FLASH FICTION:-- HORROR, SCI-FI, HUMOUR, CRIME, SLICE OF LIFE, ETC.

Friday 12 August 2011

A waste of pain

Jack had been strapped to the table for almost three days now, the exquisite pain and suffering he had endured were almost over, he would be dead soon, his body had had enough, his mind and will had had enough. Throughout the agony he hadn't spoken a single word, hadn't given his torturers one single shred of information.

They had snatched him from outside the government building where he worked.

A chemical sprayed into his eyes, handcuffed, and thrown into a van, it had happened so unbelievably quickly.

The constant questions were of a military nature, where were the silos? What was the stand off capability? How many troops? Where were the heads of command situated?

Jack had all the answers, and he would have given them to stop the pain, he worked on the computers and had access to the information they sought, and they knew this.

What they didn't know was that Jack had been a deaf mute from birth, and although he could lip-read perfectly, the unwise choice of chemical spray his abductors had used had burned deep into Jack's pupils, the poor man never regained his sight.


©2011 Stephen. J. Green.

23 comments:

  1. Good story. Creepy and sad. Poor guy. I bet the government is happy they chose to abduct poor Jack, though.

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  2. So they shot themselves in the foot? And him in the face, naturally.

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  3. People of low intelligence acting on poor intelligence.

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  4. Wonder if he was chosen for his job for exactly those reasons?

    And they ought to have done more research before they kidnapped him.

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  5. Oh no! Poor Jack, what horrible men.. Wasn't expecting that ending at all.

    Have a sort of scrunched eww look on my face and a smile at the same time.

    Well done, you creeped me out with this one!

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  6. I know it feels like the day job will kill you sometimes, but I never imagined anything like this. :) Funny and twisted, Steve.

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  7. @Eric – Yeah, probably a sight happier about it than Jack was. :-)

    @John – I think they might have waited a few more minutes, and saved the cost of a bullet, but then again they were probably a bit teed off with him by this time.

    @Tim – Haha, let's hope these guys weren't working for “our” intelligence service.

    @Sonia – I don't think so Sonia, but if the dimwits hadn't blinded him they might have got somewhere with their interrogation. :-)

    @Helen – Thanks Helen, my intention was to create a scenario where it was impossible for anyone to gain, the thought of being tortured for three days without even the chance of ending it freaked me too.

    @Chuck – Yeah, I'll bet this wasn't exactly the way he thought he would be retiring either. :-)

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  8. How silly...they should have either picked their target better, or chosen a better method! Clearly their "intelligence" is lacking in several areas.

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  9. Hi Icy, oh, I think lessons may have been learnt. :-)

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  10. The devil is in the details, aren't they? Those idiots would have served themselves better had they done their homework. A great ending, Steve.

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  11. Thanks Stephen, intelligence networks aren't always as intelligent as they would like to think they are. :-)

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  12. It's amazing how it is worse when the pain and death is worthless (or perhaps not, from Jack's employer's pov, but I don't have sympathy for them ;). Thought-provoking.

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  13. Hi Aidan, Jack's death wouldn't have been totally pointless though, the rest of his colleagues will be a bit more alert in the future. Possessing sensitive info makes a person a high risk target.

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  14. Ha! Nice touch at the end. Reinforced the ignorance of torture.

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  15. Thanks Lara, it definitely was a waste of pain, and time and effort too.

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  16. Great story Steve, creepy, sad, horrific, knowing there could be parts of this scenario being played out.

    Denise

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  17. Thanks Denise, I sometimes do wonder what type of person it takes to do this kind of thing too.

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  18. I can only think of two things worse than torture. The first is total sensory deprivation locking you in your own body like the man in this flash ... the second involves Edwina Currie ...

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  19. Haha, both of them very frightening options Jason. :-)

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  20. Hi there Steve -- felt like a rather despairing and horrible way to go. He would, but he can't... Urg. St.

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  21. Y'know Stephen, there are possibly worse ways to go, but I'll be damned if I can think of any straight off the top of my head.

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  22. Poor guy, that is awful. I do enjoy your twists, they always make you think!

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  23. Thanks Rebecca, it's really nice to know that my work is appreciated. :-)

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