The Tentacle King of IOSP

Chapter 8

"How are you feeling?"

Casper's eyes squinted at the bright lights attached overhead. He felt quite drowsy, and rolled his head to the direction of the voice. He saw a middle-aged man, with a few strands of hair atop his head and a neatly trimmed gray moustache, sitting beside him observing him carefully.

"Are you feeling any pain anywhere?" asked the man once more.

Casper groaned, " Who are you?"

" I am superintendent Charles and I received reports of you and your prison mate Ellis being captured by the Tentacle King, who protects and is the main security due to whom prisoners can't escape. Were you both, by any chance, trying to escape? Try not to lie to me, as you are currently attached to a lie detector," said Superintendent Charles calmly.

"No, no...we never had any intention of escaping. We were curious about some noise which was coming from a certain hallway and was disturbing us, so we decided to investigate the issue," said Casper. " Where is Ellis sir, if I may ask?"

"Do not worry, your friend is in another room also being interrogated by my colleague. He seems perfectly fine and has not sustained any major injuries. Nor have you."

"Sir, I understand the those...monsters are there for security but why...why did they this? I-I don't understand, we were – I don't know, sort of, breeded , I think and-"

"Hush, I understand you are quite confused. Well once every ten years the Tentacle King randomly chooses two prisoners to breed so as to increase his brood to help him secure the prison better and capture escaped prisoners from a longer distance. It just so happened that this was the tenth year and you were the chosen ones. Don't worry, your body is perfectly fine now and you will not have to see those tentacles ever again...unless you end up doing something that triggers it. Then I can't do anything to help you, for we will know you deserved it perhaps."

Saying these words, the Superintendent got up. He patted Casper's hand, and slid out of the hospital room.

Slid.

Casper's eyes widened, and he knew that from now onwards, Ellis and he must be extremely careful. By no chance are they going to end up becoming a meal for that sick, sick man. How dare he do such a thing and deliberately show that he is the "monster" after all?

************

Casper knocked on Ellis' door, and waited for the nurse to open it. His own nurse had allowed him to visit Ellis, as Casper recovered quicker than Ellis.

"Hey cutie."

Ellis turned towards him, a tired expression on his face. "Hey."

"How're you feeling? A bit better?"

" I still can't feel my legs. I'm so traumatized by the whole business, I just- I don't wanna get up nowadays and just wish I...I could just disappear!" cried Ellis as he broke down, his body jerking every time he sobbed.

Casper wrapped his arms around, soothing him, kissing the top of his head and rubbed his back.

"Baby, I know what you went through and you were so strong. You were the one who saved me, remember? It's all gonna be okay now. We just have to be more alert, and make sure to do nothing out of the ordinary. Hey, want me to make you some hot chocolate?"

"That'd be nice."

As Casper prepared the hot chocolate using the small kettle kept beside his bed, he noticed Ellis smiling quietly to himself.

"Feeling better?"

"I've never seen such a soft, kind side of you before. I've never had anyone take care of me like this. My whole life my family abused and tortured me, locked me up in dark rooms to punish me, and I always ended up taking care of myself if I ever fell sick. Nobody was there to make me hot chocolate or soup if I had a cold, or bring me ice-cream if I had a stomach ache, or bring me a band-aid if i scratched my knee. I- I feel so loved, even though we've barely known each other," said Ellis, sniffling a bit at the end.

Casper smiled warmly at Ellis, and hugged him from the side.

"Well, I'm here now to lookout for you kitten, and honestly speaking, I fell for you the moment I met you. Though the conditions we met in are not so great, as long as we have each other, we ought to have a pretty good time, don't you think?"

"I really hope so," smiled Ellis, as he entwined his fingers with Casper's.

**********

They were transferred back into their cell after two more days of observation. Ellis and Casper spent a lot of time talking and getting to know each other. Ellis liked to watch adventure movies and doesn't really care for books. Casper, on the other hand, loved reading detective books and liked to watch documentaries.

"Took the detective thing a bit too far, eh?" laughed Ellis.

"Hey now, don't you get too cheeky else those legs won't be able to stand tomorrow," smirked Casper.

"Oh, and what were you planning to do to them if I got too cheeky?" asked Ellis with a naughty smile on his face.

"Wouldn't you wanna know," said Casper in a deep voice as he pounced on Ellis and covered his lips with his with a deep, loving kiss.

"That's it? That's all you plan to do?"

"Now, now no need to get too impatient..."