Cat and mouse (weekend freewrite)

in #freewrite5 years ago

people-2565369_960_720.jpg

Photo by StockSnap on Pixabay

He led her through the house to the large room at the back. Here, as usually, were flowers, a newspaper and the thick leather strap. Only there was something different this time, the strap wasn't the same – leather was new and shiny. Besides, hers was always black, it had always been black because brown leather reminded her of her father and she didn't want to think of that.

So the leather on her strap had always been pitch black, like tar, thick, disgusting tar that you could smear over your eyes and forget. Relax, it's just a joke. We all have a kink of some kind and I suppose leather was hers. Except it wasn't.

'What the fuck is this, Matt?' she cried, spinning on her heels. She felt his glacier fingers wrap around her skeletal arms.
'Easy now, princess,' he flashed her a smile and she did her best not to flinch at the yellowed teeth that peeked out from under his red lips. 'I thought a change would do you good. Sometimes, it's best to forget yourself.'
His left hand went up slowly. He ran the backs of his fingers over her red cheek and for an instant, she was pinned down, not knowing what to do, if she should fight or run.
'No,' she yelled, pushing him off her, slipping out of his grip. 'Not this. I told you, only black. Always black. It's my fantasy too, remember?'
But this is where she was wrong, you see, because Matt had grown tired the last few times. She was just a bit too eager. She wanted the leather to lap at her flesh and bite into her skin a tad too much. It lost its appeal. After all, he didn't want her to want it. That was the point. So, it was just his fantasy now.
He took a menacing step towards her, self-assured like a lion chasing his pray. 'No,' she said again, forcing all the steel she had into her shaking voice. 'Matt, I'm serious, stop fucking around.'
'I'm not.'
He lunged at her then, both falling over in a heap of flesh on the floor. Fingers wrapped around her wrists, breath racing. She fought hard not to yell. The important thing here, she tried telling herself, was to stay in control. She always enjoyed their little outings as long as she was in control. But now, that part of her life was over. Now, it was time for nightmares.

Should one have forgotten or exhausted their supply, there was a discreet shop that delivered at all hours just such items of delight. And since Matthew had been a customer of theirs for many, many years, they had been most happy to oblige, even on such short notice. In fact, the strap had barely arrived some ten minuted before she had. Matt had barely found the time to unwrap it and set it on the bed. It filled the room with that strange, comforting smell that always came with new leather. And it filled Matthew with the utmost excitement for the fun afternoon they had planned together.
pawel-szvmanski-1131771-unsplash.jpg

Photo by pawel szvmanski on Unsplash

He never thought their little get-togethers could be dull, but lately her screaming sounded more like laughter, her eyes...why, she was not afraid of him for a second and if there was one thing Matt wanted in his life was for someone to be afraid of him. To show a little bit of respect. Nobody understood respect these days, and that was a shame, because respect could be a beautiful thing. Take Lena, for example, his beautiful little Lena who'd told him right from the start there would never be anything between them, but who fucked him anyways. Now, despite that, Matt had never gone against Lena, he'd never been rude to her, never called her names – except for when she asked him to, of course – he never did anything to hurt her. He bought her flowers each time they met and sometimes even ordered her dinner. She was so skinny, it pained him to see her like this. And yet, what did she do for him? She laughed, even when all he would've wanted was for her to just be quiet. She mocked him, he could tell by the light in her eyes, she was never afraid of him, not since that first time. It was as if she knew Matt would never hurt her. Not good old Matt, he'd do nothing really bad, it wasn't like him. And so? Is that what one must do to get a bit of respect these days, hurt an innocent, tied-up woman? Apparently.
He'd hoped it wouldn't come to this, that it could all stay a game among friends, but she'd taken all the fun out of that with her need to always be in charge, even when she wasn't supposed to.
She was screaming, somewhere at the back of his mind. He looked down at her, face red, make-up running down in two long, identical streaks.

