Jon Athan - Am I Beautiful?

“Kill me!” Adam begged. “Don’t hurt her! Please! Just kill me! Isn’t that what you want? Just do it… do it… please do it…”

Miki crouched behind the chair. She grabbed Amber’s right hand with a tight grip, pushing her thumb into her palm, then she closed the shears over her captive’s index finger. She squeezed the handles as hard as possible, then she wiggled the shears to try to break her bone and cut off her finger. Amber looked up at the ceiling and gasped as a spear of pain bolted up her arm.

“Ma-ma!” Riley cried while hitting her tray. “No! Ma! No!”

Adam said, “Stop it… God, what are you doing to her? I–I’ll talk. I’ll tell her e–everything. Please stop it. Please, Miki, don’t do this.”

Miki squeezed the shears’ handles with both of her hands. Amber’s knuckle burst with a loud popping sound. Her index finger was severed. It hit the floor behind her chair. At first, Amber felt a numbness in her hand. Then a wave of burning, paralyzing pain followed. An uncomfortable blanket of warmth enveloped her, as if she were sleeping under a wool blanket in Death Valley.

Her head tilted back. One eye was wide open and the other was narrowed, but both of her eyes rolled up. Her hearing faded first, then her vision followed suit. Unable to tolerate the pain, she fainted.

Miki said, “Oh, look. We have some toys for Riley.”

She picked up the amputated finger and ear from the floor, then she grabbed the eyebrows from Amber’s lap. She put the human pieces on Riley’s tray. The eyebrows landed with a splat sound and looked like two bloody, furry caterpillars. Riley kept crying, shaking her head, and saying the same word—‘ No! ’—over and over.

“You bitch!” Adam yelled. “Get that away from her, you… you… you fucking cunt!”

Ignoring him, Miki stroked Riley’s hair and said, “It’s playtime, honey. Have fun.”

Adam shouted, “Get your hands off her!” As Miki retreated, Adam looked at Riley and said, “Ry Ry, don’t cry. Da–Don’t touch that. It’s… It’s not a toy. Just close your eyes. Please close your eyes, baby.”

“Ma-ma,” Riley whined.

“Look who’s awake,” Miki said as she gently slapped Amber’s cheeks.

Amber’s eyelids flickered as she regained consciousness. She shuddered and moaned as the pain moved through every inch of her body. Her head throbbed, her chest burned, her stomach hurt, and even her feet ached.

Miki grabbed the sides of Amber’s head, irritating the remaining bits of her amputated ear. She forced Amber to look at Adam.

Miki said, “Adam, tell us the truth. Your wife is getting weak… and ugly. She might not survive much longer if you don’t start confessing.”

“Okay, okay,” Adam said rapidly. “I’ll talk, I’ll talk. But can you… can you please take… ‘ that ’ away from my daughter? She doesn’t deserve to see that. You know it’s true.”

“Wow. You really love seeing your wife suffer, don’t you?”

As Miki opened her shears, Adam yelled, “Okay! I’ll talk!” Miki closed the shears and gave him a nod. Adam puffed out a trembling sigh, then he said, “I met Miki at a bar in Tokyo. The guys—some business associates—they told me… me and Dallas… about Japanese girls who, um… who pursued foreign men. They said these types of girls… women, I mean… These women were easy, that’s what they said. So, I… I’m sorry, Amber, but I was drunk. I was drunk and you already know I’m an idiot…”

“No excuses,” Miki said. “Just tell us everything that happened.”

Adam said, “So, I approached Miki at the bar. She was watching me and I was… watching her. We chatted and we clicked. Dallas was supposed to step in and stop me. That’s not an excuse. That’s the truth. He said he wasn’t going to let it go that far because he knew I was drunk, but he… I guess he failed. We—Miki and I—went to a ‘love hotel.’ And at that hotel… we had… we…” His throat and mouth were completely dry. He sniffled, then he said, “We had sex.”

Miki leaned close to Amber’s good ear and said, “We spent hours together. I sucked his cock and he ate my pussy. He fucked me without a condom because he couldn’t find any that fit. And he finished inside of me.”

“No,” Adam said with a weak voice.

“He did.”

“I didn’t.”

“ He did . And you know what he told me? All night, he said, ‘Miki, you’re the most beautiful girl in the world.’ He really made it sound like he meant it, and that made me think that he loved me.”

“I’m so sorry, Amber.”

All tears looked the same, but Adam could tell Amber’s tears came from emotional anguish. His betrayal hurt her more than Miki’s torture. She was now physically and mentally broken.

Miki asked, “Did you ever tell her what happened next? Why you ran away from Japan?” Adam shook his head. Miki said, “Well, now’s your chance. Tell her.”

Adam said, “I left Japan because… I attacked Miki in her apartment after she threatened to come here and tell you everything. I didn’t want to hurt her, but I couldn’t control myself. I was drunk and scared, I was afraid of getting caught and losing you, so I came running back home and I…” His eyes darted to Miki. He said, “I brought this evil woman back with me.”

Amber’s sudden shriek caused Adam to flinch and Riley to cover her ears. Miki smiled at Adam, her arm moving behind Amber’s chair.

“What are you doing to her?!” Adam shouted. “Stop! Stop it! Let her go! I did what you told me to do, you bitch! You lying bitch!”

Amber’s screaming stopped with another hair-raising popping sound. Miki had severed her other index finger. Blood spouted out of her knuckle in a steady stream for a few seconds before slowing into a weak trickle. She arched her neck back and took in short breaths through her nose. Her vision pulsed—darkening, brightening, darkening, brightening—before it stabilized a minute later.

Miki put the finger on Riley’s tray. Riley didn’t notice it because she had finally closed her eyes. The intruder returned to Amber’s seat. She pushed Amber’s head down to force her to see her husband, then she slapped her cheeks one by one to keep her awake.

“I–I knew I couldn’t trust you,” Adam said. “It doesn’t matter what I say, huh? If you wanna hurt me, punish me, kill me, then do it already! I’m right here, you bitch!”

“Stop screaming before I decide to cut her eyes out and feed them to your daughter,” Miki said.

“You… You’re a monster. Jesus Christ, you’re crazy.”

“I hurt her again because you broke the rules. You didn’t do what I told you to do. I told you to tell her everything . ‘I attacked Miki?’ Really? That could mean anything. We want the details, Adam. You can tell her about me, tell her I stalked you or anything like that, but don’t forget about your actions. Go on, try again.”

Adam looked Amber dead in the eye. She was barely conscious.

He said, “She stalked me, Amber. She showed up at my meetings, she followed me to business dinners, she went to my hotel… She knew everything about me because she–she… she looked through my stuff. My passport, my wallet, probably my phone. She stalked me. So, I got drunk and I… I confronted her.”

“Confront? You’re going to need to do better than that.”

“I’m getting there!” Adam snarled. He breathed deeply to compose himself, then he said, “I confronted her in her apartment. She threatened to come here—to our home—and tell you everything. I lost control of myself. I hit her with a bottle of whiskey, then I… Fuck me, I, uh… I cut her face open with the bottle. Then I used her scissors to cut her other cheek open. I beat her so bad. I thought she was going to die. I knew I was wrong, but I couldn’t stop running until I got home. That’s what happened. I’m a… I’m a monster, too, okay?”