First round of march @whumpgiftswap! This gift is for @auroragehenna. I hope you like it!
Warning! This story contents: physical torture/abuse (waterboarding, mention of blood and injuries, use of knives, gagged, stress position) psychological torture, medical neglect, non-consensual medical procedure, stitches, de*th threat, kidnapping and captivity, intimate/creepy whumper, failed escapes, betrayal? gaslight?
The therapy session ended later than she had expected. Outside, a storm threatened her return home. Lyra walked to the bus stop, her clothes got wet and heavy quickly, but it didn’t stop her. At the bus stop she sat down, knowing that the wait could be a long time.
“The sky is falling down, isn’t it?” A familiar voice scared her, she didn’t answer. “Why aren’t you answering me?” He sat down next to Lyra, she moved away.
“I already told you, stay away from me.” She took out her phone, ready to call a taxi, she can’t stay with him another second.
“You wanted this too. Don’t you remember?” With a fast movement, he took her phone. “Don’t ignore me, please. It breaks my heart.” She rolled her eyes.
“Okay, what do you want?”
“Just talk, I wanted to say sorry, I know that I made mistakes in the past, but you know, it’s not easy with the traumas haunting me, you know how it feels, they somehow always lead our actions. I’m still learning to control them, please, give me another chance.”
“You hurt me. Just apologizing is not enough…”
“Then let me drive you home.” He extended his hand. “We can start again, learn together, what do you think?”
She thought about it, the way he had started treating her was not normal, it could be dangerous to go with him, but staying in the night, alone, with temperatures that are freezing her could be worse.
“Fine, drive me home, but let me think about the rest.”
“Of course, take all the time you want, come with me.” A smile that seemed sincere illuminated his face. But she didn’t accept his hand.
The road was familiar and quiet, the raindrops hit the windows like a silent melody. Although she was alert, her body was starting to relax, the tiredness taking over.
But…
A headache came, a sharp sudden pain in her forehead. Spreading to her entire head quickly. A pain that was getting worse with every passing second. It was impossible to hide, Lyra grabbed her head, trying to silence the deafening ringing on her ears.
“Are you okay?” He was concentrating on the road, not looking at her.
“Just a headache, I’m not feeling good. Stop the car.”
“We’re almost there, hang on.”
That was the last thing she remember before her vision blacked out...
The sunlight woke her up, her head still pounding. She wasn’t on the car seat, she was in soft bed. Still recovering her strength, she tried to understand where she was.
That wasn’t her bedroom, the lilac walls had been replaced with plain white walls, the scent of the bed sheets smelled like pine, a scent that she would never use on her clothes.
She got up and headed to the window, her head pounding, and her heart hammering. She was on a second floor, the landscape wasn’t familiar, a cornfield was the only point of interest in the view. She tried to unlock the window, to feel the air, to find a way to escape. But the window didn’t open.
Two doors were on different walls, the first one was locked and the second one led to a small bathroom, nothing out of the ordinary.
An unlocking sound caught her attention, from the first door Adam appeared with a plate of food. She stood in front of him.
“Good morning sleepyhead. Feeling better?”
“You promised to drive me home, where did you bring me?”
“That’s not what I asked.” He left the plate on the floor. “I’ll come back later, hope you treat me better next time.”
And the door was locked again.
Lyra’s mind was thinking of a millions ways to escape, none of them were viable. With nothing else to do, she sat on the bed and ate the bland food that passed for breakfast.
Time passed, how long? She didn’t know, but that door opened again, this time Adam entered the room.
“Did you calm down?”
“Of course not. You lied to me, again. I’m not going to calm down, so let me go now.”
“I’ll set you free, but first, let’s talk.” She remained on the bed, knowing that she couldn’t win a fight against him.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“Did you find the cause of the “Robert Incident”?”
An old case she had investigated, the first case she had told to Adam.
“It was just a bored man trapped in the system who wanted to feel powerful. There are more interesting cases than this one.”
“You are wrong.” His voice turned cold, a shiver ran down her spine.
“I investigated the case, he just waterboarded his victims. It’s an interesting method by the way, but there wasn’t a pattern of victims.”
With a fast move Adam grabbed the arm of Lyra and pulled her inside the bathroom. Using his strength, he pushed Lyra, who fell into the shower. He pressed his foot against the right shoulder of Lyra until she was lying on the floor.
“What are you doing?” Adam sat on top of Lyra and covered her face with a towel
“You forgot a tiny detail, I’ll give you a hint. He was a soldier.” Adam turned on the faucet, cold water started running directly onto her face.
Water hit Lyra’s face. She tried to move, to fight, but the weight of Adam kept her body still. With every gasp, more water entered her lungs. The attempts of coughing up the water just made things worse. Her face started hurting from the water hitting her nose and mouth. Her instincts made her act clumsily and desperately, until she lost strength, and slowly stopped fighting…
Adam’s weight disappeared. She took the towel off her face, finally, she took a breath, followed by desperate coughing. Her chest was aching, Lyra felt for the first time that there was a chance that she wouldn’t recover.
The days after, she focused on recovering and try to find a way to escape. The presence of Adam vanished, but at least he left the bedroom door unlocked, so she decided to explore the house. There wasn’t any furniture or tools to use against him. The only door that lead outside was the front door and it was locked. All the windows were sealed, with glass impossible to brake.
She was trapped…
Every step she made cost her a lot of energy, even breathing felt like a betrayal. Her body was still shivering even in the dry old clothes of Adam that she had found.
In the distance, the rhythmic rustle of the cornfield was the only sound she could hear.
