Stitches ~ Scömìche

Needle and the Thread

"Scott," He heard, but it sounded distant, like he was underwater and whoever was speaking was on land. He tried to open his eyes but all he could see was a blurry shape of color before he had to shut them. "Scott, open your eyes for me." Scott tried, he wanted to try for the nice voice, but he couldn't. "Please, Scott, he's coming. He's going to separate us. Please, Scott." 

Scott tried moving his hands, but he couldn't. He wondered distantly if he was paralyzed, but he dismissed the thought. Finally he managed to open his eyes and the blurry shape was recognized.

"Mitch?" Scott asked looking in wonder at the man in front of him. As he watched Mitch burst into tears.

"This is all my fault!" He wailed. "Abe's going to come a kill you!" The words didn't register in Scott's mind and he looked around the room. He noticed that he was tied down to a chair, whilst Mitch was handcuffed to a bar on the wall, positioned just far enough away so that they couldn't touch. 

"Mitch?" Scott questioned, looking around the room. "What is happening?"

"Abe's going to kill you because I disobeyed him!" Mitch howled, lunging for Scott and wailing, but all that resulted in was torn skin around his wrist. 

"It's not your fault," Scott reasoned. "If Abe kills me it's because he's a psychopath, that has nothing to do with you." 

"If I had just listened to him, none of this would have happened," Mitch continued, on the brink of hysteria. 

"And what would that have gotten you to?" Scott roared. "Four more years and his captive?" Mitch jumped, afraid of Scott's sudden raise in voice. 

"I'd rather Abe kill me," Mitch said his eyes hard. "I have nothing to live for after he kills you."

"He's not going to kill me!" Scott yelled, as if trying to drill the thought into Mitch's head. "If you keep thinking that way I might as well kill myself! Think reasonably Mitch, we can't afford drastic." 

"He'll probably use you for leverage, threaten to hurt you if I don't do exactly what he wants," Mitch said, still pulling at the handcuff, trying to get to Scott. A horrifying image of Mitch and Abe together in bed filled Scott's mind.

"Don't do it, whatever he tries to make you do, don't do it. Whatever he wants to do to me, I can take," Scott said immediately. 

"But it's not just you now Scott, and it's just not me. Wouldn't you do whatever to stop my screams that you can hear from the other room? I'll have to stop him, you might be willing to take whatever punishment Abe deals out for you, but I won't be able to handle it. I am willing to sacrifice myself." Mitch said finally accepting that the handcuffs wouldn't give and sitting onto the ground as close to Scott as he could get. 

"But don't be. I can't stand the thought of you..." The same image filled Scott's brain and he tried to talk his way around it. "Pleasing him... just because of me. We both have to be strong if we want to get through this." 

The door flung open and Abe stalked in and Scott shut his mouth. Abe ignored Scott, stalking over to Mitch and roughly dragging him to his feet. Abe examined the raw skin of Mitch's wrist before removing the handcuff and clipping it to his other wrist. Abe then turned to Scott with hate filled eyes. He took out a knife and carelessly sliced through the ropes that held Scott to the chair, ignoring when Scott flinched as the knife sunk into his wrist from a careless slice. 

"Come on, Scotty-Boy," Abe said, hate dripping from every word. "We have some talking to do."