trigger warnings: child abuse, mouth trauma, rape, rope burns, medical trauma, death, and I reeeeckon that's it??? tell me if I missed any
***
they were playing a game, when it happened.
he liked to make them all play games.
they never like playing.
"I'm going to take some things of yours, and if you find them, you can leave!"
out from under the bathroom sink and the bedroom closet and under the bed.
cynth, seth and thomas.
the first was covered in rope burns, the second littered with scars and stitches. the third was barely standing. they didn't look at him. he was going the same way as marshall, the previous month. they had cared about marshall. they wouldn't care about thomas.
the first got string, tied to a door. the second delecate dental tools, needles and clippers and shiny things. and the third got a knife and the pliers from the garage, back when the man had had a garage.
they weren't allowed to look.
thomas did.
thomas wanted to leave, so he cheated.
he lost his eyes.
cynth and seth looked together, never letting go of the other's hand. they kept still and quiet whilst thomas bled on the carpet and earned a beating. they hid whilst thomas cried out for them. he wanted help.
they all wanted help, cynth said.
he was being selfish, seth would reply.
they were both angry at thomas. they hated whiners. the man hated whiners, so they did too. thomas was just greedy.
thomas bled out after the man hit him. they carried him back under the bed and cleaned the carpet before looking more.
It had been two hours and he was bored of the game. he said they didn't deserve to finish it. he said they were out of time. he grabbed cynth's pigtail.
seth didn't want him grabbing cynth.
seth wound up with hands wound around their neck and cynth wound up thrown into the bathroom for later.
seth faded out and he left for cynth. he got a knife from the knife rack and seth saw him even though he had squeezed and squeezed on their neck because they were good at taking it. he always said that, when they were done with playing. before he got cynth from the sink cupboard and before he put them back in the closet. he always said he was so proud of them. he would pet their head and croon in their ear as he carried them back to the closet and tucked them in amongst the coats.
they were proud too.
they always made playing time come slower for cynth.
their eyes wouldn't work right and they were dizzy but cynth was crying and the man kept making the noises he made when he was with cynth so they made themselves walk. they opened the door and they didn't want to look at what they were doing but they had to. he had put the knife down to hold her pigtails. they took it.
they cut him. he was mad and cynth was still screaming and breathing fast. they tried to talk to cynth, but she couldn't talk. she was too busy climbing back in under the sink. she pulled the lock around and onto the inside. she was safe in the cupboard like seth was safe in the closet. he didn't touch them in there, only when they came out for food and then they all had to come out. seth caught the door.
they pulled the lock back out and took the key. he grabbed their shoulder and they locked it. they swallowed the metal down. they were good at swallowing things. he made them do it a lot.
he shoved his hand in their mouth and they tried to bite him but they didn't have any of their teeth anymore so it just hurt. the knife was still there. they touched it just with their fingertips, but he got it and he put it down their throat as well.
it hurt.
they started to scream like cynth screamed and it was too loud and he got mad and jammed the knife down faster. they heard sirens and they yelled for cynth to be quiet around the knife. blood started to go down more and they coughed and the coughing made it worse.
she said she would stay quiet and the man left to go downstairs. they weren't moving well anymore but they went back to the closet and closed the door. with their thoughts slipping away and their mind fading and unravelling, they made a final wish.
"please don't let them find us"
