I wandered into the center of a warehouse I shared with a dear friend of twenty-four hours.
They were busy but never too much to spend time with me. I loved Sissitrix’s smile and a twinkle in their eyes, almost like a warning not to fuck with them.
“Hello, Unseen, my dear.”
“Hi, Sissitrix. What’s happening?”
“My pods are being unloaded and set up in a grid on the concrete floor so I can calibrate and operate them.”
“Are these sex pods?”
“Sex is only one form of rejuvenation possible. These pods are alive and sense problems in their patient, solving those. They aren’t only about fucking you.”
“But they will fuck me, right?”
“Oh definitely, Unseen… I will have you exquisitely fucked until you can barely walk and have a permanent grin painted underneath your balaclava.”
“I enjoy fucking, especially when it’s unusual, kinky and involves more than one other person.”
“You are a highly sexualized creature, Unseen, and that makes you a perfect design partner for me.”
“Yes… I am perfect as a trial subject, but are we friends?”
“Of course we are.”
I gulped, recalling some wild sexual escapades, the gloryholes, gangbangs, and many times I’d licked someone’s wife while the husband slept beside her, dreaming of fucking her sister.
“I see all their dreams in incredible detail, Sissitrix.”
“Whose dreams do you see, little one?”
“Anyone I want to. I can fuck someone in their dream while seeing into the mind of anyone nearby.”
“We shall explore that in my Fuck Factory, Unseen.”
Sissitrix fascinated me, so I followed them here and there while they worked. I was enchanted by how they swept the tails of a long trenchcoat when moving swiftly, changing direction frequently, occasionally glancing at me, grinning from underneath their blue Trilby Hat.
An indiscernible and mysterious quality about Sissitrix made me want to stick close by.
“Why don’t you tell me about your upbringing, Unseen? Have you ever had a family?”
“I did have one once until I ran away.”
“Were they awful to you?”
“I was six years old when they first disciplined me severely. Mom and Dad chased me frantically through the house for a misdeed.”
“What did you do?”
“I no longer remember other than knowing they couldn’t wait to get their hands on me, fuelled by a rage I’d never seen in either of them before.”
“Did they catch you?”
“Yes. Dad had a wooden spoon to beat me with while Mom held me down on the stairs.”
“Sometimes children are disciplined harshly but surely everything passed?”
“After the violence, they dropped me into our septic tank wearing armbands to float in the darkness amid stinking effluent. When they rescued me an hour later, I felt exhausted, sick, and hoarse from screaming. I still have nightmares about that time.”
“Hmm… that’s fucking awful. Maybe my pods can help you assuage those memories.”
“When I slept, they stayed in my room, and I heard them. They knew I was sick and spoke in hushed tones about doctors and the hospital. My Mom woke me up and warned me that if I told the police what happened, I would be taken away.”
I sat on a hospital bed that Sissitrix had beside a pod. Every pod had one. I closed my eyes and recalled how I sobbed bitterly, not wanting to lose my parents but angry for what they’d done while feeling desperate to avoid a repeat performance.
“Tell me your story, Unseen. I am listening, and sometimes it is best to offload these burdens to your friends.”
“I begged my Mom not to let me be taken away. She just kept telling me to keep what happened a secret.”
“Were you sick for a long time?”
“I had a fever and diarrhea; the doctor took samples for testing and later prescribed antibiotics for an infection with electrolytes to rehydrate me from dysentery.”
“Holy fuck, Unseen. This is brutal shit for a child to suffer. How long before you recovered?”
“Mom cared for me day and night. Even my Dad did, too, when he got home from work. I believed my punishment was a glitch and something that would never recur.”
“But they did it again, or you wouldn’t have run away, right?”
“I felt better a couple of weeks later, returned to school, then slipped up again, took a beating, and was dropped back in the tank.”
I drifted into bad memories, studying fleeting images that flashed through my mind, shuddering, imagining my awful childhood, remembering how floating in decomposing shit, piss, tampons, and toilet paper was part of my early life.
