The Room (16 page)

I/ll be a sonofabitch if she dont wiggle like a chicken with its head cut off. I swear to krist, shes the best piece of ass we ever grabbed. Yeah. I guess thats why shes doubled up with joy. They laughed again as they bent over and picked her up. Youve rested long enough Mrs Haagstromm. We dont have all night. Weve got to get back to work. She hung heavy on Harrys arms, her legs starting to collapse, and he jabbed her in the stomach with his finger tips. Comeon bitch, stand up. She retched and a hot lump slowly staggered its way up from her stomach and jammed itself in her throat as Fred tugged on her hair, her head snapping back, and Harry shoved her against Freds cock bursting into her asshole and up to her throat. Her body jerked and the cuffs tore and sawed at her wrists and ankles and when she tried to lower her body to relieve the pain she was jerked back and her body once again yanked against the cuffs. And when her legs started to crumple with each thrust of Freds cock, her body was forced up by Harrys hands twisting the flesh on her belly and shoving her stomach through her spine and Fred tugging on her hair and her body would bend and her legs start to collapse as the cuffs chopped at the bones in her wrists and ankles, the pain and agony increasing until there was nothing but pain and it got worse and worse each second after second after second after hour until nothing was supporting her and she slid from Freds cock and crumpled to the ground, the chunks of air fighting against each other, and somewhere there was laughter.

Goddamn if that aint the bleedinest bitch I ever fucked, wiping themselves off with her slip and pants. All you have to do is touch her and she starts bleeding. Yeah. Maybe shes a religious fanatic, laughing and fixing their uniforms. When they finished they took off the cuffs, wiped the blood off them, then grabbed an arm each and dragged her over to her car and dumped her on the front seat then tossed her clothes on top of her. Harry leaned over her, pulled her head up by her hair and told
her she had better keep her mouth shut or they would see to it that she was arrested for soliciting. Im sure Mrs Haagstromms little girls wouldnt want everyone to know her mommys a fucking whore. He let her head drop then tore the tape off her mouth. They went back to their car and drove away

the ugly bastards. The ugly cocksucking bastards. Get away with anything. Any fucking thing. Probably laugh their fucking asses off driving around like king shit. Talking about my ass rotting in this fucking jail and laughing their fucking asses off. The ugly mothers cunts. The lousy cocksucking bastards. Jesus, I/d like to rip their eyes right out of their heads and just squeeze them. Just fucking squeeze them, the ugly cocksucking bastards, pounding across the cell from the wall to the door, the door to the wall, the wall to the door, to the wall, the door

then stopping in front of the mirror and looking briefly at the pimple then squeezing it as hard as he could, his eyes tearing and wincing from the needle-like pain in his cheek, crushing the pimple between finger tips until a few drops of fluid oozed out. God DAMN that hurts, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. Just cant get anything out of the sonofabitch. Squeeze the shit out of it and still nothing comes out. The fucking thing will drive me out of my mind. Cant get rid of it. No matter what in the fuck I do I cant get rid of the sonofabitch. Its always there bugging the living shit out of me. Krist that stings. Maybe now itll come to a head and I can squeeze it and itll be gone once and for all. He tilted his head at various angles looking for a hint of white graze on the pimple, then went back to the bed and sat on the edge.

The prowl car pulled up behind him and the cops got out and asked him for his i.d. and all that shit and he banged their heads together and pinched a nerve on their necks and knocked them out then stretched them out on the sidewalk so that their cocks were in each others mouths and cuffed them in that position before turning on the red light and siren. He roared with laughter the next day when he read about it in the paper, especially the part about them being found in a strange and unnatural position. Hahahahahahahahahaha, strange and unnatural. Thats a good one. Strange and unnatural,

smiling at the gray wall, glowing inside, until his cell door clanged open and he went to the mess hall and nibbled at whatever meal it was and came back and stretched out on his bed.

He paused dramatically before continuing. He looked down at his hands then into the faces of the Senators sitting behind the long table. He was unperturbed yet fully conscious of the many microphones, cameras, lights and eyes; aware that he was testifying before a special investigating committee of the United States Senate; aware of the fact that the entire country, and perhaps the world, would know what he said and would see him on movie and t.v. screens, yet he remained calm. The calm that comes with purposeful action. A resolve so strong and motives so right that you remain calm even though you know your very life is in danger, that the threat of death is with you every minute of every day, awake or asleep, on a crowded street or alone in your room. A threat that exists even in the special chambers of the United States Senate. Yet, fully aware as he was of this constant and ever present threat of death, he knew he had to, and would continue to pursue injustice no matter where it led him, no matter what the danger, no matter what the consequences. The gauntlet had been thrown at his feet and he had accepted the challenge.

Gentlemen, its not only for myself that I speak, but for the millions of victims that have gone before me and those who today, right at this very moment as we sit here in comfort and safety – I think I should add that for me it is only a relative safety as my life is in constant danger as evidenced by the many threats on my life that I have already related to you – those who are suffering, now, the cruel and harsh indignities of injustice. A blind injustice that has run amuck and poses a threat to each and every individual in this great country of ours. I speak not only for those millions, but for all those who may come after me. For
all those who may not have to suffer the pain and misery that I, and millions have and are suffering, if we unfurl and hold high the banner of truth so injustice will be exposed whenever it exists, whether it be in the largest of cities or smallest of hamlets; in the brightest of spaces or the darkest of corners. Wherever, why and how long are not important. The only important thing for us to remember as responsible citizens of our country, and interested members of society, is that it does exist and that there is no such thing as a small injustice. What threatens the least of us threatens all of us. This malignancy must be ferreted out and exposed so it can wither and die in the searing light of truth. It must not be protected with lies and ignorance. It must not be allowed to be nurtured and grow in the darkness of apathy, lest it spread its venom of corruption until the very foundations of our country are infected and weakened. It is true that I am but one insignificant individual, but within me there exists the strength of truth, the strength of all men who have ever followed the banner of truth to the very gates of death.

