“You feel the chains, don’t you? They are heavy and the shackles on your wrists weigh nearly five pounds each.” There was a rattling; I tried to move.

“Ah—ah! Now now, take my word on it. You can do that right? Trust?”

My month opened but I couldn’t speak. The same way my eyes were open but I couldn’t see. I somehow managed a sigh.

“Heh, there you go, resign yourself to your fate. It will be so much less painful on you, don’t you know? Or, forgive me, you like the pain, don’t you?” There was silence. I couldn’t even hear myself breathing, let alone my captor. I wanted to assume, that like my other senses, hearing had left me, but the voice rang out again, clear as day. It sounded closer than before, but I still couldn’t see, so I was unable to confirm this. I closed my eyes, tired of straining through nothing to try and see something I probably didn’t want to see anyway.

“The pain was what seemed to drive you, you’d suffer and suffer and suffer for the smallest pointless, frail victory. And when that was taken from you, rightfully so, you’d cause yourself more pain. Interesting, don’t you think?” I made no sign to acknowledge the words. I was trying to figure out the state of my body. Was I lying down? If so, on what? I couldn’t feel anything below me; was I floating? Where was I?

“I can hear you, you know,” the voice said softly. I felt goose bumps rise on my skin at that tone. I knew that tone. “Where you are doesn’t matter. If it did, I would let you see, let you smell, and maybe let you talk…. But that is not what is important. Move again; feel the weights since you can’t trust me. And I know you can’t. You let that be stolen from you.” I obeyed with little thought. The voice did not lie; the chains were heavy and the shackles bulky. I decided for the sake of easing my mind, that I was lying down, on some strange surface I couldn’t identify. As I held my arms up the scrapping of chains on a hard surface filled my ears. It was like nails on a chalk board, making my skin crawl. I let my arms drop and the loud clanging that came as a result echoed in my ears for much longer than I would have liked.

“They’re on your ankles too. You are stuck here, and you know what, it is for your own good.” I had to move my legs to test the truthfulness of the voice’s statement. I knew it had no reason to lie, but I couldn’t help. It was right. Trusting was something I couldn’t do. Sure enough I heard the scrapping and shortly after, stopped moving, if only to spare my ears.

“He heard your pleas….” The voice said, now sounding as though it was directly over me. I kept my eyes clenched shut, not wanting to see. I knew this voice, and I knew the source and that voice would be one to return my powers of sight if only to torture me with its face. “Not working out? Heh. You should think more, darling. Really.” The voice was acidic. I winced.

“What’s the matter,” the voice said, somewhere between a laugh and a hiss. “Can’t handle me?” There was a pause as the voice laughed, though there was no humor in the laughter. I actually think humor would have made it sound unnatural. “You created me, maybe not as much as the others, but yes, I am of you. And I am the wiser of us two, and stronger, wouldn’t you say?” I was suddenly forced to raise my arms up as far as they could go; far enough that I felt the chains pull taunt. My arms dropped limply back down. “But really, you laid down and let me add the shackles. You wanted it. You like the suffering, don’t you? I love the power you give me, you feed me day in and day out and now when you are so lost you make deals with things like him, I can take full advantage of it.” There was a pause and I felt breath on my cheek. I clenched my eyes together tighter, if that was even possible. “But you make me sick.” The voice finished.

I made no movement, knowing the words were true. I focused on the chains and shackles, I knew that they could be gone that second and I still wouldn’t move.

“Indeed you wouldn’t,” the voice said, thankfully further away from me. “But lets keep them on, just for safety, huh?” There was a chuckle and I couldn’t help but open my eyes. That laughter, I knew it so well; I was so curious. I saw the face for a good split second before it vanished, leaving me in the darkness. All I could see was darkness and the chains; they seemed to glow in some unseen moonlight. They were glowing but they cast no light on anything around them. So I was left with the face in my memory, bright and vivid as ever. I knew the face well, everything about it. And it would haunt me for however long I was shackled here.

The voice would leave me here, like this, alone in the complete darkness for an unnamable stretch of time, every second of which I knew I would be forced to pounder the voice’s face. As I said, it was a voice I knew well, it was a face I knew well. It was my own.