To this day, I’m not sure if it was on purpose, if he knew Spider-Man lost the love of his life and best friend from school because of villains like him. Poor Spider-Man.
I’d started all this to ensure he’d keep her away from the monster—his son—I constantly heard yelling at that girl. I didn’t want her to go through that, to deal with his disgusting, stupid bullying all day and night. As time went on, it was as if Master had put my brain in a washing machine on an infinite cycle with bleach, and I couldn’t even figure out how much of myself I’d lost to keep him happy. I couldn’t tell when I was lying or telling the truth. I was in a constant state of confusion, with no control over anything at all. I’d watch the sun sweep the sky, lighting the windows on the east then the ones on the west side. Sometimes I’d think it was early morning then I’d find the sun on the wrong side. The only thing that felt real were my memories of her, under the magnolia tree at school, where I memorized her smile, learned how her hair danced with the wind, where we came upwith all kinds of different worlds and where we married each other.
After a month without him, I got comfortable, enjoying readingTheCount of Monte Cristowith the siren singing in the background. She’d disappeared for a while, but she was back.
I thought things couldn’t get worse. What a fecking fool I was. Of course they could get worse. My life had been nothing but a series of situations that eventually became unbearable.
One night, I woke up to him walking in—drunk or drugged, who knows. The worst part? He wasn’t alone. He had another man and boy with him. As they tortured us and made us do unspeakable things, they kept calling us little princes. He’d fainted for so long, I’d thought him dead. After he’d closed his eyes, I watched the sunrise light the windows as they tortured me.
I thought I would never see him again but he kept showing up, walking around the cage without saying a word to me. “I’m sorry for what I did to you the other night.” The words would always tumble out of me with desperation. I needed him to forgive me so badly for making him cry so hard, for hurting him. “You understand I had no choice, right?” Sometimes he’d meet my gaze. Most of the time, he’d just brush his palm against the bars as he sauntered around, whistling.
Itworriedmesomuch that Master hadn’t returned since he’d shared me with his friend because I had not performed to his liking. “You’re not turned on!” he screamed at me, slapped me, and then kicked me in my stomach until I couldn’t breathe, until his friend had to yank him away.
I lost sleep, worried about what that meant for Magdalena. I wasn’t allowed to shower. I could no longer tell if I was scared to lose his love because of her or if I needed to be loved by him. I felt so guilty and disgusted to even consider the latter.
“Killian!”
I scrunched my face at the sight. I was hallucinating. Surely, I was. Magdalena was running toward me. She stuck her hand between the railing. In disbelief, I ambled to her. Only when I felt the warmth of her palm on my cheek and saw her eyes searching every freckle on my face, did I accept it was really her. Either that, or the sweetest hallucination I’ve ever had. All my voices disappeared, and my ears popped. I wasn’t hallucinating.
Her gorgeous smile beamed from her face, but I couldn’t ignore how swollen her eye was. It had been her all along. I released a breath that had been clogging my throat, and my eyebrows wrinkled with agony. “Magdalena. What are you doing here?” The tears filled my eyes and quickly fell. “Has Mael been punching you? Are you—”
“No. No. Please, Killian… I-I love you. I’ve missed you so much. Please. Don’t be mad.”
“Magdalena, run. You can’t be in here! How—What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know, but I’m so happy to see you.” Tears filled her eyes and her voice cracked when she asked, “Aren’tyou happy to see me?” It stabbed my heart to see her breaking down. Clearly, she didn’t understand what this place was.
“Oh, Magdalena…” I pushed her hair back and kissed her forehead. “Of course, I am. You’re the only good part of my life. My love, my angel, my heaven. Of course I love seeing you again.” Our tears mixed as I kissed her forehead again and then her cheeks. We embraced one another with two poles between us.
The racking sob shook her body. “I can’t live without you, Killian!” She shook her head. “It hurts too much. I can’t. I can’t control myself. The darkness is too powerful. I-I think I did something terrible. Mommy and Daddy... they locked me in the nut house. I’m so scared what I did, Killian!” she sobbed violently.
“Shhh… Magdalena, listen, there’s not much time. This isn’t a safe place. You need to go. Please. Please leave—” As I tore myself away from her, yanking her fingers off me and pushing her hands away, she wailed, fighting to keep me in her arms.
“I can’t! Please don’t make me! Please—” She was hysterical.
“Shhhh. Magdalena, please keep your voice down.” I lifted my gaze to see the open doorway still empty. Relief filled me. I just needed to calm her. “Listen. We’ll meet again. I promise. I’ll find a way. But—”
“You’ve been the boy who’s been singing all this time? They’ve been keeping you here? W-what are they doing to you? What is this place, Killian?”
Looking toward the door again, I saw them walking like an army on both sides of the hall in two files. My heart painfully hammered against my chest. The world started swirling and I realized I’d stopped breathing.
This can’t happen. This. Cannot. Happen. I refuse to believe it.
My world was falling apart. Mael strutted into the room with a cocky grin on his face. I lifted my chin while glaring at him and holding her. “You still remember him, Maggie? That’s not good news for you,” Mael said, and she turned around to face him, but I didn’t let her go. I held her from behind through the rails.
“Why did you bring her here?” I asked Mael and Master. “You promised you wouldn’t hurt her if I let you do it to me! I trusted you.” I glared and jutted my chin at Master.
“Although I’ve grown quite fond of you, little man, my son comes first, and that little bitch you’re holding so dearly is going to be his whether you like it or not.”
“Magdalena is my wife!” I claimed through gritted teeth. “She’s mine! And nothing you do will ever change that. You can’t take her from me!” My voice echoed as I screamed at Mael. I banged and kicked at the metal, searching for the physical pain to represent my pathetic helplessness. There was nothing I could do to save her from this. Once again, I’d failed, I lost.
Mael walked closer, taunting, “I already took her from you, you idiot. And your little, stupid, fake Gypsy wedding meant absolutely nothing.”
Magdalena turned to face me again, but she wouldn’t meet my gaze, so I lifted her chin with my finger. “I love you. Nothing will ever change that. Nothing. Is he the one who gave you that black eye, Angel?” Her gaze met mine, and I kissed her nose. “Seeing you again is heaven, Magdalena. Please, don’t think otherwise. I love you. Always will.”
The sad look on her face disappeared. She was so brave, not caring about the consequences of coming to see me. I turned my attention to Mael, who was grimacing at the sight of our affections. “We are not the same. You have to force her to be withyou, don’t you? You’ll never really have her,” I warned before spitting on Mael’s cheek.
“I swear to God, I’m going to kill you one day when my father is done with you,” he threatened while Magdalena and I stared into each other’s eyes. For some reason, she was smiling while taking me in, which made me smile too. Mael kept throwing insults, but I was home, lost in her eyes, and I never wanted to leave.
