Ercole was panicking. After all the torture he had put Luca through, the smaller boy had always pushed through and somehow had enough strength to stay defiant to Ercole's commands. His body was covered in bruises and healing cuts. But the worst part was the wound. Ercole hated to admit it, but it was deep. Deeper than he would feel comfortable leaving Luca alone with. But now Luca had passed out. His body was completely limp, his face completely discolored with a pale, grey tint.
Ercole held Luca in his arms, looking between him and the showerhead just meters away. If he wanted to, he could bathe Luca right now without having to worry about Luca fighting back. But something was wrong. Luca's breathing had slowed substantially. After counting, Ercole figured out that Luca's breath would come every four to five seconds, lasting three seconds for a mere inhale. He knew that something was off about it. Fortunately, he knew what fainting was. Why Luca fainted was still a mystery. Maybe he hadn't eaten enough, or was dehydrated. Ercole had given him some food earlier, so maybe it just wasn't enough? Luca couldn't have fainted from the fear of bathing. That was impossible! How could someone be scared of a bath?
Ercole set Luca up so his back leaned against the wall, with his legs straightened out on the floor of the cellar. Ercole made sure he was still breathing before running up the stairs that led to inside the house. He came back with a messily made sandwich and a large glass of water. He set the food next to Luca as he crouched down, putting a hand under Luca's neck to tip his head back. He grabbed the glass of water next to him and carefully tried tipping it into Luca's mouth.
"Come on, Piccoletto," Ercole said, still holding his head up. "Take a sip."
He spilled just a few droplets into Luca's open mouth, but something strange happened after Luca let out a gurgled cough. The droplets that landed around his lips turned a weird tealish color. Ercole raised a brow as he wiped his fingers over the water, making the color go away. Strange. Ercole put down the glass of water and with his free hand, began shaking Luca's shoulder.
"Wake up," Ercole said, shaking Luca harder. "Come on, Piccoletto, open your eyes!"
The shaking began to work, as Luca's eyelids began to flutter as he took a sudden inhale. Ercole silently rejoiced at Luca's awakening and kept shaking him. He realized that the heavy amounts of duct tape binding his wrists and more loosely on his ankles were tightening around Luca's skin, making the area around it very red. Maybe it was cutting off his circulation?
Ercole pulled out his army knife, which still brandishing Luca's blood and began to cut through the duct tape as Luca continued to stir.
"That's it," Ercole said, taking off the tape. "Come on, open your eyes."
Luca began to gain consciousness as his breathing began to quicken and he slightly moved his knees. Ercole was glad to see that he was quickly regaining color as his head began to find strength to hold itself up.
"What happened?" Luca asked groggily as he began to sit himself up.
"You fainted," Ercole said. "From being such a child."
Luca began to understand what was happening, and what had happened. But he was too tired to react.
"What's that?" he asked, finally feeling his lower limbs.
Ercole sighed. "When you don't eat enough, you faint. So eat."
Ercole pushed the plate with the messily made sandwich towards Luca. Luca wanted nothing to do with it. Maybe it was true. He'd only had one meal in the last day, but still, his stomach didn't want food. But if he didn't eat it he knew that he would be forced. What would it matter if he fought back? As soon as he was better again he'd be dragged back to the shower to be killed.
Luca gingerly picked up the sandwich and shakily took a bite. He didn't know what was inside of it but he didn't like it.
"Buona," Ercole said. "Are you going to cooperate now? We need to wash you."
Luca began to contemplate. If he nodded his head yes, he'd willingly speeden his death. He'd be speared through the chest and that would hurt. A lot. Luca really didn't want to have a painful death. But if he said no, it'd be only another fight prolonging his life.
Luca swallowed. "I want to take it alone."
Ercole stood up and began to shout. "I've had enough of this, Piccoletto! Why in the world must you shower alone?"
Luca's heart began to pound. "Why do you have to do it for me? I can do it myself! I'm not a little kid!"
