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albino-whumpee · 1 year

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Fallen Bridges part 2

Goodness, its finally all getting together. lmao. Hope you enjoy!

CW//Pet whump, slavery, human trafficking, muzzles, shock collars, kidnapping, recapture, betrayal, shovels and death imaginary. Getting kinda dark at the end. Angst, hurt comfort and conditioning.

Taglist:

If you wish to be taken out or added, please send me a message.

@castielamigos-whump-side-blog @giggly-evil-puppy @cowboysrappin @haro-whumps @burtlederp @neuro-whump @comfortforthepain @whumps-the-word @whole-and-apart-and-between @broken-horn @ashintheairlikesnow @rosesareviolentlyread @starnight-whump @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @as-a-matter-of-whump @whumpasaurus101 @grizzlie70 @twistedcaretaker @wingedwhump @unicornscotty @melancholy-in-the-morning

The road to Robert´s house was often without traffic. A big house by the woods with nobody around. A young Rupert Glass had chosen that house in specific because he couldn´t stand busy traffic or stupid neighbors. When he found it on sale, he didn´t even have to ask his wife, as the only thing she said was:

“I will put roses on the entrance”.

Those same roses were now withering, Sann noticed.

The pet had heard the story from Rupert himself once, and when he was there and allowed to, Sann helped Rupert take care of the flowers.

“C´mon Sann,” Robert said pulling him inside the house.

The boy offered no resistance. Once Robert´s hand rested on his neck and his tongue sizzled in his ear, his body had simply given up on fighting. Like a switch, one simple touch, one simple order from that man, and he would be on his knees in that dirty basement again.

A mean burn exploded inside his chest, but he had become an expert in suffocating any flare of defiance.

With this man, nothing was off the table.

As he handcuffed him to an anchor on the floor, Sann kept his head down. Something his owner had always liked when he brought him there to punish him, but then, he grabbed his chin and lifted it.

They stared at each other for a moment.

Sann looked back in misery while Robert studied his face in silence.

Robert noticed the tiny changes that had naturally happened when he wasn’t forced to fulfill a dead man’s shoes. At that moment, Robert saw him as Sann, and not that terrible copy of his husband.

Sann, that murderer´s whore lover.

Suddenly, he thumbed his cheek with a strange look in his eyes. The pet knew when he was demented, in a frenzy to turn him to a pulp, but even then, his body showed signs. He would have done something else when he flinched away.

“Welcome back” The man grabbed his chin between his thumb and his middle finger, munching up his lips in a bruising hold. “Don’t worry, Sann. You won’t be alone for long”

Sann´s heart stopped.

What?

Sann tried lifting his hands on instinct, but the handcuffs would only allow him to rattle the chain a little.

Kidnapping him was one thing, he had even expected it at some point, but the timing was off. There was also no time to ask about what happened. Wait, could it be it was related in some way to why Albus had run away? But then...Sann´s mental gears turned at full speed, concentrating that he almost missed his owner going away.

Impulsively, he tried to lift himself, try to beg for answers, before the man threw a cutting glare at him.

“...what a few months do to you, seriously” He snorted, before pointing at the floor with his finger “Stay. Don´t make me restrain you for real” At the threat, Sann sat back down. When he kept glaring at him, he bowed his head. Then, he grinned. “Good boy”

A few months away had changed him, indeed. And that´s why he lifted his eyes, trying to ask with just one look why take him back now when he could´ve done it before? when it didn´t hurt.

Somehow, the man stopped climbing the stairs. Turning around to look at him from the corner of his eye.

Right there in the quiet of the abandoned house, Robert told him something.

“I do this for you too, you know?” he said, before walking outside.

As much as he wished to stay and give his former pet a proper welcome-back party, his favored guest had yet to arrive.

On his way to the car he was pleasantly surprised with the news the 3rd den for runaway and lost pets inside the PCS training facility had the pet numbered 778900 under their jurisdiction, now waiting for the owner, Mister Robert Glass to further instruct them on how to proceed.

Robert took the folder resting on the passenger seat before pulling his phone on his ear.

“Rob?” he heard Claude say from the other side of the line.

“Do you want to make him pay for what he did?”

