Outwardly I maintain a measured scowl, but inside my heart thuds faster in my chest and I wonder whether I’ll be able to do this.
My ears remain steadfastly closed to the cries of the prisoner in front of me, enjoying the show (as ever) as the guards take their positions on either side, spread-eagling the struggling form, as the crowds shout their ebullient derision, eagerly awaiting the spectacle to follow.
I curl fingers around the rod and find that sweet spot where I can hold firm without harm (to myself) and I stoke the embers, watching sparks fly as the end glows a vivid, throbbing orange. I know intimately what will happen next – the screaming and bucking and me trying to keep moving alongside the prisoner’s body as they writhe, desperate to escape that pain, so that I don’t fuck up the crisp edges of the brand.
My eyes flick to the terrified, whimpering convict before me, and a lazy grin escapes me as I remember with glee the last time I saw this one; heard those gasping breaths and felt that body jerking beneath mine – every nerve on fire, but for such a different reason…then I know I can do this.
She’s earned her ‘A’, and I’m going to enjoy giving it to her.
Today’s post was brought to you by Six Sentence Stories, and the prompt ‘Letter’
Wow – this one was downright evil! I like it!
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Heheheheh THANK YOU 😀 😀 😀
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I wonder what we should do with you sadists? I suppose the important thing in writing is to grab the attention of the reader and make them think and feel what you have written. Now the next piece I see from you should be about tender gentle love or fairies in the forest perhaps?
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So it nonetheless grabbed you? And yes – challenge accepted. I will try to write something lovely next week 🙂
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Whew! I need to fan myself a bit…
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I like you, Sweetie – I think you’re not-so-secretly as twisted as I am 😉
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A twisted variation on the Scarlet letter…a modern day Mr. Hawthorne would no doubt approve 🙂
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Mua ha ah, 😉
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Dyanne stole my comment but it bears repeating…holy shit!
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Thank you so much, my DA 😀 ❤
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hey! A story about Teachers! very well done, yo
(lol)
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HA!
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Damn, Lizzi. You will NOT be telling me a bedtime story when you visit. 😉
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I could just read to you from a pre-approved book 🙂
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Holy shit!! How do you do that? A-freaking-mazing! It took me just a half second, and then, whammo, the realization clobbered me.
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*grins* which realisation is that?
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That the person doing the branding had had sex with them.
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Ohhhh THAT! Lol. Yeah. *snickers*
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Ay, Dios Mio! Chilling, Honeybee. I read it several times and loved it more each time. Awesome writing, amiga. xoxo
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Ahhhhh BESOS! (see? I’m learning 😉 ) Thank you, my lovely Honeybee – I’m glad you liked it more each time. That’s awesome. Thank you 🙂
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Good God this is horrifying. Dark and twisted.
Well done, you!
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Hehehe why thank you, Precious. I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’ve been having fun with a slightly darker, twisteder mindset lately 🙂
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I love this! Creepy… And it doesn’t pull the punch at the end. So many times in flash horror the writers does a twist at the end that leaves me feeling tricked or let down. This time the trick at the end made it all the more horrifying! Love it! Love it! Love it!
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Yaaaay! I’m so pleased. Thank you. I think the horror might be in the wider circumstances of the characters, in thinking around how they got there…
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It is. The two are clearly caught up in a system that forces them to compromise. At the beginning the brander isn’t sure he(?) can do it. He has doubts about his ability to perform – probably, I’m inferring, based on either his tender feelings for the victim or his guilt at being involved or fear of getting caught or some melange of all of that – but at the end, because he is compromised by the system he finds himself in, he pushes forward.
Is it a he? I wonder if I would read it differently if the brander was a woman.
Anyway, I have a post running today that I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on. It’s scheduled to post right around now but the WP scheduler has failed on me at times. So swing by in a few minutes if you want!
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I haven’t been online today til now (apart from in my phone, and I struggle to blog from that) so I will swing by soon 🙂 I think you’re in my reader, so I’ll get to you 🙂
Hm. I like to leave things ambiguous sometimes, on purpose…just to see what people think.
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Ewwwwww! Shuddering, horror, like the terrible accident you don’t want to see, but can’t keep your eyes away from.
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Well THAT’S rather lovely feedback. Thank you Val 🙂 🙂
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Omg, total flashback to “branding day” up here on the mountain. Hooorrrific! Great use of “letter.” 🙂
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I hope you didn’t do people!!! 😉
Good to know it was effective storytelling though, thank you 🙂 🙂
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OK, now I feel like a philistine because I read this before it was published and didn’t get it. I think I have come to expect a twist in the tale, and it didn’t happen and that confused me.
I agree that you have been in the horror mindset for too long. More poetical smut, please!
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I appreciated your feedback though. Thank you 🙂
Will have to get the horror out of my system and write something good soon 🙂
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Do I need to start playing sexy music around the flat when you get home in order to – ahem – stimulate your muse?
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Ha! I hardly think that will be necessary – my muse is burgeoning…I just tend to pop the results over at Bards 😉
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Oi oi! 😛 I’ll ready the naughty step in advance.
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This WAS good.
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The post? Or the comment thread? Or both 😉
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You said you should write something good. This was good
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Thank you 🙂
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Well THAT will give me nightmares!!! Thankyouverymuchforthat. Wow. You are a never-ending well of creativity, my love. *Shudders*
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Never read horror before bedtime, Kitty 💖 I’m a never ending well of *something*, anyway!
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Wow.Know that its not everyone that can disturb me with words and I say this with the deepest respect to your ability and your literary skill and prowess…. ick.
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I figured not many would have this kind of letter… 😉 And thank you. Probably. I think. Haha
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oh it was a definite compliment! 😛
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Awwwwwwesome. Need to link in chez toi as soon as you go live 🙂
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Holy shit!
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I mean that in the NICEST way.
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Heheheh thank you. 🙂
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Okay…wow…that was some powerful and disturbing imagery. Nice!
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Thank you. I wonder if I’ve been in a ‘horror’ mindset for too long… 😉
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