"You are a little kid!" Ercole bellowed, his face turning red. "I could hurt you now if I wanted! I could rip the clothes off your back, and beat you until you can't move any longer!"
Luca threw the sandwich across the room. "You already have!"
Ercole looked back at the other end of the cellar, where he had laid down the two bottles of pills on the ground when Luca had fainted. Luca realized what Ercole was eyeing and began to panic. He had to do something.
Luca pushed himself up, immediately taken by surprise as the world tilted. He grabbed the wall for stability as his knees wobbled below him.
"Look at yourself!" Ercole said, gawking at Luca. "You can't even stand! What are you going to do? Fight me?"
The ground beneath Luca stopped tilting as he regained his balance and let go of the wall to bawl up his fists. He gave a slight nod at Ercole's question and stepped forward, but Ercole scoffed.
"I'm not fighting you, Piccoletto," Ercole said. "I've had enough of this. If you keep-"
"Don't call me that," Luca said, taking a step closer to Ercole.
Ercole rolled his eyes at what he believed was an inconvenience. Luca couldn't fight. Luca wouldn't fight. He was too injured, too small, too weak.
"I'll tell you what, Piccoletto," Ercole said, exaggerating his last word to bother Luca. "I'll give you the first swing. But be warned. If you choose hit me I will destroy you myself, knock you out, and get that blood off of you, even if you're no longer awake. Like I should have. You think you've felt pain? Compared to what I can do to you, this is nothing."
Luca stepped closer, his body trembling from the pain as the wound on his thigh let out more blood. His body cried out in protest, shaking and shivering from the cold of being in nothing but shorts. But he refused to go out without a fight. He wanted to die like Alberto would. Courageously.
"You need to step closer than that," Ercole said, looking at the exposed, bruised boy before him. "Do like this. I'll show you."
Before Luca could react, Ercole went up behind him and put his hands around Luca's wrists to pull them up closer to his head.
"You need to keep your face protected," Ercole said, as he let go of Luca's wrists. "And you need a wider stance to keep your balance."
Ercole sweeped his foot between Luca's legs to widen his stance. Luca flinched as he realized that Ercole had snaked up from behind and put two fingers on Luca's chest.Luca felt his heart thump wildly under Ercole's fingertips, defenseless as Ercole leaned in to whisper into his ear from behind him.
"Scared, Piccoletto?" Ercole said, feeling the rapid beating of Luca's heart as he pulled his hand away. "Good. You should be."
Without warning, Luca reacted. He had been so scared that he didn't even mean to do this, he just wanted Ercole away from him. He brought up his left leg and kicked it backwards, burying it into Ercole. Luca was hit with the sound of a deep scream.
Luca turned to see Ercole sink to the ground in pain, both his hands cradling his groin. Luca had realized where he hit.
"You-!" Ercole cried, cutting his sentence short as he groaned on the ground. Luca hyperventilated as he watched Ercole quiver. This was his chance. He had to escape. Luca ran to the door that led to the outside stairway and pulled. As it was locked, he remembered the keys and ran back towards Ercole, who was in too much pain to even open his eyes.
Luca swiftly pushed Ercole over and went to dig his hands into his back pocket. Ercole growled as Luca got a hold of the keys.
"Hey!" Ercole shouted. "Don't you-!"
With one hand, Ercole desperately grabbed at Luca, but Luca had already begun running back towards the door. He had never put in a key before, but he had seen Ercole do it countless times. This couldn't be too difficult, right? Luca looked down and gasped.
There were three keys.
"What?" Luca whispered to himself in disbelief. Why were there three keys? What was the third one for? Ercole could get up at any moment!
Luca went for the first key to the very left and pushed it into the skinny lock on the doorknob. He began turning left, then right, only to realize it wasn't the right key. Luca turned behind him to see that Ercole, who was cursing heavily under his breath, was attempting to stand up through the pain.
