Chained. Stiff, rigid iron curled about her pale arms, sharp chipped edges punctured her skin. Her hair hung straight and sodden about her face, bruises and fresh wounds etched across her limbs. Her tattered skirts hung heavily about her pathetic figure, soaked muslin clinging to her legs. You watched as she moaned exhaustedly, pained by her restraints, slowly raising her head. Blinking, she squinted to see through the darkness, lit only by a candle, but you knew that she wouldn't see you. Her tears blended with the remnants of dark, cold water, soaking her cheeks.
She tried to move her head but soon stopped. You could see the pain that the movement caused her. He had been rough with her when he found her by the lake's edge. He wasn't fond of people venturing beyond the gates.
You watched as her eyelids dropped, fighting to hold onto consciousness. She whimpered, her face contorting in pain as she attempted to move her fingers and arms. The iron chains jangled, cutting her flesh and drawing out precious blood. She gasped loudly, struggling to keep her eyes open.
Suddenly, a flicker of movement, a swoosh from beyond, faintly alerted your senses. He had arrived. You looked over at her, she had yet to notice his arrival. He appeared by your side, face in his familiar expressionless mask. "Come," was all he said before he stepped into her line of sight.
You followed his tall dark figure, approaching the girl who was now well aware of his presence. "P-please," she begged, her voice barely a croak, "l-let me g-go....."
He ignored her. "Such a naughty child," he chided, his voice suave and cold. "You should know better than to wander around someone else's lake."
"I-I didn't know!" You could see the pain talking brought her.
"You didn't know!" He let out a dry humorless laugh. "There were gates ma cherie. I believe they still do mean Do Not Enter." You watched as he ran his pale skeletal fingers down her face. She shivered at his touch.
"I-I thought..... There was n-no one...." Her voice had gained a bit of its strength back, but her head remained bowed.
"You didn't believe the stories of the madman of the lake, did you?" He paced over to where her chains were bound. "Well I am well alive, and I welcome you to my home." He yanked on them, drawing out a scream of pain from her already raw throat. He let go, his yellow eyes gleaming with madness.
"H-help m-me...." She croaked, begging for your aid.
You shake your head. "No."
He came over a slight smile stretching his lips. "No one here is going to save you." He placed his hand upon your shoulder. "Watch her, I have things I must attend. Feel free to do what you please to her." You watched as he disappeared into the darkness of the shadows.
You began to light the candles near the one that already burned. "Does he do this to you too?" She asked.
You finished lighting the candles and stopped in front of her. You nodded slowly.
"Then why?" Her voice had begun to gain it's strength again.
You look down at your feet. "Why what?"
"Why are you here with him?" She tried to look at you, but you had returned to the shadows the candles casted.
You looked cautiously upon her. "Because he accepts how I look."
"What do you mean?"
You creeped along the shadows. "I do not have the fortune of being as beautiful as you."
"You don't have to be..... People will accept you....." Colour was returning to her visage. "Just because someone said you weren't doesn't mean you aren't!"
"You don't understand," you hissed. Walking back into the light, you put your face near hers. "Do you see now?"
She tried to move back, but she was chained to the stone wall, unable to move. She turned her head, doing what she could so that she would not see you.
You let out a small laugh, cold and humorless, much like his. "No one is able to look at me. Even my own father threw me out for he couldn't bare to see my face when I spoke!" You turned away from her, so that she would not have to see. The right half of your face was paralyzed, it always stayed the same, never moving. "The doctors said that the nerves never fully developed." You touched your face, feeling with only your fingers, for your face couldn't feel what touched it. "My father, he said I was cursed, that I would bring bad luck for the family." You paced the room, tracing the lines of the statue fragments as you went. "I was hidden from view, locked away in the house, called a monster whenever out in the streets." You were now standing in front of her again. "But I have found my place here, alongside the madman of the lake." It was now your turn to run your hand down her face. "How lucky you are to be as beautiful you are." A familiar feeling began in your stomach, one that wanted to taint her beauty.
She shrunk away from your touch, rattling the chains. "Why does he do this to you then?" She had returned to a topic less uncomfortable to her, something that you recognized in almost everyone he caught.
"Because it entertains me." He had returned, emerging from the shadows he had disappeared into. "Here." He handed you a small knife, setting free the feeling from before. "It's your turn to have the fun."
"Thank you." You smiled, a crooked twisted smile that made her shudder. You unchained her. The moment all the shackles had left her, she attempted to flee, but you grasped her hair, yanking her back. She let out a broken scream. "Behave yourself, it'll hurt less," you whispered into her ear. She whimpered and fell limp. "Good girl. See you learn quickly." You slashed a shallow X into her arm. "There, a reward." She screamed again. "If you keep screaming you'll ruin your voice." You continued to leave shallow cuts across her body, but leaving the face unmarred.
"Just kill me. Please!" She finally begged.
"And end my fun? I prefer not to. It's ever so rare that I get to enjoy such a thing." You savored the rush that this brought you, there was nothing quite like it.
"You're mad!" She looked up at you, fear clear upon her face.
"Perhaps to you." You laughed. "But down here, I'm quite normal, for we are both mad...."
