What we leave behind

Pinetree

Beneath his steps the floor gave in as if it didn't want to touch that person. It cracked and moaned, like it was feeling pain from every strife of his polished shoes. I could relate, and if I would have been able to I would have done the same. But this room full of darkness... it was my prison and my burden to take. Including the demon inside.

Every sound, every rustle of fabric stated a threat. And as he stopped and finally spoke I was - like always - surprised. His voice, not the hissing of a snake, not the shriek of some apoplectic monster, but smooth like velvet. Seducing the whole town in believing that he was a perfectly normal citizen.

What a fraud.

"You woke up."

One step closer. The rare beams of light that dared to enter this godforsaken room started to caress the tips of his shoes.

"Good~"

The way his voice shifted and how his face split with a grin, made my body shiver from reflex. He leaned down to me, his oh so blue eyes glowing in the light now.

"You will regret that you ever opened your eyes."

I already did.

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4:55 am

I am sitting in my "prison cell" - there is no other way to describe it. A small room, walls, floor and ceiling from stone, thick layers of dust and dirt everywhere. Not even a small window or any source of light.

Doomed to wait in the dark I sat awake the whole short night. Too painful it was, to lay down on the hard ground with all my bruises and wounds but it was also too exhausting to stay awake... Time ticked away so slow in here and sometimes I even wished for the day to come again, just to regret the thought as soon as the heavy door unlocked and opened.

Mabel Gleeful.

All brown, long coils of hair, an unpredictable temperament and more than just a hint of sadism. She was the one I feared the most in this wicked place. But she was the first face I saw every morning at exactly 5 o'clock. And it was her, who decided if this day would be only a painful farce or hell itself.

"Good morning, my little wimp!"

The woman in blue stepped inside. The sound of her high heels echoing loud from my tomb's walls.

"Let's get you ready for another nice day~"

She giggled and uncurled a leash in her right hand. No dog could ever feel more miserable than me right now. But at least the "Fury", how I tended to call her, seemed to have a good day. Normally she loved to wake me from my rare sleeps with a stab in my shoulder.

Today she just attached the leash to my collar and pulled me on my wobbly feet. My ripped, dirty clothes hang from my peaky body and I probably looked like a ghost. Well... A ghost that was wrapped into bloodstained bandages.

That didn't mean that Mabel would show mercy. Oh no. The moment I would show any pain, she would start to increase it. Like a shark that smells blood and gets eager for more. So I just held my breath and tried to not stumble each time she pulled at my collar. The fact that I lost my tongue to one of her tantrums made at least that a little easier.

"Get that clothes off."

We were standing in a cold room plastered with white floor tiles now. I was shivering. Oddly enough the Fury did not. Yet we had this ritual every day over the last couple of years and so I just did what she wanted till I stood in front of her split naked – only covered by the bandages, the collar and my arms wrapped around myself to keep the last bit of warmth inside my body.