In the beginning was the darkness and the darkness filled the room. A wind from the air conditioning blew gently through that space. A woman then said, "Let there be light;" and, lo, there was light. This then was the morning of the first day.
The light, actually a bank of four spot lights, shone down from the void above onto the floor below illuminating the single structure. They also illuminated a shield and the sword, star and hammer & sickle that adorned it. The shield was a familiar badge and was hung prominently on the wall facing the structure: the shield awoke the ghost of a memory: a memory that came from an earlier time. There was a scroll below the shield: a scroll with gold Cyrillic lettering embossed upon it; lettering that spelled out the words:
Комите
́
т
Γ
осуда
́
рственной безопа
́
сности.
Those familiar with the Russian language would translate this as:
Committee for State Security
or more simply as the three ominous letters
KGB
.
The structure was a simple one, just a steel St Andrew's cross set in the centre of the room. There were four rings set into the structure, four steel rings that could slide up and down in slots. An ominous structure facing an ominous shield in an ominous room. The room seemed big due to the lighting and the fact that floor, walls and ceiling were all painted light-absorbing matt black. It seemed huge, although it was scarcely twenty feet square. It was a
Special Interview Room
.
The equally black cross was adorned with the body of a naked American girl who looked to be in her early twenties. The body was, needless to say, very much alive and was held by four furry and padded cuffs: one around each ankle and one around each wrist. The cuffs were clipped onto each ring so that the girl was crucified after the manner of the patron saint of the Scots. She had lost count of the time that she had hung naked in the darkness of that cool room. Half an hour? An Hour? She guessed that this was what they meant by the term "Softening up".
When the spotlights clicked on it had taken a minute or two for her eyes to adjust, when they did she recognised the anachronism hanging on the wall in front of her.
"You have got to be kidding me!" She called out in disbelief.
She heard footsteps clatter on the metal floor. Clack! - Clack! - Clack! Slowly, threateningly they approached from somewhere behind her. Clack! - Clack! - Clack! Suddenly another spotlight flared into life dazzling her all over again.
Then came the voice: a woman's voice with the slight accent that matched the Cyrillic lettering.
"Yesterday, upon the stair..."
It was a young voice, a quiet one, a gentle one.
" ...I saw a girl who wasn't there."
Clack! - Clack! - Clack! The footsteps came closer.
"She wasn't there again today..."
There was breathing behind her.