23. CRACKING SKULLS IN PORTISHEAD
Pt Six
By Tony M Richards
Portishead: Saturday November 20th 1982.
Pegasus was in some sort of pain....
Antonio was unsure if it was a physical pain or some sort mental anguish; maybe it was both, Antonio reasoned..........
The boys sobbing was painful to hear; his screeching when he hit the electrical bars was terrifying....
Antonio felt helpless to do anything- Christ! He couldn't even help himself.....
Before Dr Unsworth had made his exit, he had lit a fire. The room had been so dimly lit, Antonio hadn't even noticed a fireplace....
But there it was......
.... A roaring fire inside The Head Of Zeus......
In Pegasus' moments of peace, Antonio lay on the ground, mesmerised by the hypnotic, swirling orange flames......
.... Memories....
Painful memories flashed through his head......
Trains flying at high speed through his battered skull..... ..... Inside his mind he was back with Uncle Frank....
...... He remembered Uncle Frank taking him to the barbers, barking instructions to shave the young boys scalp:
"Get rid of it! That horrible curly black hair! Give him a proper cut....."
Antonio could remember his scalp being shorn to a brutal number one grade- A peanut cut!
Antonio remembered Uncle Frank buying him clothes- Skinhead attire:
"Can't have you looking like a flippin' jungle bunny son.... Gotta look the part Tony....."
Uncle Frank would drive Antonio around in his Daimler, pointing to people in the street and giving his opinions on the immigrants and their respective culture:
"Look at these Paki wankers! They eat so much fuckin' curry boy, it comes outta their skin! They fucking stink! Disgusting! Makes me sick!"
Antonio remembered Uncle Franks views on West Indian men especially:
"Thick as pig shit.... The Jungle Bunnies like yer old man like drugs n being violent! They knock birds up and then run off, leaving some other poor cunt to clean up the mess.... Wild like fucking apes! Cunts! Like those Irish pigs..... You don't wanna be like that boyo....."
Strange, cruel memories......
Best forgotten?
Antonio had no time to think for too long, Pegasus began to shake the cage violently. Antonio stood up, unsure of what to do.
What was wrong?
..... What was up with Pegasus?
For a moment Antonio pondered weather Pegasus sensed that something may be about to happen: A premonition of some sort?
Whatever it was, Pegasus was beginning to panic. He shook the bars with such force, small tremors shot along the wooden floor, causing something mounted high up on the wall to fall quickly; loudly clanging as it hit the floor.
The electric bars crackled loudly.
Antonio walked over to the cage and pulled the long sheet off. For a moment Pegasus shielded his eyes from the dim light and groaned loudly again.
"Pegasus, what is it boy? What is it?" Antonio asked, forgetting Pegasus was unable to speak.
He was mute. Desperation was getting the better of Antonio. "Pegasus? Pegasus?"
Pegasus stared intensely at Antonio and began to shake his head, pointing to the doorway. He seems to grow more violent as he pointed to the door.
The penny suddenly dropped for Antonio. Pegasus knew what was in store. He was warning Antonio, something terrible was about to happen. Antonio should leave. But how? His foot was in shackles. He was deep underground. Trapped beneath a remote lighthouse.
Pegasus began to lose control of himself rapidly. The prospect of another gruesome torture was evidently too much for him to bare. Pegasus had seen this before, it occurred to Antonio. Surely this was why he panicking so much. The sick bastards had made the poor fucker watch all this shit. The affection that Antonio had showed Pegasus for a brief moment in time had resonated and now Pegasus was eager to save Antonio but unsure how to communicate it.
Pegasus pointed to something outside of the cage; grunting; groaning; shrieking.
Antonio looked on the ground and saw what it was that was causing the over excitement in Pegasus.
The sword lay on the ground....
Quite a thing of beauty to some......
Antonio walked over and picked it up. Four foot long at least; as heavy as a small child. He pulled the sleek Iron cover off and examined the fine instrument. It's thick leather handle had what Antonio thought was ancient writing or text on it. What did it say? This was not the time to ponder. Antonio had to act.
Pegasus lost control of himself rapidly. On bended knees he sprung up down like a frog.
Suddenly his head crashed violently into the electrified bars above him. The force of his long frame had pushed his skull so hard into the bars that they popped loudly, glass breaking, sending sparks flying and shorting out, the blue light suddenly turned a deathly black.
Antonio dropped the sword and walked slowly to the cage:
"Pegasus?"
Pegasus lay lifelessly on the ground. Was he dead? Antonio wasn't sure. He reached through the cage and stroked the boys face. He then put two fingers on his neck. He could feel a pulse but it was fading.... His life was slipping away.....
Antonio saw something in Pegasus that he identified with.