He lowered his head and waited for the applause to stop, keeping it lowered as the huge, high-ceilinged room reverberated with applause. When it subsided he continued. I have already related my experience to you and you are aware of the suffering and indignities I was forced to endure. And as humiliating and terrible as they were, they were as nothing compared to the agony that others have been forced to endure. The plight of a young woman was brought to our attention – Mr Lowrys, Mr Prestons and mine – and we visited her, along with other interested parties, at a state mental institution. At the time we visited her she had been there almost a year and was still too hysterical to talk without heavy sedation. Up to that time she had had over one hundred shock treatments with no permanent results. She would be all right for a few weeks or so, but then she would gradually get worse and they would have to put her in restraint and eventually more shock treatments were necessary. As of last Thursday, the last time we contacted the hospital, the prognosis was the same … no hope. According to the doctors she will spend the remainder of her life in the institution, and most of that time she will be hopelessly insane. She is only 24 years old and
will have to spend the rest of her days in a locked ward, half of that time in restraint.

She was only 23 when she entered the hospital, and had a 2-year-old daughter. I will tell you what we have been able to determine about the events leading up to her being committed, as briefly as possible. Some of her story is incomplete and confused, but enough was gotten by the doctors during lucid moments and while under hypnosis so we have a definite idea of what actually happened to her on the night of April the second of last year.

This young woman was like millions of others. She came from a good family, had a good education, never in any trouble of any kind during her entire life, and when she graduated college she married. A year later she gave birth to a girl and the three of them were extremely happy until the night of April second. Her husband was out of town on business and she left her daughter with her mother while she visited friends. On the way back to her mothers to pick up her daughter she was stopped by 2 policemen. They told her that her car matched the description of a stolen car and that they would have to check it out. One of the policemen drove her car while the other followed in the patrol car. They drove to a deserted, wooded area and gagged her, dragged her from the car and raped her, many, many times. I cannot go into too many details in public as they are too horrifying, but we do have copies of a detailed report of the incident to give to the committee. However, there are a few parts of her story that should be related now.

While they were raping her they had her handcuffed in such a manner that her wrists and ankles were cut so deeply that she will have large scars the rest of her life. The doctors said that the cuts were so deep that parts of the bone were actually exposed. They not only attacked her in strange and unnatural ways, but burned her with cigarettes over various parts of her body and beat her. And all the time they were doing these unspeakable and horrible things they were laughing. When they finished they left her, naked, in her car and she was not found until late the following morning. By the time she was admitted to General Hospital she was near death from shock, and her ankles and wrists were so badly mutilated and infected that eventually
her right foot had to be amputated and the other ankle and her wrists took months to heal. It was only after months of intensive treatment that she was finally able to speak. Before that time she could only mumble while under heavy sedation. According to the staff who attended her at the hospital, the only thing they heard her say during this time was, please let me die. Over and over again. Please let me die. It was only over a long period of intensive and painstaking treatment that the doctors were able to piece together the events of that night. One minute she was a lovely young wife and mother, a good daughter, enjoying life and giving happiness to her family. Then 2 police officers decided to amuse themselves and now this young woman is hopelessly insane, sitting in the corner of a locked ward in a mental institution sucking her thumb, crying, unable to control the functions of her body, unable to feed herself, unable to do anything but sit in that corner, suck her thumb and cry. The direct result of a few hours fun of 2 police officers who had nothing better to do.

These events were brought to the attention of the police commissioner of that city and he provided the doctors with pictures of officers who were on duty in that area that night. During one of her lucid intervals this young woman was shown these pictures and when she looked at 2 of them she screamed and covered her eyes and yelled no, no, no. During other lucid moments she was shown other pictures with these same 2 pictures among them and when she came to them the same thing happened. There is no doubt in anyones mind that these are the two officers who attacked her that night, but there is nothing that can be done because there is no admissible evidence. They are still serving their community as officers of the law.

He once more lowered his head as people moved around on the chairs and the room hummed with excited comment.

And this is but one case. But one case in millions. But this one case could be anyone. Your wife, your daughter, your mother. Any helpless individual who may be victimized by insane and brutal authority.

And how many more policemen are there like these 2 who are still driving around in their prowl car stopping women and asking them for their license?

And she is but one woman. One woman out of millions who was driving home to her mother and little daughter and now she sits sucking her thumb and crying, or is perhaps in a strait jacket or padded cell waiting for her next shock treatment, doomed to spend the remainder of her life hopelessly insane.

And what of her family? What of her many loved ones? What of her little girl who no longer has a mother to tuck her in bed at night and teach her her prayers? What of that little girl who is now forced to grow up deprived of a mothers love? And her husband who is not only deprived of her love and affection, but is forced to explain to his little girl why her mommy is not coming home, and who is forced to try to be both mother and father to his little girl.

And she is but one.

And I am but one. One that we know about. How about those thousands we do not know about?

And how about the so-called little things like traffic tickets and gratuities? Just little things. But one little thing ignored and then another and we have that poor wretched woman doomed to a life of hopeless insanity.

Goddamn right. Let the bastards get away with anything and youre fucked.

And what I have related of events on that night of horror is only the briefest and vaguest of outlines. The things they did to her made me sick when I heard about them. I couldnt possibly tell you about them here and now. They are beyond human imagination. Only a depraved and evil animal could conceive of doing such things.