It’s Whumpril! I’m not going to fill the entirety of April with whump, but for any Whump event posts I do share (Whumpril, Whumptober, etc) I’ll be using the same base character names (Tri – they/them. Nora – she/her. Salazar – he/him), but these characters will have no relation to the previous story they appeared in.
The prompt I’m filling is for Day 3 – Rope Burns/ “Hold still”
Tri’s eyes fluttered open slow, as if stuck together the way eyes did when Tri had stayed up too late and fell asleep with the book falling onto their chest and the light burning into their eyes in the morning. But their body didn’t feel like it had been up late reading novels. No. staying up late reading novels usually left a pain in their head akin to a hangover, which, to be fair, was present although more like the day after that time Tri had fallen off a horse than a hangover.
It wasn’t just pain in their head. No. Their shoulders ached like working at a desk too long. Their thighs and hips and butt had turned numb like sitting in their mother’s uncomfortable dining chairs. Their mouth was dry like after a two-hour presentation that had run over. Their stomach ached like days without food.
And their wrists were raw in a way Tri had no simile or categorisation for. They burned and ached and Tri let out a subdued howl of pain, the sound coming out meek and helpless.
Someone shushed them.
What did these people want? First they demand information from Tr. Information Tri didn’t even have, no matter whether they were inclined to give it. And now they wanted Tri silent?
“Shh, Tri, it’s me.”
“Nora?” Tri’s voice came out rough, abused, painful in the same way their body screamed for attention, the same way it would surely fail them if they tried to use it.
“Hold still.”
The cold press of metal turned to the hot wash of blood as the knife Nora was using on the ropes binding Tri’s hands behind the chair sliced through Tri’s skin like scissors through paper.
Tri whimpered but held themself rigid. Their muscles trembled under the strain of working so hard after taking so much.
When their hands were freed, their arms fell limp by their sides, the motion nearly capsizing Tri out of the chair altogether.
Nora shoved her shoulder under Tri’s arm, pressing against their torso in a way that made Tri’s breath hiss out between their teeth. Their eyes burned with tears that wouldn’t fall, too dehydrated to create the tears Tri needed.
“We gotta get you out of here,” Nora said by way of apology.
Nora had always been like that. Need trumps feeling. Practical but a little lacking in empathy. It wasn’t a problem most of the time. But Tri could feel their ribs rubbing against one another with the way Nora pressed against them, pushing them into motion.
On the other hand, Tri wanted out of this horrible place as soon as possible even if it meant so much pain that it started to distort their vision.
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April Theme: *No Theme* – This month I’m moving house and I’m going to be sharing some of the stories that haven’t fit previous themes/don’t fit planned future themes, and whatever else comes to mind. In May the themes will return until the end of 2023.
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