Although she wanted to escape with all her might, her mind was still on that bathroom, in that shower…
The engine of a car caught her attention. That was Adam’s car. An idea passed through her head like a shooting star.
She waited for him on the second floor, next to the stairs, hidden. Her body trembling.
“I’m back Lyra! Where are you?” She didn’t answer.
The steps began to climb the stairs…
She got out of her hiding spot…
And pushed him…
He rolled down the stairs, she went down to find him. Adam was still breathing, his eyes closed.
She looked into his pockets. She found the house keys, but not the car keys.
Her breathing started to accelerate.
She needs to run and escape before he wakes up.
She opened the door, the cold air hit her face, the moon illuminated the way to the cornfield. The adrenaline started flooding through her veins.
And she started running…
But…
Her chest tightened…
The air stopped entering her lungs…
Her throat went dry…
Everything blacked out….
Lyra woke up again, this time, she was uncomfortable, her wrists tied were supporting her body weight. Her feet were close to the floor, if she stood on tiptoes, she could reach it.
She looked around, she was in the living room, in front of her, Adam was watching her, sitting on the floor with a smile on his face.
“I knew that you weren’t going to get too far. But you didn’t even run half a mile.” He stood up and got closer to her and grabbed her chin. “You shouldn’t have tried to escape.”
She looked him directly in the eyes, trying to hide the discomfort of being grabbed by the chin.
“I’ll do it again, but the next time, I’m going to make sure you are dead before I escape.”
“I dare you to say that again.” Her look intensified.
“I’ll try to escape again, and I’ll make sure you are…”
A slap turned her face to the side.
“You should know better than anyone that every act has a consequence.”
The second day Lyra broke the silence…
“I understand now.”
“What?”
“The “Robert Incident”. I understand now.”
“Tell me.”
“The victims were all high-ranking military, probably they did something bad to him.”
“That’s correct. I knew you wouldn’t lose your spark.”
“So? Are you going to free me now?”
“Not yet.”
Lyra spent three more days hanging on the roof of the living room, trying to stand on tiptoes and reach the floor. Even when Adam let her sleep on the floor, the three days seemed like years.
And Adam was there, looking at her, enjoying the company, until he got bored. That’s were he untied her wrists.
She fell to the floor with a loud noise, incapable of standing, her wrists were burning and her shoulders were so stiff that she couldn’t move them for a couple of hours.
“Did you learn your lesson?” She nodded, hoping that he would just disappear and stops looking at her for at least a minute. He got closer and forced her to look at him. “I have to admit this, I like playing with you.”
He gave her another plate of food and left the house. Another tasteless dish that she forced herself to eat. She needed energy if she wanted to escape for once and all.
She created a new plan, sitting on the floor of the living room, moving still with difficulty, her shoulders and wrists.
The engine of the car caught her attention again, she had been waiting for him for two complete days.
Now is the time. She took some distance from the front door and as soon as the keys entered in the lock, she started running.
He couldn’t dodge or stop her. By the time he reacted, he was already on the floor and she was running again towards the cornfield, the sun on her face, feeling free for the first time in a long time.
She felt a spear in her shoulder, a pain that made her stop, that made her scream. She fell to her knees in the middle of the path and looked to her shoulder. Nothing, there was nothing that could cause that pain. She looked over her shoulder.
Adam is close
Too close.
He grabbed abruptly her arm, the pain on her shoulder reappeared. He dragged her home again, she screamed, kicked the ground, and struggled all she could to escape the grip, but nothing stopped him.
As soon as they entered the house, he locked the door. He took the rope and tied her wrists, with one movement he hung her up again from the hook hanging from the ceiling.
The night came, the air had been tense since the morning, but nothing had happened, they didn’t talk to each other, just looking at one another. Now, Adam broke the silence again.
“What do you think of the case of the surgeon?” Lyra tried to hide the shiver of her body.
“The one who cut his victims to practice sutures?” He nodded. “He was crazy, you read the psychiatric file with me. Why are you asking me that?”
Adam got closer to her, adrenaline started flowing through her veins.
“What are you doing?” He gagged her.
“This is much better, don’t you think so?”
He went to the kitchen and came back with a knife. She didn’t understand, there hadn’t been any knives in that house, she had looked for them since she left the bedroom.
“I waited a long time to try this technique.”
That’s where the game changed, where she stopped feeling the adrenaline and felt something worse:
Fear
The knife made an imperfect transversal cut on her arm, a muffled scream filled the room…
The knife made another cut on her other arm…
And then, on the legs…
The knife was quite dull, the cuts were messy, the blood started leaking onto the floor.
Her eyes were closed, tears falling down, feeling unable to dissociate from the pain…
The cuts were soon replaced with other type of pain: a needle pricking her skin without precision, and black fine thread passing through the open wounds. A humming melody followed the moves of the needle.
“I’m so good at this, I might want to be a surgeon when I grow up.”
For Lyra, the minutes were hours, a loop without escape, a prick after another, her body and mind completely tired were imploring to make it stop.
And after a long time, Adam stopped and untied her. Now, on the floor again, she writhed on it, with her eyes closed and her mouth still gagged, feeling the stare of Adam. She only wanted to disappear, to stop feeling even just for a moment.
When Lyra passed out, he left the home again.
As soon as she recovered the consciousness, the pain of each cut made her vividly remember what she had felt the last evening. The first day she couldn’t even move. She stayed on the floor, silent sobs accompanied the rustle of the cornfield.
The second day she managed to stand up and take off the gag off her mouth. She needed to clean the wounds. Leaning on the walls, she managed to get to the bathroom, but the first aid kit was incomplete, she only had alcohol and two pieces of gauze.
