Hexus

)31( Divide

[1:18AM, November 15, UTC +2:00]

Esther screamed.

The tearing sensation inside her chest was excruciating and it felt like her brain was on fire. Electricity burned down her spine as her muscles went into spasms, forcing her fingers to clench and her back into a painful arch. Her jaw clamped down hard on her tongue and she felt liquid trickling down the side of her mouth. The sweat-soaked coarse mattress scraped at her neck, and the binds tying her wrists and ankles to the bed posts dug into her skin. She could make out three blurry figures in the cold dark room through teary eyes, their faces blackened against the only source of light, which was a flame torch burning outside the open doorway.

 "Any progress?" The voice was female, with a Spanish sort of accent and unconcerned tone.
"I'm not sure."Deep male voice, strained. "With a little more, I could actually break her."
"This is a waste of time," the woman said. "She's not the one you should be bothering with."
"Just...shut up and let me do my job."

The female huffed and one of the figures blurred from view, with the clacking sound of heels fading into the distance. Esther screamed again as the pain resumed, a high-pitched whinny through her parched throat. A fresh stream of tears ran down. Why are they doing this to me? Nobody was making any demands so she wondered what sort of sick pleasure they were getting from this. The figure closest to her was murmuring deeply in some arcane language. The ripping sensation in her chest burned even more, and flushed into her limbs. There were blue ink symbols drawn in a circle the floor which the person knelt outside of, and though she could not recognize him through the tears and dark shadows over his face, she could sense that he was looking into her eyes, probably getting off on watching her beg for mercy.

The pain intensified and she yanked against her restraints until they broke skin. His mutterings grew louder, and the flame lighting the room flickered erratically. Intense violet flares danced on the edge of her vision just as a scalding sensation engulfed her entire body. Then something cracked inside her and suddenly everything went numb. The room did not exist, and if it did, she couldn't care less about it. Nothing made sense, yet she felt like she understood everything. She was weightless, detached from any meaningless perceptions of reality. The shadows across the room split and swayed, changing colours, sometimes reaching for her before twisting away. Memories played all at once, bombarding her with possibly every emotion she had ever felt.

And then it stopped.

She crashed back into her aching body, shaking in cold sweat. The wounds on her wrists stung and she tried to avoid moving. She closed her eyes, desperately hoping to escape to a happier place. Someone raised her hand and she wondered if it was to check for her pulse until she felt the restraints coming off. She opened her eyes and stared up, but the looming figure was still obscure. Yet there was something doting and fatherly about the way he held her wounded wrist, stroking his thumb slowly across her palm as his other hand brushed hair and sweat off her face.

"Sorry, love. But I tried to warn you."

He let his hand rest on her forehead and seemed to be looking into her eyes. Stop touching me, she screamed internally. Get the hell away from me! Yet, she couldn't move. She had neither the strength nor will to fight anymore. He let go of her and stood away from the bed.

"Lare," he said. "Your turn."

She squeaked feebly. You bastard! No. No, I can't take any more. Why are they doing this? Why don't they tell me what they want? The other silent figure in the room moved towards her. There was something unnatural about its shape, things protruding on the body which shouldn't have been there. She felt a new terror, like a weight crushing in her chest until she couldn't breathe. The silent figure stopped meters from the bed and the first man turned.