At dinnertime, as Jim raised his hand hard to take some food, Joey passed by and knocked his hand scattering the food all over the floor.
"Ah, it seems as if your arm is broken, so you can't take the food for your dinner. How about not eating? Or it will hurt. Ha-ha."
Joey's voice was dripping in sarcasm as he kept making snide remarks about him.
Jim missed breakfast. Not of his own volition, but mainly due to the fact that his arm had sustained heavy damage when he got beaten up this morning. He felt so dizzy and hungry that he didn't mind kneeling down and begging Joey for some respite from the suffering.
"Sir, I'm wrong. Please forgive me. Please let me go." Groveling on his knees, Jim tugged at the bottom of Joey's trousers.
"Oh, what now? You want me let you go? Well, that depends on my mood." Joey curled his lips and looked down at Jim, with a scornful expression.
He wouldn't allow Jim even the slightest bit of peace, because his employer had emphasized the fact that Jim needed to be taught a lesson. They would force him to tell them where Shirley was when he'd fall apart mentally. Joey felt as though he hadn't tested Jim's limits yet, so he wanted to play a game of cat-and-mouse with him.
Then, Joey had a self-satisfied smirk on his face. He was sentenced into the prison because he had committed a big crime. This time, the violence deep in his heart was totally aroused. He wanted to give Jim a good lesson.
The blithe indifference in Joey's facial expression was an indication to Jim that he was never going to taste peace again. His already weakened body, failing to hold on, suddenly gave up on him and went out of consciousness.
Joey immediately knelt down and stretched out his hand to check Jim's pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found a steady pulse.
Without a word or warning, he stood up and kicked Jim in the stomach a few times before leaving him there to suffer on his own.
This followed for a couple of more days, on repeat. One day, as Jim simply walked past Joey, he suddenly turned around and yelled at Jim for disrespecting him and used it as an excuse to beat him to a pulp.
One day, after having been subjected to relentless physical and mental abuse, Jim finally broke down.
He threw himself at Joey's feet and bowed his head.
"Sir, please, please, stop. I'll do whatever you want me to do. Please let me go. Please!" Jim was a strong man, about 5 ft 9 in tall. Watching a man like that burst into tears out of sheer desperation was not a common occurrence. Although the other prisoners were hard as nails, it was a rare sight for them to witness something like that and they even felt pity for him.
Joey narrowed his eyes at him and said, "I can let you go, but you need to tell me where Shirley is right now. I'm sure you know who I am talking about. The girl you kidnapped! Telling me the truth is your one-way-ticket out of here. So, what will it be?"
All this time, Jim had no idea that Joey had been treating him like a dog for this reason. He nodded to show his agreement without any hesitation or resistance.
"Okay, okay. I'll talk. She is in a wooden cabin in the north of the suburbs in Maple Town. It's the only cabin with a big chimney. It should be fairly easy to recognize."
As he spoke, his snot and tears dripped down his face. Joey pursed his lips up and cast a thoroughly disgusted glance at him. He wanted to torture Jim more, but unfortunately, Jim didn't have the fortitude to put up a fight.
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