Sitting on the cold floor, she took a deep breath and held the cloth soaked in alcohol to her wound. A scream escaped from her throat. A scream of pain, of anger…
By the time she finished, she had lost her voice. Tired, she rested her back against the wall with white tiles. Even in this condition, she needs to make plan, a good one.
On the fourth day, she could no longer heal her wounds. The resources ran out and the wounds were still hurting her. None of her ideas of escaping were available yet.
The front door opened, Adam arrived and it didn’t take him a long time to find her on the bathroom floor.
“You are quite irresponsible. Look at these wounds, you didn’t heal them correctly.”
“I just had a gauze and alcohol, don’t expect miracles.”
“Lucky you, I got supplies. I’ll heal you.” He look at him, fire on her eyes.
“You are not healing me. You are maintaining your toy.”
She tried to avoid the contact between her wound and the clean gauze, not for the pain, but for the disgust she felt feeling his touch.
Each move Adam made was slow and even caring, like how he treated her the first time they met. She didn’t screamed or even bitten her lip, she was silent, looking directly to Adam’s eyes.
The healing took all the evening. When he finished, she climbed the stairs alone, ignoring the pain of the injures caused by every movement. And as soon as she laid in the bed, she fell asleep, finally a moment of rest.
The sunlight woke her up again. This time, the door that led to the hallway was open, she listened closely, it seemed that he was not there.
Her wounds were healing correctly, at least they didn’t hurt as much as the first days.
She needs to find a way to escape.
She went down the stairs, with the mind clear, it was easier to make a good plan.
What a surprise to find another plate of bland food on the counter of the kitchen. She ate it. Again, she battled against her own body to swallow the dry texture that seemed like damp cardboard. The idea of escaping was almost finished. A good and smart plan. There’s no way he’ll catch her this time.
Now is the time to execute her plan…
The front door unlocked…
“Lyra! Where are you?!” He ran upstairs, following a trail of blood. “Where are you?!” There was panic in his voice.
Lyra came out of her hiding spot on the first floor, the adrenaline running through her veins. The front door was open, the breeze entering the house. It’s time to get out, to escape.
Even if it was dark, she could see the cornfield. Each step was getting her closer to the freedom.
Her breathing started to get out of control…
Her throat was starting to close…
“Lyra! Come back!”
He knows
He’s chasing her…
Now, she knows she can’t outrun her hunter.
Now, hiding is the best option…
And as soon as she sank in the cornfield, the sound of Adam’s footsteps dissipated…
Second round of the @whumpgiftswap! This gift is for @glazedmercury, I hope you like it!
Warning! This story contentents: stalking, kidnapping, mention of human tr@fficking, non/consensual body/transformation, torture, forced obedience, dehumanization, physical abuse, captivity and deprivation, fire and arson, burn injury, animal cruelty? body horror?
It’s been just three days from… “the incident”.
What shouldn't have happened, happened.
And with that, the fear of being discovered grew bigger.
But life goes on, the things that were doing before “the incident”, should continue to be done.
Finally whumpee got out from home, his routine will return to normal.
The last leaves of autumn crunched under his feet. But there wasn’t weird stares on him, that made whumpee feel comfortable, relaxing the anxious movements of his fingers inside his pockets.
The cashier work was a repetitive task: greet the costumer, scan the products, collect the money, smile and say goodbye. As always, the people weren’t paying attention to him, except for a person with green eyes. When he saw whumpee, his eyes shone.
“Aren’t you the one from the incident? You converted into an animal!” Whumpee froze, someone recognize him.
“No, I’m not that guy.” His voice was trembling. “I was on the multitude, maybe you mistook for him” His hand shaking couldn’t even scan the products.
“Oh, It can be. Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.”
“Don’t worry.”
As soon as the guy left, Whumpee breathed again. That was a close one.
But with the days passing and the first snow storms appearing, the green eyes started to be in every place that whumpee was.
At the beginning they were only on the work of whumpee.
But then, they were on the reflection of the stores, sometimes, even on the darkened screen of his phone.
Now his favourite part of the park wasn’t safe anymore. Those green eyes were in every puddle he stepped on.
And then, one day, when he opened the door to go to work, an old cup of coffee with his name was on the carpet.
Telling Caretaker that everything is okay was each time more exhausting. If he knew what was happening, he would lock up Whumpee, putting him at greater risk.
Calling the police is a ticket to death if they know that Whumpee caused “The incident”.
Now, Whumpee couldn’t do anything without thinking of those green eyes. Each move, each breath were followed by them. The leg of whumpee started to tremble everytime he tries to sit, he stopped listening to music on the street just to pay more attention to his surroundings.
“I have night shift today, with December starting, they need more personnel, sorry.”
“Don’t worry, It’s not a big deal. I feel safer than the first days after the incident.”
Please don’t go.
The silent department made whumpee anxious. The shadow cast by the streetlight looked like a man standing still. The branches of the trees sounded as if someone were knocking on the windows. He could even see with the corner of his eyes the curtain of the window moving, even tough there is no breeze.
Whumpee could only sit on the couch, and turn on the TV without volume. But those eyes were watching him. He could feel that. It was impossible to sleep, to breath.
But the hours passed and the tiredness won.
Whumpee woke up when someone grabbed his arms. It wasn’t caretaker, it wasn’t the guy of the green eyes. It was a new shadow, strong enough to contain whumpee. Whumpee struggled, an kicked but nothing helped. Another shadow appeared with something in the hand. With just a movement, it made the body of Whumpee go limp.
The gray room was empty. There wasn’t any windows, just a metal door. Most of the clothes of whumpee disappeared, but something was new, something cold on his neck.
