This savage creature wretched with revenge

a reception
perhaps a wedding
a woman is dressing
to attend the event
she is my mother
she is a friend
an old expensive hotel
dark paneled wood
brass and plush carpet
the odor of decadence
she is rushing
to get to the place
where the ceremony will occur
I am holding an elevator for her
turns out is a service elevator
small and cramped
as a closet
pictures of pornography
pasted on the wall
scratched out
I say I am surprised the images
haven't been painted over
the woman doesn't seem to notice
I am trying to make her feel better
beautiful and secure
at the ceremony
something happens
we are now running in a shopping mall
other members of the party are also running
no one I recognize
but everyone is dressed well
there is a general sense of alarm
but we are also smiling
suddenly a heavy downpour
rain falling down overpasses
a man is running beside us
appears vaguely middle eastern
foreign
he seems attracted to the woman
she is flattered
I am protective
at the moment
I am willing to let down my guard
then he tackles her on a lawn
is doing something obscene to her
on top of her moving in a strange way
I am yelling for help
for the police
I am pulling the man off of her
she is wounded
humiliated
and the man is laughing
there are dozens of bent wires
stuck into her back
of all different sizes
unbent paperclips
thin wires
all around her back
not bleeding
the man says
they are all strategically placed
holding up her organs
I don't believe him
start pulling them out
in the struggle
a long thorn or splinter
has gone through the whole of my thumb
I pull it out
as I pull the wires from the woman
it is if I am deflating her
her vital organs falling down the hollow of her interior
each one having been hung on a wire inside of her
she looks at me accusingly
I should have listened to the strange man
he is watching as if he has seen this all before
there are officials holding the man
we take him to a room to interrogate him
he wants us to hurt him
the woman helps the interrogators
slowly peel his skin from his flesh
he is fastened to a board
and his flesh is nailed down around him
like wings and bloody sheets
he screams fiercely in a high pitch
but he seems to enjoy the process
the woman is relentless
she continues to flay him until there is no skin
left on his flesh
much of his musculature
and internal organs
have also been removed
placed around his bones with nails
the man is looking at me
as he can read my thoughts
I realize he is a demon
this is his joy
to have reduced to woman
from her beautiful but insecure dignity
to this savage creature wretched with revenge