—

When the recovery team found him, they saw a 5 feet, weak pet. They never expected to find themselves thrown on the ground or have the goddamn bastard move like a snake and choke them.

They had a team of four and all of them sported bruises and scratches from the tiny pet being escorted inside the den.

“Down” the guard ordered him pushing him to his knees while another worked the chains and locks. The den had long chains hanging from one wall to the other, hooks every few steps to chain the pets. The chains were so close to the ground they could only sit or kneel. It was designed in such a way, a pet that tugged on the chains would injure the others, thus, any insubordination would be quickly fixed by their peers.

Albus looked around the room and was surprised by how crowded the place was. All of them, including himself, were muzzled and handcuffed. Their shock collars turned on, waiting for the light to turn red the moment they tried anything.

“Now,” the man started, reaching for a machine in his belt and fishing the boy´s left hand, uncovering his wrist to find the code bar. Knowing he would be scanned, Albus jerked back. The man wasn´t phased and simply passed his leg over his arms and pulled him. Forcing Albus to either bury his face against his butt or let him work.

He clenched his teeth against the bit before going limp. The man hummed, pleased.

“There you go, done,” he said, reading the information that appeared on the screen. “Albus, huh? Let´s call your owner and see if he wants you back, hm?”

Ah, if he had noticed them earlier, he could´ve gotten away. Maybe get to those safehouses Sasha mentioned. Maybe he should´ve waited for Sann, maybe he could´ve...

He was taken out of his thoughts when the guard smacked his head on his way out, laughing at him when Albus tried to kick his shin and got zapped in return.

Still feeling the tingly feeling in his throat, Albus tried to relax, to stop his shaking, and focus on what he could do once they took him back.

What would he even say? They had made it clear they would punish him. It was only natural. Sarahi was a merciful owner, but this crime was beyond it. Maybe, they would choose to return him to PCS, and then he would be refurbished again. But would they even attempt to resell him? He had been so cheap, he was sure the losses would be greater if he was refurbished and trained again.

If those rumors about the contract having an expiration date were true...then if being refurbished wasn´t an option anymore...

He shook the thoughts away.

But if he went back to them, he was sure he would have to face Robert at some point. He had traced Sann´s scars with his fingers, he remembered well when he came on “playdates” covered in horrible wounds.

That man was bad news and he had more than enough reasons to take revenge on him. He would do the same if their places were switched.

Tears slipped down the muzzle.

What a pitiful thing. Crying like that when he deserved punishment. But...But even if he didn´t remember what happened, he was sure he had never wanted to hurt anyone.

But he had. And he hurt people that had become so, so important to him.

He couldn´t hold his tears back any longer and began crying in silence.

It was unexpected to feel something bump against his back. When he turned, he found another pet leaning against him, his hands were restrained as well, so he couldn´t do much but slightly rub his cheek against his back.

He noticed then most of the others were in pairs or groups, leaning against each other, rubbing their shoulders or their cheeks, or even attempting to try and pat another pet´s legs. All of them were there waiting for their owner´s verdict on what to do with them now that they had shown they couldn´t be trusted to not run away.

The other boy stayed there, leaning on his shoulder before Albus rested his head on his. The boy´s warm presence was enough to slow down Albus´ mind which had jumped into survival mode.

Enough to notice the mistake in what the den´s watcher had said when scanning him. Albus frowned.

Him?

Claude, maybe? No, he wasn´t on his papers besides as an emergency contact. His real and only owner was Sarahi. So why..? No, there was no way he had figured out his plan without his letter, right? He still hadn´t received the news! Or...Or maybe...

For a few minutes, Albus hoped the person who came for him was one freckled guy. He tried to drown his hopes, but thinking maybe he could be saved from a painful future was a beautiful feeling. So, as the den began to empty, and even when the boy that had leaned on him was taken away by what he supposed was his owner, sneaking a wave at him as he was pulled away, the hope for salvation didn´t extinguish entirely.

Not until he saw a familiar face on the other side of the glass.

“Hey, mophead!” Albus' stomach churned at hearing that awful nickname again. He looked up, annoyed before his blood froze. “Your owner is here. Lucky you, he still wants you back”

Albus shot a glare at the den´s guard coming his way, the man on the other side of the glass smiling wide at him.

