House of Skin

MEMOIRS OF THE TEMPLAR SOCIETY (9)

It had been three months now since Stadtler was put in the room, since Zero began destroying his mind, unmaking it and laying it bare as bones. Finally, the door opened and Zero went in.

“How are you, my boy?”

Who was this man? Was he a friend?

Zero unlocked his shackles and Stadtler crawled into the corner, hugging himself.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me, my boy,” Zero soothed. “I’m your friend. I’ve come to help you.”

Stadtler looked at him. The place stunk of his own filth. His dark, quiet little hole was full of light now.

“Can you tell me your name?”

Stadtler shook his head. He couldn’t remember. He could only remember the name of the man who told his life story over and over. He knew every detail of that man’s life. But that wasn’t his life, was it?

“You see what I have here, boy?”

He did. It was a coin. A pretty, shiny silver coin. It caught the light and glimmered.

“Look at it, boy. It’s pretty, isn’t it? The beautiful light shines and shines? No, don’t look away. It’s a game, you see? Just keep looking at it. Shining. Glittering. Lovely coin.”

Stadtler watched it and it was so pretty. He saw so many things in the light that moved back and forth, back and forth. What a nice game this was. His eyelids slipped shut and he never even knew it.

“Can you hear me, boy?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to know who you are?”

“Yes.”

“Good. First you’ll have to remember the voice. Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Zero lit a cigarette and began the final stage of his little experiment.