He had come to fear the days when he was left alone;
For when Sage left, the torment began.
Don and Conner appeared in his trailer in the chilly afternoon, looking regretful, a permanent expression for them these days, it seemed.
Edward had learned not to resist, knowing that it wasn't worth getting his friends into further trouble, as they motioned for him to follow.
And soon he was back in his cage, bound in loosened chains, his shirt taken, leaving him bare, exposed.
This time though, his sight had been ordered to be taken, and he was left blind, thick black fabric pressing against his eyes.
His torturer's idea of fun perhaps?
Then he heard the footsteps, his frightened awareness grew; his shivering increasing.
He couldn't decipher where they were coming from, his untrained ears letting his mind fear the sound that much more.
Closing in.
The scrap of metal of the door opening and closing.
Snip.
Snip.
Click.
Locked.
Jim chuckled slightly, seeing his enemy's shaking form.
How easy he could take advantage of this.
Circling footsteps, expensive shoes clicking on the steel floor.
Like a hawk closing in on its prey.
There would only be a matter of time in the silence.
Crack!
The chained man's body rocked forward, blood immediately seeping from the wound, as Edward gave a whimper of pain.
God, he hated the whip.
His legs shook from the blow to them, the searing agony.
The hit meant to bring him to his knees.
No, he was stronger than that.
Again the whip bit into his skin, its bladed tip tearing, this time over his bruised ribs from the last session.
"Hello, Freak," spoke Jim, almost sounding polite, but mocking as always.
The bound man said nothing, trying to ignore the acid pain, not daring to respond.
"Answer me"
Crack!
Edward's tongue would start to bleed soon from keeping his silence.
He would not give in to his captor's game, knowing its consequence.
Another hit.
No time to prepare for the pain in the pitch black, making the pain that much more vibrant.
Snip.
Another lash.
"Such impertinence."
A few lashes to his breast, causing the chains to jingle merrily as his body rocked back and forth, trying to find a way to escape the blows.
"Your pitiful. Filthy with blood. Weak."
A lash on each part, making the words sink in that much more.
Again the relentless tool of torture burned his skin, his arms being the target.
"I'll ask you again; don't you want to hurt me?"
His captor had been asking him the same question for the past week.
He couldn't give in to the anger.
For to surrender to those inner desires- the impulses of his nature, seemed to be the ultimate abandonment of his love.
"Answer me."
Crack.
Step.
Crack!
The blows increased as his captor started yelling for Edward to answer.
But only strangled screams filled the air, the bound man's head falling, legs weakening, as his back took the brunt of the pain now.
How many more before he fell?
"So you are an animal then, not capable of speech?"
Yes, an animal, a beast that twitched the freakish blades which were his shame and glory.
"No, a monster."
How true.
The blades marked him as a freak, a monster, lost in the world of humans, his glorious shame.
His face was hit, then his legs.
Again and again till he fell the downpour of pain never stopping, leaving him drenched in blood, Jim laying on the insults with each blow.
The voice within started speaking, momentarily drowning out his torturers,
Attack him.
Let the bastard know the pain you feel by returning it in full.
I can't.
It wouldn't be hard, a swipe at the legs to start.
No.
Silence for the moment, as they both stopped speaking, the whip stilling.
Jim probably held that whip more than Sage, thought Edward offhandedly.
But more importantly he wished he could see as the tension built.
He couldn't see the inquisitive look on Jim's face.
"You fear that darkness."
The chained man turned his head towards the voice.
"It has come out to play."
Snip. Snip.
Anger and fear.
Attack him, he stands openly.
No.
Crack.
Circling footsteps.
Crack!
"Come forth Darkness, and take your revenge."
His captor's words excited the voice, forcing Edward to hold it back.
He could not let it take over.
As he focused on the fight within him, Jim stood back, smiling wickedly.
"Don't fight it Freak; just give in."
Hurt him.
Kill him.
Crack!
No.
Crack!
Please.
Crack!
No more, I beg you.
The voice left for the moment, threatening to return.
Then stillness again.
Edward finally let himself speak.
"You lost this time."
Enraged, Jim ripped the blindfold from him, grabbing Edward's bruised jaw.
As he searched his captive's eyes of ink he said,
"Where is the anger? Where do you hide it?"
Then as if disgusted Jim pushed the chained man from him stepping back again.
The bound man spoke no more, staring at the growing puddle of blood beneath him.
"I will bring out that darkness. You will learn to be obedient. You hear me?"
Crack.
Snip. Snip.
Crack!
Finally he nodded in response, praying for the pain to stop.
He heard his captor. But would not let that happen.
He would not let the darkness win and obey.
No matter how much he was tortured.
No matter how much Jim pressed him.
He wouldn't allow himself to give in.
For if he broke, he wouldn't be able to support her anymore.