No fucking way.

In a panic, Albus jerked, paddling away from the man taking off the chains to his handcuffs. A shock quickly froze all his limbs, but even when he was lifted by his armpits, Albus planted his feet and jerked back.

That man wasn´t his owner!

“Stop it!” the guard yelled at him, delivering yet another, longer, shock through his collar that made him howl. However, when the man tugged on his arm to force him to walk, Albus put his hands together and used the momentum to punch him straight in the head.

The man´s scream alerted the other guards, who burst into the den looking for the pet who had run to the far corner.

“You little-!” one of the recovery team guys said, trying to grab him. Effortlessly, Albus avoided him, “Grab him!”

Albus was quick. Like a snake, he slid through openings when they jumped at him. But when he thought he had avoided all of them, he was violently pushed against the wall. The pressure on his trachea was so strong, he couldn´t even scream.

“I´m truly sorry for the problems my pet has caused you,” Robert told the watchers as he pushed Albus´ face against the wall. “I will be sure to discipline him thoroughly once we get back home”

Albus whimpered behind the muzzle when the man pulled him to walk, grabbing him tight by the neck. When the pet immediately tried to dig his heels into the ground, the man dug his fingers into his throat.

“Ack!” Albus cried.

“Let´s go, Albie. You are not running away from your punishment,” the man said dragging him to the reception. When the pet jerked back, a shock made his world turn white.

It was just one moment, but it was enough for Robert to drag him out. Once they reached the front desk, Robert slacked his grip making the boy collapse on his knees still trembling from the aftershock.

“I will only need you to fill these papers and you will be free to take him, sir,” the lady at the other side of the table told him handing him a few blue papers. The man gave her a smile and a short thanks.

On the floor, Albus watched in horror. How did they not know their mistake? This man wasn´t his owner! This man shouldn´t even be mentioned in his papers!

"That´s yours?” one bruised guy approached Robert. The terrified pet shook his head when the man smiled. “You should keep it muzzled and collared”

“I will. I´m very sorry for the trouble”

“We were told he was quite tame, so it was a surprise to see him move like that” the man eyed the pet being held by his collar by Robert. He weakly squeezed his arm, but Robert held his smile as if it was nothing. “You seem able to handle him. Care to tell me how he escaped? Is just for paperwork”

Robert stared at the man for a second before telling him he had tried escaping as a punishment.

Albus froze on his knees for a moment. That was not entirely false...but even then! He kept trying to get free from the man´s grasp.

The man hummed, scratching his chin before shooting a glare at the lady behind the table. “You know? When we received the alert, it was a woman who talked with us. Was it your wife that called us?”

Albus' dizzy head cleared up for a second at the man´s words.

He knew something was wrong! It was Sarahi who call them! Sarahi was his owner! He had to tell them.

“Oh no, she is--”

With great effort, Albus launched himself up to grab the pen in Robert´s other hand. Even when the man tried choking him again, his hand rushed to write on the floor.

“Knock it off!” Robert yelled, tugging on his collar so hard he had to twist on himself. However, the damage was done.

“He´s not my owner”?” the recovery team member read out, shocked to see a pet being able to write, but drowining the amusement to lock eyes with the girl on the desk. Albus felt Robert ease his grip on him and used that chance to scurry away to the recovery guy´s feet. Out of reflex, the guy grabbed him by the collar. But even then, Albus felt victorious as he watched the lady whisper something on the radio and Robert stared at the guard in complete silence.

“As I said over the phone with miss Lauren, my pet has yet to get used to his new home. He is refurbished. You know how refurbished pets always have trouble adapting” Robert exhaled loudly. The man looked unconvinced, but Robert didn´t push. Not until a security guard arrived. “I understand your mistrust. It´s not occasional some guy comes here to steal someone else´s pet, isn´t it? But this boy is mine. If you don´t believe me, why don´t you scan his wrist?”

Albus snorted, utterly amused that he thought that would work.

The guard reached towards his reader and didn´t expect Albus to extend his wrist so readily.

As the guard worked the scanner, Albus stared at Robert with a mocking grin hidden by the muzzle.

The reader´s alarm went off, and Albus craned his neck to read, knowing he would find Sarahi´s name and address. But no matter how much he squinted, the blurry words didn´t make any familiar names. Instead...

