So don't kill me, please! Don't like the story, don't break the author (Twilight is an exception, go ahead). This story is from my account on Lunaescence, but it hasn't been validated yet...

So anyway, enjoy, my little children :D

Sweat was dripping from my brow onto the ground. My vision was being blinded by the overly bright stage lights pouring into my eyes like salt being poured into a wound. My eardrums were being beaten apart by the loud music being trumpeted into my ears.

I could vaguely hear a male voice trying to break through the loud noise to sooth my damaged eardrums.

"...in...he...ill!"

I crushed my eyelids into each other and tried to clear my head. After a few seconds, I heard the same male voice again.

"Seras, the pills!"

Split-seconds passed as I tried to fight my senses' complaints. I forced my eyes to open, my ears to listen and my mind to get back on track. I looked at all the faces before me. Some were dead, some were alive with emotion, some were dancing with two eyes and some were playing with one mouth. I saw the director yelling into the microphone that was connected to my earpiece. Then, as if the moon kicked through my head, I snapped back to realization. It was my turn to speak.

"Oh, Robert, I just can't do it anymore. I'm sorry!"

"Alecia, no!"

I turned my back to the audience and pretended to swallow the pills given to me before the show. I had to 'drink' them and die in my lover's arms as the crimson curtains swiped over the stage, covered our bodies and met in a dance of wind. The audience applauded and my vision was once again tortured by the sudden death of the lights.

As I made my way to the house, my thoughts ran off like scared little squirrels into the hunters' traps. I didn't really want to go home, because he would be there. The money I received tonight won't be nearly as much as he wanted, and I knew the consequences.

I pushed the front door open and was immediately met by the foul odour of alcohol and airless oxygen. Then I saw him, slumped into the couch with a beer in his right hand and a bad attitude in his left. He didn't reply when I greeted him. Instead he tried to stand up, failing a few times, and growling with each loss of balance.

"How much?" he demanded.

I didn't reply. He stepped closer to me and placed his left index finger on my chin. I handed him the slip with the amount written on it. He stretched his eyes and I could see the black stripe surrounded by the red ocean in his left eye growing and shrinking as he tried to focus. After a few seconds he crunched the slip in his hand, the dark veins pumping with blood and anger under his skin.

"Is that all, Seras?"

He ran his hand through my hair in a threatening way, and his smile was practically begging me to say 'yes'. I didn't think about my answer, I just wanted it to be over as soon as possible.

"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry-"

My apology was ripped out of my throat by his fisted hand crashing into my face like a brick crashing into glass. I didn't feel it at first, and it took a few seconds for my mind to shake the shock and focus on the pain in my left cheek. My face felt like it was in the middle of a blazing inferno, my mind was yelling like a madman and I cringed in silence while clutching my cheek.

"I fucking told you to make money, not sit around like a fairy waiting for a miracle!"

I dared to look into his eyes at that moment. The red ocean was glowing with hate and wrath. His teeth were dripping with a lust for yells, but I refused. I always refused. His hands, like starving snakes on the hunt, made their way to my neck. They moved in for the kill and bit down hard, forcing the air in my lungs to be trapped with no escape.

"M-master..." I choked.

His smile stretched sideways and his eyes stretched upwards. He brought his face close to my ears and breathed into them. I started to squirm, trying to get a whiff of air to my empty lungs. He noticed and growled into my ear. I didn't dare ask for another warning and kept my body still.

He giggled like a madman into my ear and rammed me into the wall. He released his grip and I fell to the floor, heaving and panting like an unfit athlete.

"I expect the right amount tomorrow, Seras. I went easy on you tonight."

I forced myself up and forced a 'yes, Sir' from my throat. I made my way to my room, and suddenly paused. He was quiet, very quiet. I looked over to the couch and saw him staring at the empty bottle of beer in his hand. I could literally feel his anger rising again, and quickly offered to go out and buy more bottles of beer. I didn't want to, of course, but I didn't want to go through another one of his tantrums.

He didn't reply and his head was falling into his chest, his nose pointing to his boots. I stared at him for more than enough time to realize he fell asleep. I didn't throw a blanket over him, and I didn't go out to buy more alcohol for him. I just fell into bed and almost immediately drifted off to sleep.

The next night was the same deal again. I've been giving it everything I've got all night long. As I stood back-stage, I could hear the actors acting their hearts out, having fun, living their dream. Then, I heard a line that made something in my mind snap...

Do you think she chose this life? Do you think she wants to live like this? Do you think she'll go on living like this? One day, Robert, she's going to admit to having enough, and then it will be too late for tears!

I realized that I was playing myself in that play, yet I've been so blind to not make one easy choice, life or death. I didn't want to be abused like that. I didn't want to be so terrified of returning home every night only to be met by the king of fear himself. I didn't have time to think as I wandered onto the stage and exchanged a few lines with 'Robert'.

Then just as I lifted my pill-filled hand to my mouth, I was struck by fear. Utter panic and terror filled my mind as I actually threw the pills into the back of my throat and swallowed with nothing but spit.

I heard the director yelling into my earpiece again, but I couldn't understand his words. Then I heard a woman screaming and multiple strong hands clutching my arms and shaking my body. My ears screeched, my breathing stopped and my vision blurred.

Was I going blind?