Burlap

37 - Devour

I - the not sentient me - fell back inside the recesses of my static filled mind, crashing onto the floor in a cloud of old dust. Pain should have shot up the back of my head as it bounced off the concrete floor the wall stood on, but I felt nothing aside from the slight pressure of the impact. Even as my head bounced a couple more times, I only felt the motion itself, and none of the pain that should have been there.

Fogged blackness stretched on as far as the eye could see in every direction, the only other objects in sight being the wall, which I was still fortunate enough to be on the free side of, and an old winged back chair with stuffing pouring from the various rips throughout the mauve fabric. A small circle of clear space surrounded me before being overtaken by the thick and heavy fog that obscured everything else.

Was I to spend my death here? Would this be my penance? To remain in the place I trapped my insane alter ego for the rest of eternity?

A distant screaming caught my slowly returning attention. The shrill sound grew in volume until another shape broke through the blackness, flying at me with such speed that it was left impossible for me to dodge. It collided with my already disconcerted body, and I grunted out of habit rather than pain as we careened, rolling in a mass of limbs and hair, several feet away from my original landing spot.

“Useless whore!” the other form screeched, the name calling alerting me to it’s identity. Power. Her palm came down against my cheek, whipping my head to the side as she straddled my waist to continue her assault. The sting swelled across my face, and I wondered if I’d ever stop being beat. A small, slightly insane, smile lifted my lips as I realized I was literally hitting myself now.

“Is it funny?! I’ll kill you before he ever has the chance! I won’t die because of someone as worthless and stupid as you!” Fingers, with nails digging into my tender scalp, wrenched at my hair, yanking and pulling handfuls from the root. Why was it I could feel that pain and not the pain from before?

At first, no will to stop her resided in my apathetic form. But within seconds, in a moment of pure, avenging glory, my mind changed. How dare she? What right did Power have to want my body? By all childish rights, I had been owner to my body and mind first, and she was nothing more than an unwelcome intruder. She had tricked me, hurt me, used me, tormented me for years on end. I was in this demented place because of her! And I had laid down and taken it, without question, without any kind of fight back. I’d let her control me, manipulate me for far too long, and her reign as the domineering boss deserved to come to an end. Even if I died, she would not take me down as easily as my abusers before.

The heel of my hand caught her in the temple, sending her face reeling to the side. She fell off me, stumbling to her feet and shaking her head, as if dislodging the pain. It took only a few seconds for her to regain her bearing, and in that time I stood to my own feet, eager to stare her down and show her I wouldn’t be so easily mistreated anymore.

A sneer grew across her furious face. “So, now the mouse wants to fight back? What will you do, Saney? Nibble me to death? Feel so sorry for yourself I let you go? Play the victim so well I feel pity for you? Or maybe you’ll just whine so much about your poor, pathetic life that I leave before I get bored to death.”

“Shut up! I am so sick of you and your intrusion of my life! No more, Power! You’re done!” I yelled, stalking toward her, stopping only when I stood mere centimeters from her face. “Go die in a ditch, you heartless wench!”

She threw her head back, exposing the ivory skin of her elongated neck, and laughed. “You choose one heck of a time to stand up for yourself, sweetheart! What do you have to lose now? Shoot, what could you possibly have to gain by picking a fight with me now, of all times? You really are as stupid as you look.” She reached toward her face with her manicured hands, flicking tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes with such a graceful, dainty motion that I found myself momentarily jealous of her ability to look so regal and cool, even in this situation.