“she was going to medical school, just finishing up her undergrad, how many days did you have left?”

“…17” whumpee would reply, clenching her jaw, looking away, unable to hide her disdain for him

whumpee followed caretakers location after not hearing from them at the scheduled check in during their mission, only to find them chained up in the basement of an abandoned house. the house was easy enough to get through with the front door wide open, almost as if it was inviting whumpee in. caretakers eyes went wide when whumpee found them, telling them to get out, that he’ll be back, but it was too late for that, he was already here. whumper noticed a few of his things out of place, he knew someone other than caretaker was here. as he stalked down the stairs, he lowered his head to peak through the railings and a twisted and cruel spread across his face when he locked eyes with whumpee. he ventured further, whumpee sank down beside caretaker, they knew this mission would have its challenges but this was beyond the darkest thing they could’ve imagined. whumper now had his eyes fixed on whumpee, his arm reached out to pull the shaking whumpee to their feet.

part 2

Whumper watched as caretaker stumbled backwards out of the room, watched caretaker’s eyes dart over whumpee’s wrecked body, over what Caretaker spent the last 20 minutes doing to them. He felt a sick sense of pleasure knowing he crushed two spirits at once, knowing that this would lead whumpee into his arms with absolutely no support system. Ever since he’d taken whumpee in, they’d been so distant but whumper was keen on closing that gap and he felt as if he’d finally taken the right step to do so. Whumper followed caretaker’s tracks, his hand reaching towards the door to close whumpee into this space with him, a final jab at caretaker. Whumper watched caretaker’s face closely, taking in every wrinkle of worry, every shallow breath of despair, every gesture of guilt before he slowly shut the door, locking it with a satisfying click.

Whumper turned his head to whumpee’s desperate form, the way whumpee’s back rose asymmetrically through ragged breaths forcing their way through bruised lungs. Whumper made his way over to whumpee slowly, letting the clicks of boots incite fear in whumpee with every step. He wanted whumpee to think this god forsaken night wasn’t over, that whumpee was sure to die today, he wanted whumpee to dread the worst possible outcome before whumper played hero. Whumper watched as whumpee’s hands twitched by their side, the failed attempts at trying to bring their hands up to protect themselves once again, but all whumpee’s efforts were to no avail, whumpee’s body had finally begun to betray them.

Whumpee tensed up in anticipation of another blow, but it never came. instead, a careful but firm grip turned whumpee onto their back. whumpee winced as their fractured ribs were shifted, their back sent shocks up their spine, and their nose aches as it left the cold floor. Whumpee, through slitted eyes tried to read whumper to hopefully clue their body on how to prepare for what was to come. Whumpee tried to blink their blurry vision away many times but each time they could only make out the same thing. Whumper smiling sweetly down at them, his arm outstretched towards whumpee’s face. Whumpee’s eyes followed the length of whumper’s arm to his hand that sat over whumpee’s cheek, caressing it with a gentle touch, one that whumpee found themselves leaving into. Whumpee jerked their face from whumper’s palm where they were met with soft shushing from whumper.

“You had quite the day didn’t you whumpee? Are you okay?” cooed whumper, bringing that large lump back into whumpee’s throat. Whumpee clenched their jaw under whumper’s soft touch, trying to fight back the tears. Whumpee heard a familiar box clicking open, one that revealed aids for the pain whumpee was routinely put through. Was whumper going to care for them? There was no way a man so aggressive and angry would take care of the wounds he created. But whumpee was wrong. Brushing a small hand over whumpee’s nose while activating an instant ice pack, which he lightly placed over whumpee’s nose, he began his care. Whumper slowly made his way down whumpee’s body, tending to every injury one by one. With wet wipes, he cleaned blood off every crevice and every bruise he lightly brushed to try and soothe the area. He even wrapped a compression wrap over whumpee’s swollen ankle that whumpee had tripped over trying to get away from caretaker. Once whumper was done, he left the room and came back with a blanket and a pair of clean clothes to which he advised whumpee to change into. He left once more and this time came back with a bucket of cleaning supplies and a mop, which he himself used to clean the floors of whumpee’s blood and injury, a job usually forced on whumpee.

Whumpee eases up a little when they see caretaker come back through the door, ready to be held in those tough hands that carry them with nothing but softness. Through blurred vision, whumpee looks up like an excited puppy ready to greet their owner after a long day at work however caretaker looks back with a cold expression, his eyes staring through whumpee sending shivers up whumpee’s back. Whumpee using their small croaky voice from their throat ripped raw from screaming asks caretaker if he is okay. Whumpee watches him falter in his path towards them. something’s wrong. the scary part was supposed to be over, whumper was done with them, they survived through it, it was their time with caretaker, to feel soothed, to feel like there was something a part from sheer torture and pain so why the hell was whumpee trembling beneath the one person that they felt safe under. It’s as if whumpee’s body knew before their brain of what was to come. the patterns of physical abuse that whumpee’s body had been conditioned to protect them from had begun once again. With every last molecule of energy in their body, whumpee tried to push themselves back, trying to put distance between themselves and caretaker, apologies slipping past their trembling lips colliding with the thick tears falling from their eyes. Whumpee had learned that it was useless to beg before whumper but caretaker was different they cared about them. So optimistically, they tried, only whumpee genuinely felt their heart break when after pushing themselves through fractured bones and bruised skin to a kneeling position begging for forgiveness for whatever they did below caretaker had no effect. whumpee shook violently stumbling between apologies and begging for recognition as caretaker’s whumpee, frying their vocal cords further with sobs of “caretaker it’s me, please”. As caretaker stood, his feet planted before whumpee unmoving and unresponsive, whumpee began to slow their pleas, it had worked, caretaker snapped back, it was oka- whumpee felt their nose crack with the force of caretakers boot against their face.

Slamming upward with all his force, he knocked whumpee on their back, watching their arms flying up to either cup their fragmented nose or catch the blood or maybe to protect what was left of their face. Caretaker didn’t let himself think twice before delivering another kick, this time to whumpee’s side. He could feel whumper watching from the doorway, he couldn’t let himself get soft, take pity and face being pushed out of whumpee’s life. he was doing this for them, they would understand eventually right? blow after blow, caretaker kept going, whumpee crying underneath him, their wails going over caretaker’s head, he tried to dissociate from the situation, repeating as loudly as possible in his head “i’m doing this for you”. he had to be convincing he told himself, he had to hurt them just this once, make it bad so whumper doesn’t doubt him. it took that very same cruel whumper’s hand on caretakers shoulder to bring him back to reality, to the pulverized mess beneath him, a barely moving whumpee, blood pouring from different places, pooling together to create a grim border around them. Caretaker stumbling back called out to whumpee softly, barely above a whisper to which, with their last bit of strength whumpee rasped back “i hate you.”

“you wanted his attention so desperately, let’s see how long you can survive his undivided attention then.” Whumper spoke.

Whumpee raised their head frantically, catching a quick glimpse of the guest, their eye contact being cut short by whumpers foot pushing whumpee back down. The guest, his legs on each side of whumpee’s head, wore a dark look that sent shivers down whumpee’s back from the short moment they shared.

Whumpee felt the foot withdraw from their back, allowing a shuttered breath to enter their frightened body.

“but i was perfect.. i did everything i was supposed to” they whispered, their mind racing through their every move until now, absolutely coming up empty.