Warm blood sprayed the inside of my legs as he slashed my thighs.
The burn was intense and paralyzing.
It engulfed me like a massive hot flame.
He slashed me again and again and I prayed for the twine around my neck to kill me faster, but it didn’t.
I prayed for the shock of the pain to numb me, but it didn’t. So, when he was done with my thighs, he moved to my cock, and I felt everything. A soul-slicing burn. I bit back a cry, piercing my bottom lip with my teeth.
Holding back my cry was easy when there was no breath in my lungs. No air.
It had all been stripped from me.
Hot, rich blood pooled in my mouth and dribbled down my neck.
Hot, thick blood slid down my thighs. Tears slipped from my eyes.
I was weeping from everywhere.
It was the first time I remembered crying. I let the tears go because no one could see them beneath my mask. The pain was excruciating, but I still understood they could never see them. I may not be deserving of anything, but only the Sun and Moon were worthy of my suffering.
Mother screamed out in horror.
I never made a sound. I did not bless Bly, William, or even Chief Etu with the sick satisfaction of my agony.
William’s laugh was grating and echoing and carried on forever when the next slice came. One that caused me to fade from the pain, and if I were standing, I would have stumbled away from it. But I was hanging.
I fought through it. I didn’t have a choice. I forced my eyes open and my conscience to stay awake because if I faded, it meant I was not strong enough.
William bellowed. A loud and full laugh. “Stone, a monster with a name that does not make a sound.” I heard him, but the voice was muffled, coming from behind the pain. The earth was spinning, failing me.
Mockery ensued, then,“Get on your knees, wendigo.”
A knife cut through the rope in one swipe, nipping my neck.
I was freed from the tree.
My legs buckled as I collapsed, my knees hitting dirt.
Kneeling at his feet, I gasped for air. A dry heave that never seemed enough. Oxygen clawed the walls of my hoarse throat, scratching down with hesitance.
I heard Mother’s cries. They’d come from far away, from another time, a forgotten place, where things were no longer the same. I heard her, but I could not look at her. I could not face the horror mixed with the shame she had for me.
“Do you pray to a sun that isn’t here to protect you?”Bly shouted into the night.“Or do you pray to me?”
“Enough!”Chief Etu shot a disapproving glance at his brother, but I already felt myself changing from the rage, torment, and humiliation flooding inside me.
I felt it as I understood it. Was I so desperate to become a part of them that I was blinded by their thirst for power?
My head lowered, and I gazed at the ugly thing hanging between my legs. Blood mangled flesh. My vision dimmed, the pain taking me in waves. It was summer, but I was freezing. My entire body was trembling in the aftermath.
Bly grabbed my covered jaw and lifted my head.
I looked into his eyes. I looked deep into them.
“Pray to me!”he demanded.
I swallowed a mouthful of blood. “Never.”