The steps of the hallway stopped on whumpee’s door. With a screeching sound the door opened showing the guy of green eyes entering to the room. The stomach of whumpee lurched.
“Finally here you are. Thank you for coming.”
“I’m here against my will.”
“You didn’t fight either.” He got closer. “You are a bad liar.”
“What do you want for me?”
“You are special. Finding someone like you is so complicated this days.” He grabbed Whumpee’s jaw. “I could sell you to the black market or make you work. What do you prefer?”
“Neither.”
“I knew you would say that. Don’t worry, I already decided. You’ll need a little of training but you’ll learn fast.”
“I won’t do anything.”
The guy took a few steps away, and grabbed a small control out of his pocket. The yellow button was pressed and a jolt of electricity hit directly the neck of whumpee. It was a short discharge, but it was enough to made his body stiffen.
“First rule, no talking without permission. Now come here.” Whumpee didn’t move, he stayed still on his knees trying to catch his breath. Another jolt hit his neck. “Second rule, obey the commands. Now come here.” It took a minute for whumpee to stand and walk by the side of the guy. “And now, transform yourself.”
“I can’t do it, please, I don’t know how to do it…”
A red button was pressed. The body of whumpee fell to the floor, he could only scream, but the discharge didn’t stop. A cracking sound came from his hand, followed by other cracking sound. A painful transformation made the body of whumpee ache. Each bone cracking was settling into his new position. The clothes ripped away as the fur started to cover his skin. The screams became howls that didn’t stopped when the jolt ended.
“I hope you learn to transform by yourself the next time.” Whumpee could only look at the green eyes, unable to stand up or even fight. The guy crouched and pet the head of Whumpee with a smile of satisfaction.
As the guy stand up, the red button was pressed again. The same jolt hit. This time the howls became into screams, the hair shortened and the bones returned to their place.
“And last rule. If you ever try to kill me or anyone, you’ll die.” He showed another button this time was blue and smaller than the others two. “Understood?” Whumpee nodded with his last strength.
As soon as the guy leaved, Whumpee passed out.
The door opened again.
“I brought you a snack and new clothes. I want you ready in five minutes.” He leaved the room.
Whumpee put on the new clothes, something simple but useful. But he couldn’t eat, the lump on the throat made it impossible to even swallow.
After the five minutes passed, the guy entered the room. With his hand on the pocket, he pressed the yellow button.
“I think I need to add a new rule. Be grateful for the food. You won’t always have something to eat. Now let’s begin with the training, shall we?”
“Sit.”
“Lay down.”
“Come to me.”
“Transform.”
A jolt of electricity hit Whumpee.
“Sit.”
“Lay down.”
“Come to me.”
“Transform.”
…
“Transform into human.”
A jolt of electricity hit Whumpee.
“Sit.”
“Lay Down.”
“Come to me.”
“Transform.”
…
“Transform into human.”
…
As the time passed, Whumpee became obedient to the orders. Not because he wanted, but because it was the only way the control was not used. He even learned to control his power.
“Now you are ready. Sit down and stay still.” Whumpee obeyed. The guy put a red bow on the head of whumpee. “I’ll leave for a couple minutes. Don’t move.” Without other option he obeyed.
The guy opened the door. It was the first time he entered accompanied. He had the eyes closed and the eyebrows furrowed.
“I know Christmas is in a couple days, but I can’t wait to gift this to you” Whumpee couldn’t believe what he heard. “Merry Christmas Whumper.”
He opened his eyes and his eyebrows furrowed more.
“You know I already have servants.”
“Come on Whumpee, transform.” Whumpee took off his clothes and started transforming. It was still painful, but it was better than being forced with electricity.
The face of disapproval became to be a face of surprise as Whumpee was transforming.
“You can transform yourself into a wolf.” Whumper turned to the guy. “Where did you find it?”
“Long story, but I can say that it was complicated, it gave a lot of troubles to domesticate.” Each lie made Whumpee more angry. He just wanted to kill them, but it wasn’t an option. “You can use this control if you want. The red button will make him transform, you can punish him with the yellow button. The blue one will kill him, and the green one will open the collar.”
“You’ll get a good reward for this, my friend.” The guy made a signal to whumpee, he transformed to human again and put on the clothes again. “Let’s go then, my new toy.” Whumpee followed them along the hallways.
The faint sunlight hit the face of whumpee. His barefoot didn’t step on leaves, it stepped on snow. A van had his open door for whumpee. As soon as he entered, the door closed.
The next days were a torture for whumpee. His room was way smaller, and the lack of food and water made him lose weight quickly. The control stopped being a way to teach, now it was a toy, a way to entertain whumper in his boredom. The cold hit stronger his bare skin and his neck, now injured, wouldn’t stop hurting.
“My Christmas party is tonight. You have to wear this and obey all I say. Understood?” Whumpee nodded, he couldn’t even look at whumper’s eyes. “Good. I’ll come back for you in an hour.”
The fancy clothes were matching Whumper’s outfit. They weren’t comfortable at all, but Whumpee had no other option.
The party was far from the location where whumpee was. He didn’t have windows to see the exterior, but he could feel the cold of the night. When he got out of the van, a chalet welcomed him, the Christmas decorations were everywhere and fancy cars were stopping near the van. On the inside, the wood pattern made Whumpee feel at home for a moment.
A Christmas tree decorated with candles was the attraction point and the place were Whumper with Whumpee received the guests.
“Now transform and sit next to me.” Whumpee obeyed again.
The people began to arrive. The long and elaborated dresses hit Whumpee more than once. The faked smiles and joy could be feel from a long distance.
