Shame Of Maastricht by Marie N. Hallen (any book recommendations TXT) 📕

Lotte sighed again and fell on the blanket, kicking the wall in despair. Kate could hear her sobbing hysterically.

“A nice way to comfort a girlfriend in distress,” thought Kate. Her arm was still a hotbed of agonizing pain but it could be tolerated as if something didn’t let her immerse in physical suffering. And if this pain was red, the pain which was harrowing her soul was black. She realized there was some kind of thrombus formed on her wound and this could save her some time and prevent major bleeding or sepsis. She passed out again and then woke up. No hunger, no thirst, no other feelings, her body was numb and deprived of all needs.

She didn’t dream of escape for herself. What changes once they are released? They both were so happy together. She will proceed with the meaningless existence, empty soul, destroyed life, disgust for sex and food. Waking up without him, living in the world without him. She never wanted to stand in between him and his new woman if he finds happiness with her. She kept thinking about all the time.

Kate closed her eyes and remained in the same position trying to catch some sleep. When she opened her eyes she saw Lotte sitting next to her.

“Nice that you woke up, I wanted to help you with your hand. That guy Sven, he brought some medicines and bandages, so we need to go to the bathroom and disinfect the wound. He is waiting for you as this is the only time we can to go the bathroom.”

Kate tried to stand up but failed, as she was too weak even to sit. Sven and Felix were standing at the door waiting for them. Felix made a sign to stop and went out. He came back later with a few bottles of water and a large plastic basin.

“I guess she is too weak to walk now, so you can do this right here”.

After ligation Kate went to “bed” again. She didn’t make a sound during the painful procedure as if nothing happened. Her face was still pale and she didn’t have any desire to move, but found the power to take off the steel pendant from her neck and handed it to Lotte, letting her know that she could use it to try to open the door or take off the chains. Lotte took it and hid it in her pocket.

“Thank you very much, I will try to use it as a knife. Not sure if it works though...”

One more day passed. It was very quiet outside. Lotte was sitting and trying to get rid of the chains but couldn’t do anything.

Share Your Disgrace

Kate woke up from a loud sound of the steel door opening. All the crew, this time with one more man who accompanied Felix, Bas and Sven, were in the room. They brought one more steel chair just like the one where Kate was sitting during execution and the goddamn toolbox with the implements of hell could be also seen on the table. Kate wasn’t very surprised as she knew it would be predictable, but her heart sank when she thought of a possible course of events. This evil team had some clear plans about them.

This time they didn’t even look at Kate laying in the corner wrapped in a blanket. Bas and the unfamiliar man approached Luuk and Lotte.

“Who? What do we begin with?” the stranger asked.

“This lady has a lot of things to tell us.”

Felix and stranger grabbed Lotte, while the stranger was unchaining her. Lotte yelled and tried to push them away. They dragged her to the chair and pushed her down.

“You came to get my hand, animals? I hope you choke on it!”

“Just sit down, relax, we are not doing anything yet. We’re just going to have a short conversation, but the outcomes depend on you,” Bas explained. At this point it became clear it was Bas who managed everything.

“You! What else do you want? Can’t you see we have nothing to offer! Leave me alone!” Lotte cried hysterically as the men were chaining her hands and legs to the chair.

“Shhhh… I guess your tongue is not a thing you need least. Oh come on, why do people learn so bad? You never learn on the mistakes of others, want to learn on your own ones? Or maybe you are just so retarded that you don’t understand what you’ve been told several times in a row?” Bas facepalmed.

“I’m afraid, all women become retarded at some point. Especially when it comes to stress,” Felix intervened. “Slow down, slow down. Don’t press on her. She doesn’t want us to behave like beasts. We are not beasts, are we? Just a few questions, miss.”

“Ok, things are fixed now. Sit calm and answer. The less you lie, the more you gain. And remember, it’s you who is responsible for the lives and well-being of your parents”.

Kate turned around slowly trying to stay as quiet as possible. Lotte was sitting strapped to the chair just like Kate the day before. She promised herself to stay calm until the end and avoid excessive emotions no matter what happens, but still couldn't help crying. The tears of hate and wrath were flowing down her cheeks and she was enraged by the fact there was no single opportunity to punch at least one of the perpetrators in the face or attack them like Kate did. Out of all three of them, Luuk had the least opportunity, because it was him tormentors were afraid the most. He had much less freedom of movement and speech as Bas did everything possible to isolate him and spared no chains to keep him away. He never had a chance to help or support Lotte or Kate on one or another way. This factor was the most aggravating and depressing for everyone as they all were separated from each other and only Kate could sometimes approach Lotte, but she was too weak to move. Felix wiped Lotte’s face with a paper napkin but that didn’t seem to comfort her and she continued to sob and gasp for air. Suddenly a stranger came closer. He was holding a nail gun and a bag, the content of which remained unknown.