Luca shakily took the second key, and managed to put the tip to the lock. As he tried pushing it in, something had stopped it. He flipped the key upside down, and pushed. They key only went in half way and wouldn't budge any farther. It was the third, Luca knew it had to be.
Luca's panic began to increase as he turned behind him to see that Ercole had stood up, and was taking small steps towards Luca, his hands still cradling his groin. His heart was pounding fiercely through his rib cage and temples. A ringing in his ears began to pierce the sound around him.
"No!" Luca shouted, quickly pushing the third key into the lock. His hands were so sweaty and shaky, he wasn't sure he'd make it. He turned the key to the left but nothing happened. He violently turned the key to the right and heard a click.
Luca let out a relieved laugh.
"I-!"
A heavy force violently knocked his head to the right, and Luca was sent falling to the ground as he turned behind him. As he looked up, Luca felt his face go white as Ercole stepped above him, and practically fell over him, keeping his knees outside Luca's sides and his hands clamped firmly around his shoulders, pinning him down.
"I told you what would happen if you hit me," Ercole seethed, sending spit flying into Luca's face. "And now, I'm going to destroy you."
Luca squirmed and kicked, desperately trying to get Ercole off him as he screamed. "No!
Don't! Please, I-!"
"It's too late for that!" Ercole screamed, leaving Luca's ears ringing. "You think this is painful, just what until what I'll do to you!"
Luca shrieked as Ercole pulled his fist back and sent it flying into the middle of Luca's face. Pain exploded through his head, and Luca felt a pressure like he never had before. He clapped his hands to his face as he sobbed, feeling a metallic taste spill into his mouth as his eyesight vanished.
Not letting Luca wait, Ercole sent a second fist flying straight down into Luca's abdomen. This time, Luca couldn't scream. Every bit of air he had was gone. Luca violently recoiled to hold his stomach, desperately choking to find his breath. Ercole was right. He truly had never felt pain this much before. Everything ached, but a hundred times worse. His stomach seemed to flip from the impact of Ercole's fist.
Ercole stood up and stepped off of Luca, who had turned to his side in a ball, shaking violently. With one hand on his face, and the other on his stomach, Luca pulled back to see that the hand over his nose was covered in blood. He realized what the metallic taste was and doubled over as he began to cough it out. Through a wet and flurry vision, he could see droplets of blood land on the ground with each cough. The coughing sent his stomach to hurt as if every organ in his body was moving. Luca felt something begin to climb up his throat and he gagged.
Ercole turned away from Luca and ran towards the opposite corner of the room where the two bottles of pills lay on the cell floor. He grabbed them swiftly and went back to Luca.
Luca gagged again, but didn't vomit. He felt his airway open as he took the deepest breath possible, inhaling in what seemed like forever. He screamed as Ercole grabbed a fistful of his hair to pull him up.
Luca was on his knees, his head being held back by Ercole. His hands were desperately, but blindly grabbing at Ercole's arm to let him go. Ercole tugged him backwards to put his mouth to Luca's.
"You're disgusting," Ercole said. "This is for your own good."
With the hand holding the bottle of pills, he wiped the back of his palm over Luca's face, which was a mix of tears and blood. He then uncapped the bottle with his thumb and poured out several pills before throwing the bottle across the room. Luca wailed, but clamped his mouth shut as he heard the bottle open.
"Open," Ercole said, tugging on Luca's hair harder.
Luca felt as blood spilled from his nostrils over his mouth but shook his head no. He wasn't ready. Not yet. He hadn't said goodbye to Al-
"Open!" Ercole screamed. He released Luca's hair and rapidly grabbed Luca's throat and began to squeeze. Luca opened his mouth, desperately trying to take in a breath. Ercole stuffed the pills into his mouth and slapped a hand to make sure Luca couldn't spit them out.
Luca let out a muffled scream and swallowed.