The Whisperings Of Insidious

The Caged Lion

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⊰᯽⊱Kale watched as the two suns disappeared behind the horizon. He was completely alone on the now pitch black and terrifying rock. He knew that there was only one sun, but the damage to his face and brain was making him see double. He wondered if he would ever see normal again. If he survived, of course, and the chances of that were pretty low. Like zero.

     The heat from the day was quickly fading, being replaced by a soul numbing chill. Kale wrapped one arm around himself in a vain attempt to stay warm as he continued to hold Orem's shirt against his head. He had no idea if he was still bleeding, but he was afraid to find out. The wind had picked up considerably, which was always bad news for someone trapped on a two inch ledge thousand of feet in the air. Kale shivered uncontrollably from both the cold and fear.

     Kale was beyond exhausted. It took everything he had to stay awake. Every muscle ached. His head was killing him. He chuckled humorlessly as he thought how literal that was. He kinda wished it would just hurry up and do it already.

     How long had Orem been gone? A few minutes? A few hours? Up here, it was hard to tell. His head was spinning like a top, and his brain was fuzzy, twisting every second into agonizing days. Orem could have been gone for years as far as he could tell. He wasn't coming back anyway. Not for him. Not while he was alive by any means. He would wait until he knew Kale was dead for sure before he went into town. He wasn't going to bring help. He was going to bring back a search party to find his remains.

     Kale had seen the look in Orem's eyes all day. The look that said he wanted him dead. He had seen that look before, just not from his lover. It hurt to remember the hate he saw in Orem's eyes, the raw fury aimed at him. The knowledge that Orem had intentionally hurt him this badly was more painful than the actual injury. Orem wouldn't come back for him. He hated Kale. He deserved his fate.

     He shouldn't have hidden the call he received from Tommy. He should've told Orem right after they talked. Told him how Scott, a friend of Kale and Tommy's, had given Tommy his new number. He should have told Orem that Tommy wanted to have lunch to talk about things. He should've done a lot of things. But as always, he let his fear get in the way. Now he was paying for it. At least he wouldn't be making stupid mistakes anymore. He wouldn't be getting that chance.

     Kale closed his eyes and begged his head to stop spinning. His arm had finally given out and fell from his head. Kale squished his boyfriend's shirt in his fist as he tried not to cry for the hundredth time today.

     How long could he stay conscious after everything? Not long, he was sure. He could feel his body going limp as it shut down. He'd lost so much blood, and who knew if he had internal bleeding. He was freezing and growing weaker every minute he sat there. As soon as he passed out, his body would lean, and that would be that. The good news is, he probably won't even know he was falling or feel the sudden stop at the end. The light at the end of the tunnel, if you will.

     The sun had been down for what Kale is certain had been hours. Though the moon is out, it's but a sliver and absolutely zero help to see. It illuminated absolutely nothing. Kale can't sit there any longer. He refused to just wait until he passed out and fell. If he was going to die, and he definitely was, he was going out fighting, dammit. Or, in this case, climbing.

"𝔜𝔢𝔰𝔰𝔰𝔰𝔰. ℭ𝔩𝔦𝔪𝔟. ℌ𝔢 𝔩𝔢𝔣𝔣𝔣𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲. ℌ𝔢 𝔥𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔰𝔰𝔰 𝔶𝔬𝔲. ℌ𝔢'𝔰 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔠𝔬𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔠𝔨. ℭ𝔩𝔦𝔪𝔟. 𝔖𝔥𝔬𝔴 𝔥𝔦𝔪𝔪𝔪.”

     Kale brushed off the voice. Obviously, the damage to his head was causing him to hear things. Echoes of his own thoughts.

"ℌ𝔢 𝔥𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔰𝔰𝔰 𝔶𝔬𝔲. 𝔜𝔬𝔲 𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔤𝔲𝔰𝔱 𝔥𝔦𝔪𝔪𝔪.”