Laughing

She opened her eyes. At least she thought she did. The darkness in the room made it hard to tell. Her head thumped with pain. What was she doing here? Slowly it came back to her.

She had been walking down the street when a man shoved a vile smelling cloth in her face. The last thing she remembered was a dragging sensation and the screech of the car accelerating off.

She tried to move but she was tied. There was a tremendous pressure on her chest. Her arms were outstreched and on her aching head was a crown. A crown of thorns. Crucifixion. She realised she had to get free or she would suffer a terrible fate. But struggling just made it worse. Breathing was getting noticably difficult.

A light in the room flickered into life and the brightness hurt her eyes. A man walked in to the room but a shadow covered his face. Her imagination started thinking as to what stood in front of her. Under his arm he carried a canister, and in his hand he brandished a large knife. "Who are you? What are you gonna do?" she croaked. He said nothing. He walked to the edge of the room and stood the canister up. He advanced towards her.

"No! Stop! Please, please don't kill me!" she cried. Still the man in front of her uttered no words, no breath, no nothing. A shadow still covering his face, he inspected the knife in his hand. Light reflected into her eyes, blinding her to the grisly end that lay ahead. A strong hand gripped her face and the knife went to work. Her screams for help went unanswered and her pleas for mercy were ignored. When he had finished and the screams had become soft whimpering, the blade was cleaned in her hair.

There were four small cuts on either side of eyes, moth, nose and ears. Her face was dripping warm blood. She could feel any movement in her face building up by the cuts. She tried not to move. She cried without expression.

The man moved to the canister and attached a face mask. He lowered it over his mouth and took a deep breath. He laughed madly.

She looked up carefully and saw on the label: "Nitrogen Oxide. Caution!" The words rang alarm bells through her head and she thought back to her chemistry lessons. The fact hit her like a bullet through the head. Laughing Gas.

"No! Please don't" she mouthed, trying not to move her lips much. He advanced on her and placed the mask over her limp head. The canister hissed. She could feel the pressre building up in her lungs. She tried to hold and she did until the pressure was so great she exploded into hysterics. Her mouth opened, her cheeks rose, her face burst, laughs soon turned to hysteric screams as gore flew, and skin fell to the floor.

The man stood there savouring the moment, then turned and in one swift motion, ran the blade across her throat. Horrific laughter turned to choking, the floor turned to red and thrashing turned to stillness. The body slumped down and hung. Satisfied with his work, the man breathed in deeply, and laughed.