Puppet Boy

5.

THE MAN left the room for a few minutes after their limbs were numbed, leaving them alone on display in front of the puppets.

Tyler's head fell to the side, resting on his shoulder. He wanted to cry, he wanted to scream and thrash and beat the shit out of the psychotic man who was doing this to them but he couldn't. He was too numb, getting mentally and physically weaker by the second.

His eyes grazed the blood that was splattered on the walls again. He had a feeling that he was in for a similar fate, but it didn't fully check in yet. Emily must have figured the same with the way she wouldn't stop crying beside him.

She reminded Tyler much of a baby deer; her eyes were always wide and her cries were always soft and gentle.

"Tyler, we're going to die," she said suddenly, her words trembling.

This time, Tyler didn't bother denying it.

"I know."

His words made her bawl. She cried so hard, making his head instantly throb. The realization that the only one with a positive outlook had agreed with her pessimistic outlook made reality more clear for her.

He wanted desperately to tell her to shut up, but he knew that if he had the energy he would be reacting the same.

"Stop," Tyler warned hoarsely. "He's going to get mad at you."

"I don't care!" she bellowed, her voice echoing throughout the spacious room. "That motherfucker can get mad at me all he wants! Sick bastard!"

She was losing her mind.

"What did you just say?" The Man asked, his monotonous voice perfectly clear from the doorway.

Tyler's heart pounded. He quickly glanced at Emily whose face paled instantly, her body beginning to visibly shake again.

"What did you say, Puppet Girl?" The Man pressed. "Go on. I would like to hear."

"N-nothing," she tried to speak, her lip quivering. "Nothing, I didn't-"

The Man just laughed in amusement before strolling over to Tyler, winding his fist back and slamming it into Tyler's cheek with such force it almost knocked him right out of consciousness. His eyes watered and pain spread like pins and needles throughout his face, the shock knocking the air from his lungs.

When Tyler opened his eyes again, he stared up at The Man whose form-fitting mask was only a dim, evil silhouette.

He was extremely confused. "I didn't even say anything!" Tyler objected.

The Man wrapped his fingers securely around his victim's throat.

Emily's sobs and The Man's angry breath was all Tyler could hear at that moment. His eyes were wide, his fingers itching to instinctively fight The Man's lethal hold but he was completely numb, the mysterious liquid that was injected into him forbidding him to fight back. He coughed, trying desperately to gasp for air but The Man's beefy fingers were too harsh, squeezing as tightly as possible.

Tyler heaved, struggling in the chair. He choked, attempting to beg for The Man to stop but he couldn't. All he could see was that damn mask, that plain white mask that would surely haunt him for the rest of his life, if that moment wasn't his last.

The Man released his neck, and Tyler coughed out loud. He gasped heavily for the thick, rotted scent of the air to fill his lungs, while The Man just stared down at him evilly.

"How could you let your wife talk to me like that?" The Man asked, his cold, fat fingers touching the base of Tyler's bruised throat. "... Puppet Boy..." he said, admiring the vibrant contusion that was already forming on Tyler's pale skin.

The Man knelt in front of Tyler, stroking Tyler's knee over the now ripped and dirt-coated jeans he had been wearing.

"You're such a handsome boy, Puppet Boy. I'm sure that your parents loved you, huh? They loved having a little golden boy, a handsome little fucking golden boy!" The Man smacked Tyler across the face, and Tyler could barely focus anymore, with his vision too blurry and his thoughts too jumbled.

Tyler's heart raced as he watched The Man's fingers slowly travel higher on his leg.

"And that girl right there..." The Man said, gesturing towards Emily who had makeup all over her face, tears fresh on her cheeks. "Well, she was once a hot girl but look at her now, Puppet Boy," The Man laughed. "Look at her now! Look at what I've done! I have full control over you guys. I control everything... everything," he said darkly, standing up.

Tyler swallowed hard. "I'm sorry for whatever," he swallowed again, trying to decide whether he should risk finishing the sentence or not, "for whatever happened to you that made you like this-"

"You know nothing about me! I made you! You didn't make me, I made you!" The Man screamed, grabbing his own hair and tugging at it.

He bellowed loudly, scaring both Emily and Tyler. He then stared at the audience of wooden puppets, silently, studying each puppet individually.

Tyler groaned under his breath, shaking his head at how unbelievable this guy was.

"Look at the way they treat me, ladies and gentleman," The Man spoke, his voice awfully loud. "Well don't you worry, they are going to pay," he assured the wooden dolls. "They're going to pay!"

Tyler looked at Emily whose deep brown eyes were gazing at him with sympathy. He imagined that those eyes were once warm and welcoming, and that her skin was once soft and her cheeks were once dotted with natural blush. He imagined that her hair was once silky and light, falling to her shoulders, and he imagined that her teeth were once pearly and white, smiling constantly.

But that part of her was gone. And that part of him was gone, too.

He wasn't going to be a doctor like he had planned to study for. He wasn't going to have a wife of his own, he wasn't going to have kids. He wasn't going to see his family again, he wasn't going to see his friends again.

His fate was splattered along that wall. His high school diploma and his Ivy League acceptance letter was splattered across that wall. He was just another layer of crimson, another badge for The Man to wear when he brought the next victims in after them. He was just another decomposing scent, he was just another decaying fetor.

The second that reality finally hit him, he began to scream uncontrollably. Without hesitation, the last thing he saw was The Man's fist before he was knocked unconscious.