§𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 | 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐬

1.1

§tain | chapter eleven ~ "control."

  Jade returned home before dawn could peek through the graphite sky. The first thing she did was shower. Scrubbing away remnants of her recent victims from her skin, water pelted her back, dripped from her braids. So much covered every nook, every cranny- pieces of tissue and tendon that she'd let linger for too long. That man, she realized when recalling one of the goons she faced during the rescue misson, I devoured him. After came the images of her teeth tearing into his flesh, the haunting  crescendo of his screams.   Disgust formed inside her belly which made Jade brace against the sudden bitterness beginning to claw from the way back of her throat, provoked by this urgency that draws as a key to her undoing.

  She suffered, and as she did, her nails dug  into the skin on her palms-a torment so unbearable- near ripping in half. And at the mercy of it. Her knees buckled and met the tub's ceramic floor. Doubled over, her pale, nude body trembled as the hazy shower lapped against her. "Stop." she whimpered, chin quivering, and tears wanted to spill upon the provocation. "Please? Please?" But despite her pleading, the torture proceeded and choked off her following words.

   It jerked her to sit straighter, and the twisting of her limbs at jarring angles began from there. She caught the looks of a razor from her peripheral sitting alone in the soap dish and swiped for her last hope as her lips peeled apart for her impending doom to leech itself free. She finds a grip, and her fingers suffer a minor cut. Even the price won't match what she's planning to do next. Screaming out, she fought through the agony. 

  She composed her arms close enough for her to jam clean the sharp object through her right open palm. A scream echoed and there was blood, but it released her, writhing, cowering at her expense to evade her imminent demise.

  The Cater removed her edged blade from her hand and watched the flayed skin heal itself, but not outright. A scar formed, puckered and pink there. Uncommon? Not. Why? Since it occurred once ago. Which cues uneasiness to tie knots in Jade's stomach as she didn't want to consider it happening again.

  The results of her later actions led to her being helpless. She couldn't afford to lose control. Although she hated admitting it even in her head. Finding help was a necessity and fast.

  Soon had arrived the hour to leave, and yet Jade kept her position on the couch. Her eyes peer at the television screen. The prongs of a fork she held stab fluffy piles of chocolate chip pancakes only to drive them in a spreading pool of syrup.

  The newest scar she received earlier caught in the rays of the morning light, and reminded the ex-hero killer that she was just a shell of her former self - how little control she had now, and was what she earned after last night's shameless display of arrogance. 

Jade felt as if her vitality's drained and her appetite had become rapacious. Then disgust hit her full force out of the blue and applied to the food on the paper plate she was holding. Experiencing the abrupt sensation causes her to put it down. The sound of loud banging broke her out of her trance as she felt bile rise in her throat.

  She rose from her seat, smoothed her navy blue button-down shirt of its non-existent wrinkles, and walked to the entrance, assuring whom stood on the other side that she was coming. Jade grew annoyed after she unbolted several of the locks to find the last person she wanted to see.

"Great, it's you again," scoffed the ex-hero killer, not even attempting to hide her aversion.

Panting, Dick tilts his head and regarded her as his face bore a pique expression. In mulish defiance of gravity, each dark strand stood up from its end on his head. His skin kept a sheen of sweat that all seemed to suggest he hurried up seventeen flights of stairs to get to her, and Jade recalled the elevator was down from earlier in the morning when she arrived home. "Well, good morning to you too, then."