“778900 aka. “Albus”. Owned by: Robert Glass” the man read out loud.

Huh?

The pet snatched the machine off the guard´s hands before he could even react. Seeing with his own two eyes that man´s name appeared on the screen. Even though the address was the same, even if his photo was correct...why?

An electrifying pain shot through his whole body.

“Gimme that,” the guard snatched back the reader and showed it to the woman as Albus panted on the floor.

“If this isn´t enough, would this help?” Robert smiled easily. Then, slowly, he took out a folder from the inside of his coat. “Here is his contract, the receipt, the shipping date, the details of his training -- both of them. I had no need of a romantic for the work I wanted him for. Oh, that reminds me, his work permit,” the man smiled as he took the documents one by one.

By then, Albus was already kneeling before them, stretching his neck to catch even a glimpse of those documents. He had seen them all before, a long time ago, so he should be able to tell if they were his papers, but he couldn´t see them if the guy kept tugging on his collar. But, there just was no way. They had to be fake!

As the woman looked over them, Robert tilted his head, holding his chin with one hand, “Hm, I feel like I´m missing something...”

“His pet I.D.” A man said from behind Albus, freezing all the blood on his body.

Slowly, Albus turned to find the mountain of a man towering over him with severe eyes looking down at him.

“Oh right, thank you, Claude” Robert said taking the card and showing it to the woman and the guards. “The woman who called is his wife. We were enjoying a great night when Albie did a little fuck up and chose to run for it. Isn´t that right, Claude?”

“...Yeah”

Albus began to shake as Claude pulled him up by his arm and kept a firm grip on him. Albus' heart began to pound.

“The names match” The woman announced, making Albus snap at her. He shook his head slowly. How? Even his card? But...But how? He looked at Claude again, but the man´s eyes were nailed on Robert.

“Do you need anything else or can I take my pet home to continue where we left off?”

Albus shook his head vigorously as the guard and the woman exchanged looks. But his heart dropped when the guard put away the reader and knocked his head so the other man went away.

“Apologies, sir. As you said, it´s not unusual some opportunist wanders in trying to get a quick buck from the pets. I heard he was one hard catch, so please, be sure to keep an eye on him. Escapists tend to relapse” he told him, giving him back the folder. Robert laughed lightly.

“No worries officer, I´ll make sure he learns his lesson very, very soon”

Albus watched as he signed all the paperwork, mind blank until the corners of his mouth began to taste like iron with how hard he was clenching his teeth around the bit.

Noticing something else was rolling down his eyes, he rushed to wipe them off as Robert finished the paperwork and signaled Claude to bring him over. The man wasn´t gentle when he pulled him out the door holding his head down as they walked their way to Robert´s car.

“In you go,” Robert said opening the trunk and shoving Albus inside despite the boy´s thrashing. But Claude´s size and force were enough to throw someone half his size inside a car´s trunk.

“AGH!” The boy cried as his back crashed against something hard and metallic, knocking the air out of his lungs. He tried to climb out when Claude grabbed his legs and handcuffed his ankles together.

“Stop moving” Claude growled and when the boy tried to climb out, the man grabbed his shirt and shoved him back inside hard enough to make the car shake. “STOP” Albus trembled violently, but didn´t try to climb out again.

The trunk was shut closed on his nose and Albus could hear the engine start and the car starts moving.

He desperately tried to even his breathing, go still and clear his mind already wondering what exactly was gonna happen to him.

Were they gonna kill him? What kind of punishment could “correct” this? Robert was set on finding it, that was for sure. All the punishments Sann had the trust to tell him about, all the others he had to figure out himself, and the ones he was sure Robert was depraved enough to try, rushed through the pet´s head at a shocking speed.

Terrified of his brutal imagination, the boy grabbed his head between his hands.

Why did it have to go this way?

His heart was pounding so hard, he feared he might die of a heart attack before he could be punished. It was so hard to breathe and there was something below him poking him, so in a sudden outburst of rage, he tugged on the blanket to see the offending object.

Well, seeing wasn´t one of his strenghts, and the trunk was illuminated by one tiny red light, but Albus didn´t need his eyes to trace his fingers around the metal end of the tool. The shape of it was so easily recognizable when he connected the shape of the handle with the one in the other end.

