Fifty years ago

Romania

His head hung down, hair obstructing any view of his face and chest. Karmen was bound hand and foot to a chair, piano wire cutting sharply into his once perfect flesh. For the hundredth time he tried to turn his wrists over so that the wire pierced into the delicate flesh of the underside, but the wires were too tight. He only succeeded in pushing the wire into the bone of the top. He whimpered.

“Are you awake?” Her voice was like poisoned honey- sweet but deadly.

Karmen slowed down his breathing and pretended to be asleep. How much blood had he lost? If he were still mortal would he be dead? He thought about the wounds on his back where the woman had flogged him merrily for what seemed like hours, though it was probably more like an hour with a bullwhip. Most were healed by now, probably leaving no scars. But the ones that had gone deep enough to scratch or break ribs were healing more slowly; as he thought of it he could feel one of his ribs moving slowly back into place.

“Karmen... Karmen... you are immortal now. I can torture you forever if I like... which thinking about it, I do.” She grabbed Karmen by the hair and jerked his head back so that he was looking up at her. “I have something to tell you Karmen, and it will torture you more than I can. Your beautiful, beautiful Lisa is dead.” She cackled like the witch she was.

Karmen felt his heart pulse one last time, and turn to ice. Probably only figuratively, but he felt the ice crack and his heart break. A tear leaked down his cheek. “She’s immortal, Diantha, she cannot die.” There was no point in arguing with her, if Diantha said she’d killed the love of his life then she was dead. But there was no point in denying the crazy witch the token response.

“I gave her life, Karmen, I was more than capable of taking it away. The same as I can with you.”

Karmen pondered on this- apparently this woman could take away his immortality, let him die. He laughed, only a day ago he would have given anything to be immortal so that he could be with Lisa forever. Now he would do anything just to die, to go to the other side and search out to the love of his life. If only his and Diantha’s positions were changed... then he could die. What a cruel fate life is. He cried.

“I think I’ll break a few bones now,” the witch said. “I think I’ll start with a few fingers, then an arm or two.” She smiled sweetly at him, “I’ll just go get my mallet.”

Heart-wrenching sadness turned to cold-blooded anger as she left the room. He would find a way to kill this immortal- and himself- no matter how long it took. With the fiercest battle cry he could muster he pulled at the wires; they sliced deeper and deeper into his flesh until they ground against bones. He heard a crunch as his left wrist broke with the pressure until most of the cords snapped. One of his legs was still attached to the chair.

With his good hand he broke the chair leg and pulled the stake from his leg. He left the wire around his ankle to remind him of his mission. He snuck across the room as quietly as he could, the sounds of his blood hitting to floor sounded far too loud in his ears. His heart was pounding out his war cadence.

He could hear the witch coming down the stairs toward him; he had only one chance to escape and he couldn’t fail. He held his breath and stood stark still beside the door waiting for her to open it.

“Here I come, duckie, I’ve got my mallet,” she said as she opened the door.

Karmen rammed the stake through her chest as hard as he could. The mallet hit the floor with a thud, followed shortly by the sound of her body hitting the ground.

Karmen ran up the stairs as fast as he could; he didn’t know how long it would take her to heal the wound. As he grabbed a cloak and opened the front door he could be her cackling. He grabbed the torch by the front door and threw it inside, and then didn’t look back to see if the fire caught.