Half breed..... Outsider..... Freak.... Boy.....
Antonios eyes welled up as he removed the belt from around his trousers....
If god existed right now, Antonio was merely a conductor.....
He was acting on behalf of the man upstairs.... ....... He knew exactly what he had to do.
Antonio slid his belt around Pegasus' neck and pushed the top of the belt through the metal buckle. He placed his feet on the cage for leverage and pulled the belt tightly....
Goodbye Pegasus..... Time to go home.....
Antonio closed his eyes tightly and gritted his remaining back teeth. Two minutes seemed like hours.....
....... Neck bones breaking.........
Pegasus let out a faint choking sound, before the choking abated and saliva dripped from his lower bottom lip......
Antonio released his grip and sat with his head in his hands for a moment.....
Tears rolled down Antonios swollen, bloodstained face.....
Had he done the right thing?
He knew he had, but the realisation of what he had done had caused doubt deep inside his soul. Only time would tell and his fate would give him the proof he so desperately wanted.
If god sought vengence upon him for this act, it would be his doom underneath this evil lighthouse.... Zues would consume Antonio- Alive......
He stood up and grabbed the sword. He looked down at his foot and then at the fire. Upon the mantelpiece he saw the rum bottle Dr Unsworth had poured for Antonio.
Pegasus had been trying to help Antonio. Now he understood. Killing Pegasus had been the easy part, now it was his turn. To lie and wait to die would be an insult to the memory of Pegasus. Antonio had to act fast. Very fast. Very fast indeed.
He placed the sword and the rum bottle in front of the swirling red fire.
Quartised. The act of burning flesh to stop blood loss.
Antonio took three huge glugs of the ancient rum to calm himself.
For a moment he felt dizzy and tried to snap his mind back into focus. Focus man, focus!
Antonio pulled the black sheet used for covering the cage next to him, pushing a handful deep into his mouth.
He pulled the iron cover of the sword and inspected the blade. It was important now more than ever that the blade was razor sharp. He pointed his index finger to the top of the blade. He lowered it. With the slightest of contact, the tip of finger split wide open, blood pouring down the palm of his hand.
This was a good sign. It meant the sword was sharpened and wouldn't need too much pressure to cut through skin, muscle and bone.
Antonio rolled up his trouser leg and lifted the sword as high as he could.
This was it. It was time.
He slammed the sword down hard above his ankle. A white strike of lightning ripped through him but he felt nothing at first. He repeated the action again. The white lightning shot through him. He felt it this time. Onwards.
The third time, no white lighting. Just a burning smell as he pushed his severed leg into the fire, the black sheet muffling his screams.
He fell back, his head slamming violently against the ancient wooden floor as he screamed into the sheet. He screamed until his head hurt and his throat burned like the fires of hell.
He closed his eyes.
Antonio was in a lucid state. No quite asleep, not quite awake. He was barely conscious. Maybe god was ensuring he felt the effects of what was happening, ensuring he didn't get off that easily.
At times like these, time doesn't exist. It isn't important in the depths of hell. All clocks freeze with fear. Time is for mortals in the real world, it has no place in a the devilish twilight.
Antonio fell into darkness for a brief moment, then awoke, removing the cloth from his mouth. He closed his eyes as he rolled down his trouser leg.
Antonio drank as much rum as he could before feeling violently sick. He crawled to the end of the room where a long table was surrounded by chairs.
None this felt real to him, yet it was. Very real.
He steadied himself on the table and grabbed and chair. Using the sword he severed the back leg of the chair that ran from the bottom to the top. He now had a walking aid. A stick.
A cane.
Antonio could not continue onwards without an aid to help him balance. Now he had it. Antonio turned to take one last look at Pegasus.
Antonio felt his eyes well up. The boy was dead but looked strangely at peace with himself. Pegasus he hoped was in a better place.
Hopefully at peace.
As he turned to walk away, he saw something. Something that grabbed his attention. A book.
Antonio dropped to the ground and tore the bottom of his trouser leg at the seem, creating two strands. There was no longer and foot there. He tied the pieces of fabric creating a knot.
He grabbed the heavy book and inspected it. It looked ancient and like the sword, it had some sort of ancient text.
Antonio put the book down his newly secured trouser leg and hobbled to the door at the end of the long room.
Opening the door he saw the long, low ceilinged corridors in front of him.
He closed the door behind him quietly and headed back down the dimly lit maze.
Could he make it back?
Could he find his way back?
Would he be lost forever?
Severing his foot was only half of job at hand. The real struggle had only just begun. Could Antonio escape back to the surface world above? Or would his inner demons tear him apart from the inside, stopping his return to the so-called normality that existed outside The Head Of Zues......