He was her lone support in the cold nights where the moon refused to shine its comforting light on them.
For the chains which bound him were pitiful shadows of the ones which bound her soul.
And if he wasn't strong, he knew his captor would strike; like a lightning bolt,
Stunning her in mind, body, and spirit.
And he would even more powerless.
As he thought Jim seemed to read him.
"You're doing this all for her then?"
Edward froze, confirming the other man's suspicions.
"Go ahead. Let yourself think you suffer for her… and you do, but…"
Crack.
Circling steps.
Snip.
"She suffers because of you."
Snip, snip.
Crack.
"It's all your fault."
Crack! Crack! Crack!
True.
He was the cause of her agony, though all he lived for was her voice, that of his broken angel.
She knew not the devil she danced with because he forever knew that eventually he would be the cause of her internal death, her greatest fear.
But only if he gave up.
For as long as they stayed together giving each other strength, their captor could never be able to pry them apart.
And even though his existence caused her suffering, she claimed he was her blooded saint, clad in red linen.
Another hit of the whip brought him back to reality.
"If you died, she would be safe."
If he had never existed, she would be happier?
No.
Jim would have tormented her nonetheless.
But his torturer would never understand that.
He would still have hunted her down, and forced her pretended love.
Edward was just another obstacle that prevented him from breaking her.
At least the chained man, as useless as he was now, could be the barrier, her lifeline to cling to in the stormy sea of her husband's terror.
Crack.
Ah, the whip again.
Pain would become a friend soon, it seemed.
But the force increased.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Edward felt screams come from his mouth again as Jim revealed in the hell he had created.
The burning, scalding, searing, suffering hell where he was trapped by truth, the bestial self beginning to show, his truest self.
Again, he pushed the voice down.
But as his flowed from him, so did his control.
The beast within him smiled.
It had been coming now, the burst of anger swelling, pushing.
He'd always been ready to blow, and this time it might actually happen.
Snip.
Snip.
Jim had paused again as if he felt the radiating fury of the monster coming.
"Go ahead; hurt me. I dare you, for all I've done to you; if you hurt me now I won't be able to touch her tonight, wouldn't you like that?"
Stop talking about her.
How dare he even mention her.
Its expected though.
His provoking was working.
The man kept in the back of his mind that Jim didn't hit her like he used to.
Yet he made her suffer every day.
No, he just wanted her love so desperately.
The bound man remembered back to the days where he lived in suburbia.
Like when he used to watch Kim and her boy-friend with jealousy in his heart.
He remembered the longing all too clearly.
He had even once contemplated being hostile to Kim back in the days when he was innocent, when she used to shrink from him.
Of course this was a different situation entirely.
Jim had put down his weapon and placed himself in front of Edward's bladed hands.
"I won't hurt you back. Go ahead."
Yes, no harm in hurting him now.
Snip.
Snip.
Just a small cut to pour his malice into.
So tempting.
Snip.
Slash.
All that could be heard was the echo of the chains moving, Edward heavy breath, and Jim's grunt of pain.
It was a deep slash to his right arm, and bleeding profusely.
Jim looked pleased with himself as he got up, getting the whip and left, locking the cage behind him.
Sometimes Edward thought it was worse now, when Jim would leave him, locked here, leaving him to the searing, aching pain and his thoughts.
The darkness was laughing merrily congratulating him for the deed.
He simply told it to shut up and leave which thankfully it did.
Jim had won, for now.
The darkness had won a battle as well, and had gotten stronger.
An hour or two later the doctors came to free him and bandage his wounds, telling him Sage would be back from town in a few hours.
Reality bit into him.
The bitter lesson of the anger which he had yet to learn to completely control.
But…
--
Then he awoke.
Coming back to the present he felt Sage in his arms as they lay in the peace of the lavender field.
The woman had fallen asleep with him but creakily opened her eyes now.
"Nightmare?"
He nodded.
"Tell me," said the woman kissing him gently.
"You would have nightmare too."
"Jim?"
Another nod.
She knew he was talking about the torture he endured.
"I realized something. Something he taught me."
His love's eyes widened completely now, staring.
"I had to face many realities because of him. Sometimes I think I ought to be grateful for it."
"No…no, he only hurt you," replied the woman looking worried about this revelation.
"No. You forget before him, we lived in our own world…but there will always be forced against us."
He paused, letting his words sink in, then continued.
"I will never be fully accepted and always seen as a freak."
The woman had tears in her eyes.
"And I thought we were supposed to live happily ever after"
Depression settled deep into the once peaceful atmosphere.
"There is no such thing," said the man.
But even so, he would still be strong and endure whatever the world threw at them, so her mind could rest.
Even though he couldn't protect her fully, he was still strong enough.
That memory was proof, for if he could endure all that, whatever was thrown at him next would be nothing.
He figured he should be grateful to Jim after all.