He was drunk, she told herself afterwards as she stood in front of the bathroom mirror, watching the blood run down her back. It pained her neck to turn around like that, but she had to see the damage, what he'd done. The lashes were thin and long, he'd hit her hard across the back a few times, using his own belt. He'd tied her hands with the brown leather strap and she studied her wrists, deep red marks eating into her skin. She touched a finger to one of the wounds and it burned like spitfire from when she'd tried to wriggle out. But failed. They always fail in these scenarios, don't they?
She sat on the toilet and listened to no sound. The hall house was quiet, no board breaking, no birds outside, just the occasional ruffle of paper as he turned the page of his newspaper. He was lying in bed now, reading, already forgetting what he'd done. After, he'd had that huge smile he always had – confident, relaxed, even warm. Correction, the smile he used to have, except lately, he'd been different. Anxious, lacking even.
steinar-engeland-100576-unsplash.jpg

Photo by Steinar Engeland on Unsplash

'Why did you do that?' she asked, standing in the doorway, hands behind her back
'Do what?' he replied, not even looking up from his paper. Suppose all was fine for him. Was it possible, she wondered, that he didn't even see the difference between when she enjoyed it and what he'd just done?
But that was just the thing, because Matt did see the difference. He saw it as clear as anything and he liked it.
'It was just a game, Lena, same as always,' he shrugged, smirking behind his newspaper.
'You were rough.'
She hated the weakness in her own voice, but couldn't help it. Matt looked up, eyebrows raised, challenging.
'Isn't that what you wanted?'
'No,' she shook her head, but he had a point. She felt at a loss in front of him. How easy it is, to cross the boundary between pain and pleasure, between imagination and reality. She found that while she liked to imagine herself a helpless woman, the actual position terrified her.
'Funny, you never complained before,' he replied, voice honest and not unkind. He had no reason to be unkind now, because in that moment, he'd seen the monsters playing around in her eyes, the fear. In that moment, he knew she'd do anything he asked and that was really all Matt wanted. Just a little respect, besides, he hadn't hurt her that bad. No worse than she'd been before and besides, he knew her, Lena got funny in the head sometimes. You know, after. It was all part of the game, for her, part of the fantasy.
He watched her dress in silence, limbs shaking so much that he offered to order her dinner. He never cooked and she refused to go out with him anywhere – another of her little slights. But she refused, buttoning her shirt and reapplying her lipstick.
'You're much prettier without all that make-up, you know?' he called after her, but she said nothing and walked away.

It would not be the last time she saw Matt, only next time, she brought a knife with her. It was, she'd concluded, just a game. And it was her turn to play.

This is a weekend freewrite based on @mariannewest's 3 prompts. Check her out, she does wonderful things for the community.

Thank you for reading,

photojoiner_photo(16).jpeg

Sort:  

Wow!!! Gosh your writing style is amazing.. just amazing.. it seriously grips me from the first sentence and has me hooked until the end. You have this ability to evoke so many emotions and physically bring us into your stories.. you floor me girl. Thanks for sharing your talent with us ❤️

Oww thank you, Justine, you're too nice <3 I'm trying out different things right now in my writing. This story is not really my thing and I wasn't sure of how it came out. Which obviously, makes me even happier that you enjoyed it!!


This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
@c-squared runs a community witness. Please consider using one of your witness votes on us here

That is so nice of you! Thank you very much! :)

Great story!! I love free writing.
Have you thought to write your stories in an e-book?

Posted using Partiko Android

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I did, I published an ebook collection of older freewrites in August, it's called 'Grimmest Things'. It has some seventy stories or so, all pretty dark, though on various topics. :)

Did you sell copies? I am parte of a project in Italiano community where we help people to create e-books with their stories.
The name si @mamobook.
Unfortunelly we have not sell any copies...😑
Can you suggest something to us?

Posted using Partiko Android

Well, I sold some, yeah. Some to friends, some to people on Steem, but a few to people I don't know. Well, it takes a lot of marketing, I guess. It's important to have a serious social media presence (you know, Twitter, Instagram) and try to build a following there..

Wish I could suggest more, but I'm quite new on this road myself and still learning. :) Good luck though!

Thank you very much!
I appreciate your suggestion.
Good luck ti you and to us for this new travel🤞

Posted using Partiko Android

This is brilliant! You completely pulled me in right from the start and I love the way you ended it!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.36
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70744.80
ETH 3561.94
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.80