Impossible

4

"No, please don't!" Joshua sobbed out, but there was little point fighting them. They had no mercy when it came to him, they considered him to be weak. The only person they were afraid of was Samuel, and Joshua knew this. But he wasn't here.

It had started off as something small, and seemingly natural. The occasional teasing, the picking on him, but it grew, and it got out of hand.

He cried out, pressing his feet into the ground as they dragged him by the arms, and he struggled and squirmed. "Sam! Please!" He screamed, terrified, but this was only a mistake.

They laughed at him, and tears rolled down his face as he couldn't avoid the inevitable. It was a small room, no one would find him here. They threw him in the hole, the floor panels on the side, and he screamed out at the pain, and tried to escape, but they were quick, there was more of them. They picked up the floorboards and pressed them into place.

He yelled out, and banged on them, tears falling down his cheeks, dirt falling down. He was panicking, his heart in his throat, and he felt like he was going to throw up when he heard the sound of nails being hammered.

He cried out, it was a feeling he'd never felt, a noise he's never made, between a whimper and a scream. Terrified, desperate. It was heart breaking. He hit the panels, and they laughed.

He hated small spaces. He couldn't handle them. They made him shut down inside, everything hurt, he couldn't help it, his breathing becoming frantic. He needed his Sam, he wanted him here with him. He could get him through it.

But the thought of Samuel made him remember what he used to say. He clamped his hand over his mouth, trying to muffle his screams, crying helplessly. He looked through the gap and listened out. He could hear their laughs quiet, and they shouted down at him, and he flinched when they kicked the floorboards.

"Leave him to rot..." One muttered as they walked away.

You know why people like to do these things? Why violence feels so good? They're searching for something. A response. To get a kick out of it, you need a reaction. Screams of fear, and pain. To fight back. To struggle and resist. Take that away and suddenly... there's no satisfaction in violence anymore. It becomes dull and meaningless. There's nothing more to it.

It's what Samuel taught him, and it's what he tried to remember.

He whimpered, helpless. All he could do was wait.

It was only a few minutes before he could hear his friend, "Josh? Joshua? Where are you?"

Banging on the floor panels, he screamed out again, letting himself cry, "Sam! Please, Sam, help!"

There was a rush of footsteps as he sobbed, and he could hear his voice. "Josh? Are you there?"

"Sam! Please, help me." He tried to muffle his screams as he hit it desperately with his palms, and he could hardly breathe.

"Oh my god..." He whispered, and a few seconds later there was a scratching at the dirt, and the panel came up and light leaked in, and he could see his friend. And he let himself cry again.

Everything blurred as he was dragged out, and pulled into Samuels arms, and his breathing was shaking, and he could hardly think straight. Everything was too much, everything was spinning.

Samuel pulled him out of his grip and cupped his cheek. "Who did this to you?" He whispered slowly, barely able to hide the anger in his voice, and Joshua quivered, tears blurring his vision as he looked down.

"Tell me, and I will hurt them. I will make them pay."

But Joshua could not say anything.

*****

There was blood dripping from Samuel's nose, and he wiped it away with the back of his sleeve. The only thing he knew is he had made them pay, like he promised.

He wouldn't kill them, no, he wouldn't go that far. He wasn't a murderer. He only did what he thought to be fair as a punishment for this.

It was dark, the only light from the moon, and he smiled.

"Sam!" He heard, and his head whipped up to look over at, him. His Joshua.

His everything.

Joshua ran into Samuel's arms, pulling him close to him. Samuel stumbled a bit but held him still. He was only glad to know he was safe. It's all he wanted.

"You didn't have to do that." Joshua whispered into his chest, and Samuel ran his fingers through his hair.

"I did. I really did."

"But you got hurt."

"Only a little bit. It doesn't matter."

"It does. It does to me."