Phantom Chained

Chapter 35. Reunion. Elm.

Pinned to the sofa under the extensive weight of despondency, ineptitude and anguish, I waited for death to come for me without even a clue as to when my existence would end with one eternal moment of ceased suffering.

The body reacted to stress with a burst of adrenaline and cortisol, which alongside the intense secretion of helped to distract me from darker thoughts. The sleeve of the bathrobe became heavy from the tears and snot, and at that point I just gave up and let the fluids flow however they pleased. What's the point, anyway; they're going to disappear soon, along with the bathrobe and my memories that I listed through like a miser going through his safe as his house shakes with the greedy thieves' blows.

Oh, how I want to live!

I would even live attached to Clara's chain but even that choice was taken from me. Not even thinking about the suffering brought forth by breaking the oaths on the Nameless' runes, I tried leaving the body, convincing myself that slavery is the better choice than the freezing emptiness of the absence of time, with no hope of ending the suffering or even the merciful outcome of going insane.

Alas, the attempt was futile. I was not whole, and without the part of me that remained inside the sleeping beauty, I was trapped in this cursed meatbag that was soon to die along with me.

Oh, how shitty this is! What did I do to deserve this? Why me?

I wiped my nose and screamed in pain; didn't seem like it was broken but It did swell up to twice its size. That was a parting gift from Raul. Back then I only laughed, as he was hurting Johan's poor body and not me. He punched me again for that. And I laughed again. I waited for the third strike, but my torturer ran off and banged the door shut so hard that a crack formed along the wall. The gorilla's sensitive soul couldn't withstand my revelations, it seems. Hehe.

What's wrong, bitches? Did you really think that by making me crack I would be under your control? Well you were mistaken, dear people. So, so mistaken. It's been two days since I revealed myself, and I've been enjoying entertaining my dear friends with my honest opinions on various topics. And the most hilarious of all is the fact that they are completely dumbfounded as to what to do with me. They hit a dead end, hehe. And I, being completely helpless myself, teased them about their own helplessness. Teased and laughed when they hit me; especially when they hit me.

Laughter on the brink of death... I must admit that even this pain brought joy to me, seeing that soon I would not be able to feel anything at all.

A premonition of lethal freedom

Woe is me! Vae me! Vae, vae!

Amidst my loud wailing, I completely missed the sound of the door unlocking. It was only when the said door flew open from a heavy blow that I understood that something truly extraordinary was about to happen.

When the unexpected visitors stumbled into my dying quarters, I thought for a moment that I saw a living artwork of Rorschach, the one where a sane person sees a butterfly whereas a mentally ill person sees a rabbit dragging along two women by their heads. In my case the women were quite ordinary; one of them I recognised to be my damsel while the other was a stranger. The rabbit itself was truly terrifying; its skull with bulging eyes reminded me of a swim bladder, except with bared dark-red teeth. One of its paws was holding an axe to my girl's neck, with fresh blood dripping from it... definitely blood; the smell of iron and death hit me all at once.

The rabbit then started talking with Clara's voice.

"Elm, my love! I have found you at last!"

By the foot of the sofa was a convenient metal vessel for excrement, one that my captors so thoughtfully provided considering even the extended chain was too short to reach the toilet. The only thing left to do was give it a little acceleration towards Clara's head.