The guy of green eyes appeared. He set his gaze to Whumpee and smiled.
“You trained it well. Maybe your reward will be the double.”
“Thank you sir. By the way, this is a beautiful place.”
And with that, he disappeared in the sea of people.
After welcoming the guests Whumper started walking around, stopping to talk and laugh. Whumpee wasn’t hearing them, he was preparing, looking everywhere to find an exit.
The big windows could be a good choice, but the noise of the broken glass would alert Whumper. The principal door is closed and security is watching it.
What about the tree? The candles, the long curtains, the dresses. Everything set on fire. Everyone screaming and then escaping won’t be a problem. Except of the collar…
The thoughts of Whumpee got interrupted…
“Come with me. I spilled my drink.”
The bathroom was small, but enough for the both of them. It’s the perfect time to steal the control. Whumpee transformed into human.
“Would you like me to hold your coat?”
“Yes. Luckily that didn’t stain. I’ll just clean my shirt.” With precision Whumpee looked into the pockets, but there was nothing. “Let’s come back to the party. Stay like human now, but don’t talk to anybody.”
As soon as they got out, a woman with a red dress stepped in front of them.
“Could I dance with your pet?” Whumper looked at her and a small smile drawn on his lips.
“Why not? Just a piece of dance, then he’ll get back to me.” She grabbed the hand of whumpee and led him to the centre of the dance floor.
Classical music was played on the distance. Whumpee could feel the glances of the guests, he could feel the green eyes looking at him and the gaze of whumper, analyzing his movements.
It’s been a long time since someone had touched him gentle. The woman placed her hands gracefully on the shoulder and the side of whumpee. The dance made him feel like the time stopped. The warm contact on his body made him felt like home, like he was loved.
She seemed to float with her dance, he didn’t. But everyone applauded them when the music stopped. And as soon they bowed, she took him to Whumper. He clapped as they got closer.
“Bravo, Bravo. You delighted me with your dance, my lady.”
“Thank you sir. And your pet knows how to dance. I appreciated this moment. Thank you.” And with that, she left the two of them. Whumper turned to see Whumpee.
“If she weren't a renowned dancer, I wouldn't have let her dance with you.” He smiled. “Come on now, my manager needs to meet you.”
Now the possibility to get close to the tree was in front of Whumpee.
Whumpee got closer to the pine and put his arm behind his back. A candle fell to the floor. No one noticed anything, then another fell, this time, it fell on the pine branch, but the heat that emanated got stronger.
As the minutes passed, a dark smoke began to go up to the ceiling. The flames started licking the curtains, and then, slowly, the walls started to burn.
It didn’t passed much time before the place got painted with flames. The people started running and screaming. For a moment, Whumper ran to help the dance lady, the perfect moment were Whumpee blended with other persons. Each step lead him closer to the exit. A man punched him directly to the curtain, instantly, Whumpee felt how his right arm burned. He bit his lip, if he screamed, he would be found. But he kept moving, hearing the roaring of Whumper calling him, feeling the adrenaline running through his veins.
The cold breeze hit him directly on the face, a strange relief to his arm. Everyone was looking the chalet burning down, the dresses were ruined as the party.
But Whumpee started to run through the forest. It doesn’t matter that he’s tired, that he has no energy, that he can’t move his arm. He needs to keep going. Where? That doesn’t matter either, he needs to get far away, he needs to escape.
A jolt of electricity hit his neck. The short one, the advice. But whumpee stood up as soon as the jolt stopped. Another jolt came, stronger that the other, whumpee cried but kept going.
A new jolt hit him. Longer and agonizing. His muscles started to tense, but his bones didn’t crack. He fell to the ground, unable to control his body. The pain hugged him. He could hear steps getting closer. With tears in his eyes, he could only think in one thing:
In the silence of the hallways, some voices were joyful, others were emotional. They were celebrating in one way or another, but in Whumpee's room, there wasn't a sound.
He had been there for a week, alone, recovering.
Being there, at this time of the year makes you realize who really cares for you. And for Whumpee, there was no one.
Someone knocked on the door. But instead of a nurse, Caretaker came in.
"What are you doing here? Weren't you going to spend holidays with your family?" Caretaker took a chair and dragged it next to Whumpee's bed.
"Yeah, that was the idea. But I relized I couldn't enjoy myself knowing you were here alone." He sat on the chair. "I can go to the New Year's party instead."
"Are you sure?"
"Completely! And if you want, you can come with me." Whumpee, shocked by the idea could only smile. "Now, let's celebrate."
Hi! Finally december came, with another @whumpgiftswap! :D This gift is for @glazedmercury. I hope you like it!
Warning! This text contains: physical trauma (mention of blood, hypotermia, near-drowing, frostbite), psychological abuse (verbal abuse, self-worth issues, forced obedience) and relationship trauma (emotional betrayal, abandonment)
The cold air filled Whumpee’s lungs, some snowflakes danced while falling to the ground. The deafening silence helped to keep one thing in the head: “Show me your loyalty”.
The steps of bare feet echoed in the forest.
“He said that whumpee was going to be here. Do you see him?”
The steps got closer, now, the team of three was relieved, watching whumpee walking towards them.
“Whumpee, finally you are here! We’ve been so worried of you all this months”. Caretaker tried to reach whumpee, but he stepped back. “Are you okay?” He wasn’t hearing him, he was preparing, knives in hands, position to start the fight.
Let's begin
He launched to his sister, his best friend, his teammate, without thinking, only with a word in his head: “loyalty”. She couldn’t protect herself, with knives in hands whumpee started cutting, each time getting closer to the neck. She tried to stop him, writhing in the cold ground, cleaning the thin layer of snow, but it was impossible, the fear made her shiver.
