The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
Paying for Pride
by Bailey Hunter
When you misuse someone the way Seline does, eventually it has to come back on you. At least that’s what Larry told himself as he watched her walk out the door, his pride tucked neatly in her back pocket. Of course, it had yet to be proven.
Larry pulled back the bandages for another look at Seline’s handiwork. How many more times could they do this? How many until it was too much, or, not enough? One thing was for certain, the demand for answers was pounding hard against his skull and he’d have to put a stop to it soon.
The room started shifting. Dirty walls faded into fuzzy umber shades as the familiar chill spread across his limbs. Soon, he thought, but not yet.
“Hey lover,” Seline’s voice broke through the white noise that had been carving bitter secrets on the inside of his skull. “Time to wake up and put you back right.”
Larry rolled over; the bloody bandage having dried and fused with the faux leather couch tore a yelp from his mouth, along with a fair piece of his flesh.
“Careful, baby,” Seline cooed. “You’re no good to me if you can’t be fixed.
“We have to stop,” Larry mumbled as she eased the old dressings off. “I…I don’t think…”
“No, you don’t. You gave me your word. You made a deal, remember? You wanted it, and now you’ve got it, baby. Guess you shouldn’t have let your pride run you. Besides, you only have another decade left and then you can go. A deal’s a deal. You hold up your end, and I’ll hold up mine.” Seline’s voice barely contained her malicious glee as she pointed out his sentence.
Larry closed his eyes and let out a long, slow sigh as the Succubus reattached his genitals for the 32,850th time. He learned to stop asking what she did with them while they were gone, but sometimes, she’d lay beside him as he healed and whisper it to him anyway.
Just more white noise carving secrets into his skull.
Fiction © Copyright Bailey Hunter
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More about Bailey Hunter:
Bailey is a publisher with Dark Recesses Press.
Dark Recesses Press is a publishing house dedicated to providing high quality dark fiction in its many forms to the reader. Our end goal is to impress and entertain, no matter what dark recesses we dare shine our light on.
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