Bella Rosa

“You are going to be the subject of a little experiment, my dear.”

The man looked down at her, an almost grandfatherly glint in his eyes. He could be her grandfather – all greying stubble and old-fashioned coat and wrinkled eyes – except for the scalpel between his slender fingers and the leather straps holding her arms, her legs, her head. He smiled, caressed the side of her face with the flat of the blade.

“It will hurt quite immensely, I imagine, but it’s a very important study. I’m sure you can appreciate that, my dear. It’s unlikely you’ll survive the night. Shame, really. Do you know how you caught my eye?”

A wordless sob wracked her body, almost became a scream but the man pressed the point of the scalpel against the hollow of her throat and trapped her fear there.

“I saw you blush, dear. Such a lovely blush. Like bella rosa, a lovely sweet pink rose. A vital, youthful, ladylike little blush. I knew then I had to have you. But what to do with you when I got you? Such a woman must be cherished, you must take your time with her, you must explore her. And so I devised the experiment with you in mind.”

The scalpel trailed lazily down across her collarbone, barely touching her skin.

“I do not know what will kill you, ultimately. It may be blood loss, or shock, or pain. Perhaps your heart will simply cease to beat. It hardly matters. You will be made immortal, ageless, the bella rosa lady who died so beautifully. It is my gift to you.”

She strained against the leather straps, felt them cut into the soft flesh of her wrists, felt nonsense sounds spill from her mouth that may have been a plea for mercy, for freedom, for it all to be over quickly pleasepleaseplease-

The man entwined his slender fingers in hers, rubbed comforting circles on the back of her hand.

“I’m going to take little bits at a time, dear, I promise. The pieces will be small enough – you won’t choke, that would hardly be an appropriate death for my dear bella rosa. You must remember to chew before swallowing. Do you promise, dear? To remember that for me?”

Something pinched her palm, a sudden sharpness that turned to burning and tearing and wetness. The smell of urine filled her nostrils before she became aware she’d pissed herself while screaming hoarse pleas for the man to pleasepleasepleaseletmegoletmegoletmego-

The man stroked the side of her face, fingers dancing across her cheekbone. She dimly registered a small red square balancing on the edge of the scalpel in his other hand.

“Calm, now, bella rosa lady. Calm. Deep breath, and open wide for me. Remember to chew and swallow.”

Bile forced its way up her throat, stinging in tandem with the raw patch on her palm.

“Open wide, bella rosa.”