“Whumpee! What are you doing? Stop!”. Caretaker grabbed his arms, pushing him away. But whumpee was uncontrollable, his abrupt movements freed him and jumped again directly to his sister.
This time, the knife didn’t cut, it went through the skin of the shoulder. She looked at the empty eyes of whumpee, hoping to see at least a tear. But nothing, his face was like ice, no emotions.
Her screams resounded in the emptiness when the knife twisted inside her, tears rolling down her eyes.
Asthor lunged towards whumpee, fists closed, gritted teeth, angry flowing through his veins, ready to kill. Whumpee protected each blow with his forearms, waiting to the best moment to attack, blank mind, the same word resounding.
The opportunity came.
Whumpee with the last knife in hand pointed to the left side of his old teammate. Another scream broke the silence, he sat on Asthor, throwing punches to him, until he stopped resisting.
Whumpee turned around to meet the terrified eyes of caretaker. He took the knife and approached with the stealth of an animal hunting. Caretaker could only step back. His voice was shaking.
“Please, I don´t want to hurt you. Don´t kill me”. But whumpee didn´t stop, knife in hand, ground cracking under his steps. “We can talk, right?”
The end is getting close.
Whumpee ran the last inches to stab with strength, but caretaker dodged it and pushed whumpee to the ground, the knife flew from his hand.
“I´m sorry. I don´t want to hurt you.” Whumpee ran again, this time caretaker couldn´t dodge it and fell to the ground. Whumpee grabbed the jacket collar, lifting the upper body of caretaker, only to smash it to the ground repeatedly.
The heavy breathing in tune stopped when the ground under them started to sank. They weren’t on mainland, they were on a frozen lake.
Now the fighting was to survive and not fall to the big hole that appeared.
With desperate moves the two of them got out of the water, Now the tiredness was slowing them down, but it didn’t stop the fight. Whumpee jumped on caretaker, punching his face, but caretaker managed to swap positions. Grabbing his hands over the head.
“You have to stop! Now! Don´t you see we’re on danger? We need to get out of here.” Whumpee punched the face of caretaker with his own head. Whumpee reached his fighting knife and pointed to the throat, ready to cut. The hopeless eyes of caretaker met the cold eyes of whumpee.
The end is here.
A shot echoed in the frozen place.
Asthor was on the ground pointing at whumpee, ready to shot again if necessary.
Whumpee tried to finish the mission pressing the knife on the neck of caretaker.
Just a punch was the necessary to destabilize whumpee. He managed to sit, but the hand that was going to hold him down never reached the floor. Instead, it found the cold water.
It only took a second for whumpee to disappear under the ice.
Silence...
A cold hug…
No resisting…
Whumpee looked to the light of the evening fading out, as he was going deeper. The water filled his lunges as he was fading away...
A shadowy figure appeared and grabbed whumpee’s hand, and tried to go to the surface. But his limbs started to numb and the desperate needing of air weakened him, but he kept fighting, each kick was driving him closer, the light was getting brighter.
The gasp of breath, the signal that everything went right made Asthor and Alisha ran to meet caretaker, getting him off the water. The heavy clothes made the moves impossible, but it didn’t stop caretaker to go check for his old friend.
"He’s not breathing!’’ The compression on the chest of whumpee was strong and desperate. "Come on! Please…’’ Asthor grabbed the arms of caretaker and pushed him away of whumpee.
"Let’s go, he doesn’t deserve your help’’
"No! He’s my friend’’
"He betrayed you! All of us!’’
The uncontrollable moves of caretaker stopped.
Alisha looked back, tears rolled from her eyes.
The snowflakes started falling faster, the wind that got stronger made the snowflakes dance to the beat of the cold rage.
"Let’s go, a storm is coming’’
The dead silence showed the sound of the crack of the thin ice under their feet.
Somewhere in the woods...
The only thing that was breaking the silence was the step on wet leaves and the wind whistling trough the trees. The air with scent of pine was tense, each step was guiding them further away from where whumpee was.
But the steps of caretaker stopped…
“Why did you stop?”
“I can’t keep going.”
“Why? Is it because of whumpee?” Caretaker nodded his head. “No, he doesn’t deserve our help.”
“But we left him to die there. What if the ice broke and now he is drowning?”
“No.” The breath of Asthor was fogging instantly on the cold. “He doesn’t deserve to be saved. He almost killed you.”
“I know… but he was different, I don’t know what happened, but something is off.”
“Let’s just come back home, before nightfall, is dangerous here.” Asthor started walking, his boots stomping on the leaves with force.
“Just let me go find whumpee and we’ll come back to the cabin. We can’t left him there, he’s our friend.” Asthor stopped looking directly to the eyes of caretaker.
“No, he choose his side, he left us and you know that.”
“I have to go.”
“He is a monster.”
“No…”
“He wanted to kill us.”
“I…”
“He betrayed us!” With that last word he directed his gloved fist to the trunk of a pine, snow fell over them. Now, caretaker was unable to look into the eyes of Asthor.
“Enough! Just stop fighting for a moment! We almost die there and we left our friend! Is that what a team does?” Alisha looked at caretaker, holding back her tears. “He is my brother and I saw his eyes when he hurt me, he wasn’t there, his eyes were... empty. I believe in you caretaker.”
“Is that what a brother does? Try to kill his sister? We almost die there, we are going back to the cabin, heal our wounds and just move on. Is not that hard!”
“I’ll go, I can’t left my friend.”
“I’ll go with you.” She stepped closer, ignoring the pain on her shoulder.
