Hagiography

A murmur came from the centre of the dark. A stark light flickered on in the room as two men entered.1

"Beautiful lines," said the first to speak.2

"Nice looking cunt," observed the second.3

The two men stood silently over the bound, naked girl until she had awakened completely and was in a frenzy of movement.4

"He's gonna—" said the second, looking at the girl, but stopped himself before finishing the sentence. "You wanna start?" he said, holding the area of his torso that she had managed to elbow.5

"Yes."6

The first began to remove his clothing and the girl began to pull herself around the room, words and screams muffled by a gag. He stripped down to black boxer shorts and removed a narrow metal case from the heavily stained desk sitting to his right. From this he removed a short, unsharpened pencil and began chewing on the dull end, placing the case on the desk. The second scratched at the tattoo on his bicep. It was scabbing.7

"You wan' me to leave, Siggy?" he said, looking at the door at the far end of the room. Siggy shook his head, declining the offer, still chewing on the pencil. He did not stop until it was sharp and his teeth were covered in lead. He held out the pencil and the second took it, putting it on the desk as Siggy began the process again with a new one. The second stared at the girl. This continued until all the pencils in the case were sharp.8

"I’m ready," said Siggy.9

"'Kay," said the second.10

The girl had stopped jerking around the room and sat in a corner, gasping, her outbursts having long since become horse. Siggy picked up a pencil and walked to her. He bent forward and kissed her cheek, leaving some of the pencil lead from his previous action. 11

"All for you," he said. Standing up with his head to his chest, he let a tear trickle from his left eye all the way down his face, his neck, and his stomach. He then rubbed his arms and legs with the slight moisture from the tear. The second picked at the tattoo between glances at Siggy. Then, with a growl, Siggy began to write. Dashing up and down the length of the room, he drove his pencil into the white plaster, leaving florid adjectives, similes, and metaphors. He sprung up and down, managing to write scrawled characters of love upon the ceiling. He crawled across the bare white floor, leaving explicit sexual verbs in his wake. He moved the desk—avoiding the shards of the broken mirror lying near it—to create space, sometimes using it as a stand to write more on the ceiling. He repeated these actions for two hours, until the formerly white, 30x30 foot room was nearly black with words.12

"I’m done," he said to the second as he stretched and proceeded to sit on the desk.13

"Looks great. Even better than the last one," said the second.14

"Thanks," said Siggy, smiling at his work.15

"Naw, really. I mean it. You do primo work," said the second.16

"I know."17

The second walked around the room slowly, reading the words out loud with exaggerated elocution. He turned back to Siggy and looked at him for a moment. The girl sat in her corner, the only place not marked, breathing softly. She had not stopped staring at Siggy since he began his work.18

"Done great for yer body. There's exercise for yah," said the second as he eyed Siggy’s lean muscularity.19

"Thank you," said Siggy, still smiling, "I suppose it's time. Wonderful night." 20

"Yeah," said the second.21

Siggy proceeded wipe away the sweat, dressed, and collect the scraps of his spent pencils, placing them back in the case. The girl continued to stare.22

"See you next time," said Siggy as he made his way to the door, not looking back.23

"See yah," said the second.24

Siggy paused for a moment to inspect a misspelled noun. With a sigh, he left the room, closing the only door behind him. The second stood silent for a moment, then turned to the girl.25

"For you..." he whispered at her, she still wide eyed. With that he opened the drawer of the desk. Studying the image of the Medusa on his bicep, he moved toward her with the needle and the ink.26