It was a sad memory imprinted on me by my vile parents, who, once aware of my prescribed course of treatment, purchased what they needed for my recovery from a pharmacy to avoid hospitals and doctors.
“Do you recall running away, Unseen?”
“I was ten years old when I first came to this warehouse. It was a crumbling heap of shit that nobody cared about. I discovered my talent for invading people’s dreams and exploited that, fucking them and making fantasies become so real, they couldn’t tell the difference, always earning money and getting the things I needed.”
“Do you ever return home?”
“My parent’s old housekeeper was my only friend as a child. Twenty years my senior, Petra lived nearby. She guessed my parents were abusing me, reporting that every week to the police, school, and social services.”
“Were the bastards arrested?”
“My parents were wily, dodged the authorities, and my abuse continued until I finally ran; then, they died when I was sixteen, and I inherited their house.”
“Is the home in Sin Street?”
‘Yes, my house is near the Ice Rink.”
“What happened after that, Unseen?”
“I stayed in touch with Petra. She even tried steering me into a normal life with a boyfriend and setting up dates. She researched one guy for two weeks straight.”
“Did you date him?”
“By that time, I was fucking so many people in their dreams; I didn’t care much for a partner, so I told her I hadn’t got the last one out of my system yet. Petra insisted, claiming to have just the guy for me. She messaged his profile and nagged me to check him out and give this one a chance.”
Petra had scouted love for me often because my happiness was paramount to her. We’d become more like mother and daughter. She was the caring parent I’d never had.
‘I didn’t want to date him Sissitrix.”
“But you did?”
“I lived here at this warehouse, earning, fucking, working day and night repairing my new home. Petra came often in those days, but I haven’t seen her for a long time.”
“What about the guy she recommended?”
I looked at the profile Petra sent and scrolled through the prospect’s bio and images. He looked cute but savage and powerful.”
“You’re more cute, Unseen, more powerful. than any.”
“I wasn’t always strong, Sissitrix.”
I remember the day I agreed to meet Petra’s love target and went about the morning researching my latest favorite subject, Macchiavelli. I was a late starter to philosophy, but once I opened that first book, I couldn’t stop reading and learning, and it became my guilty pleasure.
“Petra planned everything for my date to meet Jack. The more research she passed to me, the more convinced I became that she was right and he was the one. She organized things online, messaging Jack, assuming my identity, and arranging the date, time, and place. We’d meet for coffee, decide if a follow-up date was agreeable, then go our separate ways.”
“Petra carefully considered your safety first, Unseen.”
“Like I said… I was fucking a lot of people, but Jack was supposed to be different, taking me away from all of that.”
“It sounds like he didn’t work out, Unseen.”
“I drove to our meeting, confirming through the window as I approached a cafe that he was cute. Jack was attentive from the moment I entered the cafe, rising to meet me and then shaking hands respectfully.”
‘What happened? I sense all was not well, Unseen.”
“Jack fit Petra’s profile exactly. I strode through the cafe confidently, hoping to make a good first impression, apologizing for keeping him waiting. He said it wasn’t a problem.”
“But it was a problem?”
“It didn’t seem to be, but I got the impression he desperately wanted to fuck me, and that’s what Petra wanted so she could execute her ruse.”
“Ruse?”
“You’ll understand when I get to the end of my story, Sissitrix.”
“Go ahead, please, little one. Did you feel the same way about Jack… I mean, did you want to fuck him?”
“No. That wasn’t really why I was there. I sat opposite Jack, sipping my coffee while studying him. It wasn’t too late for either of us to fake a reason to leave, although he didn’t seem in a hurry. He looked exactly like his profile.”
“What went wrong, Unseen? I’m going mad from the anticipation of this juicy story.”
“Jack said he had a son called Grant, who was six at the time. Petra already knew that.”
“What happened to his mother?”
Jack said he drifted. Initially to Australia, and she only sent occasional letters. He claimed not to know where she was from one year to the next.”
“Oh.”
“We got on well, but that was the plan. I judged Jack’s behavior to be entirely consistent with the research Petra had done on him, agreeing he was an excellent candidate for her new treatment program.”