“No Alisha, you are hurt.”
“And you are wet.”
“Just go with Asthor, you need to heal. I’ll go back with whumpee in a couple hours.”
“You want to go back? Fine, do it.” Asthor made a dead stare looking to caretaker. “But I’m warning you, if you walk away now, you’ll loose us both, forever.”
Caretaker turned around and started walking to the lake. The damage was done, and the point of no return was crossed…
In the empty forest…
A desperate gasp cut the whistling of the wind, and then another, and another. An irregular breath emerged in the lonely lake.
Cold steps got closer, it seems that the wind wasn’t affecting his walk.
Whumpee got up, still wet and with complications to breath. He bowed with difficulty when the figure stood in front of him. Now the fear crawled on his bones. His body shivering without permission.
“Oh whumpee. What a show you gave this evening.” The words danced at the beat of the wind.
“I completed the mission, I showed to you my loyalty. I’m ready now.”
“No dear. You were impressive, but you failed, you didn’t kill them and now…’’ a short pause seemed to last hours. ”You are broken, you are useless.” The words converted in the sharpest knifes, stabbing whumpee by surprise.
“Sir, give me another opportunity, please.” tears finally started to fall. “I can find them, I can do it.” Whumper stopped him.
“It’s not nessesary. It’s over, you have to understand that. You don’t deserve to live, do you understand?” Whumpee nodded and the figure started walking. “And one last thing. I’m not going to get my hands dirty for you. So go, find your own grave.”
“No, please! I’ll do everything for you! Im not broken, I’ll get better…”
Whumper was already gone, disappearing in the middle of snowflakes that made impossible to see.
"Where should I go?"
"Where should I die?"
"Here…"
His legs buckled, he let his body fall. Now the wind was hurting his bare skin. The hands, the feet, no feeling, they were completely numb. His weak body could only tremble. And his right side of the chest never hurt so much, but it was impossible to even touch the wound with his trembling hands.
Shadowy figures started appearing in the middle of the snow…
“You should be dead.”
“You are a mistake.”
“Just a broken doll.”
“You don’t deserve to live.”
The laughter of the shadows resounded on the head of whumpee.
“Whumpee!” The wind whispered, he didn’t hear it.
“Whumpee!” This time the called echoed in the emptiness.
“Whumpee!”
“Is someone calling my name? That’s impossible, right?”
“Hey, I’m here, everything is going to be okay.” The new shadow was moving desperate around whumpee, this time the shadow seems real.
Hearing the irregular breath of whumpee calmed caretaker, that took whumpee on his arms and helped him to stand. But something was wrong, the smell of iron could be smelled even with the wind going to any direction, down, on the thin ice a puddle of blood showed that the shot of Asthor was effective.
“Let’s go home.” He supported the body of whumpee on him. “Everything is going to be okay”
“Please, It has to…’” the pleading echoed in the mind of caretaker.
The clumsy steps tried to get out of that place as soon as possible, but it was too much weight for two legs that were shaking uncontrollable, weakening with each step. The wind got stronger, making hard to even stay still, every snowflake was like a dagger, hitting the bare skin and making difficult to see.
“We need to go to the forest, it’s safer than here. Can you help me please?” Whumpee didn’t answered. His eyes were closed, his head looking down, lolling. “Come on, please, we are getting close.”
The moment they entered to the forest the wind stopped blowing with rage and the uncontrollable dance of the snowflakes now was a delicate dance.
Caretaker let the body of whumpee on the floor and checked his state. The wound was still bleeding, but slower, a relief for him. But the hands, the feet, they were cold and a slight dark tone on the fingers and toes alerted caretaker.
“I need to rest for a minute, please, hang on whumpee. The cabin is not so far from here”
The wind blew a new sound around the trees, a voice, sharp as ice.
“Are you sure you want to go there?”
A laugh echoed among the trees.
“You already forgot what happened with Asthor?”
Caretaker stood up, ignoring his trembling body.
“Everything is going to be okay”
A sudden intake of breath made caretaker jump. Whumpee was awake, sitting, looking with wide eyes at caretaker.
“What did you do?” His voice was broken, the fear was taking the control.
“I came back for you, it’s what a friend does, right? Come on, get up, let’s keep moving.”
“You shouldn’t have done it.” His dead stare made caretaker shiver.
“Please, let’s go, It’s going to nightfall.” Caretaker grabbed whumpee’s arm and made him got up.
“This is wrong.” whumpee stepped back. “I have to go back”
“Where?”
Whumpee started walking, using the trees to support his weight. His feet dragged trough the leaves.
“This way whumpee”
“Whumpee, stop!”
“Find your grave”
“Come back whumpee!”
“You can’t save him, caretaker”
“Over here whumpee!”
“Where are you going?”
“I need to find my grave”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t deserve to live”
Caretaker tried to follow whumpee, that with erratic moves he was changing the direction. He was getting faster, making harder for caretaker to follow him.
“Whumpee! Come here!”
“Find my grave”
The gloved hand of caretaker reached the arm of whumpee, a soft pressure, an anchor.
The voices stopped…
The shadows vanished…
The wind stopped whistling...
“Tell me where are you going”
“I…” The words weren’t coming out. The command of whumper crumbled to dust.
The eyes of whumpee, wide and confused, saw caretaker, not an attacker, not whumper. He instantly tried to pull away, this kindness was impossible for someone like him. Caretaker let him go, taking his hand off slowly. Their eyes met in the middle of a storm of thoughts and fear.
Whumpee touched his arm, the warm sensation got impregnated in his skin, a silent worry, so many questions that didn’t come out, an old promise…
“Are you okay?” Whumpee nodded, unable to form an answer with words. “Can we go to the cabin now please?” Whumpee shook his head.
