The Butterfly Wings

By Andy Png

Being held captive for days without a clue of what to expect. Interrogated by two mysterious men and forced to deliver two dubious parcels in the middle of the night. This is a tale that detours from normality. Take a walk into the alternative world, where events are not taken at face value.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Jan 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781482882629

Andy Png

Andy sees the world in a different perspective and had always tried to fit his ideas into reality. Having written several short stories along the years, The Butterfly Wings would be his first published novel.

Book preview

1

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BLIND

T hey removed the piece of cloth that has been covering my eyes for the past few days. The strong beam of light from the hanging florescent light bulb continued to keep me blinded. I heard them chatting away but was unable to understand what they were talking about. It was definitely English or Mandarin, but I just cannot grasp what was being conversed. This was the first time in days that I heard sounds other than the crickets or insects buzzing away in the room. I was kept lying on my side, unable to move as my hands were tied behind my back and legs bounded together. The best I could do was to roll forward and have my stomach on the floor. That helped to relieve the stiffness every once in a while. With the ropes restricting my wrists, every struggle was futile. And every twists had layers of my skin chaffed off. There was a period of time whereby the smell of rusty dried blood and my raw flesh overloaded my senses.

Time did not seem to make any senses while I was lying there. As if being transported to another dimension, the only reality was the buzzing creatures and myself. No one came to me, or spoke to me. I was forgotten. The curious thing was that I did not make any sounds either, not that my mouth was gagged. The most logical thing one would do in my situation would be to shout for attention or help. Yet I kept quiet throughout and not make a single sound. Maybe I was afraid there would be a reply. And what if the reply was near me? What if the moment I opened my mouth, someone would finish me off? I do not want to end my life this way, definitely not this way. I still have a bucket list of 20 items to strike off before I kick the bucket.

Initially, I held on my bladder with the thought that urinating in my pants would be the last thing I would want to do. The last time that happened was when I was seven. Since then, I have no reason to wet myself, and would never want to embarrass myself. It was a painful path. Deep down I know the inevitable would happen, but I just wanted to hold on. I wanted to hold onto to my last bit of dignity as a socially respected adult. Pride was the only thing that kept me sane, and was also the only thing that kept my bladder tight. At first, it was a slight uncomfortable sensation near the bottom of the stomach. As time crawled ahead, the mild urge slowly evolved into a strong cramp. And the strong cramp started to pulsate, coming onto me in waves and varying in degree. Then it came, the sharp and laser-like jab directly to my bladder. I knew it was the end of the resistance. Urine gushed out uncontrollably, like a broken tap, leaving me in a confusing state of embarrassment, pain, relief and satisfaction. I felt the warm liquid reaching my left thigh, passed my left knee before stopping above ankle. At that moment, I felt my self slipped away and accepting my current pathetic state. What was happening to me, and how did I end up like this?

Sleep was a riddle during this period of time. This was especially so when you are in confined to one fixed position, and the luxury of sight had been taken away. Every moment seemed to be the same. My entire body weight was resting on my left arm, which was gradually getting numb and stiff. Every once in a while, I can feel a cold breeze across my right cheek and also the damp air around my right thigh. And whenever I moved, the raw and sensitive flesh around my wrists would remind me to keep still. Once in a while, I would come to believe that I was sleeping in this ambiguous state. However without the presence of dreams, this was not entirely clear. It was all dark and quiet.

Before they entered the room, i was recalling on what had led to my present undesirable situation. It was another normal Monday morning. Like every working day, I parked my black Suzuki Swift at the basement car park of 6 Battery Road at 8 a.m. Being earlier than the rest of the office allowed me to be able attend to my numerous emails from the US office the night before. But that Monday morning was not a normal Monday morning.

As I was turning away from my car and locking it, I felt a sudden intense sharp pain at the back of my neck. My vision started to darken and I think I fell to the ground. The next moment, I woke up to my current state of being blindfolded and tied up.

Immediately after the flashback, I heard multiple footsteps. They were heavy and steady, crying out to the surrounding silence of their arrival. I took a deep breath when I realized they stopped right in front of me. Who are these people? The duo started talking and from the tone, it seemed like casual chatting. All of a sudden, I felt someone grabbing onto my blindfold. The person’s fingernails dug into my upper cheek as he swung off the blindfold.

At that instance, I remained blinded with the spot light right in my face. I let out a painfully groan and the men laughed, enjoying the situation. They did not speak thereafter as though they were waiting for me to start. Slowly, I started to see their outlines as my eyes got adjusted to the light. However their faces were just two patches of shadow. Maybe that was what they wanted, I thought. I wanted to ask who they were and what do they want. But the moment I opened my mouth and tried to speak, nothing came out. What was going on?

I should have been frightened by the entire kidnapped scenario, but my weariness for the past few days had substantially overpowered my sense of fear. Consumed by the silence, I could sense that something bad was about to happen and I may not have the capability to stop it. I attempted to speak out several more time, but it was just my lips mouthing the motions of the words.

Give the man a glass of water, the man with the bigger outline told the much smaller and slimmer man. He is useless if he cannot talk. And he need to be kept alive. On that, the smaller man took off and came back a moment later with a glass of clear liquid. With his slender long fingers, he cupped my chin and squeezed my cheeks together, making my lips part. I could smell a tinge of lavender aroma secreting from his fingers. Without any warning, he emptied an entire glass of cold water into my parted mouth and onto my face. The freezing water stung the open wounds on my upper cheeks, numbed my mouth and the top of my throat. The flow of water down my parched throat was unexpectedly rough and burning. I choked and started coughing and grasping for air.

What is going on? Words finally came out from me, hashed and broken. Neither of the men spoke. Why am I here? What do you want? The two men just stood still behind the spotlight in complete silence. As I struggled to move away from the light, the bigger man landed his boots onto my right arm. It tore away bits of my skin and the groves of the boots sank into my flesh.

Don’t move. His words were flat and emotionless. Not if you want to get hurt. We are not here to address your questions. From this moment onwards, you are only to listen. Let’s make this pleasant and easy for all of us ok? I was speechless and just stared at the gigantic shadow looming over me. Blink twice if you understand what I have just said. I gave him two blinks. Good. Let us begin this.

2

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THE BREACH

T here was another breach this week. This time the breach was located at the heart of the Raffles district during busy morning hours. The casualties were almost doubled as compared to the one on Sunday. The attacks were starting to be more violent, and more ruthless with every new breach. Machine guns and grenades were used leading to massive causality numbers. Vehicles were overturned, and blood spatters were seen everywhere. At ground zero, not a single complete corpse was seen. They were either missing one or all of the limbs, and some were decapitated.

As it was during peak hour, the responsiveness of the police and first aid to be on site were greatly hindered. When the SWAT team arrived, the radius of damage was almost 0.5km widespread. There were considerable amount of damages and losses of lives. Trails of fear clouded the scene. Based on video footages, an estimate of more than a dozen of them broke through during this breach.

The breaches used to be more frequent in the Middle Eastern regions of the globe. However, recent