Red Orchid

Punishment

    In my life there was always a chill that ran down my spine, even in the most happiest of moments. There is one person who has always made their presence known to me when I feel like my smile is genuine. He kept making my day more and more cloudy until one day, the sun wouldn’t come out for me at all anymore.
     Imagine my fear as I looked at the door in front of me. This door has hosted some of my worst memories. It seems like everytime I step into this room it laughs at my misery. It’s like everytime I exit through the threshold of this doorway I am a different man.
     Akihiro is my worst nightmare. No matter how much physical pain I endure in this room, it’s what he says that changes me. It makes me unsure of my life, and where I stand in the world that I was dragged into.
     Standing there looking at this door isn’t going to make anything better, not when I know making him wait will make it worse. I knock, my red kimono falling to my elbow as I did.
     “Come in,” I heard Akihiro’s voice call from the otherside. When I opened the door, I felt the shift in the atmosphere. It was like the air inside the room radiated with a warning. Turn back now. Today will be different.
     “I’m sure you understand why I have called you,” Akihiro said as he turned from his collection hanging on the wall to look at me. I could tell by the angered look in his face that I wasn’t the only thing that upset him today.
    “Yes, Master,” I replied making sure to look at the floor as I said it. If I played nice today, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. I could use my day off tomorrow and the next day to walk around the city.
     “Strip and kneel on the ground,” He told me, and I complied. I slowly started to take off my kimino, making sure that it fell on the floor behind me.
     When I kneeled, I looked up passed Akihiro. His wall held an assortment of tools that inflicted pain. All of them used for a variety of different situations. There were different types of bonds, floggers, and even whips. I heard Akihiro has a different favorite for different people.
    When I looked at Akihiro, I saw in his hand his favorite toy for me. A red, black, and yellow bullwhip. He called it ‘The Snake’ because its coloration makes the whip look like a coral snake. Out of all the toys in his vast collection, this one hurts the most.
    “Do you know why I use this toy?” Akihiro asked as he walked in front of me.
    “No, master.” I replied as I looked up at him. He seemed to pick me out from the crowd of workers like a child with their favorite plaything. I get extras, like my own room and extra food, but I am called on more. For personal pleasure and a stress reliever, the ladder like today.
    “I want to see you bleed. Your damned scales make it almost impossible to see you bleed, and yet, I crave nothing more at this moment,” He said with a large smile. It sent shivers down my spine. That smile made him look innocent despite what he has planned for me.
     “Since all of my other attempts have failed, I have decided to acquire a new whip with our signature look,” Akihiro laughed and placed the end of the whip on my chin, forcefully pushing my face up to look at him, “this one will make you bleed.” Akihiro bent down, his green eyes looking into mine as if searching for something that I couldn’t understand. I am not special, so why me?
    I forced my head to the ground, and clenched my hands. I didn’t say anything. I just closed my eyes and waited for the pain. That isn’t the move he wanted from me. I just couldn't look at him anymore without seeing something in his eyes that made me feel sick. I heard him stand up with a disappointed sigh.
    “How does someone like you get the respect of the other workers?” Akihiro said as he brought the whip down on my back.
    “How do you have such a lively spark in your eye after all this time?” Another hit..
    “How can you still smile?” And another. The pain blinded me. Everything was white and the world seemed like it disappeared as nothing but the sharp, stinging, pain radiated throughout my body.
    “Why do you defy me. I saved you, you know. I saved you from a crueler fate. You would’ve caught a high price on the market for your heritage. They would’ve drained you completely, both spiritually and mentally, before they gave you the mercy of death.”
     I felt so confused. Why did Akihiro tell me this? He’s never done this before, not this line of questioning. I tried to think through the pain, and eventually I found myself crying. I never did that when Akihiro was having fun with me. I never let him see that he has broken me into so many small pieces, so small that I couldn’t find the pieces to put myself together again.
    The pain kept coming and I felt the heat of my own blood flowing from my back. “This is what I’ve wanted to see for years,” Akihiro said as he maniacally laughed, “You on the floor, broken and bleeding. No one can save you from your fate, Dragonborn. Not even yourself.”
     True as words like that can be, my world is bleak and grey. If I lose the small spark of light I have left, I’ll truly have nothing. My closed eyes saw white flashes of light that popped in and out of existence, and I felt light headed. I said to myself, “someone, please help me before I lose it.”
    Either I was delirious from all the blood that I lost, or I finally snapped because I swear I heard ‘it’ll be ok, child. Just close your eyes and sleep the pain away’ before the darkness of unconsciousness took me.