“I have to stay here.”
“Why?”
“I have to find my grave.”
“No, you are going to survive, because you are strong.”
“But I failed.”
Caretaker got close to the rigid body of whumpee. This time he grabbed his two arms and got down to his level. Whumpee flinched at the first contact.
“Stop saying that, okay? Tell me what happened before the fight.”
“I can’t” Each word was said in a low voice, with fear.
“You can trust me.”
“This is wrong…”
“Look at me. I don’t want to rush you to tell me, but I’m worried about you. If you can tell me something, just anything, it could help me to understand, and maybe even help you. What do you think?” Whumpee looked down, trying to organize his thoughts.
“Today was a special day. I had to show my loyalty to my master.” he made a pause. “But I failed. You should be dead. I tried so hard.” A small sob came out, his voice broke. “But here I am, receiving my punishment.” He got silent, no tears fell.
“Thank you for telling me. Come with me. I’ll give you a roof and a place to rest. No one is going to hurt you if I’m near. I promise.” Whumpee looked up to met the eyes of caretaker. That words, that promise. Something was familiar.
“I… I’ll go with you” Caretaker released his arms, getting up in silence, but still looking at whumpee.
“Let’s go then” Caretaker tended his hand, whumpee still with doubt decided to accept the gesture.
Finally the smoke of the cabin was part of the landscape, the forest got less leafy, showing the clouds darker. The night was getting close.
The boots of caretaker were still wet. Each step, a squelch of frigid water and mud, was the only sound in that place. His mind was still debating with the imminent fight with Asthor. But even with that, he kept focusing in one thing: Whumpee. His open wound was still bleeding, and his pale skin showed that the tone of the hands and feet got darker and became rigid. His eyes were fighting to stay open and with his erratic gait he wasn’t even trying to avoid the trees.
“How are you feeling?” Caretaker murmured, but Whumpee didn’t answer.
The rows of trees disappeared, revealing an open field. The storm had weakened, the snowflakes still swirled, but the wind was almost nonexistent. In the distance, the wooden walls and the smoking chimney were visible. A spark of adrenaline hit caretaker.
“Come on, we’re almost there.”
“I…” An unexpected noise alerted caretaker. He turned around to see whumpee on the floor, without trees, he no longer had support. Caretaker rushed to whumpee and helped him stand.
“Let me help you” Whumpee stepped back. “I’ll support your weight, is a short walk.” Whumpee shook his head. Caretaker sighed. “Look, if we stay here, you’ll get worse. So let me help you please.” Caretaker extended his arm around the back of whumpee, and put his body closer. He could feel the body of whumpee stiffen at the first contact. “See? Just put your arm on my shoulder, I’ll be like one of the trees, just lean on me, I’ll guide the way.”
The last stretch was an endless torture. The snow reached to his knees, making harder to take every step. The dead weight of whumpee and his legs dragging weren’t helping caretaker, that had to raise more his legs even more to not stumble.
Finally the door was in front of them, caretaker reached the knob, but it didn’t open. He took off his glove with his mouth and tried again, but the door was locked, something weird coming from Asthor or Alisha. Caretaker started knocking the door while whumpee was slipping out of his grasp.
Finally the door opened, Asthor was behind it. Caretaker tried to pass but Asthor blocked the entry.
“I can’t believe how fast you forget things.”
“Please, let us in”
“I warned you about the consequences, you made your choise. Leave.” His voice was flat.
“Whumpee” A soft murmur behind Asthor. She ran towards whumpee, dodging the hand of Asthor that tried to stop her. Whumpee flinched at the first contact, then, his body got rigid as she hugged him.
The knees of caretaker hit the wooden floor of the porch, he had no more energy.
“Alisha, get away from him!” Asthor lunged forward, but she turned her back, shielding whumpee.
“No! He’s my brother” She hugged whumpee tighter. “I’m not leaving him again” Asthor stepped back, his arms crossed.
She helped whumpee to reach the bench swing next to the door and then stepped in front of Asthor. The difference of height was minimum, she lookes him at the eyes.
“This cabin is ours. The four of us worked hard to buy this place.”
“That was before that thing tried to kill us.”
“But you shot him and then you let him drown. We’re supposed to be better than him.”
“Better than him?” He spat the words. “He is a monster designed to kill us! You are making a terrible mistake. He tried to kill you. If we let him in, he would try to finish what he started.” He turned to caretaker. “This is your fault, you broke the team when you decided to abandon us in the forest. You choose that monster before us.” Caretaker met his gaze, exhausted.
“At least I can differentiate between the monster and the man. You can’t be in a team if you don’t trust your own people.” Caretaker got up, leaning on the railing. “You were never a good leader. And sadly I’m realizing that now.” Asthor closed his eyes for a moment, he let out a long sigh. Then, he let the entry free.
“Okay, Come in.” Caretaker helped whumpee enter and laid him down on the couch next to the fire. Alisha entered right after them.
Asthor took his jacket and put on his boots.
“Were are you going?”
“I’m going to a safer place.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Alisha, you let him in. I’m not staying with the one who tried to kill us. You made your choice.” He looked to caretaker. “Welcome home.” The door closed behind him.
In the silence of the cabin, the only sound was the steps of Asthor on the snow getting each time further…
Hi! I made this story for the @whumpgiftswap. This is a gift for @whumperofworlds. I hope you like it!
Warning!! This text contains: severe physical violence/injury, captivity and confinement, torture, psychological/emotional abuse, dehumanization, verbal abuse, abandonment/betrayal, PTSD.
