Pip’s heart jumped, a cliff-drop down her ribs, landing hard in the pit of her stomach. No no no. Not this. Please don’t go where she thought it was going.
Jason smirked, watching it play out on her face, enjoying every moment. ‘It was a golden retriever.’
‘No,’ Pip said quietly, the pain in her chest a physical ache.
‘So, I’m watching Becca walk this dog,’ he continued. ‘And she lets him off the lead, gives him a stroke and then tells him to “Go home,” which of course I thought was strange at the time. Proved to me even more that Becca did not deserve a dog, if she couldn’t handle the responsibility. And then she starts throwing sticks for him, and he kept bringing them back. Then she throws one as far as she possibly can through the trees, and as the dog is running after it, Becca runs away. Back towards home. The dog can’t find her. He’s confused. So, of course, now I know Becca isn’t ready for a dog, because she never asked me, because she doesn’t listen. So, I approach this dog. Very friendly little thing.’
‘No,’ Pip said again, louder this time, trying to pull at her restraints.
‘Becca wasn’t ready and she hadn’t listened to me. She had to learn her lesson,’ Jason smiled, feeding himself from the despair on Pip’s face. ‘So, I walk this friendly dog down to the river.’
‘No!’ Pip shouted.
‘Yes!’ he laughed, matching her. ‘I drowned your dog. Of course, I didn’t know it was your dog back then. I did it to punish my daughter. And then you release your podcast, which caused all sorts of trouble for me, but you talked about your dog – Barney, wasn’t it? You thought it was just an accident, and you didn’t blame Becca for what happened. Well,’ he clapped his hands again, ‘it wasn’t an accident. I killed your dog, Pip. See, destiny moves in mysterious ways, doesn’t it? Binding us together all the way back then. And now you’re here.’
Pip blinked, and all the colour leeched out of Jason, out of the room, replaced with red. Rage red. Violent red. Behind-her-eyes red. Blood-on-her-hands red. I’m-going-to-die red.
She screamed at him. A bottomless scream, raw and visceral. ‘Fuck you!’ she screamed, angry, desperate tears falling into her open mouth. ‘Fuck you! Fuck you!’
‘We’ve reached that point, have we?’ Jason said, a shift in the way he held his face, in the curve of his eyes.
‘Fuck you!’ Pip’s chest shuddered with the force of all her hate.
‘OK then.’
Jason walked towards her, a ripping sound as he pulled a long length of duct tape from the roll.
Pip drew her legs into her chest, kicked out at him with her bound feet.
Jason sidestepped her easily. He knelt down beside her, slowly, assuredly.
‘Never listen,’ he said, reaching out for her face.
Pip tried to pull away, pulled so hard she thought she might just leave her hands behind, tied to the shelves while she went free. Jason pushed one hand against her forehead, holding it fast against the metal pole.
Pip bucked. She tried to kick. Tried to thrash her head side to side.
Jason pressed the tape against her right ear. Looped it up over the crown of her head, back down and pressed it into her other ear, stuck down under her chin.
More ripping. More tape.
‘Fuck you!’
Jason shifted the angle, winding it horizontally across her chin, around the back of her head, sticking to her hair.
‘Stop moving,’ he said, frustrated. ‘You’re making it messy.’
He wound the tape up over her chin, another row, catching her bottom lip.
‘Never listen,’ Jason said, his eyes narrowed and concentrated. ‘So, now you can’t listen. Or speak. Or even look at me. You don’t deserve to.’
The winding duct tape pressed her lips together, stealing her screams again. Up higher, tucked in under her nose.
Jason wound the tape round the back of her head again, shifting up to leave her nostrils clear. Panicked breaths in and out. Tape round and round and up her nose, to the bottom of her eyes.
Jason shifted again, pulling the roll of tape up to cover the top of her head. Round and round. Working down her forehead. Down and round.
Tape over her eyebrows, sticking them down.
Round the back of her head again.
And there was only one thing left.
One final strip of her face.
Pip watched him do it. Watched him as he took her sight from her, as he’d taken the rest of her face, only closing her eyes at the very last moment before he pressed the tape over them.