“Ok, so, what we want to know is how we can make acquaintance of your parents. In other words, how can we reach them?” Bas began. “You guys might think you are really lucky that you didn’t have your phones with you when we first met, but we do know something. Otherwise why would we keep you here? And you will be even more lucky if we don’t have to spend a lot of time to find the exact address where we can meet your parents”.

“Mom is in Leeuwarden now, at the conference. She is a doctor,” Lotte replied. Her voice was trembling and of course Bas didn’t believe her.

“Nice. What about your dad?”

“Same, he accompanies her. What makes you ask this? I’m twenty-nine and we don’t live together as you could notice.”

“I noticed that you’re a big girl, but how do we contact your parents and let them know you are our dear guest? You said they would be looking for you?”

“My parents will not answer any questions before you tell them our whereabouts”

“Oh trust me, they will. I’m going to send them the evidence of what happened to you and your friends. Or a warning at least. Do you want them to receive your hand or a hand of that girl. We still have it, don’t we, Koen?”

A stranger, whose name revealed to be Koen - apparently the men weren’t ashamed of disclosing their identities - just nodded without saying a word and looked at the nail gun. He got one step closed and was now standing behind Bas.

“Your full name.”

“Lotte Dijkstra.”

“Do you have children?”

“No, I don’t.”

“A husband?”

“Just a boyfriend.”

“Just a boyfriend… Where do your parents live? Address.”

“Are you going to bring them my hand? They live in Maastricht right near Forum but rent out a part of their house. So they are not alone.”

“No, we are not going to bring them your hand. We will send Kate’s hand as an explicit example.”

“Bas, we need their phone numbers also. How will we keep in touch with them? It’s not so safe to keep bringing them new stuff every day at their door. We need to remain anonymous,” Felix intruded.

“Do you remember phone numbers of your parents? Email?”

“I don’t remember anything. And they only use email for work. They won’t take it seriously” - at this point Lotte’s voice seemed to become more confident and calmer. She looked around and started coughing. Luuk was sitting in a corner, Kate looked up at saw that his mouth was taped again. He was rattling with a chain and trying to moan.

“Good thing they didn’t such radical measures as in case with me,” she said.

“How do we contact your parents?” Felix asked.

“I don’t know their work emails. They both have accounts on social media, but use mostly messengers and I don’t remember the phone numbers”.

“What are your parents’ names? We will find them.”.

Lotte remained silent. Bas punched her in the face and she screamed.

“Leave her alone, Bas, you’re going too fast” Koen grabbed his hand as he wanted to hit her again. “And we have this”.

“But we have no time, idiot. I need their contact right now, not even tomorrow”.

“Jesus, you’re always in a rush, Bas. Why can’t you just be normal?”

“Me? Who else would cope with all you four! I just turned away and you let that little **** murder Anne. Anne is dead, can you imagine? You never know what to expect from them even with severed hands! How on the earth could you allow that happen? I don’t know how to make it until September, really. My both parents need surgery but they also need to repay that debt. Otherwise Matthijs will bury them alive before they die from cancer.”

“Bas, I know that asshole Visser and his cocks are not going to leave us alone, but if you don’t change your approach, we may fail. It’s getting too steep already,” Felix tried to make Bas calm down and Kate could hear notes of empathy in his voice. So this is basically why they wanted to milk everyone, even if they squeeze blood together with milk and money. It became clear.

“Who are your parents?” Bas yelled again.

“Maarten and Nienke Dijkstra!” Lotte screamed.

“Fantastic! You are making progress! How old are they?”

“56 and 60!”

“Listen to me now, Lotte. Listen to me carefully. I do have contacts in police and everywhere I need. If you think they can report us or something, don’t even hope, it will only get worse. We are not going to lose our grip, and if you don’t disclose such information as their contact, you will not be able to change or affect the consequences.”

“What do you want from my parents, asshole? It’s all about money, right? Why us? Why?”

“I wish you could ask something not that banal… Why