Torture Device

As soon as the rat uttered his last word, it started to convulse, limbs jerking in all directions. And the peculiar intelligence that previously laced its eyes vanished.

And when the uncontrollable shaking finally stopped, it froze and observed its surroundings. George could almost see a question mark on its head.

Then it let out a high pitched squeak before it scampered away to hide.

"Ho! Interesting! So the rat was possessed, huh." George muttered. Somewhere in the corner back of his mind was a tiny voice telling him it was the rat god himself who spoke to him.

'Heh! Isn't that a bit narcissistic?' He thought. Not daring to say it out loud.

Then the man beside him groaned.

George observed him as he waited impatiently. And of all the things he hated, he hated waiting the most. He just didn't have the patience for that. Then finally, the man opened his eyes only to be greeted by a green pair of eyeballs staring intently at him.

It shook him at first. And he was confused. Then he realized he was in a completely different place than he remembered. And that he was tightly bound too.

"Relax. Panicking won't do you shit." George told him in an almost bored tone. "I'm George by the way. And we're kidnapped. All three of us including this woman beside me. She's asleep though. And we'll probably die tonight too if we're unlucky. And please ignore the smell. You'll get used to it after some time."

The man was speechless. Anyone would be if they're suddenly bombarded by information as soon as they wake up. And the information he heard wasn't something a normal person would normally hear when they wake up. In his case, he would usually hear his mother yelling from downstairs. Telling him he was already late for school.

"You're not joking, are you?"

George shook his head.

"D'you know where this place is?"

George shook his head again. "Look. We need to make a plan. A plan. I don't wanna die yet, you know? I still have a lot of things I wanna do. And most of all, I haven't even hugged a woman before except for my aunt so I would really appreciate it if you could cook up some sort of plan no matter how crappy it is to get out of here hopefully with all our limbs intact. Hmm?" He said it all in one breath. He hadn't spoken that fast his whole life.

"Oh! Haha. I see. I'm surprised you're pretty calm and energetic for someone who was about to die." The man said. Then he laughed. Not because he found George amusing. A type of laugh he makes whenever his mother finds out he failed more than half of his subjects again. "I'm Nico by the way. Please call me Nico."

Then he took a deep breath.

"Okay, uh, how about we get rid of these ropes first? George, right?"

"Uh-huh! Good suggestion! Any advice on how we actually do that though?" It was coming from someone who tried anything in his power to wriggle out of the rope to no avail. All his efforts only resulted with a skin rubbed raw. And it stings every time he moves. And if possible, he didn't wanna move anymore. George tends to exaggerate pain.

"Shh! I'm still thinking."

Nico scanned the place they were at. George did the same.

The room was hexagonal in shape. One door, five mirrors. A stone platform by the center.

The ceiling was made of glass that made them see it was about to go dark.

Then opposite the door was a silly looking torture device. It definitely looked like that. For starters, it has three thin beds forming a triangle.

Standing in the middle was a goofy looking giant bird mascot with its large tongue hanging by the side of its beak. Only that George couldn't decide what kind of bird it was. Was it a parrot for its colorful feathers? An eagle? A hawk? A vulture? It seemed to be the combination of the four.

A bird mascot? Okay. Cool! But instead of wings, it has three feathery hands. Each holding a butcher's knife pointed to each of the beds.

"Don't tell me that silly bird mascot is what's gonna kill us later?" Nico asked.

"Haha. I hope not. But what a coincidence! There's exactly three of us! I can't believe it!" Exclaimed George. And obviously, he was being sarcastic. No matter how he looked at it, the mascot thing was most definitely the one to kill them if they didn't get out of that accursed place pronto.

There was a moment of silence. Then Nico turned to the other side to focus. He couldn't think properly while facing their supposed torture device only to come face to face with the roasted ogre's head, eyes wide with vigor. "Oh, shit!"

He was forced to turn back. The torture device suddenly became bearable. He might only be imagining this but he definitely thought the ogre was looking down on him for being pathetic.

"Should we break one of the mirrors?" A woman's voice suddenly said.

"Huh?" It was both Nico and George.

"What huh? The mirror should be sharp enough to cut the rope. No?"

"Er, well, you have a point." Said George. "But how exactly are we gonna do that though? Also, I didn't know you were awake."

"I just woke up. You're too noisy. And I didn't know the third sacrifice was already caught though. Amazing! Am I really gonna die tonight? Too bad."

George was surprised she was so casual about the whole thing. Made him wonder what kind of life she had and then he remembered where he was. He was in Phulas! 'So she must've died already, huh. This guy too. If anything, I'm at the losing end here.'

"Er, guys. I think it's still too early to give up." It was Nico. "I don't wanna die yet, you know?"