“Do you know Groundhog Day? It’s a nice little movie. I must have watched it a thousand times by now. Tried everything in the book to fix my little problem. Fell in love, several times. Blew up the place I thought could be the cause with a bunch of C4. Tried to learn my lesson and become a better person. Nothing worked. So, I started taking advantage of my situation.” he picks up the scalpel again.

“If I was going to be stuck in hell, I could at least have fun with it, right? My normal life didn’t matter to me anymore, I just wanted to be over. Attempted to kill myself, several times. Shot myself in the head, hanged myself, drove my car off a cliff, you know, like the guy. Set myself on fire, twice. That’s funny, because you would really think after a while you will stop feeling pain, but it hurt like a bitch both times. Then, I started doing the more depraved stuff. To others, I mean” he takes a few steps forward, toward me. I try to scream at him, again, get him to stop, but the gag is doing way too good a job. I knew it wouldn’t work, yet I refuse to accept my fate, even as he gets closer and closer, brandishing the sharp instrument.

“I’m going to skin you alive. I have gotten remarkably good at it. I think if I ever get out of this, I could be an amazing surgeon. You will stay alive throughout the whole thing, I know because we have done this before. But I really want to try to push my limits – so today’s procedure will involve seeing how far you will make it when I start stripping you of your muscles. I think I can do your entire legs, unless I screw up and cut an artery.” he is already right above me, describing the most horrific things with a passive look on his face.

“The beauty of it all is, that if I fail, you won’t have any memory of it at all and we can just try again tomorrow.”

I try to yell again. I wiggle. I scream into the gag. Anything to save me from the pain that’s about to come. But it’s no use. He starts at my legs, and slowly, oh so slowly skins me. My face is the most difficult, because I can’t help but twitch my facial muscles. I feel woozy from the blood loss, but I still feel every single cut, every single strip of flesh I lose. And then, when he is doing my abdominal cavity, he screws up and cuts an artery. After so much pain, I feel relieved, when his face twists with disappointment and darkness takes hold of me, as I bleed to death.

Darkness.

Cold.

Death.

Finally.

​

​

​

Again.

“Do you know Groundhog day?”