Page 80 of Tethered Souls
Mother grabs Talon’s arm. “Come on, son,” she says. “If Vinny is innocent, you know they won’t hurt him.”
Talon doesn’t budge, his eyes swimming with tears and hatred and pain. But then he shudders, the pain winning out, the need for a mother’s comfort, and he turns to her as she pulls him from the room. As she looks over her shoulder at us, her eyes are supportive, urging me to do what needs to be done.
Yet, there is still so much fear seeping off her, and once again, I wonder just how much she knows. If she’s afraid Uncle Myers found out she cheated on his older brother. If I’m not his.
My fingers twitch down by my sides, wanting to ball into fists, to slam into a bag or a wall or an opponent as I work out my frustration, my paranoia. My thoughts that have no evidence.
Instead, I shift my gaze to Vinny as Maddox comes over to join us, a bowl of walnuts and a nutcracker in his hands. He hops up onto the table in front of Vinny, crossing his legs under himself as he faces our cousin. “Do you mind if I eat while we do this? I didn’t have anything before the party and I’m low key starving.”
Without waiting for an answer, not that Vinny can speak with the silence ward still active on his lips, Maddox takes out a walnut and places it between the metal jaws. “Did you know there is a thing called a nutcracker fracture?” he asks as he gestures with the tool at Vinny.
“It’s when the bone in the middle of your foot breaks because it’s beencrushedby the bones in your heels and toes.” Hecrushesthe nut between the metal teeth, popping its shell in a splinter of shards. “Can you guess why it was named that?”
Vinny doesn’t move, can’t speak, but his eyes latch onto the nutcracker as his pulse spikes for a few beats. He forces it to steady, keeping hold of his training.
“Exactly.” Maddox nods as if he answered. “Ballerinas are so fucking metal, they have a fracture named after them. Have you ever seen them perform theNutcracker?It’s a beautiful dance.” He opens the metal teeth and extracts the nut from inside its broken shell. Popping it into his mouth, he chews as he tilts his head to the side. “We should go after this. What they put their bodies through…it’s breathtaking.” He places another nut inside as he smiles wistfully.
“Watching them, you might even forget what it felt like to have your balls crushed in this.”
He snaps the metal teeth togetherhard. The nut splinters. Vinny pales. I have the sudden urge to step back and cup my balls.
“Granted,” my little brother says as he pulls out the nut and brings it to his lips, “your eyes might not have grown back by then.” He chews, swallows. “Did you know you can dig out your own eye with your fingers? And as it dangles on that bunch of nerves, you can still see.” He holds up the nutcracker with a new nut. Then he touches it to Vinny’s cheek, right below his eye. A chill races across my skin as I can practically feel the coldness of the metal on my own.
“How high do you think it’ll splatter?” he murmurs. Then he snaps the jaws together, and Vinny flinches as bits of shell fly everywhere. Our cousin turns his head away, his pulse spiking, a wild hammer against the base of his neck.
Maddox puts a new nut in. Touches the cold metal to Vinny’s other cheek. Slides it up to his eye. Our cousin closes it with a hard swallow.
“Trick question,” my brother says. “The optic nerves will hold it in place, you see, so I’ll have to crack it while it’s still mostly in your socket.”
He smiles as hecracksthe nut. Vinny jerks in his chair as Maddox pulls back to free his next bite of food.
“Thankfully, this nutcracker isn’t one of those wooden man ones. That would’ve been fucking annoying to use.” He laughs as his head turns towards the kitchen. “Although, getting him to chomp on your balls would be hilarious.” He grins. “I’ll have to add one to my Christmas list this year. Seeing all the blood running down his teeth and chin would be hilarious.” His grin widens. “Maybe I can meet with a ballet company and run a thriller twist on theNutcrackerby them.”
He pulls back, looking relaxed. “So what do you think, Vinny? Which part of you shall I start on first?” He nods. “The answer can be, ‘None,’ if you answer our questions.”
Placing the nutcracker down on the table beside him, he reaches forward and rubs off the silence ward on Vinny’s lips. “So first question, Cuz. Have you ever been to a ballet before?”
Vinny doesn’t move, doesn’t speak. He knows answering any question, even one as casual as this, is a gateway to breaking.
Maddox sighs in disappointment. He hops down off the table, then moves behind Vinny’s chair. He pulls it back, the wooden feet dragging across the floor. Bending down in front of our cousin, he starts to undo Vinny’s belt.
“I am aware you can handle pain,” he says as he pulls the strip of leather free. “I’m also aware torturing you like this is pointless.” He snaps open Vinny’s button, then pulls down his zipper before he reaches for the nutcracker. “However, I want you to know what this feels like. I want every pulse that reaches your left testicle to remind you of the pain.”
Placing said ball inside the teeth of the nutcracker, he squeezes it hard.
Snap!
Vinny jerks in the chair as he screams. His head falls back, his arms pulling tight on his binds. He shudders as Maddox straightens, removing his blood-splattered hand. He places the metal tool on the table. The jaws open and a testicle rolls out, the flesh of his torn ball sack sticking to it. Then he walks behind our cousin. Shuffling the chair, he points it towards one beside him. He steps away, pulls that chair out, and turns it to face Vinny.
He doesn’t sit in it though. He stays standing as he pulls on his shadows. They swirl around his feet, and chills run down my back as I realize what it is he’s doing. I didn’t give him the order to take Alexis, Vinny’s girlfriend, but Maddox must have grabbed her at some point because he pulls out a metal cage with her in it. She’s screaming as she sits in the middle of it, her eyes closed, her knees pinned to her chest, her hands over her ears as she shakes. Saliva coats the bars, and angry hisses come up from below. One side of the cage has been dented in, and her leg on that side sports an ugly gash that cuts to the bone.
Vinny’s scream trails off as he drops his head forward, his eyes widening at the sight of his girl.
“Open your eyes, Alexis. Vinny is here to save you,” Maddox says as he vanishes his shadows, then pulls open the door of the cage after unlocking it.
She lifts her head slowly as tears continue to run down her cheeks. A few months ago, Talon told me Vinny was thinking of popping the question. They’ve been together for over three years, been living together for nearly one.
Jerking in his chair, Vinny scrapes it across the floor as he gnashes his teeth, fighting the urge to speak. To break his silence and ability to stay strong.