‘Treatment program… I thought this was a date.”
“Sorry, Sissitrix… I promise I’ll get to it.”
“What happened next, Unseen?”
“Jack looked at his watch; it was late afternoon, and my senses told me he needed to get away. I did, too, because I had made my mind up about him, all bar one quick errand to run before I went home.”
“Did you kiss?”
“No. We left together, promising one another to arrange a second date, then drove off in opposite directions.”
“When I got home, Petra was all over me for details. We sat together at my dining table and, over her freshly baked delicious Pecan Pie, I shared the story. We talked well into the night because Petra needed details and proof.”
“I’m sure she was pleased to have helped you, Unseen.”
“After Petra left my house, I glimpsed a shadow from the corner of my eye when someone darted into my living room. I turned, but the powerful man already had my arm in a lock.”
“It ended badly. I can tell.”
‘Yes, Sissitrix. It ended very badly.”
“It was Jack who attacked you?”
“Yes. He wore a balaclava, but I knew it was him.”
“Why was he in your house?”
“I didn’t come straight home. I turned my truck around and followed Jack home. That was my errand, you see? I spied on him and saw our target beating a six-year-old child chained to a radiator. I waited until Jack left, then rescued his son.”
“You saved his life, Unseen. You weren’t dating at all… this was a vigilante operation masterminded by Petra.”
I closed my eyes again and saw our showdown at my home as clearly as though it was yesterday. Jack advanced on me, snarling like an animal, screaming.
“Why were you at my house, bitch? Where’s my fucking kid?”
“Grant is gone, Jack. You’ll never see him again. He’s safe now, with a new family who’ll love him dearly.”
“I saw you on my CCTV. You were at my fucking house.”
“That’s right after we parted company; I followed you, saw you cruelly beat him, so I waited and took the beautiful boy away from his cunt of a father.”
“What have you done with my son?”
“He’s gone, Jack. No matter what you do today, you’ll never find him. I dropped him off with his new family about an hour after I collected him. Grant’s across state lines already. He’ll be a thousand miles away by this time tomorrow.”
He threw me on the sofa, kicking my back on the way, then followed up with more blows to my head and torso while I laughed.
“Why? Why did you do this?”
“Because you’re a fucking abuser and don’t deserve a beautiful baby like Grant.”
I remember how Jack’s face went as white as a sheet, and his step faltered. I saw he hadn’t brought a weapon, although he scanned my kitchen, looking for something to kill me with.
Big fucking mistake… Huge!
“You can still leave here, Jack. If you stay, bad things will happen to you. I just wanted to rescue Grant from your abuse.”
“I’m going nowhere without my son, bitch.”
“I don’t think Petra will agree!”
I nodded behind Jack, and he turned sharply, staring at the wrong end of a pump-action shotgun.
“I’d be more terrified of Petra than her trigger finger, Jack. She’ll fuck you up.”
I remembered how Petra’s eyes blazed with hatred, and I watched Jack shrink into the cowardly shell of a man who could only beat small children.
“Petra hates abusers.”
Jack saw the danger and held up both hands, but nothing would stop Petra.
“Yeah, I also hate people who threaten my little Dottie, too.”
“Okay, let’s not be hasty here, you guys.”
“It’s too late, Jack.”
When Petra slammed him on the forehead with the butt of her shotgun, I had a front-row seat, gleefully watching his eyes glaze over before his unconscious body slumped to the floor in a heap.
We moved him onto a surgeon’s table nearby, removing all clothes and strapping Jack’s arms and legs to the bed.
“What’s going on?”
“Don’t shake the bed and make an awful fuss, Jack. If you behave, you may still leave here alive.”
“What’s with the medical equipment? Fucking intravenous shit, needles and all.”
“It’s only for local anesthesia, and don’t worry; Petra knows what she’s doing… well, kind of.”
“Wh-what, is she a surgeon or something?”
“No, babe, she cuts fish open, tears their guts out, and filets them.”
“I d-do-don’t u-understand.”
“Oh dear. Look, Jack, you pissed yourself on the bed.”