His mind froze for a second when he identified the shovel.

His body tensed, as he allowed himself to shriek inside his head.

Where did dead pets end up?

He had sometimes wondered about that in the cold floors of the facility. Maybe some people would cremate them. Maybe others would use their own land as grave. He had never felt the need to ask himself that question while living with his mistress. But he didn´t belong to her anymore, did he?

A second later, fearing he would actually vomit, the pet curled further into himself, covering his mouth with his hand as he sobbed.

#whump #writing #you came back a stranger #my writing #pet whump #slavery tw #tw human trafficking #muzzles #shock collars #tw kidnapping #recapture #betrayal #angst #hurt comfort #tw conditioning

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albino-whumpee · 1 year

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Fallen Bridges

...eheheh.

Hope you like this. Can´t believe I´m actually working on this.

Taglist:

@castielamigos-whump-side-blog @giggly-evil-puppy @cowboysrappin @haro-whumps @burtlederp @neuro-whump @comfortforthepain @whumps-the-word @whole-and-apart-and-between @broken-horn-blog@ashintheairlikesnow @rosesareviolentlyread @starnight-whump @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @as-a-matter-of-whump @whumpasaurus101 @grizzlie70 @wingedwhump @unicornscotty @melancholy-in-the-morning

Please tell me if you wish to be added or taken out of the taglist!

CW//Pet whump, emotional whump, failed escape attempt, recapture, ptsd, grief, mentions of child death, suicidal ideation, shock collars, ghosts and angst. so much angst.

He couldn´t breathe. Even if he knew it was useless to try to escape, he didn´t stop running. Just to make sure he wasn't followed, he turned his head, making himself trip down a short hill. He rolled and crashed against a puddle on the side of the road.

However, for a second, the two centimeter puddle became a lake where his head was submerged and kept there a minute. Then two. Screams became bubbles that popped when they reached the surface.

With a gasp, he returned to reality, paddling and slamming his back against the busted pipe the water was pouring from.

Albus gasped like a fish out of the water, the telltales of a panic attack taking his lungs captive.

He couldn´t stop, he wasn´t safe, but where was safe? Was there a place like that for him? He pulled himself up…only to fall back on his elbows when his legs refused to stop shaking violently.

His heart was pounding so hard he feared it would beat out of his chest.

“Calm down! You gotta calm down, Albus! This is all a big mistake,” he screamed inside his head, his pitiful attempts at breathing only making his chest clench harder.

“This is all a big misunderstanding. I- I didn´t-” he said, clenching a hand over his chest with a pained groan. “M-Mister Claude just- just... had an episode,” he tried to reason between pants “M-Mister Claude didn´t mean t-to put on the collar…” he half laughed between huffs, immediately stopping when his trembling fingers passed around the box of the shock collar. The electrodes punctured into his skin with how tight the collar had been cinched.

The pet´s forehead began to pearl with sweat.

“I-I had nothing to do with what happened,” He said as memories of rushing, of panic at being chased rushed through him as he looked at the road, where a van passed by at full speed and then…

Turning and turning and turning…

He held his head in his hands and shut his eyes.

“I wasn´t there! It wasn´t my fault!!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, shaking his head from side to side. After a second he said lower, almost in a whisper, “How the hell could I have gotten out?! I didn't do it!” he screamed as tears began to fill his eyes. When he opened them, drops of rain began to drop on his face. “It's impossible…”

Don´t worry, Al, the clouds will cry for you.

That tiny voice told him again. He had broken into tears when he saw the sky a long time ago. But that day…it was a sunny day.

People shouldn't die on sunny days.

The boy was silent for a long time then, before a bitter laugh escaped his lips.

“I didn´t kill them…right?” his voice shattered as he dropped his head. The rain carried his tears until he curled into himself and sobbed.

If it was true, if his dreams of the road and the van were of his owner´s, then.

“What kind of sick joke is this?!” he shouted, punching the mud puddle forming below him.

Of all the places he could have ended up, he ended with the people whose lives he ruined? The person who picked him and gave him a chance to be a person and not just her pet. The person he took care of when pain was too much for his body to forget, the person he detested and the person he loved more than anything…he ruined their lives.

