Playground

“Zoom in on it! I want them to see everything,” Geraldine instructed.

Fuchs tapped a few keys on the control panel in front of him and then twisted a black knob clockwise. The camera angle displayed on the massive primary monitor encased in the wall crept into the gory details of Sam’s face. The stomach-churning specifics within the massive pile of human puke blasting from the edge of the drop ceiling were pure nightmare fuel.

The glistening hill of blood and bodily beef—the dead eyes, crushed jaw, and soggy crimson mane—offered a disturbing final portrait.

“Like zhis, my lady?” Fuchs asked.

Geraldine rubbed her hand together.

She reset her gaze on the champagne bottle to her right and plucked it off the counter. Aiming the cork through the open door behind her, careful not to damage any of the equipment, she popped it.

Despite the majority of the décor in the house being upper echelon, the bubbling fizz spilling over onto the Turkish rug below didn’t faze Geraldine in the slightest.

It was a special day.

She tilted the bottle sideways and dumped the contents into the glasses. Once each reached capacity, Geraldine took one for herself and dispatched the second to her cackling cohort.

Fuchs looked away from the monitor he’d just finished tweaking to show the agony on Sadie’s face.

She purged tears while still clinging to her sister’s severed arm. It was as if she believed the cells might suddenly spring back to life.

The girl’s breakdown tickled him. He hadn’t seen such hellish reactions since piloting his methods in the concentration camps. It was his job to extract such extraordinary emotion, but he was happy to do what he loved. Though Fuchs rarely displayed his pleasure, the destruction of mankind was his natural calling.

But more important than his own gratification, Fuchs had simply calculated what he knew Geraldine yearned to see. He’d been around her perverse personality long enough to take hold of the reigns.

“Here,” Geraldine said.

She offered a glass to Fuchs and they toasted.

The old Nazi pried his attention away from the demented imagery. Grinning, he grabbed the glass and lifted it towards Geraldine’s.

“To our first,” Fuchs replied.

“To the first of many,” she corrected.

“Undoubtedly.”

They lifted their fizzing drinks with pinkies raised. After their glasses clanged together, Geraldine and Fuchs each ingested a celebratory gulp.

“I feel so thankful. Part of me still believed, despite the increase in participation, that this would be a short venture. But not today. Not today…” Geraldine trailed off.

There was a slight tremor in Geraldine’s voice. Her feelings had blindsided her. The unexpected surge of excitement left her on the verge of tears. She had done it. Her darkest dreams were coming true.

“Yes, it is a shame zhat no child has made it past zhe second playground. But today, zhe odds are in our favor,” Fuchs replied.

The German took another swig of champagne, reveling in the bubbles as they popped upon his palate.

“But now, it’s time for zhe real special part.”

Fuchs tapped on the keys several times, triggering the gory video feed to transition back to the spy room.

Geraldine was attracted by the bluish light from the screen connecting with the tear streaks on Tom and Molly’s faces. Just like Sam, they were crushed.

“If you cannot have zhem, zhen neither can zhey, my lady,” Fuchs said.

His bitter tone echoed in Geraldine’s mind as he turned another knob on the control panel.

The horrifying howls and soul-crushing moans from the parents bled through the dotted openings of the speakers. The anguish relayed in the evil audio would’ve shaken even the most heartless of humanity.

Geraldine lifted the glass to her lips again.

It was lovely to see others share in her pain. She’d been dealing with loss for some time. The loss of the simple bodily amenities that the peasant’s procured naturally. The loss of climbing her mountain of desire.

The infernal cries gave her a prickly numbness inside. A diabolical sensation she’d only hoped to attain one day. The murderous structures established below The Borden Estate were finally paying dividends, bestowing her with an involuntary comradery.

Geraldine sipped her drink, taking comfort in the new truth staring back from the spy room.

She was no longer alone.