the artist → muke

s i x

** if anything concerning blood or harm makes you feel triggered, you might just want to stop reading this story. i love you all so much and dont want any of you to hurt yourselves or feel triggered by my work.

"just kill me. please, just kill me," michael whimpered as luke remained latched onto him. there was nothing about this situation that turned him on. luke was basically ripping his throat out with his teeth, and michael just wanted it to end. if his hands were free, he'd have grabbed the knife from luke's side.

    not to use on luke, but on himself.

luke pulled away from michael, walking around in front of him before leaning down so that they were at the same eye level.

   "all in sweet time, babe."

michael felt hot tears begin pooling in his eyes, occasionally running down his face bringing blood with them.

    luke turned around and walked over to some kind of closet in the back of the room.

"do you wanna see some of my other works, beautiful?" luke inquired.

   michael screamed, "no,", but luke just let out a loud laugh before opening up the closet anyway.

he pulled out a few canvases, covered in black fabric.

   "wouldn't want the colors to fade, now would we?" he shook his head while biting his lips (still pink from earlier). he pulled the fabric off of the first painting, and michael wanted to scream.

    he wanted to cry until he had no tears left. he wanted to disappear. he wanted to be back in the coffee shop. he wanted to hear the noise of thousands of people milling through the streets. he wanted to see the sun. he wanted to feel safe.

   but what michael saw did not in any way make him feel safe. what he saw made him want to strangle luke to the ground.

  the painting was the most grotesque thing he'd seen in a while, reminding him of something he would've seen on the walking dead.

   the man had dark hair with a red streak in it, and he was on his knees, his arms chained to the brick wall behind him. the wall had crude words written on it in what looked like was the boy's blood. his head was facing the ground, but his eyes were looking up at the viewer with sadness and rage woven together. his face was bruised, and his nose bleeding like there was no tomorrow. his arms were bloody, and his white shirt even more so. one of his ears was completely missing.

   michael's heartbeat increased. most people would think this was just an elaborate painting to display the destruction bullying caused, but michael knew the truth.

   "you killed him, didn't you?" michael whispered. "you beat him up, tied him up, and painted him in his last moments of life. and then you killed him."

   luke clasped his hands, looking proudly at his work. "jack was one of the harder ones i had to work with. he held more confidence than any person i'd ever worked with. it took a while to get his past out of him, but i always do. he went down fighting, didn't he? i called that one 'something's gotta give' isn't that cool?"

   michael wanted to throw up. "no, i don't specifically agree."

luke shrugged before revealing the next painting. "this one's a collab i did with my friend."

   the painting showed a girl who was dressed in beautiful pastel clothing sitting in a completely white room. her hair was two-toned, and her makeup reminded michael of pop art. she looked positively beautiful until michael reached her eyes. he couldn't look away from her... eyes. they weren't visible through all of the blood, which was dark and dripping down her pale skin. the most disturbing part was the shadow in front of the girl, painted completely black, but outlining the fact that the shadow had a voodoo doll with needles sticking out of the eyes.

   "these were innocent people," michael screamed. he couldn't hold it in. "these were innocent people, and you killed them for the sake of your own personal gain. if anyone here deserves to die, it's you."

   luke smirked. "that's where you're wrong, michael. these people robbed me of happiness. they were ruining my life."

    "what the actual fuck could they have done to you that you needed to kill them? to kill me?" michael yelled, and luke just 'tsked' at him, before punching him hard in the jaw again.

   and michael went out cold.