And, as if that wasn´t enough, he had taken their most precious people's lives, too.

Right there in the middle of nowhere a pitiful pet crashes down and cries for sins that can not be forgiven.

It was his fault.

All of it.

Albus screamed until his head pounded.

“Why did it have to go like this? This wasn´t supposed to happen!” he punched the ground below him again before curling into himself, cradling his wounded abdomen. Mister Claude had never laid a finger on him. Mistress Sarahi had always loosened up his collar to sleep. He was so comfortable with his life, he had forgotten she had bought tools to punish him.

A terrifying thought crossed his mind then.

Did she know? From the beginning?

He shook his head. No, if she had known from the beginning, a shock collar would have been the first thing she would have given him.

She would've given him to Robert as a gift, if she had known.

The rain began to pour when he passed his hand over his throat, the shock collar undeniably wrapping firmly against it.

He had been so scared of being returned, he had forgotten he could still be punished while living as her pet? No, not even him had gotten that naive. But he had thought he had done everything in his power to avoid that.

How was he supposed to know he had already failed before they even met?

He pushed himself up to continue walking. Once they found him, it was over for him. Being returned was the least of his concerns. He knew his owners. Or at least, he knew them enough to know returning him wouldn´t be the end of it. Even if it weren´t them, that would never be enough punishment.

He halted as the rain slowly began to turn into hail.

Then what would be enough? What kind of things could they do to him to make him pay? What kind of torture would be enough to make someone pay for that? Would he be the only one to receive such a punishment?

“S-Sann!” he shouted, urgently taking a step towards the house, but stopping. “...he has nothing to do with this, in any case, he is also a victim…”

Albus stared at the road for a second before his lips curved into a smile that didn´t reach his eyes.

“Don´t worry, Sann. You won´t see me again after you leave” he looked down at his soaked clothes then. It wasn´t him he should be worrying about, but his former owner.

His gut churned so hard he wavered.

What would he do if he knew? The mere thought made his bones quiver. He took a deep breath before lifting his eyes in the direction of her house. “Even when things have turned like this, you wouldn´t break your promise with me, right, ma´am?”

As if to answer for her, the storm roared.

He clenched his teeth hard.

He could do nothing but pray she would.

Albus was tracing a route in his head when he turned his head up to find a little boy before him.

His breathing stopped as he watched the kid crouch. The rain passing through his body, the only giveaway to what exactly he was actually seeing.

“Charlie…” his voice trembled as the little boy smiled at him.

The boy says something so low it takes him a solid minute to understand what it meant, but before he can even try to reply, the ghost is gone.

He was still processing the kid´s words when he catches something from the corner of his eye. But he can´t react fast enough to avoid being tackled down and expertly have his hands handcuffed.

“Get me the muzzle!” an agent from the recovery team screams as he pins Albus down on the mud.

–

“Claude!” Sarahi yelled at the man entering through the main door. “Did you find him?”

The man shook his head.

“Maybe it's better this way. Sann always went on walks with him. If someone knows in what kind of hole that rat would go hide into-”

“Claude…” Sarahi cut him, making the man´s frown grow tighter, before he sighed.

“I´m repulsed by myself. Knowing we took care of that- that murderer!”

“Claude! Please…stop it” Sarahi had wrapped herself in the living room´s blanket, still shaking like a leaf after having called the police to inform of her runaway pet.

A runaway…In the end, he did end up escaping.

She was wondering if the slight relief in her stomach was because of that when Claude sat next to her to pull her into a hug.

“Sarahi…” he called sweetly before she pushed him away. His eyes blew wide before his face twisted into anger he could barely contain “I know he was your pet, but you can´t seriously think that-!”

“I can't seriously think what? That I can't be bitter that my own pet turned out to be the reason I ever needed a pet?! The reason I was left all alone?!” at her screaming, the man shut up.

“...You aren't alone. You have me," he whispered.

