Monster (Cartoon Cat x Reader)

Recovery

For the second time in who knew how long, you opened your eyes to see a dark ceiling. A sharp pang shot through you, ending in a vague pain behind your eyes as you turned to look at the window's general direction. A groan escaped your lips, and your eyes screwed shut against the dim amber light pouring in from the streetlight outside. A dull and heavy pounding in your skull signaled the beginning of a migraine... and that was probably the least painful part. An excruciating agony would flair up every time you attempted to move. And yet you sat up and cradled your head in your hands anyway. What had even happened that made you hurt so much? Oh... right... Cartoon Cat's twisted game...

Your eyes opened once more, the headache beating your skull slightly harder than before. It was taking effort to think straight and not just fade back into unconsciousness. You really needed a painkiller of some kind... or another long nap. "Finally awake, darlin'? I was beginning to wonder if I'd turned you into a vegetable~"

The now all too familiar voice came suddenly from beside you, making the pounding in your head spike to agonizing levels. You pushed your palms into your forehead, as if that would help. There was movement to your left, likely from the demon cat himself. You ignored it. After all, he'd won the first round and you were already suffering physically. What could he do to you other than kill you? You supposed he could try torturing you more, or forcing you to play round two without recovery, or... yeah, he could still do some pretty horrible things to you now that you thought about it. Moving right along before you gave yourself anxiety....

For a while, all was still. Silent. Relaxing. Slightly hotter than you'd prefer, but still a comfortable enough temperature. A small sigh escaped you as your headache dulled to a slightly above minor throbbing. Heck, even your battered body felt much better than it had when you'd woken up. Slowly, hopefully, you uncurled yourself from your miserable position and looked up. A pair of wide, cartoon eyes were inches from your face to greet you the second you did.

You jolted, sending a spike of agony through your poor, abused body as you toppled backwards onto the bed. Your eyes stayed on the monstrous face, his laughter ringing through your head the way explosions tore through rocks, making your head pound. You tried to force yourself to move. You tried to put some distance between you and the master of your own personal heck. For a moment, your sight blurred and black flickered at the edges of your vision.

"Calm down. I don't intend to hurt you again quite yet~" Each word the Cartoon Cat spoke sent another needle-like pain shooting off inside your skull. As your eyes cleared and the pain in your body faded, you realized he was still uncomfortably close. You also realized you could smell something now... something quite tasty-smelling, actually. Following your nose to the smell's general direction, your eyes landed on a bowl of soup in a certain cryptid's hand. For just a moment, as your stomach rumbled with silent anticipation, you wondered what Cartoon Cat was planning. What in this unholy heckhole was he doing?

A small squeak... the only sound you were able to manage at the moment, apparently... escaped you as an arm suddenly wrapped around your body, forcing you upright, pinning your arms firmly to your sides. You quietly cursed yourself. How could you have been so stupid as to not notice where the creature's other hand was?! You could feel it now, resting gently against your hair, in the perfect position to stop your head from moving as well. In spite of the pain, you began to struggle. The constricting arm tightened, forcibly restricting your movements even further. Though you couldn't tell if the hand moved, you could feel sharp claws against your neck. "I wouldn't recommend fighting me, darlin'. It wouldn't be too good for your health, and I'd hate to have to kill you before the fun really begins..." Though he still sounded playful, the dark undertone you always detected when Cartoon Cat spoke sounded darker somehow. More impatient... or perhaps more amused.

A shiver ran down your spine and you forced yourself to stay still, staring him in the eyes. "Stop calling me that..." The rasp in your voice surprised you, and even the act of speaking hurt your throat. How badly hurt were you really? Still, the three dimensional monstrosity grinned. Oh yes... that was definitely amusement in his eyes. Silently, he offered you a spoonful of soup. You eyed it cautiously. You couldn't move, so he was likely going to feed you the entire time. You looked to the creature holding you, then back to the soup. Back and forth, and back and forth. The spoon came closer.

You watched it, evaluating your options.

You let out a sigh of acceptance, watching Cartoon Cat's eyes flash with victory. And then you did the unexpected....

You kicked upward, knocking the spoon away from you and surprising the cryptid into loosening his grip just enough. Forcing yourself to move in spite of the pain that was flaring up all over, you pushed yourself out of his grasp and to the floor, darting as quickly as possible towards the corner farthest from the creature that tormented you. Then you turned, looked the seething monster in the eye, and waited.