Birds chirped and sang as Sky walked through the quiet countryside. He looked at the note in his hand again with a happy smile. Meet me at the great oak at 12pm <3
Sky sighed in a way that only a lover could sigh. He didn’t know who it was, but a few names were floating around in his head. He upped his pace slightly. There was one oak tree that towered over all: the ‘great oak’ that stood on the top of a large hill. He squinted his eyes in the bright sunlight. The tree wasn’t far away now – and underneath it, he could see a crouched figure, leaning against the trunk of the oak tree.
His heartbeat quickened. Bodil? Seto? Deadlox? He didn’t know, but he was dying to find out. He was suddenly seized by a burning passion, a lust for his mystery lover. He couldn’t wait any longer, and broke out into a full-on sprint.
When he reached the tree, he was too puffed out to see the person properly. “You can rest, don’t worry,” came a soft voice, and instantly Sky knew who it was. A happy, dreamy expression floated over his face.
“Deadlox,” he whispered. Deadlox embraced Sky, and Sky felt like he was going to explode with happiness and love. Sky slumped onto the grassy ground, smiling broadly. Strong arms cradled him, and even though Sky didn’t want this beautiful moment to end, he felt sleepiness washing over him. His eyes began to close.
“It’s fine,” Deadlox told Sky gently. “I was expecting this to happen anyway.”
“What?” Sky said, but he felt light-headed, dizzy. He opened his eyes wide, the world unfocused and spinning. However, he could still make out the wide grin on Deadlox’s face. “How? Why?”
“You ask too many questions,” Deadlox said simply, but before Sky could press him further, he tumbled into unconsciousness.
~o~O~o~
“OW!”
Sky was awoken by a sharp pain in his leg. He blinked back tears of pain. Through his watery eyes he could see Deadlox, kneeling down, repeatedly hitting Sky’s leg with a heavy hammer. No – he was hammering nails. Into Sky’s flesh. As Sky shook away the sleepiness, the pain grew more intense with every blow.
“What are you doing?” he managed to scream. The pain subsided. Deadlox had stopped. As he stood up, his single visible eye steadily gazed into Sky’s own, calm, unmoving.
“I can’t let you escape,” Deadlox said. Sky tried to move, but he soon noticed that long, metal nails crudely poked out of each limb, a thin trickle of blood dripping down colourful splashes of red onto the earth. At least Deadlox was kind enough to let him sleep through most of the pain. He managed to twist his neck around far enough to see what he was pinned to. The great oak.
Deadlox started to walk away. “Are you just going to leave me here?” Sky yelled angrily.
“Oh, no,” Deadlox said mockingly. He turned around, holding a razor-sharp knife. “We’re just getting started.”
Sky howled in pain as the blade cut into his shoulder. Blood gushed out of the wound, dying the green grass below him a dark scarlet. The pain was unbearable. He looked to the side, and saw his own blood dripping off pink tendrils of flesh. He wanted to throw up.
Before long, Deadlox was hacking through the bone, which made sickening cracking sounds as it splintered under the strong force. Sky could feel his consciousness slipping away again from the combination of pain and blood loss. However, Deadlox was quick with his work, and soon he was through the bone and out the other side. He pulled a bandage from his pocket, which he skilfully wrapped around the rugged stump where Sky’s arm once was. The pool of blood under Sky’s feet stopped growing.
