Final interlude "you helped Ren" and TPOF

Chapter 2

She refused to amputate his hands. He had given her a shock. Strong. She took two more, longer ones, before convincing herself to do so. She did. Disgusted and terrified. But despite this, once the victim is died, Ren took a hammer and broke the fingers of her hand. "you must learn to obey." Sometimes he would take her down to the basement without any victims, always for her "training," as she called it. Then he bandaged her wounds, cuddled her when she had nightmares, bought her everything she asked for, everything she couldn't have before, everything of it in the most expensive version available. A life so different from the one before. But in the last period he had let her rest. She was in her room, half lying on the sofa. She still had a few bruises but overall she felt a little better, so she decided to play the playstation, an Adventure Game. At first she had tried it out of boredom, without expectations, but then it turned out to be engaging. Oh, she had unlocked a fight scene, so she started pounding buttons frantically. *plick* She felt a small, faint, warm drop fall onto her knee. She didn't want to miss the game, so she just took a quick look. Nothing. She stabbed to death some of the NPCs in the video game. Another drip. She smelled a ferrous odor. She took another quick look at her knee. A small red drop. This time she paused the game and put the joystick down. Wasn't she healed ? She checked her bandages, but they weren't bleeding. She didn't understand. Did is imagine it ? She took the controller back. But she felt it wet. She looked at it. Red liquid. Blood. How was that possible ? She rubbed her hands, but she couldn't clean them, in fact, they stained them even more. A sudden scream from the TV. But it didn't feel like the video game. She screamed and fell backwards: wasn't that Strade? She was... drilling someone alive, laughing in amusement as the victim begged him to stop. But.... what was she doing there? Wasn't he dead? Hadn't she cut his throat? No, wait. When the man turned to the camera....it wasn't Strade. But Ren. Exalted. The victim...saw himself. M/C felt himself gasping and started shaking his head "no no no no." Getting up, she tripped over something. A corpse, completely tortured. He backed away, crawling across the floor. The ferrous smell increased. The room was filled with body parts instead of furniture. Blood everywhere. "NO !".

"Wake up !" She woke up with a startle. Someone was shaking her shoulders. Ren. The worried expression. "Are you okay? You were screaming. I ran to see what was happening." She looked around frantically, still panting. The room was normal. She must have fallen asleep on the couch. But it had all seemed so damn REAL to her. All this....no. no. She had never had an attack like this before. Before. Before him, her life was completely different. Of course, it wasn't perfect. In fact, she wasn't at all. Surely when she had met them she had changed. for the better ? Worse ?. No, she couldn't....it was too much. "NO". Ren began to gently caress her cheek "sshhh it's okay. You had a nightmare. I can give you some medicine if you want....". This set her off. She slapped his hand away. "No! I don't want any more drugs!", he thought of the body in the freezer, "what was in the steak you gave me ? WHAT was it? What else are you going to make me do ? I...I...I don't want it. none of this." And she ran away. Or at least she tried. She was about to reach the door of the room, when she suddenly found herself on the ground. Red light from her collar. Pain everywhere. Some steps. She turned to see Ren standing over her, remote in hand, dark-faced, ears behind him. "You're not going anywhere. You're scared, and I understand that. So apologize, and I might forgive you." M/C was fed up. It was as if she had reached a breaking point. She got up in pain. And she tried to attack him. But he dodged it easily. She took another shock. Stronger and longer. She fell to the floor again. "Apologise." He told her practically growling. Whereupon she spat at him. Third discharge. She maintained a defiant expression. She didn't want to give up. She hated that expression on his face. Fourth discharge. She knew that he did it for his perverse pleasure and thatit could be deadly. But she wasn't interested. She tried to resist. She smelled iron again. More blood. More pain, so much so that she could no longer move. Everything went black.

Wet. Something wet and cold was running across her face. She opened her eyes. A wet patch. Ren was rubbing it across her face and forehead, his expression worried, his eyes red. Had he cried ? "You woke up". He hugged her, his voice shaking, "I was afraid I killed you. You lost a lot of blood." In fact, on the bedside table there was a basin of water, gauze and some red-stained handkerchiefs. The cabinet... must have dragged her to the bed. An "I'm sorry" escaped her mouth. Ren resumed dabbing her "I'm sorry too. But you have to learn. Everything I do is because I love you." M/C turned and hid her head with her hands, whereupon he grabbed her chin with one hand. She was crying. She placed the towel on the basin. "Hey. Hey, what's going on ? What's wrong ?". Sweet tone. "You would get angry." She didn't look at his face. Whereupon he leaned forward and began to caress her cheek. "Love. How can I take care of you if you don't tell me what's bothering you ? You were really upset before." She didn't trust him, but she couldn't help herself and said between sobs "it's just....I....no I just think about how much my life sucked before, how no one cared about me and you instead you care so much about me and....and....at the same time I can't help but think that all this horror is wrong, all the murders....but no one cared about me before. Because life is so unfair? I'm so confused, I no longer know what I should do, what I should believe." She was afraid. A lot. She thought he was going to cut her throat on the spot, or who knows what else. But instead all he did was reassure her "M/C. Don't worry. It's normal. The last few days have been hard for you, that's why I let you rest. But maybe it wasn't enough. I'll go get you something to calm you down, ok? like I told you before. It will make you feel better" - Before. Before he electrocuted her almost to death. She knew what it meant. He didn't show anger, but she knew he was. He had a kind smile, but he was like....too snappy. Her eyes... it was as if they sparkled more than before. But she was too tired to fight, she felt too lost, so she said "yes, thank you". Weak voice. "Perfect. Stay here. I'll be right back." Ren almost ran out of the room.

So excited. Finally. The training was working. He struggled to contain hiself. His sweet, gentle pet. He got pissed off when she saw her run away. She belonged to him. And running away from him was one of the worst things she could do. In punishing her, however, some wounds had reopened and he had feared the worst. But he didn't care, because all of this had brought her even closer to him. He already knew what to do. He took a glass and some pills. He wanted her to stay calm, at least until he had prepared everything. It would have been easier, for both of us. He licked his lips, anticipating what he would do. Their bond would have strengthened even more. He headed down the hall but stopped. He couldn't show up like this again. He took a couple of deep breaths. He needed to calm down. He approached the door, taking small steps. It had always been silent. He opened the door ajar. M/C was still there, lying, where he had left her, where he had ordered her to stay. Waiting for him to return. In need of his guidance. Of him.