I recalled the acrid smell of his shame and how Jack sobbed like a baby, but I felt no pity for the scumbag.
“While arranging our date, Petra surveilled your place for two weeks, recording how badly you beat Grant. I couldn’t believe the video footage she captured when you threw him down the stairs.”
Petra wore a mask when she approached Jack with a syringe and a long needle from which he shrunk away.
“I wanted to kill you and take the boy.”
I interrupted, nodding gently to my guardian for her to pull back a little. I could manage these arbitration sessions with our abuse targets much better than she could.
“I need you to sign some papers, Jack. You’ll relinquish all parental rights to Grant, have your procedure, and never try to contact him again.”
“What procedure?”
“We’re castrating you, Jack. You’ll get to live, after all, but without any nuts.”
His blood-curdling screams were in vain, but we let him keep going until Jack grew hoarse. He cried, wailed, and moaned, going through every stage of grief in about five minutes. I shook my head when he begged, and finally, when he seemed to accept his fate, I presented a millboard with documents and a pen,
I released one of Jack’s arms to sign while Petra nestled the barrel of her shotgun in his balls.
“It’s marked up where you must sign.”
It took him a few minutes to sign, with plenty of tears staining my pristine documents.
“Now then, Jack. I’m going to tape your cock against your stomach to keep that out of the way so that Petra can get to your balls.”
He screamed again, a terrified man struggling on the bed. I held each of his disgusting testicles while Petra rammed a needle in, squirting lidocaine deep inside the testes she would soon remove.
“If you keep flinching, it’ll hurt more and may even fail, resulting in your death.”
Petra moved into his balls with her scalpel, and Jack fainted, as we suspected he would.
“Argh, ugh, oh fuck!”
“Hey Jack, you’re awake. Are you okay?”
“What happened?”
“You passed out, but the operation was a complete success.”
I watched him on my monitor, chuckling when he instinctively looked down at where his testicles once were.
“It’s too dark in there for you to see, Jack.”
“Where am I? My legs are soaking wet.”
“Now, Jack, I need you to listen, okay.”
“Yeah, but please let me out.”
“Can’t do that, Jack. Now listen. We’re going to give you some therapy to make sure you never harm another kid again.”
His sobs were pitiful, and I watched his head drop in absolute defeat. I believed he was sorry, but only because we’d caught and punished him.
“What are you going to do to me?”
“Okay, Jack, that’s a reasonable question. We’re going to show you how it felt to be Grant. Nod your head if you understand?”
He nodded his head, sobbing like a child.
“I’m going to turn the lights on, Jack. There are two people in the room with you. If you ever go near a kid again, you’ll share their fate.”
Sissitrix tapped me on the shoulder, and I flinched in horror, looking up into their kind face.
“Unseen, you were daydreaming, talking in first and third person like it was a play. I was scared for you, but I got the gist of your ramblings.”
“Those were horrible times, Sissitrix. I did terrible things.”
Sisitrix sat on the hospital bed, took my hand, and stared at me with friendly affection. I trusted them and needed to tell my story that hadn’t ended.
“You weren’t really ever going to date Jack, were you?”
“No… it was all a ruse.”
“Petra was hunting abusive parents and rescuing kids, wasn’t she Unseen?”
“Yes… I was the first victim she saved, and then came others, each time under the guise of me dating them. Once she confirmed each target’s abuse, Petra moved in and did unspeakable things to them with me cheering her on.”
“What happened to Jack?”
“I turned on the lights in our septic tank, where Jack sat on a plastic chair, knee-deep in my piss and shit, staring at the skeletons of my dead parents. They were exactly where I put them after Petra, and I slit their throats.”
I stared at Sissitrix, terrified they might be disgusted by my revelation. They were the first person I’d told, and I felt sick having done so.
“Am I a bad person, Sissitrix?”
“Definitely not, Unseen. I know a great diner nearby. Let’s have a cup of coffee and some Pecan Pie, shall we, dear.”
Holy sheeet... what amazing artwork partner. I love it.
Justice again. Well, if morbid, written. The septic tank will end up full.