Chapter 34

"You need to scream a lot more convincingly like that, Veronica. Remember that you are being horribly racked with your arms and legs being torn from their sockets, ligament by tortured ligament. It hurts when they do that to you for real, my dear! Or so they tell me at the Torture Garden! Try to sound as if you are in the most terrible pain - please, sweetie!"

"Just look, Algernon. Anyone could tell this scene's faked. I'm not even half-way being stretched. Look at my elbows - they're still bent! Who the fuck you think will be fooled by this shit? Let's make it a bit more real, shall we? Tell them to stretch me a bit - yank my arms out of their sockets! If it hurts me from time to time - well, then I'll probably be screaming for real!"

"As you wish, my dear. You're right, of course, I suppose we could make this look a tad more realistic. Do you think you could tighten the apparatus, Edwin!"

Edwin, in charge of Special Effects, nodded briefly. "No sweat, Chief. This is a real working model. How's this for size, Veronica?"

With this he turned the handle a couple of complete turns and Veronica became taut. Too taut!! It was very uncomfortable and she found it hard to breathe or speak. "Fine" she said, breathlessly. "Just fine."

The rest of the day was a great success, although Veronica swore as she prepared to go home that her throat would never be the same! Not after all that screeching! Her legs and arms would be sore for weeks afterwards, what with all those hours stretched out on the rack! She would never have considered it possible for her body to be so pulled apart for so long and still survive! However, Algernon was delighted with the day's work.

"See you next weekend for the rest of your ordeal." he said, as she left.

She got a call from Douglass on the Tuesday before the penultimate shoot. It was a call which must have cost her hero and love a fortune, going on for over two hours - a period of time which passed as if it had only been a micro second. She tearfully told him, time after time, that she only wanted to be married soon! She even offered to fly out to marry him in America. He dissuaded her with difficulty and promised that he would be back in five weeks, all being well.

"OK. I'll start organising things Let me know who you want to invite, my sweet and I'll get the invitations printed and the church booked. The rector might want to get in touch with you, so you'd better leave a number I can get you at."

Having settled all this Veronica slept somewhat better for the next few nights. On Saturday she turned up at the studio for the next cellar/dungeon scene.

This time she was tied to a kind of rectangular framework with her arms and legs stretched so that her hands and feet were at the four corners of the frame. With such a large construction, even the tall Veronica couldn't fill it completely and she was stretched horribly tightly - a lot worse than last time!

Once again she was obliged to scream and moan in agony as a large man, naked save for a wolf mask, stood in front of her and plied a vicious and cruel leather whip. He was good at his job and didn't touch the apprehensive girl once - or it would have almost sliced her in two! Each time the thing cracked she found it hard not to blink.

"We'll beak for a cup of tea, now." said Algernon as soon as he was satisfied. "Veronica had better stay put. We don't want all the trouble of arranging her again and getting it wrong. Some film buffs never miss a trick continuity-wise! And you still need to concentrate on the screaming, Veronica. Remember you are being beaten half to death, by not given a playful slap on the bum by the boyfriend."

As the others had their tea and biscuits, Veronica stayed where she was, suspended and stretched out on the wooden frame! It got more and more uncomfortable. What had started as pins and needles had become to seem like being pierced by white hot pokers. She had always thought herself able to take a bit of pain, but this was getting to her! She wondered if these people might not be enjoying themselves above and beyond the call!

The second session featured a different member of the cult. This acolyte beat her back with a leather strap. After a few minutes, during which Algernon was getting more and more uptight about Veronica's continuing lack of realism, she made a momentous decision.

"OK.! Why not let him whack me for real for a while? It won't beak my skin - at least not too badly - and any marks he makes will most likely be a sight more realistic than the ones you painted on me! Go on! I bet the guy can't wait. I could see it in his eye this morning! He was almost salivating as watched his friend working on my stomach and breasts. Believe me, he'd just love to beat a girl and make her scream. Well - now's his chance!"

"If you're quite sure, Veronica. Just let us know if it's too much. Just say 'Stop' if you can't go on with it!"

Veronica asked herself if she were still sane! She heard the belt hiss through the air and heard its cracking impact on her smooth young back a millionth of a second before the pain exploded, alerting every nerve-ending, with a white hot searing pain, which passed through her, starting in her heart and shooting agonisingly through her body right up to the extremities. The frenzied yell she let out was a sound to gladden the Director's heart.

"Excellent, Veronica! That sounded great! Carry on, Jules!"