Tied Down.

The game

Mine and Phil's eyes look up in fright at the two men.
My pupils narrow in on the rope in one if the men's hands, a sly smirk riding on his chapped lips.

They finally take off their masks and I was right in thinking they were about in their forties. The blond bloke has a small beard and a scar running along his cheek, where as the brown haired bloke has a clean shaven face and a wonky nose which looks like it been broken a few times.

They throw the fabric masks into the corner, almost in sync.
My hands shake and I curl next to the wall, instinctively trying to move away from them. What ever they have planned for Phil and I must not just be a lovely game of monopoly with hot chocolate and Oreos.

"Now who is first?" The blonde bloke asks, swinging the rope around his hands.

I send a glance to Phil who is also looking at me, his eyes that are usually blue are now filled with fear and worry.

The brown haired bloke shakes his head with a smile. "Oh silly us, let us introduce ourselves," He chuckles, stepping forward.
"I'm Toad and this is Rat." The blonde dude smiles with a sarcastic wave and I can't help but do a sarcastic smile back with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Interesting names. What's your mum called? Slug?" I ask with a smirk, my confidence rising for some reason.

Both the men's smiles drop and Phil smacks my arm, giving me a stern look.

Rat let's out a puff of air before whipping the rope between my legs. Phil shuffles in front of me.
"Now. Who. Is. First?" He questions, his face serious but a slight humour in his eyes.

"You must choose between yourselves. We don't do the choosing." Toad adds, his crooked teeth showing as he smiles.

"What if we don't choose?" Phil asks, his throat pulsating with nerves.

Toad cackles and kneels in front of us. "If you don't choose then we torture both of you until your hearts stop beating." His cold voice brings tears to my eyes and sends shivers down my spine.

Toad looks up at Rat and nods before turning back to us. "Now fucking make up your minds other wise we will have to get two new people to replace you guys very quickly."

I look to Phil again and he's looking at the floor, heavily breathing and biting his lip.
My eyes look up at Rat and he's tapping his wrist whilst wriggling his eyebrows.

Phil then stands up, tugging his Christmas jumper down a little.
"I'll... do it." he gulps.
I widen my eyes and stand up next to him.

"No. No you can't, this isn't fair!" I exclaim, grabbing his arm.
Phil shrugs me off and looks around at me.

"Dan, I can't deal with you getting hurt so please just let me do this." He says. I shake my head, tears starting to fall down my cheeks.

Toad brings out a wooden chair and pats it. "Come on then Phillip. Take a seat."
Phil walks slowly over and as I go to follow him, Rat kicks me back so I fall on the floor.

Once Phil sits down, Rat throws the rope to Toad and he starts to tie him up.
"What are you doing to him?" I ask, my lips trembling.

Rat reaches into his pocket and takes out a lighter. "Just going to leave a few burns hear and there." He replies with a shrug, as if it's the most normal thing in the world.

Phil's eyes widen and he starts to wriggle slightly, his legs swinging.
"Please don't." he cries, shaking his head.
I've never seen him in such a delicate position and I hate it.

Rat kicks me in the ribs again, probably to make sure that I don't get up and try to intervene.
Once Toad is sure that Phil is tied properly he walks over to me and swaps places with Rat, who walks over to Phil, lighter in hand.

"Do I have to watch this?!" I exclaim, my face soaked in tears.

"Oh but Daniel, that's the best part, you get to watch your boyfriend suffer." Toad smirks, stroking my arm.
I pull away from him and shake my head.

"He's not my boyfriend." I choke.

A click of the lighter brings everyone in the room to attention.
"Toad, take off his shirt." Rat instructs.
Toad nods and heads over, Phil's looks up at him and closes his eyes as he's rid of his jumper.

"Take it." Toad spits as he throws the jumper at me. I hug it tightly against me.

Phil opens his eyes and looks to me, forcing a small, weak smile along with a wink that releases a tear.

He's scared. So am I. I can't even believe this is happening to us.
What have we done to deserve this?

"This might hurt a little." Rat smirks at Phil, bringing the lighter closer to his skin. I look away and a few seconds later I hear an ear ripping scream come from Phil's mouth.

The tears keep falling off my cheeks and I hide my face in his jumper.
The screaming simmers but then starts again. I peep over and I can't even explain the scene.
Rat is gliding the lighter over Phil's stomach, causing there to be red, blistering burns.

Toad is over by the wall watching, I shift my eyes between them and feel the adrenaline start to pump through my body. The door is unlocked and I plan what I'm about to do. And then I do it.

I get up and wrap Phil's jumper around Rats head before kicking him on the ground.
"Dan!" Phil croaks, I duck but it turns out that Toad was going to kick me instead of hit me which is what I predicted.

I fall back as he takes out my legs, my head smacking against the floor. Toad then starts punching me continuously, attempting to knock me unconscious and I nearly do but he stops and lifts me up my collar.
Rat manages to untangle himself from the jumper and throws it on Phil's lap.

"Bad move, boy." Toad snickers. Rat unties Phil and shoves him beside me on the wall, his body half covered with burns and sweat dripping from his head.
"Now for your punishment." Toad says.

Phil shakes his head and even with as weak as he is, manages to stand up and stand infront of me.
"N-no. I done the punishment today so you can't hurt him until the next time we do the choosing." He stutters, his eyes drooping and body swaying.

Toad lifts me down and I help support Phil as I know he's close to collapsing.

Rat sneers at me and kicks the chair across the room, breaking one of its legs. "Well you better hope that your boyfriend will take the punishment tomorrow boy." He looks at me and then at Phil before get gesturing Toad to leave.

They slam the door an Phil falls immediately. "Phil,"
His skin looks so irritated and sore, they haven't even given us any cream to put on it.
I help him put his jumper back on and then gently bring him to my lap, his tears soaking into my jeans.

I wipe my blood covered nose and slowly drift off, praying for some sort of miracle.