You blood froze up everytime you heard the sound of Strade— your captor, calling your name from the basement. It's been like this for months now, and you still haven't grown used to it. Maybe it was because you knew if you dared to act up, to do something he didn't like. He'd use that dreaded shock collar on you. It always weighed you down.. it was tiring.

At least you weren't alone though, right? You had Ren with you, you both took turns comforting each other after Strade was done with his little torturous games.

You went down into the basement where he was calling out to you, reluctantly helping Strade until he grew bored. He always grew bored. And so, he stabbed his newest victim straight in the stomach with the same knife he used on you and Ren.

The lady didn’t react right away. You could’ve shouted out a warning— you couldn’t help her . But instead you watched as the dying woman yanked the knife out of her gut, viscera and blood coming out with it, and stabbed it right into Strade’s neck. He gasped now. A gaping, strangled sound. His hands went instinctively to his neck and it took him a few slow, trembling tries to pull it out.

You saw the blood arch and spurt–an artery–and he fell to his knees. The woman stepped away with what must have been her last ounce of energy. She had only enough life left in her to turn to you and smile–she was missing teeth, too–before she collapsed on the ground. She was still alive, but her shock would come soon after. You weren’t watching her though.. you were looking at Strade.

His eyes darted to and fro until they landed on you. He had his hand pressed against the wound now, but it wasn’t doing much good. He would need a proper compress… an ambulance… you suddenly began to scream for Ren. You don’t know why you called him. To help Strade? To help you? “Ren..” Not loud enough.. “Ren!” Still not loud enough. Before you knew it,  you were simply screaming his name, filling the basement with a different pitch of scream than it was used to.