to be when
she was born, the person she would have been naturally, had she come from a
good family.

“This now brings us to Ricky. His background was
similar to Illea’s, although not nearly as horrific. His mother was an extreme
alcoholic who abused him sexually and emotionally, although not physically. She
was a sad woman and a mean drunk who dominated him completely. Her abusiveness,
though, was more a result of her own mental illness and addictions than of the
real evil that possessed Illea’s stepfather. But abuse is abuse, regardless of
the reasons why and so, in selfish unawareness, she destroyed Ricky’s spirit in
a very systematic way with her advances and extremely inconsistent behavior.
Alternately, she would love him to the point of doting and then, without
warning or cause, hate him to the point of despising him. He never knew where
he stood with her.

“After her death, he tried to lead a normal life,
but he always chose women that displayed the same patterns as his mother. It
always ended badly. After a long string of short yet catastrophic
relationships, he became depressed to the point of suicide and tried to kill
himself with a bizarre cocktail of cheap booze, prescription drugs and chemical
inhalants. The botched suicide attempt left him with permanent nerve and brain
damage and he was never the same again. He became extremely paranoid and
paralyzed by a host of phobias, primarily concerning women. Whereas before, his
mother’s behavior and his dismal relationships had left him distrusting of
women, he was now struck with horror at the very idea of allowing any woman to
touch him or even to be near him, for in his madness, he was absolutely
convinced and terrified that all women wished to devour him alive.

“Because of this fear, Illea was not allowed to
meet Ricky until after the transformation ceremony. But once that was over and
his heart and spirit were healed, the two were introduced and bonded immediately.
I was so happy for Illea, because it became a union made in heaven. It’s is an
odd thing, one I cannot help but notice, but it seems that those of us with
similar afflictions in our first lives are those that have bonded the most
strongly in this one.”

It was then that our conversation was interrupted.
Three naked women clutching towels, dark hair still wet, ran laughing up the
steps and onto the porch in front of us.

“Hey girls, nice swim?” Ben asked them.

“Oh, yes,” said the first.

“Very nice,” added the second.

“Most lovely,” finished the third.

“Turning in already?” he said.

“Just to play,” they said in unison.

“Well, have fun, then,” Ben added.

They giggled coquettishly and scampered off into
the house.

“What’s the story with those three, Ben?” I asked.
“I can’t figure them out. I mean, they’re just so strange.”

“The Three Sisters?” he laughed gently. “They’re
harmless. They’ve only been here a little over two months. They are a bit odd,
it’s true, but you’ll get used to them.”

“Sisters,” I mused aloud. “That has got to be the
strangest, most warped nickname for that trio. Considering the way they
interact, honestly, I think that’s the very last moniker that would ever have
come to my mind.”

“It does make sense when you consider that we have
Geoffrey to thank for that nickname.”

“It figures.”

“Well,” Ben explained. “The name just kind of
stuck because those three do tend to operate as a unit. To be honest, I think
it’s the only way they can function. I doubt they’d fare well at all if they
were ever separated, so I just try to be as patient with them as I can be.”

“I admire that, Ben, I really do. I’d like to be
able to follow your lead, but I can’t help it; they just strike me as being a
little too odd.”

Ben smiled. “They’re nice girls, really, but
you’re right, they can be quite strange.”

“Well, at least they’re totally gorgeous, so I’m
sure that helps them get away with lots of things. Especially with men.”

“In the outside world, that’s very, very true. But
here at the mansion, they’re just a part of the family.”

“I have a question.”

“Go ahead, shoot.”

“If they aren’t real sisters, then why do they
have such a striking family resemblance to one another?”

“Ah, now, that’s easy to explain. When Arrosha
first found them, they asked her to make them look as if they belonged
together, because as far back as they can remember, they’ve always thought of
themselves as family. Combine that resemblance with the fact that they tend to
operate as a single unit and now you can understand why the nickname caught
on.”

“Why do they do that?” I asked.

“Do what?”

“Operate together as a single unit?”

“To be honest,” he answered, “I really don’t know.
I once asked Arrosha about it and she said that she had her reasons for linking
them together. She told me not to worry, that when the time was right, they
would be ready to be separated and then she would restore them to wholeness as
individuals. I’ve accepted that and have tried to treat the girls with as much
patience and kindness as possible.

“What I can tell you is that their arrival at the
mansion marked the very first multiple addition to our group. Their
transformation ceremony was a first as well, since Arrosha held only one
ceremony for the three of them. From the beginning, they’ve functioned almost
as a single entity, their bond so strong that I often suspect that the deepest
desire of each of them is to become one with the other two.

“In contrast, their interactions with other people
are incredibly superficial and generally sexual in nature. The only other person
that they’ve bonded with at all is Geoffrey and they quite adore him.”

“I still don’t get it.” I said. “Out of all the
guys here, he’s the very last one I would have picked.”

Ben smiled. “I keep telling you that there’s more
to Geoffrey than he’s thrown your way. He has an unusual patience with the
Sisters. Do you remember that I told you that shared afflictions in our first
lives seem to result in the formation of strong bonds in this one?”

“Yes.”

“Before coming to us, the Sisters each had a very
heavy drug habit. It was forced upon them by their captors, against their
wills, in order to make them easy to control. The only other former drug addict
in our entire group was Geoffrey, although in his addiction was entirely of his
own volition. I think that might be the shared affliction that’s created such a
unique bond between him and the Sisters. He’s the only one outside of
themselves that they allow in at all. He’s also the only one that’s ever been
able to have any kind of a real conversation with them.”

“I saw Robert conversing with them at the hot tub
earlier.”

“Robert enjoys telling them stories. He has quite
a talent for it and the Sisters love to hear his tales. They’re very much like
children in that respect. No, trust me, Geoffrey is the only one that they have
ever confided in.”

“I never would have picked Geoffrey to be the one
to confide in.”

“But they have, and were it not for what Arrosha
and Geoffrey have told me, I would know nothing about the Sisters at all. And
the more I come to know about their first lives, the more I can understand why
Arrosha didn’t want to split them up.”

“So what was their story?” I asked, hoping that if
I knew, I could deal with their oddness a little better.

“I know only the bare bones of their background,
that they’re originally from a former Soviet block country, were kidnaped in
childhood and sold to a group of very rich, very horrible men for purposes of
prostitution and white slavery. They don’t think they even knew each other
before the kidnapping, but they don’t seem to remember much prior to that time.
They don’t even remember their real families, if indeed they ever had family to
begin with. As far as they know, they may have been orphans. For all intents
and purposes, the three of them are the only family that they had before
Arrosha rescued them.

“They claim to have survived their first life only
by always doing as they were told and by clinging tightly to each other for
emotional support. As a result, the strength of the bond between those three
women is like iron. They are inseparable and regardless of whatever comes to
pass, even after Arrosha restores their individuality, I’m sure they will
always be together forever.”