Manticore

Manticore - Silas Cox

Black.
The darkness I live in seems to swallow me, tear open my skin...
It was cold. Bone-chilling, to the point where I couodnt get warm anymore. But I had to wonder if it was the lack of heat that shivered through me or if it was the fear of not knowing my place in the world around me anymore.
I came to the conclusion that it wasn't "him" who broke me, but more the darkness surrounding me, every time he wasn't there. What broke me the most was the time I was left alone, the red rivets dropping from my skin, the pain breathtaking and the silence... The goddamn silence...
Whenever I was left alone with my thoughts I was able to think about what would happen next. When would be come back... What would he do... After some time I got to a state of mine where I'd rather be dead than sitting here, tied to a chair with nothing to see and nothing to hear but the darkness around me and the rats he had set loose in his basement.

The nagging pain got to a point where I couldn't cry anymore, I was left empty, filled with this nagging and burning pain, always feeling like I'm on the verge of unconsciousness.
The cuts all over my body, some as deep as to the bone were already closed up again, since "he" had taken good care of them. He never tortured me to a point where I would die, and to be honest, this was what I hated him most for.
At this very moment, I had been captured for about... Three days. I wasn't really sure, he came in to check on me every hour other hour, but the time seems to run slower down here.
I've come to terms with it, tho. That I will die. I just hope it will be soon. I'm sorry. I can't take this anymore.
But I can feel death creeping closer. Just a little more... And I will be finally f-

The dore opened with a bang, sending a shivers down my spine. Please don't let this happen again, please...
My head was spinning, mind running, heart pounding so hard I almost thought it would break my bones and run away.
In stepped... He. He, the boy who I once knew as being the shy kid, not the hunter but the hunted, broken from whatever he had gone through. He disappeared from school, most said he was sent to a mental yard for depression or something, but this boy... The boy he became, this don't the child I once knew. His eyes sparkled with joy the second he saw me, the second he turned on the light. His blue eyes, which I once was so jealous of.. Something was different, I noticed it the second he made himself visible by turning the dimmed light back on.

His hair. His dark red hair was colored a bright rainbow, the front red, the back of his head purple, the sides shaved again.

If you saw him on the streets you would never think of him as being dangerous, more like a ball of sunshine and kindness. He was quite average, not counting his now brightly colored hair.

He took out his headphones, a song playing quietly until his phone was turned of, leaving us in silence again, at least until he spoke.

"There you are, babydoll~"

He snickered, stepping closer as my eyes dropped to the floor. I stopped struggling some hours ago, after he last took his anger out on me. I just sat there, eating for what was still to come.

Looking up at him again, the only thought that came to mind was how terrifying the human mind was. How it was able to switch from angel to devil, and how even in situations like this it was able to make the person in front of me seem so careless, happy...

He was a Monster.
A boy with a gun for a mouth, words dripping out like blood, his lips chapped but in the lighting down here reddish brown.

"How are you?~ Your wounds seem to hurt a little"

"Stop. Please. Don't act like you care even in the slightest. Just kill me already."

The words I uttered where quiet, slow and filled with pain. Not physical pain, more the pain from inside, the fear...
But What I told him just made him laugh. He took a few more steps, reaching out, softly caressing m, cheek.

"Awee, you wouldn't want to leave me just now, wouldn't you?"

The feelings welling up inside me, I was unable to describe even a single one. A mixture of hate and fear, disbelieve, regret, shame... Peace, loneliness, hatred, deep, pure hatred, but acceptance and somehow a part of me even understood him and felt bad. Bad for what made him this way.

"Then let me go... Please. I'll come back, you don't have to kill, I'll stay with you... You won't be alone.."

My only chance, my only way to get out. Promise him I'll stay, come back.

"Huh."

He let out a cold Huff. His eyes turned their piercing gaze right into mine, facing them, reaching deep inside until I felt him reading my deepest, darkest secrets. His face went blank, cold, but hardest took over it like a wave crashing against the stoney walls of a bay right as a storm reached its peak.

"You know what?"

He asked, hissing like a snake, hatred and anger washing over him in bigger waves every second.

"I'm gonna kill you. But I'll make your death slow. If you tell me a story, I'll make it painless"

...

So my time has come to an end, finally... In this very second my brain just shut down, fear taking over but being swallowed by a calm, soft smile.
I wouldn't suffer anymore. My parents would finally know what had happened. It would be hard for them, tho...
My smile faded, leaving me slowly dropping my head, as my croaky voice started to form words, spinning thoughts together.
As I started to talk, I felt a sharp pain pulsing through me, leaving me gasping for air only to have the pain taken away immediately, my gaze falling onto the blood dripping from my wrists.

As the red gold drained from my body, I told him the story of my very first love. And as I came to an end, my vision went black. Even if this boy was a killer... I wasn't mad at him. He knew how to make people feel as if he was their saviour, when finally killing them. He knew all that died where greatful to not suffer any longer. Even if he was the one putting us through all of this at first.