Lesson Plan

Graham spent ten days in the cellar after he had been abducted, hobbling around as the people who had kidnapped him had also hamstrung him. The wounds, apparently done with a very dull knife, were starting to fester.

Occasionally he would waken to find some food (some sort of porridge) or some tepid water. He had a pot to pee in, and, taking a cue from a book he had read as a child, diluted the urine to help lessen the smell. The pot was not emptied on a very regular basis. Whoever his captors were, they would only come when he was asleep. He would try to stay awake, to see who had taken him...did they want money? Inevitably, he would drift off.

Trying to hobble around one "day", to work the kinks out, he was startled to hear the door being unlocked. Into the room strode three...creatures. Like something out of a nightmare. Like something out of one of his novels. They were taller than men. Their breath was rank. Their fingers ended in large claws, not neatly trimmed nails. Their eyes were large.

Two of them seized Graham and strung him up with a system of ropes and pulleys from the rafters. The third stood, expectantly.

"Why are you doing this?" Graham asked. "What do you want from me? Do you want money? Let me contact my agent and I will get you money!"

There was no answer. The third reached out and flicked with its claws at Graham's chest. The skin was flayed from his chest, exposing the muscles underneath. Graham screamed.

The third spoke in a guttural voice. "We have read your works of horror with great interest. Alas, you have a very limited knowledge our habits in keeping livestock and feeding. So now is the time to correct the lack of knowledge. Here begins the first lesson!"

The claws flicked out again...and again...and again...

(C) 2008 by Frederick Paul Kiesche III.