Sarahi let out a humorless laugh. “Yeah, I have you.” to the man, that simple phrase felt like a knife drove directly through his heart. “If it's the day we all become honest, then tell me Claude, where the hell did you learn all this about Albus, hm? I'm sure the Glass residence isn´t a place that would have that kind of information”

Claude stayed silent for a second. “It's a lot more complicated than you think. Sarahi, I-”

“Do you think I wouldn't notice you were lying? C´mon, Claude. Where the hell have you been working until now?”

Claude´s face turned darker and darker as he carefully explained to her. Word after word, a new wrinkle of horror appeared on her face, until she jumped up and rushed to take her car keys. When she slammed the door on her way out, Claude´s heart shattered along the glass.

He had hoped she would come back, but when he heard the sound of tires scraping against the pavement, he slouched.

He took a deep breath, then.

What had he expected?

He huffed through his nose, thinking it was because of the albino´s files that he even got ratted out.

Ah, yet another thing he wanted to make the boy pay for.

He still remembered the boy´s files, so an hour of futile waiting later, he was sitting in their bed with papers scattered around him. There it was. The obvious proof of torture before he was taken in, the scars that now made sense. His real age.

Holding the files covered in dried bloody fingerprints after learning the truth made a pang of guilt appear.

Even if he was the reason, why…?

Claude´s jaw clenched hard as he gripped tighter on the papers.

“This is not enough!” he cried out, furiously wiping furtive tears. “You took them away! My only family! And yet-!”

Without thinking, he threw the papers away and at the sound of glass shattering, he turned back to see the shards of the tea the boy had left by their bed. Just like every night. His pills, along with Sarahi´s, scattered on the floor above the soaking pages of his files.

He was the reason, and yet, he couldn´t deny he thought of him as family now. Before he even knew what hell was, the boy had already gone through it twice. It wasn´t enough reason to forgive him, but…

Claude turned, and buried his head into his hands.

“Fuck…”

An hour after that, he was putting back the files into a drawer when suddenly, his phone rang.

“Rob?”

It took a long moment for him to speak again. When he did, his voice sounded ragged, but in such a calm tone, it made Claude´s hairs stand on end.

“Do you want him to pay for what he did?”

–

Sarahi wouldn't remember how she had gotten there, but she would remember the cold ice raining down on her as she walked up to their graves in the cemetery.

Her clothes were soaked when she stepped into the cemetery. The old keeper simply followed her with his eyes until she stood in front of two graves.

"Charlie" she called for her first born, a torpedo of a child before she turned her eyes to the grave next to it. "Fran…" the youngest, the baby boy who never wanted to leave her side. Always trying to climb up for her to hold him in her arms.

The baby boy that had been jumping in her lap on an ordinary car trip until she woke up to the news he had been buried months earlier. She crumbled right before the small crosses with her children´s names.

The children she couldn't even say goodbye to because nobody knew if she would wake up or not.

Her cries were so ragged, it seemed they wished to rip a hole into the sky. Maybe dip into that garden where that filthy god kept them as roses and take them with her. Maybe in such a way, her throat would rip and would let them join them up there.

In reality, she knew her wish was to simply have had the chance to see them. At least one more time.

Just to say goodbye.

After a while, her crying stopped, but the tears continued to flow down her cheeks.

“You know?” she sniffed “He thought I didn't see him, like most of the time when he was doing something he shouldn't” her lips were tightly on place. Not even the hint of a smile came up. “but I know he saw you,” she confessed before silent graves. “I heard him laugh sometimes. I heard him say he was scared of me finding out he could talk with you. At first I thought it was just a sick joke of his. But then…” But then the little things he should´ve never known about began to pop up. “...If you really…if you really talked with him…” she slowly lowered and bent into herself, tears flooding again as her voice trembled.

“Are you mad at me?” her lips pursed tight, before she took a deep breath. “...for letting him in and letting him take care of me when he…When I used him to fill the gap you left. Because I loved him like I loved you? Do you hate me? Because he became family, but...But he destroyed it! Twice for fuck sake!” she howled, snot beginning to run over her mouth before she furiously wiped it away.

“Charlie, Fran…Are you angry with me for not hating him as much as I could?”

Of course, there was no answer.

She gripped tightly on the mud below her knees.

“I wish I had never woken up” she declared “If this was what was waiting for me, wasn´t hell a better choice?” she said through gritted teeth and burying her face into her hand before another river of tears flowed down her eyes.

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