#breaking spirits

“Still holding with your foolish, cheerful plan?” Whumper growled as their henchman wheeled in a table of tools. “You have no clue how long you’ve been here. Days, months? Why do you hold on to hope? No one is coming to save you.”

Stumbling to their feet, whumpee shifted to look at the items that had been brought in. Whumper assumed they didn’t want them to notice how they kept plenty of space between them and the bloodstained chair bolted to the floor. “Why rush it? I can walk out of here with my team any time.”

One nod from Whumper, and Whumpee folded painfully as Henchman’s knee slammed into their gut. They kicked Whumpee’s legs out from under them, laughing as they hit the floor hard. Between hits, Whumpee would look up at Whumper and smile, blood staining their teeth. 

“I knee-d you to stop doing that.” Whumpee huffed as Henchman’s knee slammed into their chin, sending them flying back against the chair. 

Whumper didn’t bother looking back as they listened to the sounds of Whumpee being strapped down in the chair. They knew what they would see. They wouldn’t give Whumpee the pleasure of seeing their frustration at the lack of a serious reaction to the beating. 

“Pretend all you like. I will break you, Whumpee. Make your little jokes and hide behind fake smiling masks. You will suffer until you no longer remember what it is not to feel pain.”

Whumpee shrugged as much as their bindings would let them. “Eh, I’ve never been one for masks. They really have no face value. Get it? No face? Masks hide your face.”

Enough was enough. Today would be the day they left whumpee a pitiful sobbing mess. There would be no sarcastic jokes mocking their exit despite the blood pooling on the floor. This time, Whumper wasn’t going to stop until Whumpee’s spirit was broken, or they breathed their final breath.

“Why don’t you try ripping my eyes out?” Whumpee’s bright tone stood in sharp contrast to their sickening words. “I really can’t see myself moving forward without my eyes.”

The hammer was heavy in their hands as Whumper turned back to glare at Whumpee. 

“Ooo, now we’re getting serious.” The way they shifted in their chair gave away Whumpee’s anxiety, but they didn’t look away. “Trying to hammer in your point? Nail down your ideals and turn me away from the light?”

“I am going to break every bone in your hand.”

“Oh! Hey, I’ve got one for that. What do you call two spine bones that are best friends? Vertibros!”

The hammer came down on Whumpee’s hand, crushing the delicate bones. “You’re off your game. Weak. That one wasn’t hand or hammer related.”

“B, bones.” Whumpee gasped. They pulled against their bindings, eyes closed from the pain. A small whimper escaped their lips. Soft for now, but Whumper knew how loud their cries could get. “You really don’t like my jokes? Man. I spent the whole night coming up with these puns, but I guess it was all in veins.”

Bang! The hammer hit the floor as Whumper punched Whumpee in the jaw. If they hadn’t dropped the tool, the hit likely would have killed their prisoner. However, that would be letting them off too easily. Besides, as long as they had Whumpee, they had the best weapon anyone could find to keep the so-called “good guys” out of the way. But when they did eventually kill Whumpee, they were going to enjoy every second of it. 

“Wh… What time, time does a d-dentist go to work?” Whumpee’s smile was more like a grimace as they spat a tooth on the floor at Whumper’s feet. “Tooth-thirty.”

Knife, nail gun, whip, pliers, etc. There were so many choices on the table as Whumper pulled it closer to Whumpee’s hunched form. They were weak. When they’d first been sat in the chair, it had taken hours for them to stutter and stumble over their words like that. One good push is all it should take.

The nail gun was heavy in Whumper’s hand as they lifted it from the table and slammed a nail into the top of Whumpee’s knee. 

A horrified scream filled the room, followed by harsh silence. No puns. No victorious grins. 

Whumper lined up the gun with the side of the same knee.

“...no,” Whumpee whispered.

The nail pierced their skin and slid into the space between the bones. 

Vomiting over the side of their chair, Whumpee barely managed to take their eyes off their useless leg. They continually mocked and joked about how they would walk away from whatever Whumper did to them. This time, they may never walk again.

Whumper turned to Henchman. “Get them up.”

It seemed the haunting smile was gone. Not a single joke was uttered as Henchman released them from the chair and yanked them to their feet. 

“Walk to the door, Whumpee.” Whumper sighed, stepping into Whumpee’s space and wielding the nail gun between them. They reveled in the way Whumpee flinched away. “Walk to the door, and I’ll let you go right now.”

They didn’t make it a single step. 

Whumpee collapsed the moment they put weight on the seriously injured leg. They screamed as they hit the floor, body trembling. Cradling their broken hand to their chest, Whumpee tried to push through their older injuries from the past several days and drag themselves to the door. 

A third nail pierced through the back of Whumpee’s other knee as Whumper leaned over them to growl, “I said walk. Not crawl like a dog.”

“Stop.” Whumpee’s voice quivered, “I… I can’t…”

Grimacing at the stains on their shoe, Whumper used their foot to roll Whumpee onto their back. Their mouth fell open at the sight of red-tinged tears cleaning narrow tracks down Whumpee’s cheeks. 

“So, that was it? Did I really make you cry?” Whumper wiped up one of their tears with their thumb and wiped it on what was left of Whumpee’s shirt. “You’re done, Whumpee, but I’m not.”